President Obama on Jobs Bill

ou can see the president. there's the president. he's here's the president of the united states. please, everybody, have a seat on this beautiful morning. it's wonderful to see all of you here. on thursday i told congress that i'll be sending them a bill called the american jobs act. well, here it is. this is a bill that will put people back to work all across the koircountry. this is a bill that will help our economy in a moment of national crisis. this is a bill that is based on ideas from both democrats and republicans. no games, no politics, no delays. i'm sending this bill to congress today. and they ought to pass it immediately. standing with me this morning are men and women who will be helped by the american jobs act. i'm standing with teachers. all across america, teacher are being laid off in droves. it is unfair to our kids and undermines our future and it is exactly what we shouldn't be doing if we want our kids to be college ready and then prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. we've got to get our teachers back to work. i'm standing here with veterans. we've got hundreds and thousands of bra of brave, skilled americans who fought for this country. the last thing they should have to do is fight for it when they come home. let's pass this bill who put the men and women who serve this nation back to work. we're standing here with cops and firefighters. these men and women can continue protecting our neighborhoods like they do every single day. i'm standing with construction workers. we've got roads that need work all over the country. our highways are backed up with traffic. our airports are clogged and there are millions of unemployed construction workers who can rebuild them. let's pass this bill so workers and road diggers and pavers can hid back to the job site. there is plenty of work to do that this jobs bill will help them do it. let's put them back to work and pass this bill of rebuilding america. we cannot -- we have an amen over there. we cannot expect our kids to do their best in places that are litter lie falling apart. this is america. every kid deserves a great school. i'm standing here with small business owners. they know that while corporate profits have come roaring back, a lot of small businesses haven't. they are still struggling, getting the capital that they need, getting the support that they need in order to grow. so this bill cuts taxes for small businesses that hire new employees and for small businesses that raise salaries for current employees. and we can do that by passing this bill. there are a lot of other ways that this jobs bill, the american's job act will help this economy. it's got a $4,000 tax credit for companies that hire anybody who spent more than six months looking for a job. there is temporary work to help upgrade their skills. this bill will help hundreds and thousands of people find summer jobs next year. a job that will help reset the direction for their entire lives and the american's jobs act will help families. if congress does not act, just about every single family will pay more taxes next year. that would be a self-inflicted wound that our economy cannot afford right now. so let's pass this bill and give the typical working family a $1500 tax cut instead. and the americans jobs act is not going to add to the debt. it's fully paid for. i want to repeat that. it's fully paid for. and not only will bring the deficit further, it's a plan that lives by the same rule that families do. we have to cut out things that we can afford to do in order to afford the things that we really need. it's a plan that says everybody, including wealthy americans and biggest corporations have to pay their fair share. so we have to decide what our priorities are. do we put teachers back to work? do we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires or should we invest in education and technology and infrastructure, all of the things that are going to help us not innovate and not build other countries in the future. we know what's right. we know what will help businesses start right here and stay here and hire here. we know that if we take the steps outlined in this jobs plan, there's no reason that we can't be selling more goods all around the world that are stamped with those three words. made in america. that's what we need to do. create jobs right now. in fact, joe and i as we were walking out here, we were looking at the washington newspapers and quoting a republican aide saying, i don't know why we want to cooperate with obama right now. it's not good for our politics. it was very explicit. that's the attitude in this town. yeah, we've been with these things before but i don't know why we would be for them right now. and the fact of the matter is, the next election is 14 months away. the american people don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months for congress to take action. people are living paycheck to paycheck and they need action and the notion that there are folks who would say, we are not going to try to do what is right for the american people because we don't think it's convenient for our politics, we've been seeing that too much around here. and that's okay when you play politics. it's not okay when there is great urgency and need all across the country. these are not games that we're playing out here. folks are out of work. businesses are having trouble staying open. and in europe, the middle east, some events may be beyond our control. there is something that we can control. whether we not -- whether or not we pass this bill that's something that we can control. that's in our hands and this is something that we can avoid by going ahead and taking action to make sure that we're helping the american people. so if you agree with me, if you want congress to take action, then i'm going to need everybody here and everybody watching to make sure that their voices are heard and made. its ideas are commonsense and will make a difference. that's not just my opinion, independent economists and validaters have said, this could add a significant amount to our gross domestic product and put people to work all across the country. so the only thing stopping it is the politics. and we can't afford these political games. i want you to pick up the phone and send an e-mail. airplane sky riders. dust off the fax machine. or you can just like write a letter. so long as you get the message to congress. send me the american jobs act. let's put everybody back to work. thank you very much. god bless. welcome to the call.