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Pennsylvania

Latest Pennsylvania News

PA: Rendell may suggest revisions to state sales tax

State officials have been talking for months about a huge, looming financial problem regarding how to pay for increased pensions of retired state employees and public school teachers.

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PA: Rendell declares statewide disaster emergency

Gov. Ed Rendell declared a disaster emergency in Pennsylvania on Saturday as a winter storm brought heavy snow and gusty winds that cut off power to tens of thousands and forced road closures.

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PA: State Dems endorse Specter, can't decide on gubernatorial candidate

LANCASTER, Pa. -- Nine months after becoming a Democrat, Sen. Arlen Specter captured the party's endorsement for re-election.

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PA: Teachers fear cost-cutting measure will hurt their retirements

As an impending spike in required contributions for public school pensions weighs on the minds of school directors, teachers are worried that a move to mitigate the cost to school districts could hurt their retirement.

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PA: Big guns aid Onorato, Corbett gubernatorial campaigns

Labor unions, law firms, at least two out-of-state billionaires and several corporate executives accounted for contributions to the gubernatorial campaigns of Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and state Attorney General Tom Corbett.

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PA: State probes handling of grant

In 2006, a nonprofit called Greene County Industrial Developments Inc. applied for a $500,000 state grant on behalf of a start-up Internet company in Pittsburgh.

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PA: Proposed change in law would benefit those who live in dwellings they don't own

Kenneth Bumbrey was born 55 years ago on the second floor of a house on Adelaide Street where he still lives today.

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PA: Drunk-driving trial for state police officer

A Pennsylvania State Police accident investigator accused of drunken driving had a nearly empty bottle of vodka between his knees when he was found slumped over his car's steering wheel in December, according to court documents.

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US: Unemployment insurance borrowing now greater than during 1980s recession

It's official, recession hounds: The 26 states with insolvent unemployment insurance trust funds have now borrowed more than was borrowed during 1981 and 1982, the last time there was a severe recession in the U.S., and oft-used benchmark for when things are Officially Really Bad.

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US: States try to tax more services as coffers deflate

Will plumbers, lawyers and hot-air balloon operators be forced to pitch in to solve state and local government revenue shortfalls?

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US: With federal stimulus money gone, many schools face budget gaps

Federal stimulus money has helped avoid drastic cuts at public schools in most parts of the nation, at least so far. But with the federal money running out, many of the nation's schools are approaching what officials are calling a "funding cliff."

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WI: Carp talks may miss bigger lake challenge

The focus of Monday's White House Asian carp summit is to stop the giant, ecosystem-ravaging fish from slipping in the Great Lakes' back door - the Chicago canal system that links the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.

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MI: Michigan gubernatorial candidates Hoekstra, Cox have different plans to stop Asian carp from taking over Great Lakes

U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Attorney General Mike Cox have both seized on the the invasive fish Asian carp's proximity to Lake Michigan in the Chicago area as an important Michigan matter.

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IL: Asian carp discussion moves to Washington

A critical week in the battle against Asian carp kicks off Monday when Gov. Pat Quinn plans to meet with governors from Michigan and Wisconsin at the White House to hash out a plan to keep the invasive species out of the Great Lakes.

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Remarks by The President at Democratic National Committee Meeting

