Remarks by the President on the Affordable Care Act

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

ON THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Rose Garden

4:19 P.M. EDT

April 01, 2014

THE PRESIDENT:  Everybody, please have a seat.  Thank you so much.   Welcome to the White House. 

Six months ago today, a big part of the Affordable Care Act kicked in as healthcare.gov and state insurance marketplaces went live.  And millions of Americans finally had the same chance to buy quality, affordable health care -- and the peace of mind that comes with it -- as everybody else.

Last night, the first open-enrollment period under this law came to an end.  And despite several lost weeks out of the gate because of problems with the website, 7.1 million Americans have now signed up for private insurance plans through these marketplaces -- 7.1.  (Applause.)

The truth is, even more folks want to sign up.  So anybody who was stuck in line because of the huge surge in demand over the past few days can still go back and finish your enrollment -- 7.1 million, that’s on top of the more than 3 million young adults who have gained insurance under this law by staying on their family’s plan.  That’s on top of the millions more who have gained access through Medicaid expansion and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  Making affordable coverage available to all Americans, including those with preexisting conditions, is now an important goal of this law.  (Applause.) 

And in these first six months, we’ve taken a big step forward.  And just as importantly, this law is bringing greater security to Americans who already have coverage.  Because of the Affordable Care Act, 100 million Americans have gained free preventive care, like mammograms and contraceptive care, under their existing plans.  (Applause.)  Because of this law, nearly 8 million seniors have saved almost $10 billion on their medicine because we’ve closed a gaping hole in Medicare’s prescription drug plan.  We’re closing the donut hole.  (Applause.)  And because of this law, a whole lot of families won’t be driven into bankruptcy by a serious illness, because the Affordable Care Act prevents your insurer from placing dollar limits on the coverage they provide.

These are all benefits that have been taking place for a whole lot of families out there, many who don’t realize that they’ve received these benefits.  But the bottom line is this:  Under this law, the share of Americans with insurance is up and the growth of health care costs is down, and that’s good for our middle class and that’s good for our fiscal future.  (Applause.)

Now, that doesn’t mean that all the problems in health care have been solved forever.  Premiums are still rising for families who have insurance, whether you get it through your employer or you buy it on your own -- that’s been true every year for decades.  But, so far, those premiums have risen more slowly since the Affordable Care Act passed than at any time in the past 50 years.  It’s also true that, despite this law, millions of Americans remain uncovered in part because governors in some states for political reasons have deliberately refused to expand coverage under this law.  But we’re going to work on that. And we’ll work to get more Americans covered with each passing year.  (Applause.)

And while it remains true that you’ll still have to change your coverage if you graduate from college or turn 26 years old or move or switch jobs, or have a child -- just like you did before the Affordable Care Act was passed -- you can now go to healthcare.gov and use it year-round to enroll when circumstances in your life change.  So, no, the Affordable Care Act hasn’t completely fixed our long-broken health care system, but this law has made our health care system a lot better -- a lot better.  (Applause.)

All told, because of this law, millions of our fellow citizens know the economic security of health insurance who didn’t just a few years ago -- and that’s something to be proud of.  Regardless of your politics or your feelings about me, or your feelings about this law, that’s something that’s good for our economy, and it’s good for our country.  And there’s no good reason to go back. 

Let me give you a sense of what this change has meant for millions of our fellow Americans.  I’ll just give you a few examples.  Sean Casey, from Solana Beach, California, always made sure to cover his family on the private market.  But preexisting medical conditions meant his annual tab was over $30,000.  The Affordable Care Act changed that.  See, if you have a preexisting condition, like being a cancer survivor, or if you suffer chronic pain from a tough job, or even if you’ve just been charged more for being a woman -– you can no longer be charged more than anybody else.  So this year, the Casey family’s premiums will fall from over $30,000 to under $9,000.  (Applause.) 

