President Obama's Speech at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore.
Summary
TLDRThe transcript covers a speech by the President of the United States at a Republican legislative retreat, emphasizing the importance of bipartisanship in addressing national issues. He highlights key areas where Republicans and Democrats have worked together, such as veterans' care, economic recovery, and defense reforms. The President calls for constructive debate and collaboration on critical topics like healthcare, job creation, and reducing the national deficit. He stresses that political gridlock must be avoided for the country’s progress, urging unity for the American people’s benefit.
Takeaways
- 📢 The House session was brief today as Republicans attended an annual retreat, and members will return next Tuesday to discuss legislation.
- 💼 Among the bills being considered next week is the advancement of cybersecurity research and development, as well as addressing the debt ceiling.
- 💰 The federal debt limit has been raised by nearly $2 trillion, increasing the ceiling to $14 trillion.
- 🤝 President emphasizes the importance of bipartisan cooperation and constructive debate to improve domestic policy and national security.
- 🛡️ Despite differences in Washington, the United States remains united in its efforts to defend the country and its interests.
- 🏗️ The President highlighted previous bipartisan efforts, such as support for troops, veteran care, and reforms in defense contracting.
- 🚧 The President discussed efforts to stimulate economic growth, including tax cuts, infrastructure projects, and support for the unemployed through the Recovery Act.
- 📈 The latest GDP numbers show that the U.S. economy grew by nearly 6%, the highest growth since 2003, thanks to government interventions.
- 🏦 Proposals for new small business tax credits and eliminating capital gains taxes for small businesses aim to encourage job creation.
- 💡 The President urged for bipartisan efforts to address issues like closing tax loopholes, reining in the deficit, and improving transparency in earmarks and lobbying.
Q & A
What was the occasion for the Republicans gathering in Baltimore?
-The Republicans were attending an annual legislative retreat in Baltimore.
Who was the keynote speaker at the Republican retreat?
-The President of the United States was the keynote speaker at the retreat.
What did the President emphasize about the importance of debates and disagreements in his speech?
-The President emphasized that having differences of opinion and real debates about domestic and national security policies is essential for a healthy democracy, as it helps refine good ideas and discard bad ones.
What kind of bipartisan efforts did the President highlight in his speech?
-The President highlighted bipartisan support for increasing troop levels in Afghanistan, defense contracting reform, veteran health care reforms, credit card bill of rights, unemployment compensation, and assistance to homeowners.
What economic challenges were referenced by the President in his address?
-The President referenced the economic challenges posed by the recession, including the loss of 700,000 jobs a month, the near-collapse of the financial system, and the looming threat of a second Great Depression.
What was the reaction to the stimulus package according to the President?
-The President expressed disappointment that the stimulus package faced opposition from Republicans, despite the fact that many Americans supported key elements such as tax cuts, infrastructure investment, and assistance to the unemployed.
What did the President propose to support job growth in 2010?
-The President proposed a new jobs tax credit for small businesses, offering a $5,000 tax credit for every employee added in 2010 and tax breaks for wage increases.
What fiscal measures did the President mention in his speech?
-The President mentioned proposing a three-year freeze on discretionary spending (excluding national security) and a bipartisan fiscal commission to address long-term deficits.
How did the President address the issue of health insurance reform?
-The President acknowledged the contentiousness of health insurance reform but argued that the current system was not working for many Americans. He highlighted the need for reform to address issues like coverage for pre-existing conditions and rising premiums.
What did the President say about the political climate and partisanship?
-The President lamented that the political game had divided the country, making it harder to meet the challenges of the 21st century. He called for Republicans and Democrats to work together for the greater good.
Outlines
🏛️ Recap of Legislative Session and Upcoming Debates
The first paragraph provides an overview of a short session in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans are attending a retreat. It mentions the House returning to session on Tuesday with upcoming legislative work, including bills on cybersecurity research and the debt ceiling. The Senate passed a bill raising the federal debt limit to $14 trillion. The paragraph transitions to a live coverage of the Republican legislative retreat in Baltimore, where the Minority Leader John Boehner introduces the President of the United States, setting the stage for the President's remarks.
