THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Big Easy! (Applause.) Everybody, give it up for Nancy for thatgreat introduction. (Applause.) It is good to be back in New Orleans. This is what passes forwinter here in New Orleans, huh? (Laughter.) Folks got all their coats on and all that. Come on.You need to go to Chicago to know what it’s like to be cold.
It is great to be here. It is especially happy for my staff. They love coming to New Orleans.But we did schedule the event early because Ifigure there’s a limit to how much trouble theycould get into. (Laughter.) They can’t get over to Bourbon Street fast enough if we did adaytimeevent. And I know that there areprobably a couple of my staff that are LSU fans. Iwouldn’t mind staying for the game tomorrownight. I know we’ve got the presidenthere -- I justsaw him a minute ago and I wished him all the best.
I also want to acknowledge acouple of other people who are here. You’vegot your Governor-- Bobby Jindal is here. (Applause.) We’ve got theSecretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx,who is here. (Applause.) We have Cedric Richmond, your outstanding Congressman. (Applause.) Cedric then brought down a whole bunch of his colleagues from theCongressionalBlack Caucus for some important work that they’re doing -- notthat they’re going to enjoythemselves at all while they’re here. (Laughter.) But we are thrilled to see them all here.
You have one of the best mayorsin the country in Mitch Landrieu. (Applause.) And I justflew downwith your Senator, who, by coincidence, has the same name -- Mary Landrieu. (Applause.) She’s traveling around the state today and doing unbelievable work on behalfof thepeople of Louisiana. And I justwant to say nobody is a tougher advocate on behalf of theworking people ofLouisiana than Mary Landrieu. So we’revery, very proud of the work that shedoes. (Applause.)
Finally, I want to thank Mr. GaryLaGrange, Keith Palmisano, and Chris Hammond. Theyshowed me around the port. (Applause.) And this is one ofthe -- by the way, anybody who’s gota seat, feel free. I noticed that a few folks are standingup. If you don’t have a seat then keeponstanding. I don’t want you hurtingyourself.
This is one of the busiest portcomplexes in the entire world. You movemillions of tons ofsteel and chemicals and fuel and food every singleyear. I just found out you also handle alot ofthe country’s coffee, which means you’re responsible for keeping theWhite House awake at alltimes. (Applause.) Got some coffee folkshere.
And, in so many ways, this portis representative of what ports all around the country do:They help to keep our economy going -- movingproducts, moving people, making sure thatbusinesses are working. You’ve got corn and wheat that’s coming downfrom my home state ofIllinois down the river, ending up here, and then goingall around the world. And it’s part ofthereason why we’ve been able to increase exports so rapidly, is because we’vegot some of the bestnatural resources and waterways and facilities in theworld.
Now, growing our economy,creating new jobs, helping middle-class families regain a senseof stabilityand security so they can find good jobs and make sure that their kids are doingevenbetter than they did -- that’s always been what America is about, but fortoo many people, thatsense that you can make it here if you try, that sensehas been slipping away. And mydrivingfocus has been to restore that sense of security, and it should be Washington’sfocus,regardless of party. That’s whateverybody in Washington should be thinking about every day.
So today, I want to just offer acouple of ideas about what we could do right now togetherthat would help oureconomy -- right now. Now, the good newsis, over the past 44 months ourbusinesses have created 7.8 million newjobs. Since I took office, we’ve cut thedeficits in half. (Applause.) That’s right. By the way, you wouldn’t know this sometimes listening to folks onTV,but the deficits are going down, they’re not going up. They’ve been cut in half. (Applause.)And they keep on going down.
Over the past three years, healthcare costs have risen at the slowest pace on record.Exports are up. The housing market is up. The American auto industry is roaring back. So we’vegot a lot of good things to buildon, but we’ve got a lot more work to do. And what we shouldstart doing, the first thing we should do is stopdoing things that undermine our businessesand our economy over the past fewyears -- this constant cycle of manufactured crises and self-inflicted woundsthat have been coming out of Washington.
For example, we learned yesterdaythat over the summer, our economy grew at its fastestpace in a year. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the very day that theeconomicquarter ended, some folks in Washington decided to shut down thegovernment and threatenedto default on America’s obligations for the firsttime in more than 200 years. And it’slike thegears of our economy, every time they are just about to take off,suddenly somebody taps thebrakes and says, “Not so fast.”