Capital Hilton Hotel Washington, D.C. 10:26 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you, DNC.  Everybody have a seat -- have a seat.  Thank you.  Oh, it is good to see you -- good to be among friends so committed to the future of this party and this country that they’re willing to brave a blizzard.  (Laughter.)  Snowmageddon here in D.C.  (Laughter.)  I noticed somebody had “Californians for Obama” and I was thinking -- (applause) -- you guys are not used to this.  (Laughter.) I’ve got some special thanks to the folks here.  First of all I want to thank Eleanor Holmes Norton for fighting the good fight here in the District of Colombia.  (Applause.)  Ray Buckley, Our DNC vice chair from New Hampshire.  (Applause.)   Alice Germond, DNC secretary.  Andy Tobias, DNC treasurer.  Thanks for the great work that you guys do. I want to thank Tim Kaine, who’s not only an outstanding former governor, but an outstanding leader of this party –- (applause) -- busy building the best online and in-field grassroots organization we’ve ever had.  Give Tim Kaine a big round of applause.  (Applause.) And if I'm not mistaken we’ve got a couple of terrific members of Congress here, Mike Honda, congressman and DNC vice chair -- Mike, are you here?  He’s on his way; he’s still shoveling.  (Laughter.)  And how about Barbara Lee, is Barbara here?  Well, we love her anyway.  So give Barbara and Mike a big round of applause.  (Applause.) I want to thank the governors, the legislators, the mayors from across this country for working to move their states and local communities forward in extraordinarily challenging times.  They’ve done heroic work.  I want to thank the DNC members, state party leaders and, most of all, I want to thank the millions of Americans who’ve taken up the cause of change at the grassroots level in all 50 states. Now, Tim alluded to this, but I just want to remind everybody -- we knew from the beginning that this would not be easy.   Change never is.  But that’s especially true in these times, when we face an array of challenges as tough as any we have seen in generations.  President Kennedy once said:  “When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we’d been saying they were.”  (Laughter.)  Truth was things were worse. We took office facing a financial crisis that was something we hadn’t seen since the Great Depression, an economy that we now know was bleeding 750,000 jobs a month, a $1.3 trillion deficit, and two wars that were costly in every sense of the word.  From the specter of terrorism to the impacts of globalization, we face tremendous new challenges in this young century.  And all of this comes on top of one of the toughest decades our middle class had ever faced -- a decade where jobs grew more slowly than during any prior expansion; where the income of the average American household actually declined; where the costs of everything seemed to keep going up. Everything we’ve done over the past year has been not only to right our economy, to break the back of this recession, but also to restore some of the security middle-class families have felt slipping away for over a decade now.  Some of the steps we took were done without the help of the other party, which made a political decision all too often to jump in the backseat, let us do the driving and then critique whether we were taking the right turns.  That's okay.  That's part of what it means to govern. And all the steps we took were necessary.  None of us wanted to throw a lifeline to the banks.  But the outrage shouldn’t be that we did –- because it had to happen in order to prevent millions more from losing their jobs, millions of businesses and homes foreclosed.  The real outrage is that we had to do it in the first place in order to fend off the collapse of the financial system.  That's the outrage.  (Applause.) Then we passed almost $300 billion in tax relief -- tax cuts for small businesses; tax cuts for 95 percent of working Americans.  We put Americans to work building the infrastructure of tomorrow -- doing the work America needs done.  We passed a Credit Card Bill of Rights to protect consumers from getting ripped off by credit card companies.  (Applause.)   We put the law behind the principle of equal pay for equal work.  (Applause.)  We extended the promise of health care to 4 million more children of working families, we protected every child from being targeted from tobacco companies.  (Applause.) We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy –- (applause) -- that gives young folks and old folks new ways to give back to their communities.  We appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.  (Applause.)  And we’ve begun working with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country that they love because of who they are.  (Applause.) Overseas -- overseas we’ve begun a new era of engagement.  We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world free of nuclear weapons.  We banned torture.  We have begun to leave Iraq to its own people.  We’ve charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and made good progress in taking the fight to al Qaeda across the globe.  I went to Cairo on behalf of America to begin a new dialogue with the Muslim world.  And we are living up to a moment that demands American leadership by standing side-by-side with the people of Haiti.  (Applause.) So if you look at a tally of the things we said we would do –- even in the midst of this extraordinarily challenging economy –- we’ve kept our promises.  We’ve kept our commitments.  We have moved forward on behalf of a more prosperous and more secure future for the American people. But for all our efforts, we have to acknowledge change can’t come fast enough for many Americans.  