President Obama's Weekly Address (10/23/10)

President says Republicans would repeal Wall Street and Consumer Reforms

Less than two weeks before the 2010 elections President Obama warned that, if elected to power, Republicans would repeal certain laws focused on consumer protection and Wall Street Reform. Once again, the President used his weekly address to argue that we can't afford to take a step backward:

"Recently, one of the Republican leaders in the Senate said that, if Republicans take charge of Congress, repeal would be one of the first orders of business. And he joins the top Republican in the House, who actually called for the law to be repealed even before it passed.

I think that would be a terrible mistake. Our economy depends on a financial system in which everyone competes on a level playing field and everyone is held to the same rules - whether you're a big bank, a small business owner, or a family looking to buy a house or open a credit card. And as we saw, without sound oversight and common sense protections for consumers, the whole economy is put in jeopardy. That doesn't serve Main Street, that doesn't serve Wall Street; that doesn't serve anyone.

And that's why I think it's so important that we not take this country backward - that we don't go back to the broken system we had before. We've got to keep moving forward."

As for the threat to repeal Wall Street Reform, the President may have been referring to a PBS NewsHour interview done by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in late September of this year. Here is a video of that interview (question on repeal at around the 7 minute mark):



You can read the accompanying article at PBS' The Rundown here.

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine responded to Senator Cornyn shortly thereafter.

via PRNewswire-USNewswire:

"Yesterday, in an interview with the PBS News Hour, Senator John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, declared his party's intent to "pretty quickly" undertake efforts to repeal Wall Street reform and health insurance reform if they win control of Congress. In response, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement:

'Senator Cornyn is not the first Republican to call for the repeal of Wall Street reform and health insurance reform, but I grow more concerned for our country's future every time I hear another Republican leader pledging to do away with critical legislation that guarantees, among other things, that American taxpayers will never again be left to bail big banks out of a mess that the banks created.

There is a rapidly growing rank of Republicans who show themselves to be hopelessly out of touch with middle-class Americans' concerns – for their families, their finances, and their future.'" (SOURCE Democratic National Committee)

You can read the rest of that statement here.

President Obama's Weekly Address:

Read more »

President Obama's Weekly Address (10/16/10)

President draws contrast with Republicans on jobs at home vs. overseas

President Obama used this week's address to draw a sharp contrast between his policies and those of the Republicans on corporate tax breaks. President Obama argued that tax breaks should be directed at driving job growth here at home rather than encouraging companies to create jobs overseas. However, President Obama warned that Republicans have a history of supporting the opposite by voting for tax breaks that encourage companies to create jobs out of the country:

"Over the last four years alone, Republicans in the House voted eleven times to continue rewarding corporations that create jobs and profits overseas - a policy that costs tax payers billions of dollars every year. That doesn't make a lot of sense. It doesn't make sense for American workers, American businesses, or America's economy."

In contrast, the President offered the recent Jobs Bill as a better fit for our economy:

"It eliminated the capital gains taxes for key investments in small businesses. It increased the deduction to defray the cost of starting a company. And it's freeing up credit for folks who need it. In fact, in just the first two weeks since i signed the bill, thousands of business owners have been able to get new loans through the SBA."

In addition to the recently passed Jobs Bill, the President explained that he wants to close the tax loopholes that support businesses that create jobs overseas instead of here in the United States. Instead, as an attempt to spur job growth at home, the President wants to give businesses a tax break that would allow them to write off all new equipment that they purchase next year. President Obama also stated that he wants to make the Research and Experimentation tax credit permanent as well as give a tax cut for clean energy manufacturing that takes place in this country.

The President's Weekly Address:

Read more »

President Obama's Weekly Address (10/9/10)

The President: Strengthening education, an "economic imperative"

President Obama addressed the issue of education this week, tying it to the country's economic prospects as Americans fight for jobs in an increasingly global economy:

"At a time when most of the new jobs being created will require some kind of higher education; when countries that out-educate us today will outcompete us tomorrow, giving our kids the best education possible is an economic imperative."

The President listed several initiatives such as Skills for America's Future, eliminating the middle-man of subsidies to banks for student loans, and America's Race to the Top program. However, President Obama also argued that Republicans in Congress would have cut education by 20%:

"And yet, if Republicans in Congress had their way, we'd have had a harder time meeting that goal. We'd have had a harder time offering our kids the best education possible. Because they'd have cut education by 20% - cuts that would reduce financial aid for eight million students; cuts that would leave our great and undervalued community colleges without the resources they need to prepare our graduates for the jobs of the future."

Though he acknowledged the need to make tough decisions regarding our national deficit, the President argued that such concerns should not be used as an excuse to cut funding for education:

"Now, it's true that when it comes to our budget, we have real challenges to meet. And if we're serious about getting our fiscal house in order, we'll need to make some tough choices. I'm prepared to make those choices. But what I'm not prepared to do is to shortchange our children's education. What I'm not prepared to do is undercut their economic future, your economic future, or the economic future of the United States of America. Nothing would be more detrimental to our prospects for success than cutting back on education. It would consign America to second place in our fiercely competitive global economy. But China and India aren't playing for second. South Korea and Germany - they aren't playing for second. They're playing for first - and so should the United States of America."

President Obama's Weekly Address:

Read more »

President Obama's Weekly Address (10/2/10)

President touts initiatives on solar power and clean energy

This week, President Obama discussed the importance that solar power and clean energy will have on our economy. Claiming a historic commitment to clean energy, the President outlined a vision where new initiatives can account for hundreds of thousands of jobs by 2012. As the President noted, one such project is already underway:

"For example, I want to share with you one new development, made possible by the clean energy incentives that we've launched. This month, in the Mojave Desert, a company called BrightSource plans to break ground on a revolutionary new type of solar power plant. It's going to put about a thousand people to work building a state-of-the-art facility. And when it's complete, it will turn sunlight into the energy that will power up to 140,000 homes - the largest such plant in the world. Not in China. Not in India. But in California. With projects like this one, and others across this country, we are staking our claim to continued leadership in the new global economy."

President Obama also tied this issue to the upcoming November elections, warning that a Republican takeover threatens an end to many of the initiatives that are already set in motion:

"In fact, in the Pledge they recently released, the Republican leadership is promising to scrap all the incentives for clean energy projects, including those currently underway - even with all the jobs and potential that they hold. This doesn't make sense for our economy. It doesn't make sense for Americans who are looking for jobs. And it doesn't make sense for our future. To go backwards and scrap these plans means handing the competitive edge to China and other nations."

And here is President Obama's Weekly Address:

Read more »

President Obama's Weekly Address (9/25/10)

President Obama on Republican policy: "It's an echo of a disastrous decade we can't afford to relive."

Framing this election as a crossroads on the future of our economy, President Obama made sure to list the progress we've already made while still acknowledging that not all news is good news if you are unemployed:

"This week, the economists who officially decide when recessions start and end declared the recession of 2008 to be over. But if you're one of the millions of Americans who lost your home, your job, or your savings as a consequence of the recession, this news is of little comfort or value.

Yes, the economy is growing instead of shrinking, as it was in 2008 and the beginning of 2009. We're gaining private sector jobs each month instead of losing 800,000, as we did the month I took office. But we have to keep pushing to promote growth that will generate the jobs we need, and repair the terrible damage the recession has done."

Read more »

President Obama's Weekly Address (9/18/10)

This election, President warns voters to beware the Republican corporate power grab

The election season is in full swing. And with that comes a host of new political ads to persuade the voter before the midterms. However, there's one big difference between this year and elections past: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50.

Read more »