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Tell it! (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Now, our businesses are resilient. We’ve got great workers. And so, asa consequence, we added about200,000 new jobs last month. But there’sno question that theshutdown harmed our jobs market. The unemployment rate still ticked up. And we don’t yetknow all the data for thisfinal quarter of the year, but it could be down because of whathappened inWashington. Now, that makes nosense. These self-inflicted wounds don’thave tohappen. They should not happenagain.
We should not be injuringourselves every few months -- we should be investing inourselves. We should be building, not tearing thingsdown. Rather than refighting the sameoldbattles again and again and again, we should be fighting to make sureeverybody who workshard in America and hard right here in New Orleans, thatthey have a chance to get ahead.That’swhat we should be focused on. (Applause.)
Which brings me to one of thereasons I’m here at this port. One ofthe things we should befocused on is helping more businesses sell moreproducts to the rest of the world. Andthe onlyway those products get out is through facilities like this. Right now, exports are one of thebrightestspots in our economy. Thanks in part tonew trade deals that we signed with countrieslike Panama and Colombia andSouth Korea, we now export more goods and services than everbefore. And that means jobs right here in the UnitedStates of America.
Last year, every $1 billion inexports supports nearly 5,000 jobs, including jobs right here atthis port. So we’re working on new trade deals that willmean more jobs for our workers, andmore business for ports like this one.
And, by the way, when I travelaround the world, I’m out there selling. I’ll go anywhere inthe world to make sure that those products stampedwith those words, “Made in America,” thatwe can open up those markets and sellthem anywhere. (Applause.)
So helping American businessesgrow; creating more jobs -- these are not Democratic orRepublicanpriorities. They are priorities thateverybody, regardless of party, should be able toget behind. And that’s why, in addition to working withCongress to grow our exports, I’ve putforward additional ideas where I believeDemocrats and Republicans can join together to makeprogress right now.
Number one, Congress needs topass a farm bill that helps rural communities grow andprotects vulnerableAmericans. For decades, Congress found away to compromise and passfarm bills without fuss. For some reason, now Congress can’t even getthat done. Now, this isnot somethingthat just benefits farmers. Ports likethis one depend on all the products comingdown the Mississippi. So let’s do the right thing, pass a farmbill. We can start sellingmoreproducts. That’s more business for thisport. And that means more jobs righthere. (Applause.)
Number two, we should fix ourbroken immigration system. (Applause.) This would begoodfor our national security, but it would also be good for our economic security. Over thenext two decades, it would grow oureconomy by $1.4 trillion. It wouldshrink our deficits bynearly a trillion dollars. This should not be a partisan issue. President Bush proposed the broadoutlines ofcommon-sense immigration reform almost a decade ago. When I was in the Senate,I joined 23 of myRepublican colleagues to back those reforms. This year, the Senate has alreadypassed a bill with broad bipartisansupport.
So all we’re doing now is waitingfor the House to act. I don’t know whatthe holdup is. But ifthere’s a goodreason not to do it, I haven’t heard it. There’s no reason both parties can’t cometogether and get this donethis year. Get it done this year. (Applause.)
Number three, Democrats andRepublicans should work together on a responsible budgetthat sets America on astronger course for the future. Weshouldn’t get caught up in the sameold fights. And we shouldn’t just cut things just for the sake of cuttingthings. Remember, Iwant to remind you-- what’s happening in the deficits? They’re going down. They’reshrinking.They’re falling faster thanthey have in 60 years.
So what we have to do now is dowhat America has always done: Make somewiseinvestments in our people and in our country that will help us grow overthe long term. Weshould close wastefultax loopholes that don’t help our jobs, don’t grow our economy, and theninvestthat money in things that actually do create jobs and grow our economy. And one of thosethings is building new roadsand bridges and schools and ports. Thatcreates jobs. (Applause.) Itputs people to work during theconstruction phase. And then it createsan infrastructure for oureconomy to succeed moving forward.
Educating our kids, training ourworkers so they’re prepared for the global economy -- thathelps us grow. We should be investing in that. And Mayor Landrieu has been doing a great jobinimproving education here in New Orleans. (Applause.)
Investing in science and research and technology -- that keeps ourbusinesses and ourmilitary at our cutting edge. That’s the kind of investment we should bemaking.