In recent weeks, I’ve visited Allentown, Pennsylvania; Elyria, Ohio; Tampa, Florida; Nashua, New Hampshire; talking with workers in factories, and families in diners.  And they want to know, how are they going to find a job when they only know one trade in their life.  Or how are they going to afford to send their kids to college.  How are they going to pay their medical bills when they get sick.  How can they retire with their 401(k) so banged up.  And most of all, they’re wondering if anyone can or will do anything about it -- especially here in Washington. Now, I understand their frustration –- you understand it as well.  I was talking to Michelle the other day –- Michelle is always a good barometer –- and, you know, the front page was, oh, what’s Obama going to do to get his poll numbers up, and, are the Democrats all in a tizzy and this and that.  And she said, you know, listen, if you're the average family, if I'm a mom out there and I'm working and my husband is working but we’re worried about losing our jobs, our hours have been cut back, the cost of our health care premium just went up 30 percent, the credit card company just jacked up our interest rates 39 percent, and our home value has gone down by $100,000, our 401(k) is all banged up –- and suddenly somebody calls up and says, so, how do you think President Obama is doing right now?  (Laughter.)   What are they going to say?  What are they going to say?  (Applause.) Of course people are frustrated.  And they have every right to be.  And I know that during the course of this gathering, you know, some of the press have been running around, well, what do you think we should be doing and this and that and the other, you know, what’s the strategy. Look, when unemployment is 9.7 percent, when we are still digging ourselves out of an extraordinary recession -– people are going to be frustrated.  And they’re going to be looking to the party in power to try to fix it.  And when you’ve got another party that says, we don’t want to do anything about it –- of course people are going to be frustrated. Folks are out there working hard every day, trying to meet their responsibilities.  But all around them during this last, “lost” decade, what they’ve seen is a wave of irresponsibility from Wall Street to Washington –- they see a capital city where every day is treated like Election Day, and every act, every comment, every gesture passes through a political filter.  They’ve seen the outsized influence of lobbyists and special interests, who too often hijack the agenda by leveraging campaign money and connections.   Of course they wonder if their leaders can muster the will to overcome all of that and confront the real problems that touch their lives. But here's what everybody here has to remember:  That's why I ran for President.  That's why you worked so hard to elect a Democratic Congress.  (Applause.)  We knew this stuff was tough.  But we stepped up because we decided we were going to take the responsibility of changing it.  And it may not be easy, but change is coming.  (Applause.) I believe so strongly, I believe so strongly if we're going to deal with the great challenges of our time; if we're going to secure a better future just as past generations did for us; then we're going to have to change the prevailing politics in this town, and it's not going to be easy.  We're going to have to care less about scoring points and more about solving problems that are holding us back.  (Applause.)  At this defining moment, that's never been more important. We can continue, for example, to be consumed by the politics of energy.  But we know that the nation that leads the clean energy revolution will lead the 21st century global economy.   We know that a failure to act will put our planet in deeper peril.  We know that China isn't waiting and India isn't waiting and Germany isn't waiting to seize that future.  And America can't afford to wait, either.  (Applause.)  And I don't intend to spend all my time taking polls to figure out whether we're going to seize that future or not. We can continue to spin our wheels with the old education debates; pitting teachers' unions against reformers, and meanwhile our kids keep trailing their counterparts from South Korea to Singapore.  But we know that the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  (Applause.)  We know that kids who are consigned to failing schools today will be condemned to lifetimes of lower wages and unfulfilled dreams.  America can't afford to wait.  And I'm not going to take a poll to figure out whether or not we're going to tackle education. We can continue to allow the same special interests who stacked the deck in favor of financial speculators in the last decade to block reform again in this decade.  But if we've learned anything from the devastating recession, it's that we know that wise regulation actually can enhance the market and make it more stable and make our economy work better.  We can't return to the dereliction of duty that helped deliver this recession.  We know that to do so would be to put at risk our jobs, our families, our businesses, and our future.  America can't afford to wait, and we can't look backwards. And, yes, we could continue to ignore the growing burden of runaway costs of health care.  The easiest thing to do right now would be to just say this is too hard; let's just regroup and lick our wounds and try to hang on.  We've had a long and difficult debate on health care.  And there are some, maybe even the majority in this town, who say perhaps it's time to walk away. But here's the thing, Democrats.  If we walk away, we know what will happen.  We know that premiums and out-of-pocket expenses will skyrocket this decade, and the decade after that, and the decade after that, just as they did in the past decade.  