And I know this because Sean took the time to write me a letter.  “These savings,” he said, “will almost offset the cost of our daughter’s first year in college.  I’m a big believer in this legislation, and it has removed a lot of complexity and, frankly, fear from my life.  Please keep fighting for the ACA.”  That's what Sean had to say.

Jeanne Goe is a bartender from Enola, Pennsylvania.  Now, I think most folks are aware being a bartender, that's a job that usually doesn't offer health care.  For years, Jeanne went uninsured or underinsured, often getting some health care through her local Planned Parenthood.  In November, she bought a plan on the marketplace.  In January, an illness sent her to the hospital.  And because her new plan covered a CAT scan she wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford, her doctor discovered that she also had ovarian cancer -– and gave her a chance to beat it.  So she wrote me a letter, too.  She said it’s going to be “a long tough road to kill this cancer, but I can walk that road knowing insurance isn’t an issue.  I won’t be refused care.  I hope to send a follow-up letter in a few months saying I am free and clear of this disease, but until then, I know I will be fighting just as you have been fighting for my life as a working American citizen.”

And after her first wellness visit under her new insurance plan, Marla Morine, from Fort Collins, Colorado, shared with me what it meant to her.  “After using my new insurance for the first time, you probably heard my sigh of relief from the White House.”  (Laughter.)  “I felt like a human being again.  I felt that I had value.”

That’s what the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is all about -– making sure that all of us, and all our fellow citizens, can count on the security of health care when we get sick; that the work and dignity of every person is acknowledged and affirmed.  The newly insured like Marla deserve that dignity.  Working Americans like Jeanne deserve that economic security.  Women, the sick, survivors -- they deserve fair treatment in our health care system, all of which makes the constant politics around this law so troubling. 

Like every major piece of legislation -- from Social Security to Medicare -- the law is not perfect.  We’ve had to make adjustments along the way, and the implementation -- especially with the website -- has had its share of problems.  We know something about that.  And, yes, at times this reform has been contentious and confusing, and obviously it’s had its share of critics.  That’s part of what change looks like in a democracy.  Change is hard.  Fixing what’s broken is hard.  Overcoming skepticism and fear of something new is hard.  A lot of times folks would prefer the devil they know to the devil they don’t.

But this law is doing what it’s supposed to do.  It’s working.  It’s helping people from coast to coast, all of which makes the lengths to which critics have gone to scare people or undermine the law, or try to repeal the law without offering any plausible alternative so hard to understand.  I’ve got to admit, I don’t get it.  Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?  Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?  Many of the tall tales that have been told about this law have been debunked.  There are still no death panels.  (Laughter.)  Armageddon has not arrived.  Instead, this law is helping millions of Americans, and in the coming years it will help millions more.

I’ve said before, I will always work with anyone who is willing to make this law work even better.  But the debate over repealing this law is over.  The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.  (Applause.)

And those who have based their entire political agenda on repealing it have to explain to the country why Jeanne should go back to being uninsured.  They should explain why Sean and his family should go back to paying thousands and thousands of dollars more.  They’ve got to explain why Marla doesn’t deserve to feel like she’s got value.  They have to explain why we should go back to the days when seniors paid more for their prescriptions or women had to pay more than men for coverage, back to the days when Americans with preexisting conditions were out of luck -- they could routinely be denied the economic security of health insurance -- because that’s exactly what would happen if we repeal this law.  Millions of people who now have health insurance would not have it.  Seniors who have gotten discounts on their prescription drugs would have to pay more.  Young people who were on their parents’ plan would suddenly not have health insurance. 

In the end, history is not kind to those who would deny Americans their basic economic security.  Nobody remembers well those who stand in the way of America’s progress or our people.  And that’s what the Affordable Care Act represents.  As messy as it’s been sometimes, as contentious as it’s been sometimes, it is progress.  It is making sure that we are not the only advanced country on Earth that doesn’t make sure everybody has basic health care.  (Applause.)  And that’s thanks in part to leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin, and all the members of Congress who are here today.  We could not have done it without them, and they should be proud of what they’ve done.  They should be proud of what they’ve done.  (Applause.) 

