Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th Congress, as well as your new Speaker, John Boehner. And as we mark this occasion, we're also mindful of the empty chair in this Chamber, and we pray for the health of our colleague and our friend Gabby Giffords. It's no secret that those of us here tonight have had our differences over the last 2 years. The debates have been contentious; we have fought fiercely for our beliefs. And that's a good thing. That's what a robust democracy demands. That's what helps set us apart as a nation. But there's a reason the tragedy in Tucson gave us pause. Amid all the noise and passion and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater, something more consequential than party or political preference. We are part of the American family. We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people, that we share common hopes and a common creed, that the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled. That too is what sets us apart as a nation. Now, by itself, this simple recognition won't usher in a new era of cooperation. What comes of this moment is up to us. What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow. I believe we can, and I believe we must. That's what the people who sent us here expect of us. With their votes, they've determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties. New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together or not at all, for the challenges we face are bigger than party and bigger than politics. At stake right now is not who wins the next election. After all, we just had an election. At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country or somewhere else. It's whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded. It's whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but the light to the world. We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back, corporate profits are up, the economy is growing again. But we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone. We measure progress by the success of our people, by the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer, by the prospects of a small-business owner who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise, by the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our children. That's the project the American people want us to work on--together. Now, we did that in December. Thanks to the tax cuts we passed, Americans' paychecks are a little bigger today. Every business can write off the full cost of new investments that they make this year. And these steps, taken by Democrats and Republicans, will grow the economy and add to the more than 1 million private sector jobs created last year. But we have to do more. These steps we've taken over the last 2 years may have broken the back of this recession, but to win the future, we'll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making. Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You didn't always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you'd have a job for life, with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion. Maybe you'd even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company. That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I've seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories and the vacant storefronts on once busy Main Streets. I've heard it in the frustrations of Americans who've seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear, proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game. They're right. The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work, and do business. Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers can now do the same work with 100. Today, just about any company can set up shop, hire workers, and sell their products wherever there's an Internet connection. Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They're investing in research and new technologies. Just recently, China became the home to the world's largest private solar research facility and the world's fastest computer. So yes, the world is changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn't discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember, for all the hits we've taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world. No workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We're the home to the world's best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth. What's more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea: the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That's why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here. It's why our students don't just memorize equations, but answer questions like: "What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world? What do you want to be when you grow up?" The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can't just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us: "The future is not a gift. It is an achievement." Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice and struggle and meet the demands of a new age. And now it's our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to outinnovate, outeducate, and outbuild the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our Government. That's how our people will prosper. That's how we'll win the future. And tonight I'd like to talk about how we get there. The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn't know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do--what America does better than anyone else--is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We're the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers, of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It is how we make our living. Our free enterprise system is what drives innovation. But because it's not always profitable for companies to invest in basic research, throughout our history, our Government has provided cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need. That's what planted the seeds for the Internet. That's what helped make possible things like computer chips and GPS. Just think of all the good jobs--from manufacturing to retail--that have come from these breakthroughs. Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the Moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets, we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the space race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology, an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people. Already, we're seeing the promise of renewable energy. Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company. After September 11, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon. But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a Government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert's words, "We reinvented ourselves." That's what Americans have done for over 200 years: reinvented ourselves. And to spur on more success stories like the Allen Brothers, we've begun to reinvent our energy policy. We're not just handing out money. We're issuing a challenge. We're telling America's scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we'll fund the Apollo projects of our time. At the California Institute of Technology, they're developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, they're using supercomputers to get a lot more power out of our nuclear facilities. With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for it, I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. [ ] So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's. Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they're selling. So tonight I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: By 2035, 80 percent of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources. Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal, and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all, and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen. Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America's success. But if we want to win the future, if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas, then we also have to win the race to educate our kids. Think about it. Over the next 10 years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education. And yet as many as a quarter of our students aren't even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us, as citizens and as parents, are willing to do what's necessary to give every child a chance to succeed. That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It's family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair. We need to teach them that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline. Our schools share this responsibility. When a child walks into a classroom, it should be a place of high expectations and high performance. But too many schools don't meet this test. That's why instead of just pouring money into a system that's not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. To all 50 States, we said, "If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we'll show you the money." Race to the Top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation. For less than 1 percent of what we spend on education each year, it has led over 40 States to raise their standards for teaching and learning. And these standards were developed, by the way, not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic Governors throughout the country. And Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that's more flexible and focused on what's best for our kids. You see, we know what's possible from our children when reform isn't just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards and communities. Take a school like Bruce Randolph in Denver. Three years ago, it was rated one of the worst schools in Colorado, located on turf between two rival gangs. But last May, 97 percent of the seniors received their diploma. Most will be the first in their families to go to college. And after the first year of the school's transformation, the principal who made it possible wiped away tears when a student said, "Thank you, Ms. Waters, for showing that we are smart and we can make it." That's what good schools can do, and we want good schools all across the country. Let's also remember that after parents, the biggest impact on a child's success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom. In South Korea, teachers are known as nation builders. Here in America, it's time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect. We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones. And over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math. In fact, to every young person listening tonight who's contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our Nation, if you want to make a difference in the life of a child, become a teacher. Your country needs you. Of course, the education race doesn't end with a high school diploma. To compete, higher education must be within the reach of every American. That's why we've ended the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that went to banks and used the savings to make college affordable for millions of students. And this year, I ask Congress to go further and make permanent our tuition tax credit, worth $10,000 for 4 years of college. It's the right thing to do. Because people need to be able to train for new jobs and careers in today's fast-changing economy, we're also revitalizing America's community colleges. Last month, I saw the promise of these schools at Forsyth Tech in North Carolina. Many of the students there used to work in the surrounding factories that have since left town. One mother of two, a woman named Kathy Proctor, had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old. And she told me she's earning her degree in biotechnology now, at 55 years old, not just because the furniture jobs are gone, but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too. As Kathy said, "I hope it tells them to never give up." If we take these steps, if we raise expectations for every child and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they are born until the last job they take, we will reach the goal that I set 2 years ago: By the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. One last point about education: Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense. Now, I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. And I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws, and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. I know that debate will be difficult. I know it will take time. But tonight, let's agree to make that effort. And let's stop expelling talented, responsible young people who could be staffing our research labs or starting a new business, who could be further enriching this Nation. The third step in winning the future is rebuilding America. To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information, from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet. Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do. Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports. Meanwhile, when our own engineers graded our Nation's infrastructure, they gave us a D. We have to do better. America is the nation that built the transcontinental railroad, brought electricity to rural communities, constructed the Interstate Highway System. The jobs created by these projects didn't just come from laying down track or pavement. They came from businesses that opened near a town's new train station or the new off-ramp. So over the last 2 years, we've begun rebuilding for the 21st century, a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. And tonight I'm proposing that we redouble those efforts. We'll put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. We'll make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based [on]* what's best for the economy, not politicians. Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying, without the pat-down. [ ] As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway. Within the next 5 years, we'll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans. This isn't just about--this isn't about faster Internet or fewer dropped calls. It's about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It's about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small-business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It's about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device, a student who can take classes with a digital textbook, or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor. All these investments--in innovation, education, and infrastructure--will make America a better place to do business and create jobs. But to help our companies compete, we also have to knock down barriers that stand in the way of their success. For example, over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the Tax Code to benefit particular companies and industries. Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all. But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change. So tonight I'm asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system, get rid of the loopholes, level the playing field, and use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years without adding to our deficit. It can be done. To help businesses sell more products abroad, we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014. Because the more we export, the more jobs we create here at home. Already, our exports are up. Recently, we signed agreements with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States. And last month, we finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs. This agreement has unprecedented support from business and labor, Democrats and Republicans, and I ask this Congress to pass it as soon as possible. Now, before I took office, I made it clear that we would enforce our trade agreements and that I would only sign deals that keep faith with American workers and promote American jobs. That's what we did with Korea, and that's what I intend to do as we pursue agreements with Panama and Colombia and continue our Asia-Pacific and global trade talks. To reduce barriers to growth and investment, I've ordered a review of Government regulations. When we find rules that put an unnecessary burden on businesses, we will fix them. But I will not hesitate to create or enforce commonsense safeguards to protect the American people. That's what we've done in this country for more than a century. It's why our food is safe to eat, our water is safe to drink, and our air is safe to breathe. It's why we have speed limits and child labor laws. It's why last year, we put in place consumer protections against hidden fees and penalties by credit card companies and new rules to prevent another financial crisis. And it's why we passed reform that finally prevents the health insurance industry from exploiting patients. Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. [ ] So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. What I'm not willing to do--what I'm not willing to do--is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a preexisting condition. I'm not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered. I'm not willing to tell Jim Houser, a small-businessman from Oregon, that he has to go back to paying $5,000 more to cover his employees. As we speak, this law is making prescription drugs cheaper for seniors and giving uninsured students a chance to stay on their patients'--parents' coverage. So I say to this Chamber tonight: Instead of refighting the battles of the last 2 years, let's fix what needs fixing, and let's move forward. Now, the final critical step in winning the future is to make sure we aren't buried under a mountain of debt. We are living with a legacy of deficit spending that began almost a decade ago. And in the wake of the financial crisis, some of that was necessary to keep credit flowing, save jobs, and put money in people's pockets. But now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our Government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a Government that does the same. So tonight I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next 5 years. Now, this would reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade and will bring discretionary spending to the lowest share of our economy since Dwight Eisenhower was President. This freeze will require painful cuts. Already, we've frozen the salaries of hard-working Federal employees for the next 2 years. I've proposed cuts to things I care deeply about, like community action programs. The Secretary of Defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without. Now, I recognize that some in this Chamber have already proposed deeper cuts, and I'm willing to eliminate whatever we can honestly afford to do without. But let's make sure that we're not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. And let's make sure that what we're cutting is really excess weight. Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't take long before you feel the impact. [ ] Now, most of the cuts and savings I've proposed only address annual domestic spending, which represents a little more than 12 percent of our budget. To make further progress, we have to stop pretending that cutting this kind of spending alone will be enough. It won't. The bipartisan fiscal commission I created last year made this crystal clear. I don't agree with all their proposals, but they made important progress. And their conclusion is that the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it, in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending, and spending through tax breaks and loopholes. This means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. The health insurance law we passed last year will slow these rising costs, which is part of the reason that nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit. Still, I'm willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits. To put us on solid ground, we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations. We must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable, or people with disabilities, without slashing benefits for future generations, and without subjecting Americans' guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market. And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply can't afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Before we take money away from our schools or scholarships away from our students, we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break. It's not a matter of punishing their success, it's about promoting America's success. In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual Tax Code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them. So now is the time to act. Now is the time for both sides and both Houses of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to forge a principled compromise that gets the job done. If we make the hard choices now to rein in our deficits, we can make the investments we need to win the future. Let me take this one step further. We shouldn't just give our people a Government that's more affordable, we should give them a Government that's more competent and more efficient. We can't win the future with a Government of the past. We live and do business in the Information Age, but the last major reorganization of the Government happened in the age of black-and-white TV. There are 12 different agencies that deal with exports. There are at least five different agencies that deal with housing policy. Then there's my favorite example: The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they're in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they're in saltwater. [ ] I hear it gets even more complicated once they're smoked. [ ] Now, we've made great strides over the last 2 years in using technology and getting rid of waste. Veterans can now download their electronic medical records with a click of the mouse. We're selling acres of Federal office space that hasn't been used in years, and we'll cut through redtape to get rid of more. But we need to think bigger. In the coming months, my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate, and reorganize the Federal Government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America. I will submit that proposal to Congress for a vote, and we will push to get it passed. In the coming year, we'll also work to rebuild people's faith in the institution of Government. Because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent, you'll be able to go to a web site and get that information for the very first time in history. Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White House has already done: put that information online. And because the American people deserve to know that special interests aren't larding up legislation with pet projects, both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it. I will veto it. The 21st-century Government that's open and competent, a government that lives within its means, an economy that's driven by new skills and new ideas--our success in this new and changing world will require reform, responsibility, and innovation. It will also require us to approach that world with a new level of engagement in our foreign affairs. Just as jobs and businesses can now race across borders, so can new threats and new challenges. No single wall separates East and West. No one rival superpower is aligned against us. And so we must defeat determined enemies, wherever they are, and build coalitions that cut across lines of region and race and religion. And America's moral example must always shine for all who yearn for freedom and justice and dignity. And because we've begun this work, tonight we can say that American leadership has been renewed and America's standing has been restored. Look to Iraq, where nearly 100,000 of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high. American combat patrols have ended, violence is down, and a new Government has been formed. This year, our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with the Iraqi people, while we finish the job of bringing our troops out of Iraq. America's commitment has been kept. The Iraq war is coming to an end. Of course, as we speak, Al Qaida and their affiliates continue to plan attacks against us. Thanks to our intelligence and law enforcement professionals, we're disrupting plots and securing our cities and skies. And as extremists try to inspire acts of violence within our borders, we are responding with the strength of our communities, with respect for the rule of law, and with the conviction that American Muslims are a part of our American family. We've also taken the fight to Al Qaida and their allies abroad. In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan security forces. Our purpose is clear: By preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny Al Qaida the safe haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11. Thanks to our heroic troops and civilians, fewer Afghans are under the control of the insurgency. There will be tough fighting ahead, and the Afghan Government will need to deliver better governance. But we are strengthening the capacity of the Afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them. This year, we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan lead, and this July, we will begin to bring our troops home. In Pakistan, Al Qaida's leadership is under more pressure than at any point since 2001. Their leaders and operatives are being removed from the battlefield. Their safe havens are shrinking. And we've sent a message from the Afghan border to the Arabian Peninsula to all parts of the globe: We will not relent, we will not waver, and we will defeat you. American leadership can also be seen in the effort to secure the worst weapons of war. Because Republicans and Democrats approved the new START Treaty, far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed. Because we rallied the world, nuclear materials are being locked down on every continent so they never fall into the hands of terrorists. Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian Government now faces tougher sanctions, tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean Peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons. This is just a part of how we're shaping a world that favors peace and prosperity. With our European allies, we revitalized NATO and increased our cooperation on everything from counterterrorism to missile defense. We've reset our relationship with Russia, strengthened Asian alliances, built new partnerships with nations like India. This March, I will travel to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador to forge new alliances across the Americas. Around the globe, we're standing with those who take responsibility, helping farmers grow more food, supporting doctors who care for the sick, and combating the corruption that can rot a society and rob people of opportunity. Recent events have shown us that what sets us apart must not just be our power; it must also be the purpose behind it. In south Sudan--with our assistance--the people were finally able to vote for independence after years of war. Thousands lined up before dawn. People danced in the streets. One man who lost four of his brothers at war summed up the scene around him. "This was a battlefield for most of my life," he said. "Now we want to be free." And we saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator. And tonight let us be clear: The United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people. We must never forget that the things we've struggled for and fought for live in the hearts of people everywhere. And we must always remember that the Americans who have borne the greatest burden in this struggle are the men and women who serve our country. Tonight let us speak with one voice in reaffirming that our Nation is united in support of our troops and their families. Let us serve them as well as they've served us, by giving them the equipment they need, by providing them with the care and benefits that they have earned, and by enlisting our veterans in the great task of building our own Nation. Our troops come from every corner of this country. They're Black, White, Latino, Asian, Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love. And with that change, I call on all our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and ROTC. It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one Nation. We should have no illusions about the work ahead of us. Reforming our schools, changing the way we use energy, reducing our deficit, none of this will be easy. All of it will take time. And it will be harder because we will argue about everything: the costs, the details, the letter of every law. Of course, some countries don't have this problem. If the central government wants a railroad, they build a railroad, no matter how many homes get bulldozed. If they don't want a bad story in the newspaper, it doesn't get written. And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth. We may have differences in policy, but we all believe in the rights enshrined in our Constitution. We may have different opinions, but we believe in the same promise that says this is a place where you can make it if you try. We may have different backgrounds, but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything is possible, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from. That dream is why I can stand here before you tonight. That dream is why a working class kid from Scranton can sit behind me. [ ] That dream is why someone who began by sweeping the floors of his father's Cincinnati bar can preside as Speaker of the House in the greatest nation on Earth. That dream--that American Dream--is what drove the Allen Brothers to reinvent their roofing company for a new era. It's what drove those students at Forsyth Tech to learn a new skill and work towards the future. And that dream is the story of a small-business owner named Brandon Fisher. Brandon started a company in Berlin, Pennsylvania, that specializes in a new kind of drilling technology. And one day last summer, he saw the news that halfway across the world, 33 men were trapped in a Chilean mine, and no one knew how to save them. But Brandon thought his company could help. And so he designed a rescue that would come to be known as Plan B. His employees worked around the clock to manufacture the necessary drilling equipment, and Brandon left for Chile. Along with others, he began drilling a 2,000-foot hole into the ground, working 3 or 4 hour--3 or 4 days at a time without any sleep. Thirty-seven days later, Plan B succeeded and the miners were rescued. But because he didn't want all of the attention, Brandon wasn't there when the miners emerged. He'd already gone back home, back to work on his next project. And later, one of his employees said of the rescue, "We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things." We do big things. From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream. That's how we win the future. We're a nation that says, "I might not have a lot of money, but I have this great idea for a new company." "I might not come from a family of college graduates, but I will be the first to get my degree." "I might not know those people in trouble, but I think I can help them, and I need to try." "I'm not sure how we'll reach that better place beyond the horizon, but I know we'll get there. I know we will." We do big things. The idea of America endures. Our destiny remains our choice. And tonight, more than two centuries later, it's because of our people that our future is hopeful, our journey goes forward, and the state of our Union is strong. Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th Congress, as well as your new Speaker, John Boehner. And as we mark this occasion, we are also mindful of the empty chair in this Chamber, and we pray for the health of our colleague and our friend Gabby Giffords. It is no secret that those of us here tonight have had our differences over the last 2 years. The debates have been contentious; we have fought fiercely for our beliefs. And that is a good thing. That is what a robust democracy demands. That is what helps set us apart as a nation. But there is a reason the tragedy in Tucson gave us pause. Amid all the noise and passion and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater, something more consequential than party or political preference. We are part of the American family. We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people, that we share common hopes and a common creed, that the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled. That too is what sets us apart as a nation. Now, by itself, this simple recognition will not usher in a new era of cooperation. What comes of this moment is up to us. What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow. I believe we can, and I believe we must. That is what the people who sent us here expect of us. With their votes, they have determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties. New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together or not at all, for the challenges we face are bigger than party and bigger than politics. At stake right now is not who wins the next election. After all, we just had an election. At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country or somewhere else. It is whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded. It is whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but the light to the world. We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back, corporate profits are up, the economy is growing again. But we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone. We measure progress by the success of our people, by the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer, by the prospects of a small-business owner who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise, by the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our children. That is the project the American people want us to work on--together. Now, we did that in December. Thanks to the tax cuts we passed, Americans' paychecks are a little bigger today. Every business can write off the full cost of new investments that they make this year. And these steps, taken by Democrats and Republicans, will grow the economy and add to the more than 1 million private sector jobs created last year. But we have to do more. These steps we have taken over the last 2 years may have broken the back of this recession, but to win the future, we will need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making. Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You did not always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you would have a job for life, with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion. Maybe you would even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company. That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I have seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories and the vacant storefronts on once busy Main Streets. I have heard it in the frustrations of Americans who have seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear, proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game. They are right. The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work, and do business. Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers can now do the same work with 100. Today, just about any company can set up shop, hire workers, and sell their products wherever there is an Internet connection. Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They are investing in research and new technologies. Just recently, China became the home to the world's largest private solar research facility and the world's fastest computer. So yes, the world is changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this should not discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember, for all the hits we have taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world. No workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We are the home to the world's best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth. What is more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea: the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That is why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here. It is why our students do not just memorize equations, but answer questions like: "What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world? What do you want to be when you grow up?" The future is ours to win. But to get there, we cannot just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us: "The future is not a gift. It is an achievement." Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice and struggle and meet the demands of a new age. And now it is our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to outinnovate, outeducate, and outbuild the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our Government. That is how our people will prosper. That is how we will win the future. And tonight I would like to talk about how we get there. The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we could not know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do--what America does better than anyone else--is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers, of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation does not just change our lives. It is how we make our living. Our free enterprise system is what drives innovation. But because it is not always profitable for companies to invest in basic research, throughout our history, our Government has provided cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need. That is what planted the seeds for the Internet. That is what helped make possible things like computer chips and GPS. Just think of all the good jobs--from manufacturing to retail--that have come from these breakthroughs. Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the Moon. The science was not even there yet. NASA did not exist. But after investing in better research and education, we did not just surpass the Soviets, we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we have not seen since the height of the space race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We will invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology, an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people. Already, we are seeing the promise of renewable energy. Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company. After September 11, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon. But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a Government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert's words, "We reinvented ourselves." That is what Americans have done for over 200 years: reinvented ourselves. And to spur on more success stories like the Allen Brothers, we have begun to reinvent our energy policy. We are not just handing out money. We are issuing a challenge. We are telling America's scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we will fund the Apollo projects of our time. At the California Institute of Technology, they are developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, they are using supercomputers to get a lot more power out of our nuclear facilities. With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for it, I am asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I do not know if you have noticed, but they are doing just fine on their own. [ ] So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let us invest in tomorrow's. Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they are selling. So tonight I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: By 2035, 80 percent of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources. Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal, and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all, and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen. Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America's success. But if we want to win the future, if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas, then we also have to win the race to educate our kids. Think about it. Over the next 10 years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education. And yet as many as a quarter of our students are not even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us, as citizens and as parents, are willing to do what is necessary to give every child a chance to succeed. That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It is family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it is not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair. We need to teach them that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline. Our schools share this responsibility. When a child walks into a classroom, it should be a place of high expectations and high performance. But too many schools do not meet this test. That is why instead of just pouring money into a system that is not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. To all 50 States, we said, "If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we will show you the money." Race to the Top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation. For less than 1 percent of what we spend on education each year, it has led over 40 States to raise their standards for teaching and learning. And these standards were developed, by the way, not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic Governors throughout the country. And Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that is more flexible and focused on what is best for our kids. You see, we know what is possible from our children when reform is not just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards and communities. Take a school like Bruce Randolph in Denver. Three years ago, it was rated one of the worst schools in Colorado, located on turf between two rival gangs. But last May, 97 percent of the seniors received their diploma. Most will be the first in their families to go to college. And after the first year of the school's transformation, the principal who made it possible wiped away tears when a student said, "Thank you, Ms. Waters, for showing that we are smart and we can make it." That is what good schools can do, and we want good schools all across the country. Let us also remember that after parents, the biggest impact on a child's success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom. In South Korea, teachers are known as nation builders. Here in America, it is time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect. We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones. And over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math. In fact, to every young person listening tonight who is contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our Nation, if you want to make a difference in the life of a child, become a teacher. Your country needs you. Of course, the education race does not end with a high school diploma. To compete, higher education must be within the reach of every American. That is why we have ended the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that went to banks and used the savings to make college affordable for millions of students. And this year, I ask Congress to go further and make permanent our tuition tax credit, worth $10,000 for 4 years of college. It is the right thing to do. Because people need to be able to train for new jobs and careers in today's fast-changing economy, we are also revitalizing America's community colleges. Last month, I saw the promise of these schools at Forsyth Tech in North Carolina. Many of the students there used to work in the surrounding factories that have since left town. One mother of two, a woman named Kathy Proctor, had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old. And she told me she is earning her degree in biotechnology now, at 55 years old, not just because the furniture jobs are gone, but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too. As Kathy said, "I hope it tells them to never give up." If we take these steps, if we raise expectations for every child and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they are born until the last job they take, we will reach the goal that I set 2 years ago: By the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. One last point about education: Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense. Now, I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. And I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws, and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. I know that debate will be difficult. I know it will take time. But tonight, let us agree to make that effort. And let us stop expelling talented, responsible young people who could be staffing our research labs or starting a new business, who could be further enriching this Nation. The third step in winning the future is rebuilding America. To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information, from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet. Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do. Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports. Meanwhile, when our own engineers graded our Nation's infrastructure, they gave us a D. We have to do better. America is the nation that built the transcontinental railroad, brought electricity to rural communities, constructed the Interstate Highway System. The jobs created by these projects did not just come from laying down track or pavement. They came from businesses that opened near a town's new train station or the new off-ramp. So over the last 2 years, we have begun rebuilding for the 21st century, a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. And tonight I am proposing that we redouble those efforts. We will put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. We will make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based [on]* what is best for the economy, not politicians. Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying, without the pat-down. [ ] As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway. Within the next 5 years, we will make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans. This is not just about--this is not about faster Internet or fewer dropped calls. It is about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It is about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small-business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It is about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device, a student who can take classes with a digital textbook, or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor. All these investments--in innovation, education, and infrastructure--will make America a better place to do business and create jobs. But to help our companies compete, we also have to knock down barriers that stand in the way of their success. For example, over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the Tax Code to benefit particular companies and industries. Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all. But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change. So tonight I am asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system, get rid of the loopholes, level the playing field, and use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years without adding to our deficit. It can be done. To help businesses sell more products abroad, we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014. Because the more we export, the more jobs we create here at home. Already, our exports are up. Recently, we signed agreements with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States. And last month, we finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs. This agreement has unprecedented support from business and labor, Democrats and Republicans, and I ask this Congress to pass it as soon as possible. Now, before I took office, I made it clear that we would enforce our trade agreements and that I would only sign deals that keep faith with American workers and promote American jobs. That is what we did with Korea, and that is what I intend to do as we pursue agreements with Panama and Colombia and continue our Asia-Pacific and global trade talks. To reduce barriers to growth and investment, I have ordered a review of Government regulations. When we find rules that put an unnecessary burden on businesses, we will fix them. But I will not hesitate to create or enforce commonsense safeguards to protect the American people. That is what we have done in this country for more than a century. It is why our food is safe to eat, our water is safe to drink, and our air is safe to breathe. It is why we have speed limits and child labor laws. It is why last year, we put in place consumer protections against hidden fees and penalties by credit card companies and new rules to prevent another financial crisis. And it is why we passed reform that finally prevents the health insurance industry from exploiting patients. Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. [ ] So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. What I am not willing to do--what I am not willing to do--is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a preexisting condition. I am not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered. I am not willing to tell Jim Houser, a small-businessman from Oregon, that he has to go back to paying $5,000 more to cover his employees. As we speak, this law is making prescription drugs cheaper for seniors and giving uninsured students a chance to stay on their patients'--parents' coverage. So I say to this Chamber tonight: Instead of refighting the battles of the last 2 years, let us fix what needs fixing, and let us move forward. Now, the final critical step in winning the future is to make sure we are not buried under a mountain of debt. We are living with a legacy of deficit spending that began almost a decade ago. And in the wake of the financial crisis, some of that was necessary to keep credit flowing, save jobs, and put money in people's pockets. But now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our Government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a Government that does the same. So tonight I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next 5 years. Now, this would reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade and will bring discretionary spending to the lowest share of our economy since Dwight Eisenhower was President. This freeze will require painful cuts. Already, we have frozen the salaries of hard-working Federal employees for the next 2 years. I have proposed cuts to things I care deeply about, like community action programs. The Secretary of Defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without. Now, I recognize that some in this Chamber have already proposed deeper cuts, and I am willing to eliminate whatever we can honestly afford to do without. But let us make sure that we are not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. And let us make sure that what we are cutting is really excess weight. Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you are flying high at first, but it will not take long before you feel the impact. [ ] Now, most of the cuts and savings I have proposed only address annual domestic spending, which represents a little more than 12 percent of our budget. To make further progress, we have to stop pretending that cutting this kind of spending alone will be enough. It will not. The bipartisan fiscal commission I created last year made this crystal clear. I do not agree with all their proposals, but they made important progress. And their conclusion is that the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it, in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending, and spending through tax breaks and loopholes. This means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. The health insurance law we passed last year will slow these rising costs, which is part of the reason that nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit. Still, I am willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits. To put us on solid ground, we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations. We must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable, or people with disabilities, without slashing benefits for future generations, and without subjecting Americans' guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market. And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply cannot afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Before we take money away from our schools or scholarships away from our students, we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break. It is not a matter of punishing their success, it is about promoting America's success. In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual Tax Code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them. So now is the time to act. Now is the time for both sides and both Houses of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to forge a principled compromise that gets the job done. If we make the hard choices now to rein in our deficits, we can make the investments we need to win the future. Let me take this one step further. We should not just give our people a Government that is more affordable, we should give them a Government that is more competent and more efficient. We cannot win the future with a Government of the past. We live and do business in the Information Age, but the last major reorganization of the Government happened in the age of black-and-white TV. There are 12 different agencies that deal with exports. There are at least five different agencies that deal with housing policy. Then there is my favorite example: The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they are in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they are in saltwater. [ ] I hear it gets even more complicated once they are smoked. [ ] Now, we have made great strides over the last 2 years in using technology and getting rid of waste. Veterans can now download their electronic medical records with a click of the mouse. We are selling acres of Federal office space that has not been used in years, and we will cut through redtape to get rid of more. But we need to think bigger. In the coming months, my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate, and reorganize the Federal Government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America. I will submit that proposal to Congress for a vote, and we will push to get it passed. In the coming year, we will also work to rebuild people's faith in the institution of Government. Because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent, you will be able to go to a web site and get that information for the very first time in history. Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White House has already done: put that information online. And because the American people deserve to know that special interests are not larding up legislation with pet projects, both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it. I will veto it. The 21st-century Government that is open and competent, a government that lives within its means, an economy that is driven by new skills and new ideas--our success in this new and changing world will require reform, responsibility, and innovation. It will also require us to approach that world with a new level of engagement in our foreign affairs. Just as jobs and businesses can now race across borders, so can new threats and new challenges. No single wall separates East and West. No one rival superpower is aligned against us. And so we must defeat determined enemies, wherever they are, and build coalitions that cut across lines of region and race and religion. And America's moral example must always shine for all who yearn for freedom and justice and dignity. And because we have begun this work, tonight we can say that American leadership has been renewed and America's standing has been restored. Look to Iraq, where nearly 100,000 of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high. American combat patrols have ended, violence is down, and a new Government has been formed. This year, our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with the Iraqi people, while we finish the job of bringing our troops out of Iraq. America's commitment has been kept. The Iraq war is coming to an end. Of course, as we speak, Al Qaida and their affiliates continue to plan attacks against us. Thanks to our intelligence and law enforcement professionals, we are disrupting plots and securing our cities and skies. And as extremists try to inspire acts of violence within our borders, we are responding with the strength of our communities, with respect for the rule of law, and with the conviction that American Muslims are a part of our American family. We have also taken the fight to Al Qaida and their allies abroad. In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan security forces. Our purpose is clear: By preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny Al Qaida the safe haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11. Thanks to our heroic troops and civilians, fewer Afghans are under the control of the insurgency. There will be tough fighting ahead, and the Afghan Government will need to deliver better governance. But we are strengthening the capacity of the Afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them. This year, we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan lead, and this July, we will begin to bring our troops home. In Pakistan, Al Qaida's leadership is under more pressure than at any point since 2001. Their leaders and operatives are being removed from the battlefield. Their safe havens are shrinking. And we have sent a message from the Afghan border to the Arabian Peninsula to all parts of the globe: We will not relent, we will not waver, and we will defeat you. American leadership can also be seen in the effort to secure the worst weapons of war. Because Republicans and Democrats approved the new START Treaty, far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed. Because we rallied the world, nuclear materials are being locked down on every continent so they never fall into the hands of terrorists. Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian Government now faces tougher sanctions, tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean Peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons. This is just a part of how we are shaping a world that favors peace and prosperity. With our European allies, we revitalized NATO and increased our cooperation on everything from counterterrorism to missile defense. We have reset our relationship with Russia, strengthened Asian alliances, built new partnerships with nations like India. This March, I will travel to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador to forge new alliances across the Americas. Around the globe, we are standing with those who take responsibility, helping farmers grow more food, supporting doctors who care for the sick, and combating the corruption that can rot a society and rob people of opportunity. Recent events have shown us that what sets us apart must not just be our power; it must also be the purpose behind it. In south Sudan--with our assistance--the people were finally able to vote for independence after years of war. Thousands lined up before dawn. People danced in the streets. One man who lost four of his brothers at war summed up the scene around him. "This was a battlefield for most of my life," he said. "Now we want to be free." And we saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator. And tonight let us be clear: The United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people. We must never forget that the things we have struggled for and fought for live in the hearts of people everywhere. And we must always remember that the Americans who have borne the greatest burden in this struggle are the men and women who serve our country. Tonight let us speak with one voice in reaffirming that our Nation is united in support of our troops and their families. Let us serve them as well as they have served us, by giving them the equipment they need, by providing them with the care and benefits that they have earned, and by enlisting our veterans in the great task of building our own Nation. Our troops come from every corner of this country. They are Black, White, Latino, Asian, Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love. And with that change, I call on all our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and ROTC. It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one Nation. We should have no illusions about the work ahead of us. Reforming our schools, changing the way we use energy, reducing our deficit, none of this will be easy. All of it will take time. And it will be harder because we will argue about everything: the costs, the details, the letter of every law. Of course, some countries do not have this problem. If the central government wants a railroad, they build a railroad, no matter how many homes get bulldozed. If they do not want a bad story in the newspaper, it does not get written. And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there is not a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth. We may have differences in policy, but we all believe in the rights enshrined in our Constitution. We may have different opinions, but we believe in the same promise that says this is a place where you can make it if you try. We may have different backgrounds, but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything is possible, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from. That dream is why I can stand here before you tonight. That dream is why a working class kid from Scranton can sit behind me. [ ] That dream is why someone who began by sweeping the floors of his father's Cincinnati bar can preside as Speaker of the House in the greatest nation on Earth. That dream--that American Dream--is what drove the Allen Brothers to reinvent their roofing company for a new era. It is what drove those students at Forsyth Tech to learn a new skill and work towards the future. And that dream is the story of a small-business owner named Brandon Fisher. Brandon started a company in Berlin, Pennsylvania, that specializes in a new kind of drilling technology. And one day last summer, he saw the news that halfway across the world, 33 men were trapped in a Chilean mine, and no one knew how to save them. But Brandon thought his company could help. And so he designed a rescue that would come to be known as Plan B. His employees worked around the clock to manufacture the necessary drilling equipment, and Brandon left for Chile. Along with others, he began drilling a 2,000-foot hole into the ground, working 3 or 4 hour--3 or 4 days at a time without any sleep. Thirty-seven days later, Plan B succeeded and the miners were rescued. But because he did not want all of the attention, Brandon was not there when the miners emerged. He would already gone back home, back to work on his next project. And later, one of his employees said of the rescue, "We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things." We do big things. From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream. That is how we win the future. We are a nation that says, "I might not have a lot of money, but I have this great idea for a new company." "I might not come from a family of college graduates, but I will be the first to get my degree." "I might not know those people in trouble, but I think I can help them, and I need to try." "I am not sure how we will reach that better place beyond the horizon, but I know we will get there. I know we will." We do big things. The idea of America endures. Our destiny remains our choice. And tonight, more than two centuries later, it is because of our people that our future is hopeful, our journey goes forward, and the state of our Union is strong. Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
speaker vice president members of congress distinguished guests and fellow americans tonight i want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th congress as well as your new speaker john boehner and as we mark this occasion we are also mindful of the empty chair in this chamber and we pray for the health of our colleague and our friend gabby giffords it is no secret that those of us here tonight have had our differences over the last 2 years the debates have been contentious we have fought fiercely for our beliefs and that is a good thing that is what a robust democracy demands that is what helps set us apart as a nation but there is a reason the tragedy in tucson gave us pause amid all the noise and passion and rancor of our public debate tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from each of us is a part of something greater something more consequential than party or political preference we are part of the american family we believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found we are still bound together as one people that we share common hopes and a common creed that the dreams of a little girl in tucson are not so different than those of our own children that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled that too is what sets us apart as a nation now by itself this simple recognition will not usher in a new era of cooperation what comes of this moment is up to us what comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight but whether we can work together tomorrow i believe we can and i believe we must that is what the people who sent us here expect of us with their votes they have determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties new laws will only pass with support from democrats and republicans we will move forward together or not at all for the challenges we face are bigger than party and bigger than politics at stake right now is not who wins the next election after all we just had an election at stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country or somewhere else it is whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded it is whether we sustain the leadership that has made america not just a place on a map but the light to the world we are poised for progress two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known the stock market has come roaring back corporate profits are up the economy is growing again but we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone we measure progress by the success of our people by the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer by the prospects of a owner who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise by the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our children that is the project the american people want us to work on together now we did that in december thanks to the tax cuts we passed americans paychecks are a little bigger today every business can write off the full cost of new investments that they make this year and these steps taken by democrats and republicans will grow the economy and add to the more than 1 million private sector jobs created last year but we have to do more these steps we have taken over the last 2 years may have broken the back of this recession but to win the future we will need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown you did not always need a degree and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors if you worked hard chances are you would have a job for life with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion maybe you would even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company that world has changed and for many the change has been painful i have seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories and the vacant storefronts on once busy main streets i have heard it in the frustrations of americans who have seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game they are right the rules have changed in a single generation revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live work and do business steel mills that once needed workers can now do the same work with 100 today just about any company can set up shop hire workers and sell their products wherever there is an internet connection meanwhile nations like china and india realized that with some changes of their own they could compete in this new world and so they started educating their children earlier and longer with greater emphasis on math and science they are investing in research and new technologies just recently china became the home to the world largest private solar research facility and the world fastest computer so yes the world is changed the competition for jobs is real but this should not discourage us it should challenge us remember for all the hits we have taken these last few years for all the naysayers predicting our decline america still has the largest most prosperous economy in the world no workers are more productive than ours no country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs we are the home to the world best colleges and universities where more students come to study than any place on earth what is more we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny that is why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here it is why our students do not just memorize equations but answer questions like what do you think of that idea what would you change about the world what do you want to be when you grow up the future is ours to win but to get there we can not just stand still as robert kennedy told us the future is not a gift it is an achievement sustaining the american dream has never been about standing pat it has required each generation to sacrifice and struggle and meet the demands of a new age and now it is our turn we know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time we need to outinnovate outeducate and outbuild the rest of the world we have to make america the best place on earth to do business we need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government that is how our people will prosper that is how we will win the future and tonight i would like to talk about how we get there the first step in winning the future is encouraging american innovation none of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from thirty years ago we could not know that something called the internet would lead to an economic revolution what we can do what america does better than anyone else is spark the creativity and imagination of our people we are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices the nation of edison and the wright brothers of google and facebook in america innovation does not just change our lives it is how we make our living our free enterprise system is what drives innovation but because it is not always profitable for companies to invest in basic research throughout our history our government has provided scientists and inventors with the support that they need that is what planted the seeds for the internet that is what helped make possible things like computer chips and gps just think of all the good jobs from manufacturing to retail that have come from these breakthroughs half a century ago when the soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called sputnik we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon the science was not even there yet nasa did not exist but after investing in better research and education we did not just surpass the soviets we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs this is our generation sputnik moment two years ago i said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we have not seen since the height of the space race and in a few weeks i will be sending a budget to congress that helps us meet that goal we will invest in biomedical research information technology and especially clean energy technology an investment that will strengthen our security protect our planet and create countless new jobs for our people already we are seeing the promise of renewable energy robert and gary allen are brothers who run a small michigan roofing company after september 11 they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the pentagon but half of their factory went unused and the recession hit them hard today with the help of a government loan that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country in robert words we reinvented ourselves that is what americans have done for over 200 years reinvented ourselves and to spur on more success stories like the allen brothers we have begun to reinvent our energy policy we are not just handing out money we are issuing a challenge we are telling america scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy we will fund the apollo projects of our time at the california institute of technology they are developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars at oak ridge national laboratory they are using supercomputers to get a lot more power out of our nuclear facilities with more research and incentives we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 