Tag Archives: Gene Sperling

News, Politics, Government

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 7/19/2013

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By The White House

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:52 P.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY: I'm here to take your questions, traditional briefing. I would understand if folks need to go file — that’s fine. And I leave it to our friends in the front row to tell me how brief we can keep this.

Q Yes, keep it short.

MR. CARNEY: Keep it short.

Q Yes.

MR. CARNEY: Let me go to Julie.

Q I guess just to start off, can you tell us a little bit about the process of having that — said remarks happen? Why did the President decide to do it now at the end of the week, almost a week after this verdict?

MR. CARNEY: I'll just say a couple of things, because the process is far less important than the words the President spoke. And he wanted to say something and he came out and said it, and he's obviously mindful of the discussions that have been going on.

I think some of us had discussions earlier this week that when — he was certainly prepared to take questions on this issue when he had some interviews earlier in the week, and would have answered them in probably similar fashion. But he felt like today was a good day to speak about it.

Q And then just on Detroit, the Vice President said in his event earlier today that there have been some meetings at the White House on the situation there. Is there any type of federal response or federal assistance that the White House deems appropriate in this situation?

MR. CARNEY: You have heard leaders in Michigan say — and we believe they're correct — that this is an issue that has to be resolved between Michigan and Detroit and the creditors, when it comes to the insolvency of the city.

Now, we are, of course, engaged in conversations with — about policy options and other ways that we can be of assistance to Detroit, and that includes Gene Sperling, and Valerie Jarrett, and Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development — all of whom have had discussions with the leadership team in Detroit and with leaders in Michigan.

But on the issue of insolvency and on those matters, that’s something that local leaders and creditors are going to have to resolve. But we will be partners in an effort to assist the city and the state as they move forward.

Q Is there any talk of a bailout for Detroit?

MR. CARNEY: I think, again, I would point you to what we have said and what leaders in Michigan and Detroit have said, which is that on the matter of their insolvency, that’s something for the city and the creditors to resolve.

Q And how worried are you about the overall impact of this on the U.S. economy?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I don’t have …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office

Articles of Interest

Want To Bring The Economy Back To Life? Pass Tax Reform

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By Breaking News

WASHINGTON — No single labor statistic speaks more loudly, or more painfully, than the announcement that the Obama economy created a puny 88,000 jobs last month.

Even more shocking was the Bureau of Labor Statistics report that 500,000 long-suffering Americans gave up looking for work and thus were no longer counted among the unemployed, falsely shrinking the jobless rate to 7.6 percent.

A stunned White House had little to say about it. Gene Sperling, assistant to the president for economic policy, blamed the minuscule numbers on the budget cuts, and by implication the Republicans, but could not bring himself to admit the dearth of new jobs was due to chronically weak economic growth under the president’s harmful policies.

The embarrassed silence from Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill was palpable and shameful — though some privately grumbled that if Obama didn’t turn the economy around soon, their party was going to get clobbered in next year’s midterm elections.

The network news anchors, who’ve been telling us for months that the economy was picking up, gloomily reported the dreary statistics, then dropped the story from their later broadcasts.

Read more at Human Events . By Donald Lambro.

Photo credit: terrellaftermath

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From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/want-to-bring-the-economy-back-to-life-pass-tax-reform/

News, Politics, Government

Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' with Economic Advisor Gene Sperling

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By Kori Schulman

Gene Sperling Answers Questions on Reddit

This afternoon, Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, turned to Reddit to answer some questions about the President’s plan to reduce the deficit. During the 'Ask Me Anything', Sperling responded to questions on a range of topics, including the President's proposal to raise the minimum wage and how the “The West Wing” (television show) compares to the actual West Wing.

You can see all of the responses on Reddit, or check out the questions and responses below.

Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to President Obama for Economic Policy, answers questions during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit.

March 13, 2013.

read more

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House

White House Press Office

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 03/13/2013

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By The White House

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

12:47 P.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY: Welcome to the White House. Sorry I'm late. Had some meetings that ran long. I do have something I want to say at the top.

I wanted to provide a quick update on the ongoing engagement with the business community and the President, First Lady, and senior members of the President’s team on a broad range of issues including the President’s economic agenda, immigration reform, cybersecurity, and issues important to our veterans and military families, to name a few.

