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Weekly Address: President Obama – Working When Congress Won’t Act

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The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

 

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, the President discussed actions to expand opportunity for more Americans, with or without the help of Republicans in Congress, including his Administration’s efforts to cut red tape for major transportation infrastructure projects. In the coming days, the President will meet with business leaders to highlight the importance of bringing jobs back to America and will also discuss the economic benefits of making it easier for tourists to visit and spend money at attractions in the U.S., which in turn helps local businesses and grows the economy for everyone.

Transcript: Weekly Address: Working When Congress Won’t Act

Hi, everybody.

At a time when our businesses have created 9.2 million new jobs in just over four years, and more companies are considering bringing jobs back from overseas, we have a choice to make.  We can make it easier for businesses to invest in America – or we can make it harder.

I want to work with Congress to create jobs and opportunity for more Americans.  But where Congress won’t act, I will.  And I want to talk about three things we’re doing right now.

First, we’re helping more businesses bring jobs to America from overseas.  Three years ago, my Administration created SelectUSA – a team of people in embassies abroad and agencies here at home focused on insourcing instead of outsourcing.  Today, they’re helping a Belgian company create jobs in Oklahoma. They’re helping a Canadian company create jobs in Kansas.  In my State of the Union Address, I asked more businesses to do their part.  And this week, business leaders from across the country are coming here to the White House to discuss new investments that will create even more jobs.

Second, on Thursday, I’ll be heading to Cooperstown, New York – home of the Baseball Hall of Fame – to talk about tourism.  Because believe it or not, tourism is an export.  And if we make it easier for more foreign visitors to visit and spend money at America’s attractions and unparalleled national parks, that helps local businesses and grows the economy for everyone.

Finally, we know that investing in first-class infrastructure attracts first-class jobs.  And I want to spend a minute on this, because it’s very important this year.

We know business owners don’t seek out crumbling roads and bridges and backed-up supply chains.  They set up shop where the newest, fastest transportation and communications networks let them invent and sell goods Made in America to the rest of the world as fast as possible.

Here’s the problem: If Congress doesn’t act by the end of this summer, federal funding for transportation projects will run out.  States might have to put some of their projects on hold.  In fact, some already are, because they’re worried Congress won’t clear up its own gridlock.  And if Congress fails to act, nearly 700,000 jobs would be at risk over the next year.

That’s why I put forward a plan to rebuild our transportation infrastructure in a more responsible way.  It would support millions of jobs across the country.  And we’d pay for it without adding to the deficit by closing wasteful tax loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas.

Now, the Republicans in Congress seem to have very different priorities.  Not only have they neglected to prevent this funding from running out, their proposal would actually cut by 80% a job-creating grant program that has funded high-priority transportation projects in all 50 states. And they can’t say it’s to save money, because at the very same time, they voted for trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, weighted towards those at the very top.

Think about that.  Instead of putting people to work on projects that would grow the economy for everyone, they voted to give a huge tax cut to households making more than $1 million a year.

So while Congress decides what it’s going to do, I’ll keep doing what I can on my own.

On Wednesday, I was in New York where workers are building the area’s first large new bridge in 50 years.  And they’re doing it ahead of schedule.  Three years ago, I took action without Congress to fast-track the permitting process for major projects.  Normally, it would have taken three to five years to permit that bridge.  We did it in a year and a half.  And I announced a new plan to cut red tape and speed up the process for even more projects across the country.

All these steps will make it easier for businesses to invest in America and create more good jobs.  All of them can be done without Congress.  But we could do a lot more if Congress was willing to help.  In the meantime, I’ll do whatever I can – not just to make America a better place to do business, but to make sure hard work pays off, and opportunity is open to all.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

~


Categories: Uncategorized.

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12 comments

  1. JanF

    On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision, First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at Senior Appreciation Day in Topeka, Kansas, where the historic civil rights case began.

  2. JanF

    Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and Continuing the March toward Justice

    Editor’s Note: On Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. ET, Attorney General Eric Holder will deliver remarks of reflection at the Morgan State University commencement ceremony where he will commemorate the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. The address will be live streamed at http://www.morgan.edu/live.

    Eric Holder and Valerie Jarrett:

    Decades ago, nearly 200 plaintiffs from across the country joined together in a class-action lawsuit to challenge the doctrine of “separate but equal,” striving to bring the issue of racial segregation before the highest court in the land.  Their dangerous, long, and grueling march culminated exactly 60 years ago tomorrow – on May 17, 1954 – at the United States Supreme Court.