More small businesses will be priced out of coverage; more big businesses will be unable to compete internationally; more workers will take home less pay and fewer raises.  We know that millions more Americans will lose their coverage; we know that our deficits will inexorably continue to grow because health care costs are the single biggest driver. So just in case there's any confusion out there, let me be clear.  I am not going to walk away from health insurance reform.  (Applause.)  I'm not going to walk away from the American people.  I'm not going to walk away on this challenge.  I'm not going to walk away on any challenge.  We're moving forward.  (Applause.)  We are moving forward.  (Applause.)  Sometimes – sometimes we may be moving forward against the prevailing winds.  Sometimes it may be against a blizzard.  (Laughter.)  But we're going to live up to our responsibility to lead. And I'm confident that if we stay steady, if we stay focused on all the people that we meet each and every day who are out there struggling, if we’ve got them in mind and we are working to deliver on their behalf, that in the end that'll be good politics as well as good policy.  It'll be good for America, not just good for Democrats. But in order to get any of these battles done, we're going to have to change the way that Washington works.   Now, we may not get a lot of attention for it, but we've actually already begun to do that.  We've reined in the power of the special interests with the toughest ethics and transparency rules of any administration in the modern era.  We're the first White House ever to post our visitors online.  We've excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.  I've called on Congress to make all earmark requests public on one central website before they come up for a vote so that you know how the money is spent.  We have -- we're going to have to confront the gaping loophole that the Supreme Court recently opened in our campaign finance laws –- (applause) --that allows special interests to spend without limit to influence American elections. We also said that as we worked to change the ways of Washington, we'd also change the way we do things as a party.  This committee is the first to ban contributions from political action committees and lobbyists.  And I'm pleased to see the recommendations submitted by the Change Commission aimed at improving our nominating process -- because I believe that the more Americans that get involved in this party, the stronger this party will be.  (Applause.) And, yes, we need to change the way we work with the other party as well.  Now, I'm proud to be a Democrat.  I'm proud to be a leader of this great party.  But I also know that we can't solve all of our problems alone.  So we need to extend our hands to the other side -- we've been working on it -- (laughter) -- because if we're going to change the ways of Washington, we're going to have to change its tone. Now, as a step in that direction, I went and visited with the House Republican Caucus last Friday.  (Laughter and applause.)  And we had a good –- we had a good discussion about the challenges -- we had a good discussion about the challenges facing the American people and our ideas to solve them.  It was good for the country to see a robust debate.  I had fun.  (Laughter.) And we have to acknowledge there are going to be some issues that Democrats and Republicans just don't see eye to eye on, and that's how it should be.  That's how our democracy works.  But there have to be some issues on which we can find some common ground.  It's one thing to disagree out of principle; it's another to simply stand in the way because of politics. Now is not the time for sitting on the sidelines, or blocking progress, or pointing figures, or assigning blame.  Now is not the time to do just what's right for your party or your poll numbers.  Now is the time to do what's right for the country.  Now is the time to do what's necessary to see us through these difficult times.  Now is the time to do everything in our power to keep the American Dream alive for the next generation. And that's our mission, Democrats. I know we've gone through a tough year.  But we've gone through tougher years.  We're the party of Thomas Jefferson, who declared that all men are created equal.  And we had to work long and hard to ensure that those words meant something. We're the party of Franklin Roosevelt, who, in the midst of depression, said all we had to fear was fear itself; who saved freedom and democracy from being extinguished here on Earth.  And that was hard because the natural impulse was to fear.  But we as a party helped to lead the country out of that fear. We're the party of John F. Kennedy, who summoned us to serve; who called us to pay any price and bear any burden. And we're the party of Edward M. Kennedy, whose cause endures; who said that here, in the United States of America, the promise of health care should not be a privilege, but a fundamental right. That is who we are, Democrats.  (Applause.)  That's who we've got to be today.  For all the stories we've heard, after all the campaigns we've waged, after all the promises we've made, this is our best chance to deliver change that the American people need.  (Applause.) And if we do that -- if we speak to the hopes of the American people instead of their fears; if we inspire them instead of divide them; if we respond to their challenges with the same sense of urgency they feel in their own lives -- we're not just going to win elections -- elections will take care of themselves -- we will once again be the party that turns around the economy and moves this country forward, and secures the American Dream for another generation.  (Applause.) Thanks very much, everybody.  God bless you.  (Applause.) END 10:48 A.M. EST