I mean, think about ourinfrastructure. In today’s globaleconomy, businesses are going totake root and grow wherever there’s thefastest, most reliable transportation andcommunications networks -- they cango anywhere. So China is investing a lotin infrastructure.Europe is investing awhole lot in infrastructure. And Brazilis investing a whole lot ininfrastructure. What are we doing?
We’re doing some good thingslocally here. The state and city aretrying to do some work,but nationally we’re falling behind. We’re relying on old stuff. I don’t think we should have justoldstuff. We should have some new stuffthat is going to help us grow and keep pace withglobal competition.
Rebuilding our transportation andcommunications networks is one of the fastest ways tocreate good jobs. And consider that just a couple of years fromnow, we’re going to have newsupertankers that are going to start comingthrough the Panama Canal, and these tankers canhold three times as much cargoas today’s. If a port can’t handle thosesupertankers, they’ll goload and unload cargo somewhere else. So there’s work that we can start doing interms ofdredging and making the passageways deeper, which means thesupertankers can have morestuff on them, which means they can unload and loadmore stuff, which makes this port morecompetitive.
So why wouldn’t we put people towork upgrading them? (Applause.) Why wouldn’t we dothat? It’s not just our ports either. One in nine of our bridges is ratedstructurally deficient.More than 40percent of our major highways are congested; so is our airspace. Everybody who’ssitting on a tarmac wonderingwhy it is that you’re not taking off, and getting aggravated whenyou go flysomeplace, part of the reason is we’ve got this antiquated air traffic controlsystem.We need the next generation airtraffic control system. It would reducetime travel; it wouldreduce delays. Itreduces fuel costs for airlines. Itreduces pollution in the sky. We knowhow todo it, we just haven’t done it.
That shouldn’t be a Democratic ora Republican issue. That’s just smart togo ahead and doit. Something thatpeople across the political spectrum shouldbe able to agree on. Now, here’sthething: All these opportunities andchallenges, they’re not going to magically fix themselves.We’ve got to do it. And anybody who says we can’t afford to payfor these things needs to realizewe’re already paying for them.
I’ll give you an example. A lot of trucking companies now reroute theirshipments to avoidtraffic and unsafe bridges. So they’re going longer than they need to; that costs them money.So you’re paying for it. Those costs then get passed on toconsumers. Or it means companiesaren’tmaking as much of a profit and maybe they’ve got fewer employees. So directly orindirectly, we’re paying forit. And the longer we delay, the more we’llpay.
But the sooner we take care ofbusiness, the better. And I know that ifthere’s one thing thatmembers of Congress from both parties want, it’s smartinfrastructure projects that create goodjobs in their districts.
That’s why, last year, I took thestep without Congress to speed up the permitting processfor big infrastructureprojects like upgrading our ports. Justcut through the red tape. Get itdonefaster. This year, rebuilding ourinfrastructure could be part of a bipartisan budget deal. Acouple months ago, I put forward an idea totry to break through some of the old arguments -- agrand bargain formiddle-class jobs. And what I said was,we’ll simplify our corporate taxcode, close some wasteful tax loopholes, endincentives to ship jobs overseas, lower tax rates forbusinesses that createjobs here in the United States, and use some of the money we save byswitchingto a smarter tax system to create good construction jobs building the thingsthat ourbusinesses need right here in America. It’s a pretty sensible deal. (Applause.)
So if we took that step, we couldmodernize our air traffic control system to keep planesrunning on time;modernize our power grids and pipelines so they survive storms; modernizeourschools to prepare our kids for jobs of the future; modernize our ports so theycanaccommodate the new ships.
The point is, rebuilding ourinfrastructure or educating our kids, funding basic research --they are notpartisan issues, they’re American issues. There used to be a broad consensus thatthese things were important toour economy. And we’ve got to get backto that mindset. We’vegot to moveforward on these things together. Itdoesn’t mean that there aren’t going to bedisagreements on a whole bunch ofstuff, but let’s work on the things we agree on.
Now, I’m going to make one lastpoint, one area where we haven’t made much bipartisanprogress -- at least notas much as I’d like -- is fixing our broken health care system. (Applause.)
And I took up this cause knowingit was hard -- there was a reason why no other Presidenthad done it -- to makesure every American has access to quality, affordable health care, andto makesure that no American ever again has to fear one illness is going to bankruptthem. (Applause.)