And it’s also thanks to the often-unheralded work of countless Americans who fought tirelessly to pass this law, and who organized like crazy these past few months to help their fellow citizens just get the information they needed to get covered.  That’s why we’re here today.  That’s why 7.1 million folks have health insurance -- because people got the word out. 

And we didn’t make a hard sell.  We didn’t have billions of dollars of commercials like some critics did.  But what we said was, look for yourself, see if it’s good for your family.  And a whole lot of people decided it was.  So I want to thank everybody who worked so hard to make sure that we arrived at this point today.

I want to make sure everybody understands:  In the months, years ahead, I guarantee you there will be additional challenges to implementing this law.  There will be days when the website stumbles -- I guarantee it.  So, press, just -- I want you to anticipate -- (laughter) -- there will be some moment when the website is down -- and I know it will be on all of your front pages.  It’s going to happen.  It won’t be news.  There will be parts of the law that will still need to be improved.  And if we can stop refighting old political battles that keep us gridlocked, then we could actually make the law work even better for everybody.  And we’re excited about the prospect of doing that.  We are game to do it.  (Applause.) 

But today should remind us that the goal we set for ourselves -- that no American should go without the health care that they need; that no family should be bankrupt because somebody in that family gets sick, because no parent should have to be worried about whether they can afford treatment because they’re worried that they don’t want to have to burden their children; the idea that everybody in this country can get decent health care -- that goal is achievable. 

We are on our way.  And if all of us have the courage and the wisdom to keep working not against one another, not to scare each other, but for one another –- then we won’t just make progress on health care.  We’ll make progress on all the other work that remains to create new opportunity for everybody who works for it, and to make sure that this country that we love lives up to its highest ideals.  That’s what today is about.  That’s what all the days that come as long as I’m President are going to be about.  That’s what we’re going to be working towards.

Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.)  Thank you. 

END               

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Remarks by President Obama on the Minimum Wage at Valencia College, Orlando, Florida

Remarks by the President on the Minimum Wage

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Valencia College
Orlando, Florida

3:00 P.M. EDT

March 20, 2014

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Valencia!  (Applause.)  Well, thank you so much.  It is great to be back in Orlando.  (Applause.)   I’m glad some of you came to work while a lot of folks are pretending to work and watching -- (laughter) -- the tournament. I know there must be some Gators fans around here.  (Applause.)  They are an outstanding team.  I put out my Men’s bracket -- I've got them going to the Final Four. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  They’re going to win!

THE PRESIDENT:  And they could win the whole thing -- in which case, I won't win the billion dollars.  (Laughter.)  You can only pick one winner.  There are 63 colleges mad at me.  (Laughter.)  I understand there are some neighbors up the road in Gainesville who are not happy with me.  (Laughter.)  There will be even more tomorrow when I release my Women’s bracket -- because you can't please everybody. 

But we’ve got some terrific elected officials here.  I just want to, in particular, thank the Mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, who’s been a great friend.  Give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank the president of Valencia College, Sandy -- (applause) -- where’s Sandy?  Sandy Shugart -- there he is.  We've got the president of the West Campus who I just had an amazing conversation with -- Falecia Williams.  Where’s Falecia?  Right there.  (Applause.)  I want to thank everybody here at Valencia for having me. 

A few years ago, I announced a new competition called the Aspen Prize to recognize exceptional community colleges, and, lo and behold -- (laughter) -- your school, Valencia -- (applause) -- was the very first school in the entire country to win this prize.  (Applause.)  So between the students’ hard work, the outstanding faculty, the administrators who are making sure everybody has what they need to succeed, Valencia graduates are leaving here ready for a career; ready to continue their education; ready to pursue their dreams, wherever they may lead.