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Remarks by the President at DNC Fundraising Dinner

February 4, 2010 8:05 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Please, everybody, have a seat.  Especially Tom McMullen and Dikembe Mutombo.  (Laughter.) Every time I stand next to them I look like a little kid.  (Laughter.) I want to thank three people who are just extraordinarily important to the project of rebuilding our country and have just been great friends of mine, great friends of the Democratic Party.  You already heard from one -- please give it up for Governor Tim Kaine.  (Applause.)  Our DNC finance chair, Jane Stetson, who's racking up a lot of frequent flier miles.  (Applause.)  And Andy Tobias, our DNC treasurer -- hey, Andy.  (Applause.)   It is great to see all of you here tonight, wonderful to see so many good friends, many of you who were there from the beginning of this campaign.  And I want you to all know that I appreciate everything that you've done -- not just for the campaign, but also what you've done for the country and what you've done for the party. Many of you were invested in this campaign at the very beginning when nobody could pronounce my name.  (Laughter.)  And you’d tell your friends, there's this young guy, I really think he's got something.  "What's his name?"  Barack Obama?  (Laughter.)  Yeah.  So you had to confront a lot of skepticism, a lot of confusion.  Some of you were involved in a campaign for the first time, and some of you got involved for the very first time in a very long time -– because you believed that we were in a defining moment in our history and that your voice could make a difference. Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about all the time and the energy, the money, the commitment, the unyielding faith that you put into our campaign -- because it wasn’t just about winning an election; it was about changing a country. Last year, we asked you to take on something new.  We asked you to help us keep the promises that we made in the campaign -- help to bring about the changes that we had talked about together.  And a lot of you have worked hard to do that.  You've continued to be engaged in education policy, in foreign policy, and helping us at a grassroots level, and continuing to finance our ability to get our message out.  And it matters.  It's made the successes of the last year possible.  Sometimes I think we got so many things done so quick that people forgot.  But let's just think about this.  We upheld the principle of equal pay for equal work.  (Applause.)  We lifted the ban on stem cell research and restored science to its rightful place in America.  (Applause.)  We provided health care to 4 million children who now have it who didn’t have it before. (Applause.)  We passed the strongest veterans budget in decades. We protected families from getting ripped off by credit card companies, and children from being targeted by big tobacco, and helped consumers deal with the twin plagues of mortgage fraud and predatory lending.  We appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.  (Applause.)  We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy that’s giving young and old a chance to serve their country and their communities.  (Applause.)  We're working with Congress to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.  (Applause.) Oh, and by the way, and in the meantime, we prevented the worst financial crisis from getting even worse -- (applause) -- turned the economy from contraction to expansion; made the largest investment in clean energy in history; the largest investment in education in decades.  (Applause.)  Expanded the Pell Grant program; dealt with a H1N1 virus on the side.   That’s what your support has helped us do at home.  Abroad, we’ve begun a new era of engagement.  We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, seeking a world free of them.  We’re working with other nations to confront climate change.  We are now a leader and not a follower in that critical mission.  (Applause.)  We banned torture.  We’re rebuilding our military.  We're reaffirming our alliances.  We've begun to leave Iraq to its own people, as I committed to doing in the campaign.  (Applause.)  And we’ve charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  We’re making progress every single day in taking the fight to al Qaeda and across the globe.  And I went to Cairo on behalf of the American people to begin a new dialogue with the Muslim world.  (Applause.)  We're living up to our obligations as a wealthy nation, helping to promote food security around the world, helping to deal with diseases around the world.  We're living up to a moment that demands American leadership by standing with the people of Haiti as we speak.  (Applause.) So in ways large and small, we've begun to deliver on the change that we talked about, the change that you believed in and that you campaigned hard for.  But the reason that you and I are here tonight is because we're not done.  We've got a lot more work to do. As I said, the day we took office we confronted a financial system on the verge of collapse; we were losing 700,000 jobs per month; a $1.3 trillion deficit; two wars that, frankly, had not been paid for and were costly in every sense of the word.  A lot of the solutions we proposed, the decisions we took, they weren’t quick, they weren’t easy, and they weren’t popular.  But we decided we were going to go govern.  We were going to put politicking on hold to get this country out of the mess it was in.   I mentioned this to a group I spoke to earlier.  You know, pundits act surprised about the fact that we spent so much political capital.  Well, you know, I didn't get elected to play it safe.  And I didn't govern, and I don't govern by checking the polls every few days.  I know that's the habit in Washington, but that's not the obligation I owe the American people; that's not the promise I made to you.  And because we took bold and swift and coordinated action, we can stand here today and say we averted another depression.  We broke the back of the recession. The economy is growing again.  