As you know, the President today will be dropping by two separate meetings with business leaders this afternoon. The President will be attending a meeting with business leaders to discuss cybersecurity as a part of the administration’s ongoing dialogue with the private sector regarding this issue. Attendees include David Cote from Honeywell International, Wes Bush from Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Randall Stephenson from AT&T. A full list of attendees will be provided later this afternoon.

After that, he will attend a meeting with business leaders where he will discuss our efforts on immigration reform and its role in our broader economic agenda. Attendees of that meeting include Greg Brown from Motorola Solutions, Douglas Oberhelman from Caterpillar, and Virginia Rometty from IBM Corporation. Again, a full list of the participants in that meeting will be provided afterwards.

Finally, as part of the Joining Forces initiative, the First Lady delivered remarks earlier today at the quarterly meeting of member CEOs of the Business Roundtable, where she continued her call on the private sector to hire America’s veterans and military spouses, and she also called on them to help reach their full potential within America’s companies. Mrs. Obama made the case that it has never been more important to join together and help our veterans and military spouses find employment and to build their careers, especially with more than 1 million veterans who will be hanging up their uniforms and transitioning back to civilian life in the coming years.

Also this morning, senior staff, including Valerie Jarrett, Denis McDonough, Rob Nabors, met with members of the Business Roundtable executive committee to address a broad array of issues on the President’s agenda. And Treasury Secretary Jack Lew held a meeting yesterday with business leaders to discuss the President’s economic agenda, including Jim McNerney from Boeing, and Fred Smith from FedEx. I'd refer you to Treasury for the full list of attendees.

I do have one final note for the young among you in spirit or fact, and that is that Gene Sperling will be participating in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. (Laughter.) I think you should check it out. You will not regret it.

Q Awww.

MR. CARNEY: I'll take your questions now. Ask me anything. (Laughter.)

Q It sounds like yesterday the President was pushed during his meeting with Senate Democrats …read more
Source: White House Press Office

White House Press Office

Remarks by the President at the Gridiron Dinner

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By The White House

Washington Renaissance Hotel
Washington, DC

10:03 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Before I begin, I know some of you have noticed that I'm dressed a little differently from the other gentlemen. Because of sequester, they cut my tails. (Laughter.) My joke writers have been placed on furlough. (Laughter.) I know a lot of you reported that no one will feel any immediate impact because of the sequester. Well, you're about to find out how wrong you are. (Laughter.)

Of course, there's one thing in Washington that didn't get cut — the length of this dinner. (Laughter.) Yet more proof that the sequester makes no sense. (Laughter.)

As you know, I last attended the Gridiron dinner two years ago. Back then, I addressed a number of topics — a dysfunctional Congress, a looming budget crisis, complaints that I don't spend enough time with the press. It's funny, it seems like it was just yesterday. (Laughter.)

We noticed that some folks couldn't make it this evening. It's been noted that Bob Woodward sends his regrets, which Gene Sperling predicted. (Laughter.) I have to admit this whole brouhaha had me a little surprised. Who knew Gene could be so intimidating? (Laughter.) Or let me phrase it differently — who knew anybody named Gene could be this intimidating? (Laughter.)

Now I know that some folks think we responded to Woodward too aggressively. But hey, when has — can anybody tell me when an administration has ever regretted picking a fight with Bob Woodward? (Laughter.) What's the worst that could happen? (Laughter and applause.)

But don't worry. We're all friends again in the spirit of that wonderful song. As you may have heard, Bob invited Gene over to his place. And Bob says he actually thinks that I should make it too. And I might take him up on the offer. I mean, nothing says “not a threat” like showing up at somebody's house with guys with machine guns. (Laughter.)

Now, since I don't often speak to a room full of journalists — (laughter) — I thought I should address a few concerns tonight. Some of you have said that I'm ignoring the Washington press corps — that we're too controlling. You know what, you were right. I was wrong and I want to apologize in a video you can watch exclusively at whitehouse.gov. (Laughter.)