🗣️ Bipartisanship and the Importance of Dialogue
The second paragraph focuses on the President's address to Republicans, emphasizing the value of bipartisan dialogue. He expresses appreciation for the invitation and acknowledges the need for constructive debate between parties. The President stresses the importance of challenging each other's ideas and avoiding political gridlock. He highlights instances where both parties have worked together, particularly on military and veterans' affairs. Despite these successes, the President also notes disappointing partisan votes on economic measures like tax cuts and the Recovery Act. He urges the need for collaboration to solve the country's pressing problems.
📈 Economic Recovery and Small Business Support
The third paragraph shifts to economic recovery, where the President discusses positive GDP growth following the recession, attributing the turnaround to government action, including the Recovery Act. He proposes further measures to accelerate job growth, such as a new jobs tax credit for small businesses and eliminating the capital gains tax for small business investments. The President also suggests using bailout money to help community banks lend to small businesses. He calls for bipartisan support on these proposals, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the American people's job security over political interests.
💼 Deficit Challenges and Political Responsibility
The fourth paragraph covers the fiscal challenges facing the U.S. and the need for a bipartisan approach to reducing the national deficit. The President outlines steps he's taken, such as a three-year freeze on discretionary spending and the creation of a fiscal commission by executive order. He also proposes transparency in congressional earmarks and lobbyist activities. The President touches on healthcare reform, expressing his willingness to include Republican ideas like tort reform and high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions. He reiterates the need for cooperation to overcome gridlock and solve major issues facing the country.
🤝 Closing Remarks and Call for Unity
In the final brief paragraph, the President expresses optimism about the potential for bipartisan cooperation. He acknowledges the deep political divisions in the country but emphasizes that the differences between parties are not as significant as they may seem. The President encourages ongoing dialogue and collective efforts to address the nation’s challenges, hoping the conversation at the retreat will help bridge the divide.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Bipartisanship
💡Gridlock
💡Recovery Act
💡Small business
💡Deficit
💡Health insurance reform
💡Unemployment
💡National security
💡Tax cuts
💡Veterans
Highlights
Republicans attending an annual retreat, with the President addressing them and taking questions.
The House is not in session on Monday but resumes legislative work on Tuesday at 2:00 PM Eastern.
The House will consider bills related to cybersecurity research and development.
The Senate passed a bill raising the federal debt limit by nearly two trillion dollars.
The President emphasizes the importance of debate and disagreement for refining good ideas in a democracy.
The American people want job security and cooperation in Washington rather than gridlock and partisanship.
Both parties have supported sending more troops to Afghanistan to counter al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
The President calls for bipartisan cooperation on major issues, including veteran healthcare reforms.
The American economy is growing at its fastest rate since 2003, recovering from a 6% shrinkage in the previous year.
The President proposes a new jobs tax credit for small businesses, offering up to $5,000 per new employee.
He urges both parties to close tax loopholes that reward companies for moving jobs overseas.
The President supports a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, excluding national security.
A bipartisan fiscal commission will be established to address the growing national debt and deficits.
The President reiterates the need for health insurance reform to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Bipartisan solutions, including high-risk pools and insurance sales across state lines, are included in health reform proposals.
