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President Obama Announces the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget - YouTube
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The President:
Good morning, everybody.
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Please, please have a seat.
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Well, as President, my top
priority is to do everything I
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can to reignite what I consider
to be the true engine of the
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American economy: a rising,
thriving middle class.
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That's what I think
about every day.
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That's the driving force behind
every decision that I make.
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And over the past three years,
our businesses have created
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nearly 6.5 million new jobs.
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But we know we can
help them create more.
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Corporate profits are
at an all-time high.
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But we have to get wages
and incomes rising, as well.
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Our deficits are falling at
the fastest pace in years.
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But we can do more to bring
them down in a balanced and
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responsible way.
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The point is, our economy
is poised for progress --
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as long as Washington
doesn't get in the way.
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Frankly, the American people
deserve better than what we've
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been seeing: a shortsighted,
crisis-driven decision-making,
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like the reckless,
across-the-board spending cuts
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that are already hurting a lot
of communities out there --
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cuts that economists predict
will cost us hundreds of
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thousands of jobs during
the course of this year.
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If we want to keep rebuilding
our economy on a stronger,
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more stable foundation, then
we've got to get smarter about
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our priorities as a nation.
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And that's what the budget
I'm sending to Congress today
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represents -- a fiscally
responsible blueprint for
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middle-class jobs and growth.
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For years, the debate in this
town has raged between reducing
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our deficits at all costs, and
making the investments necessary
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to grow our economy.
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And this budget
answers that argument,
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because we can do both.
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We can grow our economy
and shrink our deficits.
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In fact, as we saw in the 1990s,
nothing shrinks deficits faster
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than a growing economy.
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That's been my goal
since I took office.
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And that should be our
goal going forward.
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At a time when too many
Americans are still looking for
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work, my budget begins by making
targeted investments in areas
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that will create jobs right now,
and prime our economy to keep
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generating good
jobs down the road.
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As I said in my State
of the Union address,
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we should ask ourselves
three questions every day:
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How do we make America
a magnet for new jobs?
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How do we give our workers
the skills they need to
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do those jobs?
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And how do we make sure
that hard work leads to a
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decent living?
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To make America a
magnet for good jobs,
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this budget invests in new
manufacturing hubs to help turn
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regions left behind by
globalization into global
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centers of high-tech jobs.
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We'll spark new American
innovation and industry with
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cutting-edge research like the
initiative I announced to map
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the human brain
and cure disease.
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We'll continue our march towards
energy independence and address
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the threat of climate change.
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And our Rebuild America
Partnership will attract private
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investment to put construction
workers back on the job
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rebuilding our roads, our
bridges and our schools,
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in turn attracting even more new
business to communities across
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the country.
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To help workers earn the skills
they need to fill those jobs,
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we'll work with states to make
high-quality preschool available
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to every child in America.
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And we're going to pay for it
by raising taxes on tobacco
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products that harm
our young people.
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It's the right thing to do.
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(applause)
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We'll reform our high schools
and job training programs to
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equip more Americans with the
skills they need to compete in
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the 21st century economy.
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And we'll help more middle-class
families afford the rising cost
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of college.
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To make sure hard
work is rewarded,
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we'll build new ladders of
opportunity into the middle
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class for anybody who is willing
to work hard to climb them.
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So we'll partner with 20 of our
communities hit hardest by the
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recession to help them improve
housing, and education,
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and business investment.
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And we should make the minimum
wage a wage you can live on --
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because no one who works
full-time should have to raise
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his or her family in poverty.
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(applause)
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My budget also replaces the
foolish across-the-board
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spending cuts that are
already hurting our economy.
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And I have to point out that
many of the same members of
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Congress who supported deep cuts
are now the ones complaining
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about them the loudest as they
hit their own communities.
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Of course, the people I feel for
are the people who are directly
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feeling the pain
of these cuts --
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the people who can
least afford it.
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They're hurting military
communities that have already
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sacrificed enough.
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They're hurting
middle-class families.
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There are children who have had
to enter a lottery to determine
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which of them get to stay
in their Head Start program
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with their friends.
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There are seniors who depend on
programs like Meals on Wheels so
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they can live independently,
but who are seeing their
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services cut.
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That's what this
so-called sequester means.