we need to get behind this innovation and to help pay for it i am asking congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies i do not know if you have noticed but they are doing just fine on their own so instead of subsidizing yesterday energy let us invest in tomorrow now clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they are selling so tonight i challenge you to join me in setting a new goal by 2035 80 percent of america electricity will come from clean energy sources some folks want wind and solar others want nuclear clean coal and natural gas to meet this goal we will need them all and i urge democrats and republicans to work together to make it happen maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to america success but if we want to win the future if we want innovation to produce jobs in america and not overseas then we also have to win the race to educate our kids think about it over the next 10 years nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education and yet as many as a quarter of our students are not even finishing high school the quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations america has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree and so the question is whether all of us as citizens and as parents are willing to do what is necessary to give every child a chance to succeed that responsibility begins not in our classrooms but in our homes and communities it is family that first instills the love of learning in a child only parents can make sure the tv is turned off and homework gets done we need to teach our kids that it is not just the winner of the super bowl who deserves to be celebrated but the winner of the science fair we need to teach them that success is not a function of fame or pr but of hard work and discipline our schools share this responsibility when a child walks into a classroom it should be a place of high expectations and high performance but too many schools do not meet this test that is why instead of just pouring money into a system that is not working we launched a competition called race to the top to all 50 states we said if you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement we will show you the money race to the top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation for less than 1 percent of what we spend on education each year it has led over 40 states to raise their standards for teaching and learning and these standards were developed by the way not by washington but by republican and democratic governors throughout the country and race to the top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace no child left behind with a law that is more flexible and focused on what is best for our kids you see we know what is possible from our children when reform is not just a mandate but the work of local teachers and principals school boards and communities take a school like bruce randolph in denver three years ago it was rated one of the worst schools in colorado located on turf between two rival gangs but last may 97 percent of the seniors received their diploma most will be the first in their families to go to college and after the first year of the school transformation the principal who made it possible wiped away tears when a student said thank you ms waters for showing that we are smart and we can make it that is what good schools can do and we want good schools all across the country let us also remember that after parents the biggest impact on a child success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom in south korea teachers are known as nation builders here in america it is time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect we want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones and over the next 10 years with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms we want to prepare new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math in fact to every young person listening tonight who is contemplating their career choice if you want to make a difference in the life of our nation if you want to make a difference in the life of a child become a teacher your country needs you of course the education race does not end with a high school diploma to compete higher education must be within the reach of every american that is why we have ended the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that went to banks and used the savings to make college affordable for millions of students and this year i ask congress to go further and make permanent our tuition tax credit worth for 4 years of college it is the right thing to do because people need to be able to train for new jobs and careers in today economy we are also revitalizing america community colleges last month i saw the promise of these schools at forsyth tech in north carolina many of the students there used to work in the surrounding factories that have since left town one mother of two a woman named kathy proctor had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old and she told me she is earning her degree in biotechnology now at 55 years old not just because the furniture jobs are gone but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too as kathy said i hope it tells them to never give up if we take these steps if we raise expectations for every child and give them the best possible chance at an education from the day they are born until the last job they take we will reach the goal that i set 2 years ago by the end of the decade america will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world one last point about education today there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not american citizens some are the children of undocumented workers who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents they grew up as americans and pledge allegiance to our flag and yet they live every day with the threat of deportation others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities but as soon as they obtain advanced degrees we send them back home to compete against us it makes no sense now i strongly believe that we should take on once and for all the issue of illegal immigration and i am prepared to work with republicans and democrats to protect our borders enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows i know that debate will be difficult i know it will take time but tonight let us agree to make that effort and let us stop expelling talented responsible young people who could be staffing our research labs or starting a new business who could be further enriching this nation the third step in winning the future is rebuilding america to attract new businesses to our shores we need the fastest most reliable ways to move people goods and information from rail to internet our infrastructure used to be the best but our lead has slipped south korean homes now have greater internet access than we do countries in europe and russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do china is building faster trains and newer airports meanwhile when our own engineers graded our nation infrastructure they gave us a we have to do better america is the nation that built the transcontinental railroad brought electricity to rural communities constructed the interstate highway system the jobs created by these projects did not just come from laying down track or pavement they came from businesses that opened near a town new train station or the new so over the last 2 years we have begun rebuilding for the 21st century a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the construction industry and tonight i am proposing that we redouble those efforts we will put more americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges we will make sure this is fully paid for attract private investment and pick projects based on what is best for the economy not politicians within 25 years our goal is to give 80 percent of americans access to rail this could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car for some trips it will be faster than flying without the as we speak routes in california and the midwest are already underway within the next 5 years we will make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of wireless coverage to 98 percent of all americans this is not just about this is not about faster internet or fewer dropped calls it is about connecting every part of america to the digital age it is about a rural community in iowa or alabama where farmers and owners will be able to sell their products all over the world it is about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device a student who can take classes with a digital textbook or a patient who can have video chats with her doctor all these investments in innovation education and infrastructure will make america a better place to do business and create jobs but to help our companies compete we also have to knock down barriers that stand in the way of their success for example over the years a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all but all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world it makes no sense and it has to change so tonight i am asking democrats and republicans to simplify the system get rid of the loopholes level the playing field and use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years without adding to our deficit it can be done to help businesses sell more products abroad we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014 because the more we export the more jobs we create here at home already our exports are up recently we signed agreements with india and china that will support more than jobs here in the united states and last month we finalized a trade agreement with south korea that will support at least american jobs this agreement has unprecedented support from business and labor democrats and republicans and i ask this congress to pass it as soon as possible now before i took office i made it clear that we would enforce our trade agreements and that i would only sign deals that keep faith with american workers and promote american jobs that is what we did with korea and that is what i intend to do as we pursue agreements with panama and colombia and continue our and global trade talks to reduce barriers to growth and investment i have ordered a review of government regulations when we find rules that put an unnecessary burden on businesses we will fix them but i will not hesitate to create or enforce commonsense safeguards to protect the american people that is what we have done in this country for more than a century it is why our food is safe to eat our water is safe to drink and our air is safe to breathe it is why we have speed limits and child labor laws it is why last year we put in place consumer protections against hidden fees and penalties by credit card companies and new rules to prevent another financial crisis and it is why we passed reform that finally prevents the health insurance industry from exploiting patients now i have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law so let me be the first to say that anything can be improved if you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable i am eager to work with you we can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses what i am not willing to do what i am not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a preexisting condition i am not willing to tell james howard a brain cancer patient from texas that his treatment might not be covered i am not willing to tell jim houser a from oregon that he has to go back to paying more to cover his employees as we speak this law is making prescription drugs cheaper for seniors and giving uninsured students a chance to stay on their patients parents coverage so i say to this chamber tonight instead of refighting the battles of the last 2 years let us fix what needs fixing and let us move forward now the final critical step in winning the future is to make sure we are not buried under a mountain of debt we are living with a legacy of deficit spending that began almost a decade ago and in the wake of the financial crisis some of that was necessary to keep credit flowing save jobs and put money in people pockets but now that the worst of the recession is over we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in that is not sustainable every day families sacrifice to live within their means they deserve a government that does the same so tonight i am proposing that starting this year we freeze annual domestic spending for the next 5 years now this would reduce the deficit by more than 400 billion over the next decade and will bring discretionary spending to the lowest share of our economy since dwight eisenhower was president this freeze will require painful cuts already we have frozen the salaries of federal employees for the next 2 years i have proposed cuts to things i care deeply about like community action programs the secretary of defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without now i recognize that some in this chamber have already proposed deeper cuts and i am willing to eliminate whatever we can honestly afford to do without but let us make sure that we are not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens and let us make sure that what we are cutting is really excess weight cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine it may make you feel like you are flying high at first but it will not take long before you feel the impact now most of the cuts and savings i have proposed only address annual domestic spending which represents a little more than 12 percent of our budget to make further progress we have to stop pretending that cutting this kind of spending alone will be enough it will not the bipartisan fiscal commission i created last year made this crystal clear i do not agree with all their proposals but they made important progress and their conclusion is that the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it in domestic spending defense spending health care spending and spending through tax breaks and loopholes this means further reducing health care costs including programs like medicare and medicaid which are the single biggest contributor to our deficit the health insurance law we passed last year will slow these rising costs which is part of the reason that nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit still i am willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs including one that republicans suggested last year medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits to put us on solid ground we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen social security for future generations we must do it without putting at risk current retirees the most vulnerable or people with disabilities without slashing benefits for future generations and without subjecting americans guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market and if we truly care about our deficit we simply can not afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of americans before we take money away from our schools or scholarships away from our students we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break it is not a matter of punishing their success it is about promoting america success in fact the best thing we could do on taxes for all americans is to simplify the individual tax code this will be a tough job but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this and i am prepared to join them so now is the time to act now is the time for both sides and both houses of congress democrats and republicans to forge a principled compromise that gets the job done if we make the hard choices now to rein in our deficits we can make the investments we need to win the future let me take this one step further we should not just give our people a government that is more affordable we should give them a government that is more competent and more efficient we can not win the future with a government of the past we live and do business in the information age but the last major reorganization of the government happened in the age of tv there are 12 different agencies that deal with exports there are at least five different agencies that deal with housing policy then there is my favorite example the interior department is in charge of salmon while they are in fresh water but the commerce department handles them when they are in saltwater i hear it gets even more complicated once they are smoked now we have made great strides over the last 2 years in using technology and getting rid of waste veterans can now download their electronic medical records with a click of the mouse we are selling acres of federal office space that has not been used in years and we will cut through redtape to get rid of more but we need to think bigger in the coming months my administration will develop a proposal to merge consolidate and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive america i will submit that proposal to congress for a vote and we will push to get it passed in the coming year we will also work to rebuild people faith in the institution of government because you deserve to know exactly how and where your tax dollars are being spent you will be able to go to a web site and get that information for the very first time in history because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists i ask congress to do what the white house has already done put that information online and because the american people deserve to know that special interests are not larding up legislation with pet projects both parties in congress should know this if a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside i will veto it i will veto it the government that is open and competent a government that lives within its means an economy that is driven by new skills and new ideas our success in this new and changing world will require reform responsibility and innovation it will also require us to approach that world with a new level of engagement in our foreign affairs just as jobs and businesses can now race across borders so can new threats and new challenges no single wall separates east and west no one rival superpower is aligned against us and so we must defeat determined enemies wherever they are and build coalitions that cut across lines of region and race and religion and america moral example must always shine for