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White House Press Office

Remarks by the President on American Energy — Lemont, Illinois

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By The White House

Argonne National Laboratory
Lemont, Illinois

1:31 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Hello, Illinois! Hello! It is good to be home! (Applause.)

Well, let me begin by thanking Ann for the great introduction, the great work she’s doing, the leadership she’s showing with her team on so many different, amazing technological breakthroughs. I want to thank Dr. Isaacs and Dr. Crabtree for giving me a great tour of your facilities.

It’s not every day that I get to walk into a thermal test chamber. (Laughter.) I told my girls that I was going to go into a thermal test chamber and they were pretty excited. I told them I’d come out looking like the Hulk. (Laughter.) They didn’t believe that.

I want to thank my friend and your friend — a truly great U.S. Senator, Senator Dick Durbin — huge supporter of Argonne. (Applause.) An outstanding member of Congress who actually could explain some of the stuff that's going on here — Bill Foster is here. (Applause.) Congressman Bobby Rush, a big supporter of Argonne — glad he’s here. (Applause.) We’ve got a number of state and local officials with us, including your Mayor, Brian Reaves. (Applause.)

And I could not come to Argonne without bringing my own Nobel Prize-winning scientist, someone who has served our country so well over the past four years — our Energy Secretary, Dr. Steven Chu. (Applause.)

Now, I’m here today to talk about what should be our top priority as a nation, and that's reigniting the true engine of America’s economic growth — a rising, thriving middle class and an economy built on innovation. In my State of the Union address, I said our most important task was to drive that economic growth, and I meant it. And every day, we should be asking ourselves three questions: How do we make America a magnet for good jobs? How do we equip our people with the skills and training to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?

Those of you who have chairs — I wasn’t sure everybody had chairs there. (Laughter.) Please feel free to sit down — I'm sorry. Everybody was standing and I thought Argonne — one of the effects of the sequester, you had to — (laughter) — get rid of chairs. (Applause.) That's good, I'm glad we've got some chairs.

So I chose Argonne National Lab because right now, few areas hold more promise for creating good jobs and growing our economy than how we use American energy.

After years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to take control of our energy future. We produce more oil than we have in 15 years. We import less oil than we have in 20 years. We’ve doubled the amount …read more
Source: White House Press Office

News, Politics, Government

Press Gaggle by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest Aboard Air Force One en route Chicago, Illinois, 3/15/2013

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By The White House

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Chicago, Illinois

11:26 A.M. EDT

MR. EARNEST: Two announcements at the top. The first is the Vice President will be leading a delegation to attend the inaugural Mass of Pope Francis. Joining the Vice President as part of that delegation to Rome will be New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez; the Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi; and the President of Georgetown University Jack DeGioia.

I also want to give a little heads up on what we’re talking about today in Argonne. Welcome aboard Air Force One as we make our way to Argonne National Lab just outside Chicago, Illinois. Those of you who dialed into yesterday’s conference call know that the President will be discussing one of the priorities he identified in his State of the Union address — investing in American energy.

The Energy Security Trust that he’s highlighting today is a common-sense proposal to use some of the revenue that we obtain in the form of royalties from offshore oil and gas production and invest it in research dedicated to alternative forms of energy. This research furthers the goal identified by the President to make our country and our economy less dependent on foreign oil.

We’ve already made progress on this front with the so-called car rule that has increased fuel efficiency. According to a new EPA study, fuel economy has increased 16 percent over the last several years. And this isn’t just good for the environment, it also reduces the number of times — the number of trips to the gas station for American families and for businesses. It also makes our economy a little less dependent on the fluctuation in the global price of oil, and it makes our country more secure and less dependent on energy from some volatile regions in the world.

But there is more that we can do in the form of advanced batteries, electric cars, and a few vehicles that are powered by biofuels or natural gas. That’s some of the research that’s being done at Argonne National Lab, and it’s research that we should invest in.

This idea was devised by some retired military leaders because of the good it would do for our national security, and by some prominent business leaders, including some Republicans, because it would benefit our economy and create jobs. So with all the talk about bipartisan compromise in Washington, D.C. the last couple of weeks, there’s no reason that Republicans in Congress can’t work with the President to get this done.

So you’ll hear a lot more from the President about that this afternoon.

And with that, I’ll take your questions.

Q I’d like to ask you about — to respond to a couple of things going on at the CPAC conference. One is that gun control is becoming a major topic there, and they’re building some opposition to the President’s proposals on the …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office