    On that extraordinary day, a unanimous Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, declared that separate was inherently unequal, effectively outlawing racial segregation in schools and other public accommodations throughout America.  This marked a major victory for the cause of equal justice under law, an inflection point in American history, and a spark that in many ways ignited the modern Civil Rights Movement.

  3. JanF

    And real Republicans starting to get a little nervous about their anti-Obamacare rhetoric

    “After the primaries, expect a shift in Republican candidates’ rhetoric against Obamacare,” [Republican Pollster Bill] McInturff said.

    “Only few want to repeal the law; most want to fix and keep it,” he continued, likely referencing the consistent polling that has shown Americans would rather improve the law than repeal it.

  4. JanF

    Here are five

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated today the ninth annual Endangered Species day, a day to recognize America’s most imperiled animals. When given this task, many will likely think of the polar bear, and its increasingly fragile arctic habitat – a phenomenon not-so-subtly connected to climate change.

    As HBO host John Oliver so poignantly put it last week, “no climate report is complete without the obligatory photo of a polar bear balancing on a piece of ice.” And he’s right – the disappearing polar bear has indeed become an emotional symbol of how man-made emissions of carbon dioxide are threatening the natural world.

    But it’s not just the polar bears that are hurting. Scientists recently warned that one-third of animal species across the world are likely to lose half or more of their habitat range if global temperatures increase by more than 4°C by 2100. And while many of these animals have been migrating with haste to avoid these challenges, the globe is still in the throes of one of the worst rates of species die-offs since the end of the dinosaur age. If global carbon emissions aren’t reduced, those rates only stand to increase.

    1. Wild Salmon

    2. Grizzly Bear

    3. Bog Turtles

    4. Akikiki

    5. Rufa Red Knot

    This is the Akikiki:

  5. JanF

    The Birthplace Of Big Oil Is About To Get Its Biggest Solar Plant Yet

    According to a 2012 report from the Department of Energy, Texas has one of the highest potentials for solar capacity – including rooftop arrays, utility-scale arrays, and concentrated solar power – of any state in the country. But with just 201 megawatts of solar as of 2013, Texas ranks 13th among the states for total installed capacity – and it’s using a minuscule 0.7 percent of its potential.

    Compare that to California, which boasts 5,660 megawatts of installed capacity, which takes up over six percent of its reported potential, and ranks the state first in the nation.

    Fuel Fix reported on Thursday that the San Francisco firm Recurrent Energy just landed a contract that would increase Texas’ capacity by over 50 percent, with a 150 megawatt installation in West Texas. Construction is occurring at the behest of Austin Energy – one of the largest city-owned utilities in the country – and should be completed by 2016. The project will be worth $525 million and will cover 1,000 acres of land.

    Here’s some great news:

    Recurrent Chief Executive Arno Harris pointed out to Fuel Fix that the manufacturing costs of solar panels dropped between 60 and 70 percent in recent years.

    “We’re in the third generation for large-scale build outs” of solar technology, Harris said. “We’ve learned a lot about how to be more efficient.”

  6. JanF

    Megan McArdle: Was Sexism Behind Jill Abramson’s Firing?

    “Which of her offenses was so grave that higher-ups are going to such extraordinary lengths to humiliate her? It’s very hard for me not to suspect an element of masculine umbrage to this, a determination that Abramson should not merely be let go, but also put in her place.”

    ~~~

    Ann Friedman: Jill Abramson Will Never Know Why She Got Fired

    From the outside, depending on your point of view, Abramson’s firing was either sexist retribution or a gender-blind decision to ax an ineffective boss. But from the inside, incidents like this are never so clear. Women never know whether they’re being met with a hostile reaction because of their performance – something that they can address and change – or because of both male and female colleagues’ internalized notions of how women should behave. […]

    Abramson’s experience suggests that, for many women, the confidence gap is not that they have less faith in their abilities than men. It’s that (unlike men) they’re expected to downplay their confidence in order to seem nonthreatening and likable – or face professional consequences. This emotional labor is the unwritten responsibility in every woman’s job description. It’s the reality that clouds everything from Sheryl Sandberg’s can-do manifestos to advice columns about asking for a raise. I’m as guilty of eliding this as any writer who chronicles gender and race disparities in the workplace. I, like most women, want to feel like I’m in control of my professional destiny. It’s not fun to acknowledge that there are some deep-seated cultural problems that no tips can circumvent and no amount of cheerleading can fix.

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