all who yearn for freedom and justice and dignity and because we have begun this work tonight we can say that american leadership has been renewed and america standing has been restored look to iraq where nearly of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high american combat patrols have ended violence is down and a new government has been formed this year our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with the iraqi people while we finish the job of bringing our troops out of iraq america commitment has been kept the iraq war is coming to an end of course as we speak al qaida and their affiliates continue to plan attacks against us thanks to our intelligence and law enforcement professionals we are disrupting plots and securing our cities and skies and as extremists try to inspire acts of violence within our borders we are responding with the strength of our communities with respect for the rule of law and with the conviction that american muslims are a part of our american family we have also taken the fight to al qaida and their allies abroad in afghanistan our troops have taken taliban strongholds and trained afghan security forces our purpose is clear by preventing the taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the afghan people we will deny al qaida the safe haven that served as a launching pad for thanks to our heroic troops and civilians fewer afghans are under the control of the insurgency there will be tough fighting ahead and the afghan government will need to deliver better governance but we are strengthening the capacity of the afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them this year we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an afghan lead and this july we will begin to bring our troops home in pakistan al qaida leadership is under more pressure than at any point since 2001 their leaders and operatives are being removed from the battlefield their safe havens are shrinking and we have sent a message from the afghan border to the arabian peninsula to all parts of the globe we will not relent we will not waver and we will defeat you american leadership can also be seen in the effort to secure the worst weapons of war because republicans and democrats approved the new start treaty far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed because we rallied the world nuclear materials are being locked down on every continent so they never fall into the hands of terrorists because of a diplomatic effort to insist that iran meet its obligations the iranian government now faces tougher sanctions tighter sanctions than ever before and on the korean peninsula we stand with our ally south korea and insist that north korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons this is just a part of how we are shaping a world that favors peace and prosperity with our european allies we revitalized nato and increased our cooperation on everything from counterterrorism to missile defense we have reset our relationship with russia strengthened asian alliances built new partnerships with nations like india this march i will travel to brazil chile and el salvador to forge new alliances across the americas around the globe we are standing with those who take responsibility helping farmers grow more food supporting doctors who care for the sick and combating the corruption that can rot a society and rob people of opportunity recent events have shown us that what sets us apart must not just be our power it must also be the purpose behind it in south sudan with our assistance the people were finally able to vote for independence after years of war thousands lined up before dawn people danced in the streets one man who lost four of his brothers at war summed up the scene around him this was a battlefield for most of my life he said now we want to be free and we saw that same desire to be free in tunisia where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator and tonight let us be clear the united states of america stands with the people of tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people we must never forget that the things we have struggled for and fought for live in the hearts of people everywhere and we must always remember that the americans who have borne the greatest burden in this struggle are the men and women who serve our country tonight let us speak with one voice in reaffirming that our nation is united in support of our troops and their families let us serve them as well as they have served us by giving them the equipment they need by providing them with the care and benefits that they have earned and by enlisting our veterans in the great task of building our own nation our troops come from every corner of this country they are black white latino asian native american they are christian and hindu jewish and muslim and yes we know that some of them are gay starting this year no american will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love and with that change i call on all our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and rotc it is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past it is time to move forward as one nation we should have no illusions about the work ahead of us reforming our schools changing the way we use energy reducing our deficit none of this will be easy all of it will take time and it will be harder because we will argue about everything the costs the details the letter of every law of course some countries do not have this problem if the central government wants a railroad they build a railroad no matter how many homes get bulldozed if they do not want a bad story in the newspaper it does not get written and yet as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be i know there is not a person here who would trade places with any other nation on earth we may have differences in policy but we all believe in the rights enshrined in our constitution we may have different opinions but we believe in the same promise that says this is a place where you can make it if you try we may have different backgrounds but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything is possible no matter who you are no matter where you come from that dream is why i can stand here before you tonight that dream is why a working class kid from scranton can sit behind me that dream is why someone who began by sweeping the floors of his father cincinnati bar can preside as speaker of the house in the greatest nation on earth that dream that american dream is what drove the allen brothers to reinvent their roofing company for a new era it is what drove those students at forsyth tech to learn a new skill and work towards the future and that dream is the story of a owner named brandon fisher brandon started a company in berlin pennsylvania that specializes in a new kind of drilling technology and one day last summer he saw the news that halfway across the world 33 men were trapped in a chilean mine and no one knew how to save them but brandon thought his company could help and so he designed a rescue that would come to be known as plan b his employees worked around the clock to manufacture the necessary drilling equipment and brandon left for chile along with others he began drilling a hole into the ground working 3 or 4 hour 3 or 4 days at a time without any sleep days later plan b succeeded and the miners were rescued but because he did not want all of the attention brandon was not there when the miners emerged he would already gone back home back to work on his next project and later one of his employees said of the rescue we proved that center rock is a little company but we do big things we do big things from the earliest days of our founding america has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream that is how we win the future we are a nation that says i might not have a lot of money but i have this great idea for a new company i might not come from a family of college graduates but i will be the first to get my degree i might not know those people in trouble but i think i can help them and i need to try i am not sure how we will reach that better place beyond the horizon but i know we will get there i know we will we do big things the idea of america endures our destiny remains our choice and tonight more than two centuries later it is because of our people that our future is hopeful our journey goes forward and the state of our union is strong thank you god bless you and may god bless the united states of america
speaker vice president members congress distinguished guests fellow americans tonight want begin congratulating men women 112th congress well new speaker john boehner mark occasion also mindful empty chair chamber pray health colleague friend gabby giffords secret us tonight differences last 2 years debates contentious fought fiercely beliefs good thing robust democracy demands helps set us apart nation reason tragedy tucson gave us pause amid noise passion rancor public debate tucson reminded us matter come us part something greater something consequential party political preference part american family believe country every race faith point view found still bound together one people share common hopes common creed dreams little girl tucson different children deserve chance fulfilled sets us apart nation simple recognition usher new era cooperation comes moment us comes moment determined whether sit together tonight whether work together tomorrow believe believe must people sent us expect us votes determined governing shared responsibility parties new laws pass support democrats republicans move forward together challenges face bigger party bigger politics stake right wins next election election stake whether new jobs industries take root country somewhere else whether hard work industry people rewarded whether sustain leadership made america place map light world poised progress two years worst recession us ever known stock market come roaring back corporate profits economy growing never measured progress yardsticks alone measure progress success people jobs find quality life jobs offer prospects owner dreams turning good idea thriving enterprise opportunities better life pass children project american people want us work together december thanks tax cuts passed americans paychecks little bigger today every business write full cost new investments make year steps taken democrats republicans grow economy add 1 million private sector jobs created last year steps taken last 2 years may broken back recession win future need take challenges decades making many people watching tonight probably remember time finding good job meant showing nearby factory business downtown always need degree competition pretty much limited neighbors worked hard chances would job life decent paycheck good benefits occasional promotion maybe would even pride seeing kids work company world changed many change painful seen shuttered windows booming factories vacant storefronts busy main streets heard frustrations americans seen paychecks dwindle jobs disappear proud men women feel like rules changed middle game right rules changed single generation revolutions technology transformed way live work business steel mills needed workers work 100 today company set shop hire workers sell products wherever internet connection meanwhile nations like china india realized changes could compete new world started educating children earlier longer greater emphasis math science investing research new technologies recently china became home world largest private solar research facility world fastest computer yes world changed competition jobs real discourage us challenge us remember hits taken last years naysayers predicting decline america still largest prosperous economy world workers productive country successful companies grants patents inventors entrepreneurs home world best colleges universities students come study place earth first nation founded sake idea idea us deserves chance shape destiny centuries pioneers immigrants risked everything come students memorize equations answer questions like think idea would change world want grow future win get stand still robert kennedy told us future gift achievement sustaining american dream never standing pat required generation sacrifice struggle meet demands new age turn know takes compete jobs industries time need outinnovate outeducate outbuild rest world make america best place earth business need take responsibility deficit reform government people prosper win future tonight would like talk get first step winning future encouraging american innovation none us predict certainty next big industry new jobs come thirty years ago could know something called internet would lead economic revolution america better anyone else spark creativity imagination people nation put cars driveways computers offices nation edison wright brothers google facebook america innovation change lives make living free enterprise system drives innovation always profitable companies invest basic research throughout history government provided scientists inventors support need planted seeds internet helped make possible things like computer chips gps think good jobs manufacturing retail come breakthroughs half century ago soviets beat us space launch satellite called sputnik idea would beat moon science even yet nasa exist investing better research education surpass soviets unleashed wave innovation created new industries millions new jobs generation sputnik moment two years ago said needed reach level research development seen since height space race weeks sending budget congress helps us meet goal invest biomedical research information technology especially clean energy technology investment strengthen security protect planet create countless new jobs people already seeing promise renewable energy robert gary allen brothers run small michigan roofing company september 11 volunteered best roofers help repair pentagon half factory went unused recession hit hard today help government loan empty space used manufacture solar shingles sold across country robert words reinvented americans done 200 years reinvented spur success stories like allen brothers begun reinvent energy policy handing money issuing challenge telling america scientists engineers assemble teams best minds fields focus hardest problems clean energy fund apollo projects time california institute technology developing way turn sunlight water fuel cars oak ridge national laboratory using supercomputers get lot power nuclear facilities research incentives break dependence oil biofuels become first country million electric vehicles road 2015 need get behind innovation help pay asking congress eliminate billions taxpayer dollars currently give oil companies know noticed fine instead subsidizing yesterday energy let us invest tomorrow clean energy breakthroughs translate clean energy jobs businesses know market selling tonight challenge join setting new goal 2035 80 percent america electricity come clean energy sources folks want wind solar others want nuclear clean coal natural gas meet goal need urge democrats republicans work together make happen maintaining leadership research technology crucial america success want win future want innovation produce jobs america overseas also win race educate kids think next 10 years nearly half new jobs require education goes beyond high school education yet many quarter students even finishing high school quality math science education lags behind many nations america fallen ninth proportion young people college degree question whether us citizens parents willing necessary give every child chance succeed responsibility begins classrooms homes communities family first instills love learning child parents make sure tv turned homework gets done need teach kids winner super bowl deserves celebrated winner science fair need teach success function fame pr hard work discipline schools share responsibility child walks classroom place high expectations high performance many schools meet test instead pouring money system working launched competition called race top 50 states said show us innovative plans improve teacher quality student achievement show money race top meaningful reform public schools generation less 1 percent spend education year led 40 states raise standards teaching learning standards developed way washington republican democratic governors throughout country race top approach follow year replace child left behind law flexible focused best kids see know possible children reform mandate work local teachers principals school boards communities take school like bruce randolph denver three years ago rated one worst schools colorado located turf two rival gangs last may 97 percent seniors received diploma first families go college first year school transformation principal made possible wiped away tears student said thank ms waters showing smart make good schools want good schools across country let us also remember parents biggest impact child success comes man woman front classroom south korea teachers known nation builders america time treated people educate children level respect want reward good teachers stop making excuses bad ones next 10 years many baby boomers retiring classrooms want prepare new teachers fields science technology engineering math fact every young person listening tonight contemplating career choice want make difference life nation want make difference life child become teacher country needs course education race end high school diploma compete higher education must within reach every american ended unwarranted taxpayer subsidies went banks used savings make college affordable millions students year ask congress go make permanent tuition tax credit worth 4 years college right thing people need able train new jobs careers today economy also revitalizing america community colleges last month saw promise schools forsyth tech north carolina many students used work surrounding factories since left town one mother two woman named kathy proctor worked furniture industry since 18 years old told earning degree biotechnology 55 years old furniture jobs gone wants inspire children pursue dreams kathy said hope tells never give take steps raise expectations every child give best possible chance education day born last job take reach goal set 2 years ago end decade america highest proportion college graduates world one last point education today hundreds thousands students excelling