And so this college represents what’s best in America -- the idea that here in this country, if you work hard, you can get ahead.  And restoring that opportunity for every American, that's been our driving focus as a country.  That’s driven everything I’ve done since I came into office. 

And today, we’re at a moment when, after the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, after just some devastating losses that people had -- their homes, or their retirement accounts, or their jobs -- now we've see businesses creating 8.7 million new jobs over the past four years.  American manufacturers are adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  In American energy, we’re producing more oil here at home than we buy from other countries for the first time in two decades.  We're generating more renewable energy.  The housing market is rebounding, including here in Florida.  Our high school graduation rate is the highest on record.  (Applause.)  Absolutely.  More young people are earning college degrees than ever before.  (Applause.)

So even as we are digging ourselves out of the economic hole that we were in back in 2008, we've also worked to lay a new foundation for America’s future growth.  Here’s the problem, though -- there are a bunch of good things happening, the economy is starting to grow, but some of the trends that have really battered middle-class families and people who are working hard to get into the middle class for decades -- those have not yet gotten better.  Folks at the top are doing better than ever, but over the past four years, average wages have barely budged.  So you’ve got too many Americans who are working harder than ever just to keep up.  

And it’s our job to reverse these trends.  We've got to build an economy that works for everybody, not just for a few.  We’ve got to restore opportunity for all people -- the basic idea that no matter where you started, no matter what you look like, if you work hard you can get ahead.  America has got to be a place where if you’re responsible and you apply yourself you can make it.

So what we focused on is an opportunity agenda that has four parts.  Part one is more good jobs that pay good wages, whether it’s in manufacturing, in energy, in innovation and technology, in the service industries.  And one of the things we’ve done in Orlando is focus on growing tourism.  Buddy knows this.  Two years ago, I came here to announce an executive order to track more foreign tourists to the United States and last year spending by foreign tourists was up almost 10 percent.  That is a huge boost to Florida.  We’ve got to keep on taking those kinds of steps.

Part two of our opportunity agenda -- we’ve got to train more Americans with the skills that they need to fill the jobs that are actually out there not just today but also tomorrow. 

Part three you know something about -- we’ve got to make sure every young person has access to a world-class education, from high-quality preschool for every four-year-old to an affordable college education for all you striving young people. 

And part four is making sure that our economy rewards the hard work of every American with wages that you can live on, savings you can retire on, health care that’s there when you need it. 

And in pursuit of this opportunity agenda, I’m going to work with Congress wherever I can.  But Congress doesn’t always -- (laughter) -- move the way we’d like, and so we’re calling this a Year of Action.  Wherever I see a chance to go ahead and expand opportunity for more Americans, I’m going to take it.  I’m not going to wait for Congress.  We’ve just got to go ahead and get it done.  (Applause.)

I’ll give you a couple of examples.  In the past few weeks I’ve used my executive authority to require federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour to make sure that folks, if they’re working full-time, aren’t living in poverty.  I’ve signed another executive order to make sure that they’re actually paid the overtime that they’ve earned, because everybody who works hard deserves that chance to get ahead.  And if you work more, you should get paid a little more.

As part of making sure our economy rewards the hard work of every American, I’m also coming here today to make sure that our economy rewards the hard work of women.  (Applause.)  Now, I just want to be clear -- I just want to be clear.  I’ve got nothing against you men.  (Laughter.)  We’re working hard to make sure that you’re doing the right thing, too, and that you’re getting opportunity as well.  But I’ve got a personal stake in seeing women get ahead. 

First of all, women make up 80 percent of my household -- (laughter) -- if you count my mother-in-law.  And I always count my mother-in-law.  (Laughter.)  But I also personally know the challenges that women face in our economy, and there are some particular challenges that women face.  I grew up the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through school and make ends meet, and raise my sister and me the right way.  And she couldn’t have done it if it weren’t for my grandparents.  And the most important breadwinner in my family was my grandmother, who worked her way up from being a secretary to being a vice president of a bank -- never got a college degree -- but then hit a glass ceiling at that local bank where she worked.  So she’d train men to eventually be her boss, even though she knew a lot more than they did.