So the worst of the storm has passed.  But, as all of you know, the devastation remains.  We've got 10 percent unemployment.  Many of you watching at home, as you go around the country and your individual communities, you see the stores shuttered and the foreclosed businesses; friends and neighbors, family members who still can’t find work.  This is on top of a decade that had been tough for middle-class families all across the country.  They hadn't seen their incomes go up in years.  Their costs skyrocketing at the same time as their wages were stagnant.  For two years I heard stories, all across the country, everywhere I go.  I heard stories about people trying their best to hold on; a family sitting around the kitchen table wondering if they were going to be able to retire on schedule; if they were going to be able to finance a college education for their kids; wondering when would health care costs stop climbing, when would their premiums start stabilizing.  People started expressing doubts about whether the dream that generations built and defended -- the American Dream -- was slipping away. That's the reason I ran for President.  That's the reason you supported me.  And that's why we are going to continue to do everything we can to create an economy that hasn’t just recovered back to the status quo, but an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded; and where businesses are hiring and wages are rising; and where our middle class is getting stronger and more secure. Now, our most urgent task is job creation –- that was our number-one priority last year and our number-one priority this year.  And the first task was to make sure the economy is growing.  It is growing.  But we've got to do more.  So we're going to give tax breaks and loans to small businesses to help them hire new workers, and raise wages, and invest in new plants and equipment.  We’re going to put even more Americans to work on clean energy facilities and upgrading our infrastructure to meet the challenges of the 21st century.  We’re going to create incentives for consumers to make their homes more energy-efficient, creating jobs and saving families money.  And we're going to look at our tax code, because it's time we ended practices like giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas instead of investing in companies that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America. But the truth is, these steps alone won’t make up for 7 million jobs that have been lost over the last two years.  They're not going to, alone, provide the economic security that's been dwindling for middle-class families over the last decade.  The only way we do that is to lay a strong foundation for growth, over the long term.  And the things that we talked about during the campaign are the things that still need to be done.  They've been put off by Washington for too long. And this is where change gets hard.  Change is easy if you're just talking about tinkering around the edges.  Change is harder when you actually dig in and try to deal with the structural problems that have impeded our progress for too long. This is where we run headlong into the lobbyists and the special interests, and the bitterness and misinformation that characterizes so much of our politics -- which means that some of you may be feeling discouraged, because it feels like things have taken longer than you might have expected. Well, don’t be discouraged.  I'm not discouraged.  I knew this was going to take a long time, but I knew the fight was worth it.  And we've got to keep up on this fight.  The forces of the status quo, they may not give an inch, but I don't give an inch either.  And you shouldn't give an inch either.  (Applause.) We didn’t come this far to put things off, or to play it safe, or to take the easy road.  That wasn’t why we were elected.  We came here to solve problems -- for the next generation, not for the next election. That means opening up this government to the people.  That's why we post all our visitors online.  That's why we've excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs and seats on boards and commissions.  That's why I’ve called on Congress to put their earmark online so everybody can see what's going on.  That's part of the change that we promised.  We've got to change the tone of government and politics here in Washington and all across America.  I'm not going to give up on that either.  You know, the American people are right to be frustrated about a Washington where every day is Election Day -- and the basic theory is, "If you lose I win."  Where we're not measuring success by what we're doing for the American people, but how we look in the latest Gallup.  No wonder people are frustrated.  That’s why I went to the House Republican caucus the other day.  We had a good discussion -- (laughter) -- about the challenges that are facing the American people, our ideas to solve them.  That was good for the country.  It's good for our democracy.  I had fun.  Now, there are some issues that Democrats and Republicans aren’t going to agree on, and that’s okay.  Vigorous debate is healthy.  We’re going to tussle from time to time.  And you know what -- there may be some issues that we do agree on, or at least we say we agree on.  And we have to test whether or not people are serious.  So I told my Republican friends I want to work together with them where I can -- and I meant it.  Because I don't want to just score political points.  I've got time to campaign down the road.  In the meantime, there's a lot of work that we've got to get done together.  And we can get a lot done together.  And I told then I will also call them out if they say they want to work on something and then when I offer a hand I get nothing in return.  The American people have to understand that. The old playbook of just blocking everything -- I understand that's easier than actually doing something, and sometimes it may be more politically effective.  But that's not what's going to move our country forward. That’s why I’m here.  That’s why you joined our campaign.  That’s what you’ve helped deliver over the last year.  That’s why I need your help now.  