Transcripts
short session in the House today
Republicans attending an annual retreat
will take you there momentarily the
house not in session Monday
members returned Tuesday at 12:30
Eastern from morning hour and then
legislative work beginning Tuesday at
2:00 Eastern among the bills to be
considered next week
advancing research and development of
cyber cyber security also the debt
ceiling passed by the Senate this week
raising the federal debt limit by nearly
two trillion dollars to 14 trillion live
house coverage next week here on c-span
and that will take you live to Baltimore
to that Republican legislative retreat
the Minority Leader John Boehner there
the president's there will speak and
take questions from the members as well
live here on c-span gentlemen the
president of the United States
[Applause]
thank you movement
thank you thank you John for the
gracious introduction to Mike and Eric
thank you for hosting me thank you to
all of you for receiving me it is
wonderful to be here I want to also
acknowledge mark strand president of the
Congressional Institute to all the
family members who are here and who have
to put up with us who are in elective
office each and every day thank you
because I know that's tough I very much
am appreciative of not only the tone of
your introduction John but also the
invitation that you extend it to me you
know what they say keep your friends
close but visit the Republican caucus
every few months part of the reason I
accepted your invitation to come here
was because I wanted to speak with all
of you and not just to all of you so I'm
looking forward to taking your questions
and having a real conversation a few
moments and I hope that the conversation
we begin here doesn't end here that we
can continue our dialogue in the days
ahead it's important to me that we do so
it's important to you I think that we do
so but most importantly it's important
to the American people that we do so I
said this before but I'm a big believer
not just in the value of a loyal office
position but in its necessity having
differences of opinion having a real
debate about matters of domestic policy
and national security that's not
something that's only good for our
country it's absolutely essential it's
only through the process of disagreement
and debate that bad ideas get tossed out
good ideas get refined and made better
that kind of vigorous back and forth
that imperfect but well-founded process
messy as it often is is at the heart of
our democracy it's what makes us the
greatest nation in the world so yes I
want you to challenge my ideas and I
guarantee you that after reading this I
may challenge a few of yours
I want you to stand up for your beliefs
and knowing this caucus I have no doubt
that you will I want us to have a
constructive debate the only thing I
don't want and here I am listening the
American people and I think they don't
want even is for Washington to continue
being so Washington like I know folks
when we're in in town they're spent a
lot of time reading the polls and
looking at focus groups and interpreting
which party has the upper hand in
November and in 2012 and so on and so on
and so on that's their obsession and I'm
not a pundit I'm just a president so
take it for what it's worth but I don't
believe that the American people want us
to focus on our job security they want
us to focus on their job security
[Applause]
I don't think they want more gridlock I
don't think they want more partisanship
I don't think they want more obstruction
they didn't send us to Washington to
fight each other in some sort of
political steel cage match to see who
comes out of life that's not what they
want they sent us to Washington to work
together to get things done and to solve
the problems that they're grappling with
every single day and I think your
constituents would want to know that
despite the fact it doesn't get a lot of
attention you and I have actually worked
together on a number of occasions there
have been times where we've acted in a
bipartisan fashion and I want to thank
you
and your Democratic colleagues for
reaching across the aisle there has been
for example broad support for putting in
the troops necessary in Afghanistan to
deny al Qaeda safe haven to break the
Taliban's momentum and to train Afghan
security forces there's been broad
support for disrupting dismantling and
defeating al Qaeda and I know that we're
all united in our admiration of our
troops
[Applause]
so it may be useful for the
international audience right now to
understand and certainly for our enemies
to have no doubt whatever divisions and
differences may exist in Washington the
United States of America stands as one
to defend our country
[Applause]
[Applause]
it's that same spirit of bipartisanship
that made it possible for me to sign a
defense contracting reform bill that was
co-sponsored by Senator McCain and
members of Congress here today we've
stood together on behalf of our nation's
veterans together we passed the largest
increase in the VA zbor than 30 years
and supported essential veteran's health
care reforms to provide better access
and medical care for those who serve in
uniform some of you also joined
Democrats and supporting a credit card
bill of rights and in extending
unemployment compensation to Americans
who are out of work
some of you joined us in stopping
tobacco companies from targeting kids
expanding opportunities for young people
to serve our country and helping
responsible homeowners stay in their
homes so we have a track record of
working together it is possible but as
John you mentioned on some very big
things we've seen party line votes that
I'm just going to be honest we're