When Michelle and I had our girls, we gave everything we had to try to balance raising a family and chasing careers.  But I’ll be honest with you, it was harder for her than it was for me.  Because when she was with the girls, she’d feel guilty about, am I doing everything I need to be doing on the job; when she was at work, she’d feel bad about, are the girls missing me -- and I know Barack is messing up somehow.  (Laughter.)  So she’s calling to check.

And so today, obviously we’re lucky and Michelle and I usually get to have dinner with the girls every night and they’re doing great.  And the highlight of every day for me is sitting with them at the dinner table.  And I want to make sure my daughters are getting the same chances as men.  I don’t want them paid less for doing the same job as some guy is doing.  When they have children, I want to make sure that they’re not having to quit their jobs, or in some other fashion be hampered because we don’t have the kinds of policies in this country that support them.

My point is -- and I’m saying now to the men -- we’ve all got a stake in this.  Women make up about half of our workforce. Over half of Valencia students, 56 percent, are women.  In fact, for more than two decades, women have earned over half of the higher education degrees awarded in this country.  So that means soon, for the first time, America’s highly educated workforce will be made up of more women than men. 

But the thing is our economy hasn’t caught up to that reality yet.  So we’ve got too many women who work hard to support themselves and their families, including the 20 percent of women enrolled in college who are trying to raise kids while earning a degree, and they’re facing unfair choices or outdated workplace policies that are holding them back.  That has to change -- because it holds all of us back.

When women make less than men, that hurts their families, including their partners, their husbands, their kids.  They’ve got less to get by on.  It hurts businesses because now their customers have less to spend.  When a job doesn’t offer adequate family leave to care for a new baby or an ailing parent that burdens men and children.  When any of our citizens can’t fulfill their potential for any reason that doesn’t have to do with their talent or their character or their work ethic, well, that’s holding us back.  We do better when everybody participates, when everybody’s talents are put to use, everybody has a fair shot. 

And I had a wonderful conversation before I came out here with Carolyn and we had a group of other women, including Dr. Williams, and you should just have heard these stories.  I mean, I don’t know if Dr. Williams has shared her story, but her mom was blind and raised her, a single mom.  And she had to go to school and get a job, and when her child was born prematurely, her blind mother comes down to provide child care because that’s the only way she could manage it. 

You had another woman describing what it’s like when you’ve got twins, preemie babies, and she’s having to quit her job because there’s no child care available, and how she needed WIC and other programs to support her even though she had a loving husband who was helping out.

So this is a family agenda.  But it starts with making sure that every woman is getting a fair shot.  It’s time for a woman’s economic agenda that grows our economy for everybody.  Now, that begins with making sure women receive equal pay for equal work.  This is a really simple principle.  This should not be confusing. (Laughter and applause.)  It’s not that complicated. 

Today, more women are their family’s main breadwinner than ever before.  But on average, women are still earning just 77 cents on every dollar that a man does.  Women with college degrees may earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less over the course of her career than a man at the same educational level.  And that’s wrong.  This isn’t 1958, it’s 2014.  That’s why the first bill I signed into law was called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- (applause) -- and it made sure that it was easier for women to sue if they weren’t being paid the same as men. 

And in the coming weeks, Congress will have a chance to go even further by voting yes or no on what’s called the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Right now, a majority of the senators support that bill but so far Republicans have blocked it.  We’ve got to get them to change their minds and join us in this century -- (laughter) -- because a woman deserves equal pay for equal work. It’s pretty straightforward.  (Applause.)

And Congress should not stop there.  A woman deserves workplace policies that protect her right to have a baby without losing her job.  It's pretty clear that if men were having babies -- (laughter) -- we’d have different policies.  I mean, we know that, that’s for certain.  A woman deserves to take a day off to care for a sick child or a parent without running into hardship. (Applause.)