schools american citizens children undocumented workers nothing actions parents grew americans pledge allegiance flag yet live every day threat deportation others come abroad study colleges universities soon obtain advanced degrees send back home compete us makes sense strongly believe take issue illegal immigration prepared work republicans democrats protect borders enforce laws address millions undocumented workers living shadows know debate difficult know take time tonight let us agree make effort let us stop expelling talented responsible young people could staffing research labs starting new business could enriching nation third step winning future rebuilding america attract new businesses shores need fastest reliable ways move people goods information rail internet infrastructure used best lead slipped south korean homes greater internet access countries europe russia invest roads railways china building faster trains newer airports meanwhile engineers graded nation infrastructure gave us better america nation built transcontinental railroad brought electricity rural communities constructed interstate highway system jobs created projects come laying track pavement came businesses opened near town new train station new last 2 years begun rebuilding 21st century project meant thousands good jobs construction industry tonight proposing redouble efforts put americans work repairing crumbling roads bridges make sure fully paid attract private investment pick projects based best economy politicians within 25 years goal give 80 percent americans access rail could allow go places half time takes travel car trips faster flying without speak routes california midwest already underway within next 5 years make possible businesses deploy next generation wireless coverage 98 percent americans faster internet fewer dropped calls connecting every part america digital age rural community iowa alabama farmers owners able sell products world firefighter download design burning building onto handheld device student take classes digital textbook patient video chats doctor investments innovation education infrastructure make america better place business create jobs help companies compete also knock barriers stand way success example years parade lobbyists rigged tax code benefit particular companies industries accountants lawyers work system end paying taxes rest hit one highest corporate tax rates world makes sense change tonight asking democrats republicans simplify system get rid loopholes level playing field use savings lower corporate tax rate first time 25 years without adding deficit done help businesses sell products abroad set goal doubling exports 2014 export jobs create home already exports recently signed agreements india china support jobs united states last month finalized trade agreement south korea support least american jobs agreement unprecedented support business labor democrats republicans ask congress pass soon possible took office made clear would enforce trade agreements would sign deals keep faith american workers promote american jobs korea intend pursue agreements panama colombia continue global trade talks reduce barriers growth investment ordered review government regulations find rules put unnecessary burden businesses fix hesitate create enforce commonsense safeguards protect american people done country century food safe eat water safe drink air safe breathe speed limits child labor laws last year put place consumer protections hidden fees penalties credit card companies new rules prevent another financial crisis passed reform finally prevents health insurance industry exploiting patients heard rumors still concerns new health care law let first say anything improved ideas improve law making care better affordable eager work start right correcting flaw legislation placed unnecessary bookkeeping burden small businesses willing willing go back days insurance companies could deny someone coverage preexisting condition willing tell james howard brain cancer patient texas treatment might covered willing tell jim houser oregon go back paying cover employees speak law making prescription drugs cheaper seniors giving uninsured students chance stay patients parents coverage say chamber tonight instead refighting battles last 2 years let us fix needs fixing let us move forward final critical step winning future make sure buried mountain debt living legacy deficit spending began almost decade ago wake financial crisis necessary keep credit flowing save jobs put money people pockets worst recession confront fact government spends takes sustainable every day families sacrifice live within means deserve government tonight proposing starting year freeze annual domestic spending next 5 years would reduce deficit 400 billion next decade bring discretionary spending lowest share economy since dwight eisenhower president freeze require painful cuts already frozen salaries federal employees next 2 years proposed cuts things care deeply like community action programs secretary defense also agreed cut tens billions dollars spending generals believe military without recognize chamber already proposed deeper cuts willing eliminate whatever honestly afford without let us make sure backs vulnerable citizens let us make sure cutting really excess weight cutting deficit gutting investments innovation education like lightening overloaded airplane removing engine may make feel like flying high first take long feel impact cuts savings proposed address annual domestic spending represents little 12 percent budget make progress stop pretending cutting kind spending alone enough bipartisan fiscal commission created last year made crystal clear agree proposals made important progress conclusion way tackle deficit cut excessive spending wherever find domestic spending defense spending health care spending spending tax breaks loopholes means reducing health care costs including programs like medicare medicaid single biggest contributor deficit health insurance law passed last year slow rising costs part reason nonpartisan economists said repealing health care law would add quarter trillion dollars deficit still willing look ideas bring costs including one republicans suggested last year medical malpractice reform rein frivolous lawsuits put us solid ground also find bipartisan solution strengthen social security future generations must without putting risk current retirees vulnerable people disabilities without slashing benefits future generations without subjecting americans guaranteed retirement income whims stock market truly care deficit simply afford permanent extension tax cuts wealthiest 2 percent americans take money away schools scholarships away students ask millionaires give tax break matter punishing success promoting america success fact best thing could taxes americans simplify individual tax code tough job members parties expressed interest prepared join time act time sides houses congress democrats republicans forge principled compromise gets job done make hard choices rein deficits make investments need win future let take one step give people government affordable give government competent efficient win future government past live business information age last major reorganization government happened age tv 12 different agencies deal exports least five different agencies deal housing policy favorite example interior department charge salmon fresh water commerce department handles saltwater hear gets even complicated smoked made great strides last 2 years using technology getting rid waste veterans download electronic medical records click mouse selling acres federal office space used years cut redtape get rid need think bigger coming months administration develop proposal merge consolidate reorganize federal government way best serves goal competitive america submit proposal congress vote push get passed coming year also work rebuild people faith institution government deserve know exactly tax dollars spent able go web site get information first time history deserve know elected officials meeting lobbyists ask congress white house already done put information online american people deserve know special interests larding legislation pet projects parties congress know bill comes desk earmarks inside veto veto government open competent government lives within means economy driven new skills new ideas success new changing world require reform responsibility innovation also require us approach world new level engagement foreign affairs jobs businesses race across borders new threats new challenges single wall separates east west one rival superpower aligned us must defeat determined enemies wherever build coalitions cut across lines region race religion america moral example must always shine yearn freedom justice dignity begun work tonight say american leadership renewed america standing restored look iraq nearly brave men women left heads held high american combat patrols ended violence new government formed year civilians forge lasting partnership iraqi people finish job bringing troops iraq america commitment kept iraq war coming end course speak al qaida affiliates continue plan attacks us thanks intelligence law enforcement professionals disrupting plots securing cities skies extremists try inspire acts violence within borders responding strength communities respect rule law conviction american muslims part american family also taken fight al qaida allies abroad afghanistan troops taken taliban strongholds trained afghan security forces purpose clear preventing taliban reestablishing stranglehold afghan people deny al qaida safe served launching pad thanks heroic troops civilians fewer afghans control insurgency tough fighting ahead afghan government need deliver better governance strengthening capacity afghan people building enduring partnership year work nearly 50 countries begin transition afghan lead july begin bring troops home pakistan al qaida leadership pressure point since 2001 leaders operatives removed battlefield safe havens shrinking sent message afghan border arabian peninsula parts globe relent waver defeat american leadership also seen effort secure worst weapons war republicans democrats approved new start treaty far fewer nuclear weapons launchers deployed rallied world nuclear materials locked every continent never fall hands terrorists diplomatic effort insist iran meet obligations iranian government faces tougher sanctions tighter sanctions ever korean peninsula stand ally south korea insist north korea keeps commitment abandon nuclear weapons part shaping world favors peace prosperity european allies revitalized nato increased cooperation everything counterterrorism missile defense reset relationship russia strengthened asian alliances built new partnerships nations like india march travel brazil chile el salvador forge new alliances across americas around globe standing take responsibility helping farmers grow food supporting doctors care sick combating corruption rot society rob people opportunity recent events shown us sets us apart must power must also purpose behind south sudan assistance people finally able vote independence years war thousands lined dawn people danced streets one man lost four brothers war summed scene around battlefield life said want free saw desire free tunisia people proved powerful writ dictator tonight let us clear united states america stands people tunisia supports democratic aspirations people must never forget things struggled fought live hearts people everywhere must always remember americans borne greatest burden struggle men women serve country tonight let us speak one voice reaffirming nation united support troops families let us serve well served us giving equipment need providing care benefits earned enlisting veterans great task building nation troops come every corner country black white latino asian native american christian hindu jewish muslim yes know gay starting year american forbidden serving country love love change call college campuses open doors military recruiters rotc time leave behind divisive battles past time move forward one nation illusions work ahead us reforming schools changing way use energy reducing deficit none easy take time harder argue everything costs details letter every law course countries problem central government wants railroad build railroad matter many homes get bulldozed want bad story newspaper get written yet contentious frustrating messy democracy sometimes know person would trade places nation earth may differences policy believe rights enshrined constitution may different opinions believe promise says place make try may different backgrounds believe dream says country anything possible matter matter come dream stand tonight dream working class kid scranton sit behind dream someone began sweeping floors father cincinnati bar preside speaker house greatest nation earth dream american dream drove allen brothers reinvent roofing company new era drove students forsyth tech learn new skill work towards future dream story owner named brandon fisher brandon started company berlin pennsylvania specializes new kind drilling technology one day last summer saw news halfway across world 33 men trapped chilean mine one knew save brandon thought company could help designed rescue would come known plan b employees worked around clock manufacture necessary drilling equipment brandon left chile along others began drilling hole ground working 3 4 hour 3 4 days time without sleep days later plan b succeeded miners rescued want attention brandon miners emerged would already gone back home back work next project later one employees said rescue proved center rock little company big things big things earliest days founding america story ordinary people dare dream win future nation says might lot money great idea new company might come family college graduates first get degree might know people trouble think help need try sure reach better place beyond horizon know get know big things idea america endures destiny remains choice tonight two centuries later people future hopeful journey goes forward state union strong thank god bless may god bless united states america
speaker vice president member congress distinguished guest fellow american tonight want begin congratulate men woman 112th congress well new speaker john boehner mark occasion also mindful empty chair chamber pray health colleague friend gabby giffords secret u tonight difference last 2 year debate contentious fought fiercely beliefs good thing robust democracy demand help set u apart nation reason tragedy tucson give u pause amid noise passion rancor public debate tucson remind u matter come u part something great something consequential party political preference part american family believe country every race faith point view find still bind together one people share common hop common creed dream little girl tucson different child deserve chance fulfil set u apart nation simple recognition usher new era cooperation come moment u come moment determine whether sit together tonight whether work together tomorrow believe believe must people send u expect u vote determine govern share responsibility party new law pass support democrat republicans move forward together challenge face big party big politics stake right win next election election stake whether new job industry take root country somewhere else whether hard work industry people reward whether sustain leadership make america place map light world poise progress two year bad recession u ever know stock market come roar back corporate profit economy grow never measure progress yardstick alone measure progress success people job find quality life job offer prospect owner dream turn good idea thrive enterprise opportunity well life pas child project american people want u work together december thanks tax cut pass american paycheck little big today every business write full cost new investment make year step take democrat republicans grow economy add 1 million private sector job create last year step take last 2 year may break back recession win future need take challenge decade make many people watch tonight probably remember time find good job mean show nearby factory business downtown always need degree competition pretty much limited neighbor work hard chance would job life decent paycheck good benefit occasional promotion maybe would even pride see kid work company world change many change painful see shutter window boom factory vacant storefront busy main street hear frustration american see paycheck dwindle job disappear proud men woman feel like rule change middle game right rule change single generation revolution technology transform way live work business steel mill need worker work 100 today company set shop hire worker sell product wherever internet connection meanwhile nation like china india realize change could compete new world start educate child earlier longer great emphasis math science invest research new technology recently china become home world large private solar research facility world fast computer yes world change competition job real discourage u challenge u remember hit take last year naysayer predict decline america still large prosperous economy world worker productive country successful company grant patent inventor entrepreneurs home world best college universities student come study place earth first nation found sake idea idea u deserve chance shape destiny century pioneer immigrant risk everything come student memorize equation answer question like think idea would change world want grow future win get stand still robert kennedy tell u future gift achievement sustain american dream never stand pat require generation sacrifice struggle meet demand new age turn know take compete job industry time need outinnovate outeducate outbuild rest world make america best place earth business need take responsibility deficit reform government people prosper win future tonight would like talk get first step win future encouraging american innovation none u predict certainty next big industry new job come thirty year ago could know something call internet would lead economic revolution america well anyone else spark creativity imagination people nation put car driveways computer office nation edison wright brother google facebook america innovation change life make live free enterprise system drive innovation always profitable company invest basic research throughout history government provide