disappointing let's start with our
efforts to jumpstart the economy last
winter when we were losing 700,000 jobs
a month our financial system teetered on
the brink of collapse and the threat of
a second Great Depression loomed large
I didn't understand them and I still
don't understand why we got opposition
in this caucus for almost 300 billion
dollars in badly needed tax cuts for the
American people or COBRA coverage to
help Americans who've lost jobs in this
recession to keep the health insurance
that they desperately needed or
opposition to putting Americans to work
laying broadband and rebuilding roads
and bridges and breaking ground on new
construction projects there was an
interesting headline in in CNN today
Americans disapprove of stimulus but
like every policy in it and there was a
poll that showed that if you broke it
down into its component parts 80%
approved of the tax cuts 80% approved to
the infrastructure 80% approved of the
assistance to the unemployed well that's
what
the Recovery Act was and I and let's
face it some of you have been at the
ribbon cuttings for some of these
important projects in your communities
now I understand some of you had some
philosophical differences perhaps on
just the concept of government spending
but as I recall opposition was declared
before we had a chance to actually meet
and exchange ideas and I saw that as a
missed opportunity now I am happy to
report this morning that we saw another
sign that our economy is moving in the
right direction
the latest GDP numbers show that our
economy is growing by almost 6% that's
the most since 2003 to put that in
perspective this time last year we
weren't seeing positive job growth we
were seeing the economy shrink by about
6 percent so you've seen a 12 percent
reversal during the course of this year
this turnaround is the biggest in nearly
three decades and it didn't happen myaxx
it happened as economists conservative
and liberal will attest because of some
of the steps that we took and by the way
you mentioned a website out here John if
you want to look at what's going on in
the Recovery Act you can look on
recovery.gov a website by the way that
was Eric Cantor's idea now here's the
point these are serious times and what's
required by all of us Democrats and
Republicans is to do what's right for
our country even if it's not always
what's best for our politics I know it
may be heresy to say this but there are
things more important than good poll
numbers and on this no one can accuse me
of not living by my principles a middle
class is back on its feet an economy
that lifts everybody up an America
that's ascendant in the world that's
more important than winning an election
our future shouldn't be shaped by what's
best for our politics our politics
should be shaped by what's best for our
future
but no matter what's happened in the
past the important thing for all of us
is to move forward together we have some
issues right in front of us on which I
believe we should agree because as
successful as we've been in spurring new
economic growth everybody understands
that job growth has been lagging some of
that's predictable every economist will
say jobs are a lagging indicator but
that's no consolation for the folks who
are out there suffering right now and
since seven million Americans have lost
their jobs in this recession we've got
to do everything we can to accelerate so
today in line with what I stated at the
State of the Union I've proposed a new
jobs tax credit for small business and
here's how it would work employers would
get a tax credit of up to five thousand
dollars for every employee they add in
2010 they'd get a tax break for
increases in wages as well so if you
raise wages for employees making under a
hundred thousand dollars we refund part
of your payroll tax for every dollar you
increase those wages faster than
inflation is a simple concept it's easy
to understand it would cut taxes for
more than 1 million small businesses so
I hope you join me let's get this done I
want to eliminate the capital gains tax
for small business investment and take
some of the bailout money The Wall
Street banks have returned and use it to
help community banks start lending to
small businesses again so join me I am
confident that we can do this together
for the American people and there's
nothing in that proposal that runs
contrary to the ideological
predispositions of this caucus the
question is what's going to keep us from
getting this done I've proposed a modest
fee on the nation's largest banks and
financial institutions to fully recover
for taxpayers money that they provided
to the financial sector when it was
teetering on the brink of collapse and
it's designed to discourage them from
taking reckless risks in the future if
you listen to the American people John
they'll tell you they want
money bank let's do this together
Republicans and Democrats I've proposed
that we close tax loopholes that reward
companies for shipping American jobs
overseas and instead give companies
greater incentive to create jobs right
here at home right right here at home
surely that's something that we can do
together Republicans and Democrats we
know that we've got a major fiscal
challenge in reining in deficits that
have been growing for a decade and
threaten our future that's why I've
proposed a three-year freeze in
discretionary spending other than what
we need for national security that's
something we should do together that's
consistent with a lot of the talk both
in Democratic caucuses and Republican
caucuses
we can't blink when it's time to
actually do the job at this point we
know that the budget surpluses of the