So Congress needs to act so that Americans join every other advanced nation on Earth by offering paid leave to folks who work hard every day.  It’s time to do away with some of these workplace policies that belong in a “Mad Men” episode.  (Laughter.)  We’ve got to make sure that every woman has the opportunities that she deserves -- because when women succeed, America succeeds.  I truly believe that.  (Applause.) 

On the ride over here we were talking about some of the best practices of companies that are highly successful.  It turns out that if you give families -- you give your workers some flexibility so that if they’ve got a sick child or a sick parent they can have a little time off, those employees are more productive, the companies do better, you have less turnover.  So it’s good business practice.  It’s the right thing to do.

At a time when women hold the majority of low-wage jobs, Congress is going to get a chance to vote yes or no on whether millions of women who work hard all day deserve a raise.  There’s a bill before Congress that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.  That would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans across the country.  And, again, it would be good for business.  Because what happens is more customers have more money to spend.  It will grow the economy for everybody.  It’s time for Congress to join the rest of the country.  It’s time for -- we’re calling it the $10.10 campaign.  Give America a raise.  And that, in particular, will help the disproportionate number of women who are in lower wage jobs.

And on each of these issues, members of Congress will have to choose between helping women and families get ahead or holding them back.  Part of our challenge is fewer than 20 seats in Congress are held by women.  I think we’re all clear that Congress would get more done if you kind of evened that out a little bit.  (Applause.)  I’m pretty confident about that.

But in the meantime, we’re going to keep making the case as to why these policies are the right ones for working families and for businesses.  So over the next few months, my administration is going to host a series of roundtable discussions like the one I had in different parts of the country just to hear stories about issues like workplace flexibility and opening up new leadership opportunities for women.  And it’s all going to lead up to the first-ever White House summit on Working Families that we’re going to be holding this summer.  And maybe some of you will participate, because we want to hear your stories.  (Applause.)

Let me close by mentioning one last policy that’s benefitting millions of women right now, and that is the Affordable Care Act.  (Applause.)  I know there’s a lot of politics around it.  I know there are a lot of TV ads around that don’t always accurately reflect what’s going on.  But right now, despite the fact that the website was really bad for the first month -- (laughter) -- it’s now fixed -- more than 5 million Americans have signed up for plans at healthcare.gov.  More than 5 million.  (Applause.)  More than 3 million young people have gained coverage because this law lets you stay on your parents’ plan until you turn 26.  So I’ll bet there are some young people right now who have health insurance in this auditorium because of the law.  (Applause.) 

And thanks to this law, no American -- zero -- can ever again be denied health insurance because of a preexisting condition.  (Applause.)  Not to mention no woman can ever again be charged more for just being a woman.  (Applause.) 

Now, this is something that people don’t realize.  Before we passed Obamacare, it was routine for insurance companies to charge women significantly more than men for health insurance.  It’s just like the drycleaners.  (Laughter.)  You send in a blouse, I send in a shirt -- they charge you twice as much.  (Laughter.)  But the same thing was happening in health insurance.  And so we’ve banned that policy for everybody, not just folks who were getting health insurance on the exchange.  But if you were getting health insurance on the job, they can’t discriminate against women in that same fashion.  Not to mention tens of millions of women have gained access to free preventive care like mammograms and contraceptive care.  The point is no woman should have to put off the potentially lifesaving care she needs just because money is tight.

And in the roundtable I just had there were at least three or four folks in that roundtable, the majority of the women I just talked to had an instance in their lives where either because of a sick child or a premature baby or an ailing parent, they would be bankrupt had they not had health insurance.  Broke. So when you hear folks talking about Obamacare and I’m not using it because I’ve got health insurance or I’m healthy, well, yes, you don’t need health insurance until you need health insurance. (Laughter.)  It seems like a drag until you actually confront what life does to all of us at some point.  Some unexpected thing happens and you want to make sure that you’ve got that support.