And the work we’ve already donehas resulted in, over the past three years, health care costsrising at theslowest pace on record. Health carecosts for businesses are growing about one-thirdof the rate they were a decadeago, and we want those trends to continue.
Now, we’ve had this problem withthe website. I’m not happy aboutthat. But we’re workingovertime to makesure that it gets fixed, because right now we’ve put in place a system,amarketplace, where people can get affordable health care plans. I promise you nobody hasbeen more frustrated. I want to go in and fix it myself, but I don’twrite code, so -- (laughter).
But to every American with apreexisting condition who’s been waiting for the day they couldbe covered justlike everybody else, for folks who couldn’t afford to buy their owninsurancebecause they don’t get it on the job, we’re going to fix the website. Because theinsurance plans are there. They are good, and millions of Americans arealready finding thatthey’ll gain better coverage for less cost, and it’s theright thing to do. (Applause.)
Now, I know that’s -- I knowhealth care is controversial, so there’s only going to be somuch support weget on that on a bipartisan basis -- until it’s working really well, andthenthey’re going to stop calling it Obamacare. (Laughter and applause.) They’regoing to callit something else.
One thing, though, I was talkingto your mayor and your governor about, though, is aseparate issue, which isone of the things that the Affordable Care Act does is allow states toexpandMedicaid to cover more of their citizens. (Applause.)
And here in Louisiana, that wouldbenefit about 265,000 people. Andalready you’ve seenstates -- Arkansas has covered -- taken this up, and they’recovering almost 14 percent of theiruninsured. Republican governors in states like Ohio and Nevada, Arizona, they’redoing it, too.Oregon has alreadyreduced the number of uninsured by about 10 percent. And some of thesefolks opposed Obamacare,but they did support helping their citizens who can’t get coverage.
So we want to work with everybody-- mayor, governor, insurance -- whoever it is thatwants to work with us herein Louisiana to make sure that even if you don’t support the overallplan, let’sat least go ahead and make sure that the folks who don’t have health insurancerightnow can get it through an expanded Medicaid. Let’s make sure we do that. (Applause.) It’s theright thing to do.
And one of the reasons to do itis -- I’ve said this before; sometimes people don’t fullyappreciate it -- wealready pay for the health care of people who don’t have health insurance,wejust pay for the most expensive version, which is when they go to the emergencyroom.Because what happens is, thehospitals have to take sick folk. They’renot just going to leavethem on the streets. But people who are sick, they wait until the very last minute. It’s muchmore expensive to treat them. Hospitals have to figure out how to get theirmoney back, whichmeans they jack up costs for everybody who does have healthinsurance by about $1,000 perfamily.
So, as a consequence, whathappens is you’re already paying a hidden tax for a brokenhealth caresystem. Community hospitals struggle tocare for the uninsured who can’t pay theirbills when they get sick. So it’s the right thing to do for the healthof our economies as a whole.It is apractical, pragmatic reason to do it. Ithas nothing to do with politics or ideology. Andthe more states that are working together, Democrats andRepublicans, the better off we’regoing to be.
So the bottom line is, NewOrleans, we can work together to do these things, because we’vedone thembefore. We did not become the greatestnation on Earth just by chance, just byaccident. We had some advantages -- really nice realestate here in the United States. Butwhatwe also had were people who despite their differences -- and we come fromeverywhere and lookdifferent and have different traditions -- we understandthat this country works best when we’reworking together. And we decided to do what was necessary forour businesses and our familiesto succeed. And if we did it in the past, we can do it again.
So let’s make it easier for morebusinesses to expand and grow and sell more goods madein America to the restof the world. Let’s make sure we’ve gotthe best ports and roads andbridges and schools. Let’s make sure our young people are gettinga great education. Let’s giveeverybodya chance to get ahead, not just a few at the top, but everybody -- (applause)--because if we do that, if we help our businesses grow and our communitiesthrive and ourchildren reach a little higher, then the economy is going togrow faster.
We’ll rebuild our middle classstronger. The American Dream will bereal and achievable notjust for a few, but for everybody -- not just today,but for decades to come. That’s whatwe’refighting for. That’s what you’re allabout here at this port and here in New Orleans. And I’mlooking forward to working with youto make sure we keep that up.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless America. (Applause.)