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Some people may not
have been impacted,
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but there are a lot of folks who
are being increasingly impacted
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all across this country.
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And that's why my budget
replaces these cuts with smarter
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ones, making long-term reforms,
eliminating actual waste and
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programs we don't need anymore.
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So building new
roads and bridges,
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educating our children
from the youngest age,
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helping more families
afford college,
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making sure that hard work pays.
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These are things that
should not be partisan.
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They should not
be controversial.
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We need to make them happen.
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My budget makes these
investments to grow our economy
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and create jobs, and it does
so without adding a dime to
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our deficits.
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Now, on the topic of deficits,
despite all the noise in
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Washington, here's a clear
and unassailable fact:
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our deficits are
already falling.
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Over the past two years, I've
signed legislation that will
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reduce our deficits by
more than $2.5 trillion --
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more than two-thirds of it
through spending cuts and the
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rest through asking the
wealthiest Americans to begin
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paying their fair share.
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That doesn't mean we don't
have more work to do.
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But here's how we
finish the job.
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My budget will reduce our
deficits by nearly another
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$2 trillion, so that all told we
will have surpassed the goal of
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$4 trillion in deficit reduction
that independent economists
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believe we need to
stabilize our finances.
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But it does so in a balanced
and responsible way,
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a way that most
Americans prefer.
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Both parties, for example, agree
that the rising cost of caring
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for an aging generation is the
single biggest driver of our
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long-term deficits.
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And the truth is, for those like
me who deeply believe in our
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social insurance programs, think
it's one of the core things that
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our government needs to do, if
we want to keep Medicare working
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as well as it has, if we want to
preserve the ironclad guarantee
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that Medicare represents, then
we're going to have to make
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some changes.
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But they don't have
to be drastic ones.
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And instead of making
drastic ones later,
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what we should be doing is
making some manageable ones now.
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The reforms I'm proposing will
strengthen Medicare for future
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generations without undermining
that ironclad guarantee that
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Medicare represents.
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We'll reduce our government's
Medicare bills by finding new
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ways to reduce the
cost of health care --
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not by shifting the costs to
seniors or the poor or families
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with disabilities.
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They are reforms that keep
the promise we've made to our
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seniors: basic security that
is rock-solid and dependable,
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and there for you
when you need it.
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That's what my
budget represents.
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My budget does also contain the
compromise I offered Speaker
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Boehner at the end of last year,
including reforms championed by
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Republican leaders in Congress.
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And I don't believe that
all these ideas are optimal,
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but I'm willing to accept them
as part of a compromise --
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if, and only if, they contain
protections for the most
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vulnerable Americans.
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But if we're serious
about deficit reduction,
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then these reforms have to go
hand-in-hand with reforming our
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tax code to make it more
simple and more fair,
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so that the wealthiest
individuals and biggest
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corporations cannot keep taking
advantage of loopholes and
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deductions that most
Americans don't get.
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That's the bottom line.
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If you're serious about
deficit reduction,
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then there's no excuse to
keep these loopholes open.
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They don't serve an
economic purpose.
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They don't grow our economy.
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They don't put
people back to work.
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All they do is to allow folks
who are already well-off and
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well-connected game the system.
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If anyone thinks I'll finish the
job of deficit reduction on the
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backs of middle-class families
or through spending cuts alone
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that actually hurt our
economy short-term,
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they should think again.
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When it comes to
deficit reduction,
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I've already met Republicans
more than halfway.
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So in the coming days and weeks,
I hope that Republicans will
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come forward and demonstrate
that they're really as serious
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about the deficits and
debt as they claim to be.
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So growing our economy, creating
jobs, shrinking our deficits.
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Keeping our promise to the
generation that made us great,
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but also investing in
the next generation --
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the next generation that
will make us even greater.
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These are not conflicting goals.
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We can do them in concert.
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That's what my budget does.
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That's why I'm so grateful for
the great work that Jeff Zients
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and his team have done
in shaping this budget.
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The numbers work.
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There's not a lot of
smoke and mirrors in here.
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And if we can come
together, have a serious,
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reasoned debate -- not
driven by politics --
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and come together around
common sense and compromise,
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then I'm confident we will move
this country forward and leave
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behind something better
for our children.
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That's our task.
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Thank you, God bless you.
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God bless the United
States of America.
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(applause)
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