Now, none of that has stopped Republicans in Congress from spending the last few years not focused on legislation to create jobs, or raise wages, or help more young people afford college.  They’ve taken 50 votes to try to repeal or undermine this law -- 50.  You know what they say -- the 50th time is the charm.  (Laughter.)  Fifty times.  And it’s not just to try to improve the law or here’s a particular problem.  No, we just want to scrap it so that millions of people who now have health insurance, we want them to go back to not having health insurance. 

Well, that’s not going to happen.  They can keep wasting their time repealing -- trying to repeal the ACA; we’re going to keep working to make this law work better because every person and every woman deserves to control her own health care choices  -- not her boss, not her insurer, surely not Congress. 

So there’s an important deadline coming up, by the way.  This is now the last call for 2014.  If you’ve been thinking about buying one of the new plans on healthcare.gov -- and a large proportion of people, the majority, in fact, may be able to buy health insurance for as little as $100 or less a month -- less than your cable or your cell phone bill.  I saw everybody had a cell phone.  (Laughter.)  But the deadline to get covered this year is March 31st, which is just 11 days away.  So if you are uninsured, check out your new choices at healthcare.gov.  Many of you will be able to get covered for $100 a month or less. If you’re already covered, then help get a friend covered, because that’s part of what America is about -- taking responsibility for working to achieve our own dreams; also coming together to help our fellow citizens pursue and secure their own dreams as well.

There are just such amazing stories of the women that I talked with before I came out here.  Every one of them, at some point, had made a major sacrifice on behalf of their families.  One woman had a severely autistic son; took 12 years off to raise her three kids, including this son, before now going back to school and being able to teach once again.  Just like my mom. Just like my grandma.  I didn’t fully appreciate at the time the sacrifice they were making.  I was talking about how I used to complain to my mom when she was going to school and working, why are we eating the same thing every night?  (Laughter.)  Because she was doing so much, and then coming home and still taking the time to make sure that I had a decent meal. 

That’s what built this country -- those kinds of sacrifices. And we’ve got to make sure that we as a country are helping people who are so courageous and so brave and working so hard -- all those moms and grandmas and young women like Carolyn who are trying to start their own businesses. 

We’ve come a long way together over these past five years, but we’ve got to do more to restore opportunity for everybody. Whether you’re a man or a woman; whether you are black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, with or without a disability, all of us have something to offer.  All of us have a place in this American story.  And as long as I have the privilege of being President, I’m going to keep working to make sure every single one of us have a chance to succeed.  (Applause.)  Or as you say here at Valencia, “We Say You Can.” 

Thank you, everybody.  God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

END
3:26 P.M. EDT

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A Truth Journal: Late Night Jokes, Video: Syria, Government Shutdown, ObamaCare

A Truth Journal: Late Night Jokes, Video: Syria, Government Shutdown, ObamaCare: From Denny:  4 funny video clips from Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel on the government shutdown, funny political memes to keep you laughing through Congressional Stupid. 

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A Truth Journal: WTF?! Theatre of the Ridiculous: Congress Finally Kills Off Whats Left Of Middle Class

English: President Barack Obama holds 3-D glasses while watching the Super Bowl game at a Super Bowl Party in the family theater of the White House. Guests included family, friends, staff members and bipartisan members of Congress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Truth Journal: WTF?! Theatre of the Ridiculous: Congress Finally Kills Off Whats Left Of Middle Class: From Denny:  This ain't no win, Mr. President.  Leave it to Congress to sneak in a few laws that get little scrutiny or publicity from the national press.  Then, presto, it's magic! and the next thing you know you are up to your eyeballs swimming in debt, courtesy of your federal government.

Here's what is going on in Louisiana and about to spread to other parts of the country like the Jersey shore, New York and flooded Colorado.  Why?  Because Big Insurance has not been reigned in or disciplined by this President or Congress.  Quite the contrary, Congress and President Obama, like diligent workmen, have enabled the dismantling of the middle class by Big Insurance and Big Banks, eroding the lives of millions of people a little bit at a time until it has now amounted to a calamity...