scientist inventor support need plant seed internet help make possible thing like computer chip gps think good job manufacture retail come breakthrough half century ago soviet beat u space launch satellite call sputnik idea would beat moon science even yet nasa exist invest good research education surpass soviet unleashed wave innovation create new industry million new job generation sputnik moment two year ago say need reach level research development see since height space race week send budget congress help u meet goal invest biomedical research information technology especially clean energy technology investment strengthen security protect planet create countless new job people already see promise renewable energy robert gary allen brother run small michigan roof company september 11 volunteered best roofer help repair pentagon half factory go unused recession hit hard today help government loan empty space use manufacture solar shingle sell across country robert word reinvent american do 200 year reinvent spur success story like allen brother begin reinvent energy policy hand money issue challenge tell america scientist engineer assemble team best mind field focus hard problem clean energy fund apollo project time california institute technology develop way turn sunlight water fuel car oak ridge national laboratory use supercomputer get lot power nuclear facility research incentives break dependence oil biofuels become first country million electric vehicle road 2015 need get behind innovation help pay ask congress eliminate billion taxpayer dollar currently give oil company know noticed fine instead subsidize yesterday energy let u invest tomorrow clean energy breakthrough translate clean energy job business know market selling tonight challenge join set new goal 2035 80 percent america electricity come clean energy source folks want wind solar others want nuclear clean coal natural gas meet goal need urge democrat republicans work together make happen maintain leadership research technology crucial america success want win future want innovation produce job america overseas also win race educate kid think next 10 year nearly half new job require education go beyond high school education yet many quarter student even finish high school quality math science education lag behind many nation america fall ninth proportion young people college degree question whether u citizens parent willing necessary give every child chance succeed responsibility begin classroom home community family first instill love learn child parent make sure tv turn homework get do need teach kid winner super bowl deserves celebrate winner science fair need teach success function fame pr hard work discipline school share responsibility child walk classroom place high expectation high performance many school meet test instead pour money system work launch competition call race top 50 state say show u innovative plan improve teacher quality student achievement show money race top meaningful reform public school generation less 1 percent spend education year lead 40 state raise standard teach learning standard develop way washington republican democratic governor throughout country race top approach follow year replace child leave behind law flexible focused best kid see know possible child reform mandate work local teacher principal school board community take school like bruce randolph denver three year ago rat one bad school colorado locate turf two rival gang last may 97 percent senior receive diploma first family go college first year school transformation principal make possible wiped away tear student say thank m water show smart make good school want good school across country let u also remember parent big impact child success come man woman front classroom south korea teacher know nation builder america time treat people educate child level respect want reward good teacher stop make excuse bad one next 10 year many baby boomer retire classroom want prepare new teacher field science technology engineering math fact every young person listen tonight contemplate career choice want make difference life nation want make difference life child become teacher country need course education race end high school diploma compete high education must within reach every american end unwarranted taxpayer subsidy go bank use saving make college affordable million student year ask congress go make permanent tuition tax credit worth 4 year college right thing people need able train new job career today economy also revitalize america community college last month saw promise school forsyth tech north carolina many student used work surround factory since leave town one mother two woman name kathy proctor work furniture industry since 18 year old tell earn degree biotechnology 55 year old furniture job go want inspire child pursue dream kathy say hope tell never give take step raise expectation every child give best possible chance education day bear last job take reach goal set 2 year ago end decade america high proportion college graduate world one last point education today hundred thousand student excel school american citizen child undocumented worker nothing action parent grow american pledge allegiance flag yet live every day threat deportation others come abroad study college university soon obtain advanced degree send back home compete u make sense strongly believe take issue illegal immigration prepare work republican democrat protect border enforce law address million undocumented worker live shadow know debate difficult know take time tonight let u agree make effort let u stop expel talented responsible young people could staff research lab start new business could enrich nation third step win future rebuild america attract new business shore need fast reliable way move people good information rail internet infrastructure use best lead slip south korean home great internet access country europe russia invest roads railway china building faster train new airport meanwhile engineer grade nation infrastructure give u good america nation build transcontinental railroad bring electricity rural community construct interstate highway system job create project come lay track pavement come business open near town new train station new last 2 year begin rebuild 21st century project meant thousand good job construction industry tonight propose redouble effort put americans work repair crumble road bridge make sure fully pay attract private investment pick project base best economy politician within 25 year goal give 80 percent american access rail could allow go place half time take travel car trip faster fly without speak route california midwest already underway within next 5 year make possible business deploy next generation wireless coverage 98 percent american faster internet few drop call connect every part america digital age rural community iowa alabama farmer owner able sell product world firefighter download design burn building onto handheld device student take class digital textbook patient video chat doctor investment innovation education infrastructure make america well place business create job help company compete also knock barrier stand way success example year parade lobbyist rig tax code benefit particular company industry accountant lawyer work system end pay tax rest hit one high corporate tax rate world make sense change tonight ask democrat republicans simplify system get rid loophole level play field use saving low corporate tax rate first time 25 year without add deficit do help business sell product abroad set goal double export 2014 export job create home already export recently sign agreement india china support job unite state last month finalize trade agreement south korea support least american job agreement unprecedented support business labor democrat republicans ask congress pas soon possible take office make clear would enforce trade agreement would sign deal keep faith american worker promote american job korea intend pursue agreement panama colombia continue global trade talk reduce barrier growth investment order review government regulation find rule put unnecessary burden business fix hesitate create enforce commonsense safeguard protect american people do country century food safe eat water safe drink air safe breathe speed limit child labor law last year put place consumer protection hide fee penalty credit card company new rule prevent another financial crisis pass reform finally prevent health insurance industry exploit patient heard rumor still concern new health care law let first say anything improved idea improve law making care well affordable eager work start right correct flaw legislation place unnecessary bookkeeping burden small business willing willing go back day insurance company could deny someone coverage preexist condition willing tell james howard brain cancer patient texas treatment might cover willing tell jim houser oregon go back pay cover employee speak law make prescription drug cheaper senior give uninsured student chance stay patient parent coverage say chamber tonight instead refighting battle last 2 year let u fix need fix let u move forward final critical step win future make sure bury mountain debt living legacy deficit spending begin almost decade ago wake financial crisis necessary keep credit flow save job put money people pocket bad recession confront fact government spend take sustainable every day family sacrifice live within mean deserve government tonight propose start year freeze annual domestic spending next 5 year would reduce deficit 400 billion next decade bring discretionary spending low share economy since dwight eisenhower president freeze require painful cut already frozen salary federal employee next 2 year propose cut thing care deeply like community action program secretary defense also agree cut ten billion dollar spend general believe military without recognize chamber already propose deep cut willing eliminate whatever honestly afford without let u make sure back vulnerable citizen let u make sure cut really excess weight cut deficit gutting investment innovation education like lighten overload airplane remove engine may make feel like fly high first take long feel impact cut saving propose address annual domestic spending represent little 12 percent budget make progress stop pretend cut kind spending alone enough bipartisan fiscal commission create last year make crystal clear agree proposal make important progress conclusion way tackle deficit cut excessive spending wherever find domestic spending defense spending health care spend spending tax break loophole mean reduce health care cost include program like medicare medicaid single big contributor deficit health insurance law pass last year slow rising cost part reason nonpartisan economist say repeal health care law would add quarter trillion dollar deficit still willing look idea bring cost include one republican suggest last year medical malpractice reform rein frivolous lawsuit put u solid ground also find bipartisan solution strengthen social security future generation must without put risk current retiree vulnerable people disability without slash benefit future generation without subject american guarantee retirement income whim stock market truly care deficit simply afford permanent extension tax cut wealthiest 2 percent american take money away school scholarships away student ask millionaire give tax break matter punish success promote america success fact best thing could tax american simplify individual tax code tough job member party express interest prepare join time act time side house congress democrat republican forge principled compromise get job do make hard choice rein deficit make investment need win future let take one step give people government affordable give government competent efficient win future government past live business information age last major reorganization government happen age tv 12 different agency deal export least five different agency deal housing policy favorite example interior department charge salmon fresh water commerce department handle saltwater hear get even complicate smoke make great stride last 2 year use technology get rid waste veteran download electronic medical record click mouse selling acres federal office space use year cut redtape get rid need think big come month administration develop proposal merge consolidate reorganize federal government way best serf goal competitive america submit proposal congress vote push get pass come year also work rebuild people faith institution government deserve know exactly tax dollar spend able go web site get information first time history deserve know elect official meet lobbyist ask congress white house already do put information online american people deserve know special interest lard legislation pet project party congress know bill come desk earmark inside veto veto government open competent government life within mean economy driven new skill new idea success new change world require reform responsibility innovation also require u approach world new level engagement foreign affair job business race across border new threat new challenge single wall separate east west one rival superpower align u must defeat determined enemy wherever build coalition cut across line region race religion america moral example must always shine yearn freedom justice dignity begin work tonight say american leadership renew america stand restored look iraq nearly brave men woman leave head hold high american combat patrol end violence new government form year civilian forge last partnership iraqi people finish job bring troop iraq america commitment keep iraq war come end course speak al qaida affiliate continue plan attack u thanks intelligence law enforcement professional disrupt plot secure city sky extremist try inspire act violence within border respond strength community respect rule law conviction american muslim part american family also take fight al qaida ally abroad afghanistan troop take taliban stronghold train afghan security force purpose clear prevent taliban reestablish stranglehold afghan people deny al qaida safe serve launch pad thanks heroic troop civilian few afghan control insurgency tough fighting ahead afghan government need deliver good governance strengthen capacity afghan people build endure partnership year work nearly 50 country begin transition afghan lead july begin bring troops home pakistan al qaida leadership pressure point since 2001 leader operatives remove battlefield safe havens shrink sent message afghan border arabian peninsula part globe relent waver defeat american leadership also see effort secure bad weapon war republicans democrat approve new start treaty far few nuclear weapon launcher deploy rallied world nuclear material lock every continent never fall hand terrorist diplomatic effort insist iran meet obligation iranian government face tough sanction tighter sanction ever korean peninsula stand ally south korea insist north korea keep commitment abandon nuclear weapon part shape world favor peace prosperity european ally revitalize nato increased cooperation everything counterterrorism missile defense reset relationship russia strengthen asian alliance build new partnership nation like india march travel brazil chile el salvador forge new alliance across america around globe stand take responsibility help farmer grow food support doctor care sick combat corruption rot society rob people opportunity recent event show u set u apart must power must also purpose behind south sudan assistance people finally able vote independence year war thousand line dawn people dance street one man lose four brother war sum scene around battlefield life say want free saw desire free tunisia people prove powerful writ dictator tonight let u clear united state america stand people tunisia support democratic aspiration people must never forget thing struggle fought live heart people everywhere must always remember american borne great burden struggle men woman serve country tonight let u speak one voice reaffirm nation unite support troop family let u serve well serve u give equipment need provide care benefit earn enlist veteran great task building nation troop come every corner country black white latino asian native american christian hindu jewish muslim yes know gay start year american forbidden serve country love love change call college campus open door military recruiter rotc time leave behind divisive battle past time move forward one nation illusion work ahead u reform school change way use energy reduce deficit none easy take time hard argue everything cost detail letter every law course country problem central government want railroad build railroad matter many home get bulldoze want bad story newspaper get write yet contentious frustrate messy democracy sometimes know person would trade place nation earth may differences policy believe right enshrine constitution may different opinion believe promise say place make try may different background believe dream say country anything possible matter matter come dream stand tonight dream work class kid scranton sit behind dream someone begin sweeping floor father cincinnati bar preside speaker house great nation earth dream american dream drive allen brother reinvent roof company new era drove student forsyth tech learn new skill work towards future dream story owner name brandon fisher brandon start company berlin pennsylvania specialize new kind drilling technology one day last summer saw news halfway across world 33 men trap chilean mine one knew save brandon thought company could help design rescue would come know plan b employee work around clock manufacture necessary drilling equipment brandon leave chile along others begin drill hole ground work 3 4 hour 3 4 day time without sleep day later plan b succeed miner rescue want attention brandon miner emerge would already go back home back work next project later one employee say rescue prove center rock little company big thing big thing early day found america story ordinary people dare dream win future nation say might lot money great idea new company might come family college graduate first get degree might know people trouble think help need try sure reach good place beyond horizon know get know big thing idea america endure destiny remains choice tonight two century later people future hopeful journey go forward state union strong thank god bless may god bless united state america