90s occurred in part because of the pave
as you go along which said that well you
should pay as you go and live within our
means just like families do every day
twenty four of you voted for that and I
appreciate it and we're able to pass it
in the Senate yesterday but the idea of
a bipartisan fiscal commission to
confront the deficits in the long term
died in the Senate the other day so I'm
going to establish such a commission by
executive order and I hope that you
participate fully and genuinely in that
effort because if we're going to
actually deal with our deficit and debt
everybody here knows that we're going to
have to do it together Republican and
Democrat no single party is going to
make the tough choices involved on its
own it's going to require all of us
doing what's right for the American
people and as I said in the State of the
Union speech there's not just a deficit
dollars in Washington there's a deficit
of trust so I hope you'll support my
proposal to make all congressional
earmarks public before they come to a
vote and let's require lobbyists who
exercise such influence to publicly
disclose all their contacts on behalf of
their clients
they are contacts with my administration
or contacts with Congress let's do the
people's business in the bright light of
day together Republicans and Democrats I
know how bitter and contentious the
issue of health insurance reform has
become and I will eat early look at the
ideas and better solutions on the health
care front if anyone here truly believes
our health insurance system is working
well for people I respect your right to
say so but I just don't agree and
neither would millions of Americans with
pre-existing conditions who can't get
coverage today or find out that they
lose their insurance just as they're
getting seriously ill that's exactly
when you need insurance and for too many
people they're not getting it I don't
think a war systems working when small
businesses are gouged and 15,000
Americans are losing coverage every
single day when premiums have doubled
and out-of-pocket costs have exploded
and they're poised to do so ago do so
again I mean to be fair the status quo
is working for the insurance industry
but it's not working for the American
people it's not working for our federal
budget it needs to change this is a big
problem and all of us are called on to
solve it and that's why from the start I
sought out and supported ideas from the
Republicans I even talked about an issue
that has been a holy grail for a lot of
you which was tort reform and said that
I'd be willing to work together as part
of a comprehensive package to deal with
I just didn't get a lot of nibbles
creating a high-risk pool for uninsured
folks with pre-existing conditions that
wasn't my idea was Senator McCain's and
I supported it and it got incorporated
into our approach allowing insurance
companies to sell coverage across state
lines to add choice in competition and
bring down costs for businesses and
consumers that's an idea that some of
you I suspect included in this better
solution so that's an idea that was
incorporated into our package
I supportive provided that we do it
hand-in-hand with broader reforms that
protect benefits and protect patients
and protect the American people a number
of you have suggested creating pools
where self-employed and small businesses
could buy insurance that was a good idea
I embraced it some of you supported
efforts to provide insurance to children
let kids remain covered on their
parent's insurance until they're 25 or
26 I supported that that's part of our
package I supported a number of other
ideas from incentivizing wellness to
creating an affordable catastrophic
insurance option for young people that
came from Republicans like Mike Enzi and
Olympia Snowe in the Senate and I'm sure
from some of you as well so when you say
I ought to be willing to accept
Republican ideas on health care let's be
clear I have bipartisanship not for its
own sake but to solve problems that's
what our constituents the American
people need from us right now all of us
then have a choice to make we have to
choose whether we're going to be
politicians first there partners for
progress whether we're going to put
success at the polls ahead of the
lasting success we can achieve together
for America just think about it for a
while we don't have to put it up for a
vote today let me close by saying this I
was not elected by Democrats or
Republicans but by the American people
that's especially true because the
fastest-growing group of Americans are
independents that should tell us both
something I'm ready and eager to work
with anyone who is willing to proceed in
the spirit of goodwill but understand if
we can't break free from partisan
gridlock if we can't move past a
politics of know if resistant supplants
constructive debate I still have to meet
my responsibilities as president I've
got to act for the greater good because
that too is a commitment that I have
made and that's that too is what the
American people sent me to Washington to
do so I am optimistic I know many of you
individually
and the irony I think of our political
climate right now is that compared to
other countries the differences between
the two major parties on most issues is
not as big as its representative but
we've gotten caught up in the political
game in a way that's just not healthy
it's dividing our country in ways that
are preventing us from meeting the
challenges of the 21st century I'm
hopeful that the conversation we have
today
can help reverse that so thank you very
much thank you
[Applause]
the
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