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Subscribe to A Truth Journal

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my 24 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

A Truth Journal: NSA Leak: Has NSA Demanded Your Credit Report Too? Are They Reselling Data Without Your Knowledge?

Source: AP Photo

A Truth Journal: NSA Leak: Has NSA Demanded Your Credit Report Too? Are They Reselling Data Without Your Knowledge?: From Denny:  The NSA pressured Google and other Big Tech companies to give up your search data without due legal course or your permission or knowledge.  The NSA demanded Facebook and other social sites give up all of their site's data on your network of friends and relatives, photographs and conversations, along with your credit card information and home address and phone number.  The NSA easily procured phone records from all the Big Communications giants like Verizon and AT&T so the NSA, the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the entire intelligence community (IC) now knows who you phone, when and where you are when you do so.

Has the NSA also pressured the Big Credit Reporting agencies like Equifax to turn over credit reports on every person in America?  Does the NSA have credit reports on every person in Europe too?  How about the world?  You know they do as it completes the full snitch report on every person alive.  That gives the NSA and the entire government access to and a history of everything you ever owned, where you have lived, where you have worked and every credit card you have owned and where you bank.  It's easy to profile you from there...

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* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort!  You rock!

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A Truth Journal: What Is Prez Obama Getting Right Lately? Enjoying the IRS Non-Scandal?

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A Truth Journal: What Is Prez Obama Getting Right Lately? Enjoying the IRS Non-Scandal?: From Denny:  While the Republicans work zealously to manufacture non-scandals to grab media attention just what is the President really doing to correct government problems and on-going issues?

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My fellow media got all in a lather about the IRS "Scandal" because they really had nothing better to fuss about to try and drive advertising revenue.  Come on; we all love to hate the tax man.  That much the media knew would strike a chord with this story.  Even the Bible documents an historical hatred of government taxation.  None of us enjoy it.

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* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort!  You rock!

A Truth Journal: Benghazi Scandal: CIA Petraeus Screw-Up, Hillary Wins By Landslide in 2016

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A Truth Journal: Benghazi Scandal: CIA Petraeus Screw-Up, Hillary Wins By Landslide in 2016:
From Denny:  The Republican political machine has been frantically busy of late.  The 2016 mud-slinging is in full swing in mid-2013.  Guess these guys just couldn't wait.

They also saw an opening when Team Obama got lazy again after winning their second term.  It just goes to show if you want to stay on top of the mountain then you had better look busy, pushing hard ahead,  chasing after millions of jobs for underemployed and jobless Americans if you don't want to get knocked off the top of that presidential mountain.  That might also explain why President Obama has dropped down to the 65th position in the Most Trusted List this year...

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* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort!  You rock!

A Truth Journal: Fiscal Follies: What Everyone Is Ignoring For The Cure

A Truth Journal: Fiscal Follies: What Everyone Is Ignoring For The Cure: From Denny:  Here we go again with the Great Republican Distraction.  This time it's the smoke and mirrors about whacking away at Social Security and Medicare and now Obamacare.

Most especially Social Security had nothing to do with running up the precious deficit but to hear the Republicans tell it all "those 47 percent moochers" are running up the deficit with all these villainous entitlements which said moochers have paid into that fund part of their paychecks for years.  If Big Business and sloppy politicians had quit slipping their greedy hands into big accounts like Social Security over the past few decades none of us would be having this discussion.

Will the Democrats allow the lies to stand?  What will they do about this constant shell game from the opposition party?  Definitely it's time for a bold stand and bold thinking to get the job done.  After all, the business community is stressing and hand-wringing about driving over the fiscal cliff.  This from the same guys who refuse to pay taxes into the system but enjoy corporate welfare taking gobs of money out of the country's collective treasury.  Yes, in case you missed it - that is the imagery of really bad sex. :)

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