That's why Tim and everybody in the party needs your help now.  Because you know as well as anyone that change doesn’t come without a fight.  We’ve got some fights to wage.  We've got some fights to make sure that we're sparking innovation and igniting a clean energy sector where American workers are making solar panels and wind towers and cutting-edge batteries for the new plug-in hybrid, that leads on clean energy  -- because the economy that leads on clean energy I believe is going to lead the global economy.  And I want America to be that nation.  (Applause.) We’re going to keep fighting to make sure that America has the best education possible for every child.  And we're going to reward success through our Race to the Top program.  We want every child to meet their potential, and that's why we're going to make sure that young people all across America can afford college without going broke.  (Applause.)  That's a priority.  We can do that.  And we can do it this year.   We’re going to keep fighting for common-sense rules of the road for Wall Street.  I want to be clear -- there's a lot of talk about Wall Street, Main Street -- we need a financial sector that works.  That's a priority.  We need businesses that are thriving, and they've got to raise capital; that will help them hire workers.  So there's no separation between our financial system and the real economy.  That's part of what this crisis has reminded us.  But we've got to ensure that our economy isn't brought to its knees by outdated and antiquated financial rules and the irresponsibility of a few. And that's why I expect Democrats and Republicans to want to make sure that we don't find ourselves in this same situation again.  That's why we have to have financial regulatory reform.  And, yes, that is why we're going to fix the health care system  -- (applause) -- a health care system that too often works for insurance companies better than it does for individual Americans. And again, I didn’t take this on because it was easy.  I got David Axelrod -- he does all the polls.  He whispers in my ear, man, this health care thing is hard.  (Laughter.)  I am a amateur historian, so I know that seven Presidents starting with Teddy Roosevelt couldn't get this done.  We understood this was going to be hard.  But I took it on not for its political value; I took it on because families are dealing with skyrocketing premiums and skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs, and insurance companies that routinely deny coverage because of preexisting conditions -– or drop people altogether when they get sick.  We took it on because the costs were killing small businesses, and creating an uneven playing field for our international companies, and it was eating into workers’ take-home pay and canceling raises.  And we took it on because it’s the single best way -- in fact, the only way -- that we are actually going to get control of our federal budget. So when I hear "deficit hawks" out there who say they want to control the federal budget and aren’t willing to do a darn thing about the skyrocketing costs of health care, I get a sense they're not entirely on the level.  Because our proposal for health care reform, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would bring it down by $1 trillion over the next two decades.  And even in Washington that's a lot of money.  (Applause.)  I took it on because every single day, 15,000 Americans join the tens of millions who don’t have health insurance -- and 18 million -- 18,000 Americans die because of the lack of health insurance. That's what we campaigned on.  That's what we're working to get it done -– with Democrats and with independents and with Republicans.  We want to bring down costs and end the worst insurance practices, and finally give every American a chance to have the security of quality, affordable health care. I am not going to walk away from those fights.  And I don't expect you will either.  You've come this far.  The odds were a lot less that I'd ever be standing here than they are that we can solve some of these big problems.  I mean, think about it.  Tim was -- (applause) -- when Tim endorsed me in Richmond, first endorsement I got outside of Illinois of any elected official -- here he is, newly minted governor for the Commonwealth of Virginia -- there was one thing that was clear, and that is he was term-limited.  (Laughter.) But don't you guys -- you remember this.  Nobody gave us a chance.  This campaign was declared dead -- what -- 10 times.  (Laughter.)  You know, the same folks who are now writing about what next, and what's happened to the Obama -- these are the same folks who were writing about how he doesn’t stand a chance; how after New Hampshire, that was it.  After Pennsylvania, that was it.  Right?  We went through this.  And they were saying your faith was misplaced and you set your sights to high, and your hope is naïve, and Washington won't change.  And now all of them are feeling like, see, we told you, Washington doesn’t change.  And they're feeling kind of self-satisfied about the fact that we haven’t yet gotten health care done. Well, let me tell you something.  You didn’t listen to those voices then.  Your voice proved them wrong.  You proved that nothing can stop the power of millions of people who want to see an America that's living up to its values and its ideals.  That’s what you did.  And that’s what I’m asking you to do again.  (Applause.) This is an extraordinary moment.  I want to remind you we don't quit.  And I don't quit.  (Applause.)  And we are going to bring about the changes that you believe in and I believe in, and that ultimately will help our children and grandchildren believe as they grow up -- an America in which everybody has got a decent shot at life; in which we're leading in innovation; in which we're proud of our foreign policy. That's what we were fighting for then.  That's what we're fighting for now.  We’ve taken some good steps.  We got many miles to go on this journey.  I hope you join me. Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  (Applause.) END 8:27 P.M. EST

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