While we're on this subject, I want to acknowledge Ed Henry, who is here — who is the fearless leader of the Washington press corps now. (Applause.) And at Ed's request, tonight I will take one question from the press. Jay, do we have a question? (Laughter.) Surprisingly, it's a question from Ed Henry. (Laughter.) “Mr. President, will you be taking any questions tonight?” (Laughter.) I'm …read more
Source: White House Press Office

Articles of Interest

Obama Calls Senators In Hopes Of Creating ‘Common Sense’ Caucus On Sequestration

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

By Richard Cowan and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, unable to persuade Republicans to accept higher taxes, is attempting to cobble together what he calls a “common-sense caucus” among lawmakers to help resolve U.S. budget woes and push his legislative agenda.
On Monday and in recent days, Obama has made individual phone calls to a number of senators in a search for common ground on $85 billion in budget cuts that went into effect last week, as well as his top priorities like deficit reduction, gun control and an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws.
Gene Sperling, the White House senior economic official, said on the CNN program “State of the Union” on Sunday that Obama was contacting to lawmakers to talk about compromises that could include reforms to both the tax code and entitlement programs, which include Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare healthcare for the elderly and disabled.
It was unclear whether Obama hopes to craft a deal on these two controversial issues this month, as Congress attempts to pass legislation funding most government activities beyond March 27, or the president is eyeing other upcoming budget initiatives this year.
The list of lawmakers Obama contacted include Republican Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Rob Portman of Ohio and Susan Collins of Maine, according to either the senators or congressional aides. The White House declined to confirm the names.
The contacts represent part of Obama‘s emerging strategy on how to press ahead with his agenda after he tried to persuade Republican leaders to accept higher taxes as part of a budget deal that would have avoided the $85 billion in cuts that went into effect on Friday.
Obama wanted what he calls a “balanced” approach, to mix spending cuts with an end to tax loopholes enjoyed mostly by the wealthy as a way to replace the spending cuts known as “sequestration.”
Republicans who control the House of Representatives complained the government is spending too much and rejected his plan, saying they had already agreed to higher taxes at the end of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Articles of Interest

Video: Obama Lie In Debates Exposed

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By NewsEditor

We were shocked that NBC’s Meet the Press forced an Obama White House Official, Gene Sperling to admit Obama lied in the debates. Obama’s lies are beginning to trip them up. You can only tell so many for so long.

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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Articles of Interest

Bob Woodward Retreats: Death Of The Free Media

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By Breaking News

Bob Woodward SC Bob Woodward Retreats: Death of the Free Media

Last week establishment journalist Bob Woodward of Watergate fame walked back the initial reports that claimed he had been threatened by the Obama White House’s economic adviser Gene Sperling regarding his reporting that President Obama had moved the goal post on the sequester by seeking additional taxes/revenue. Woodward insisted that he had never used the word “threat.”

“I think that was Politico’s word,” he said, “I said I think that language is unfortunate and I don’t think it’s the way to operate. . [Sperling’s] language speaks for itself. I don’t think that’s the way to operate.”

Woodward took issue with Sperling’s use of the word “regret” during an email exchange from Sperling to Woodward on Feb. 22, 2013 that read in part: “But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying [sic] that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

No, that’s not the way an administration should operate in America where the media is supposed to be the watchdog instead of this hybrid fan club cult-of-personality-false-idol-worship journalism we see now. A real journalist should never regret reporting the truth.

That said I have to ask with all due respect where has Woodward been all these years when scores of journalists and citizens have been threatened, marginalized or smeared by their government for daring to speak truth to power?

Read More at Canada Free Press . By Marinka Peschmann.

Photo Credit: TalkRadioNewsService (Creative Commons)

No related posts.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

What's Important in the Financial World (3/4/2013)

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By 24/7 Wall St.

108680884

Filed under:

Shanghai Composite Falls

The Shanghai Composite, the exchange where most large Chinese companies trade, dropped 3.7%. The reason stated by experts was that planned government restrictions on cheap money for home buying would end. If property values drop, consumer confidence might drop with it. The drop could be a caution for U.S. market investors. The Shanghai was at a 52-week high, and it took very little news to undermine that. No one should be surprised if many markets around the world are overbought. However, the difference between these markets and the Shanghai is that the Chinese market is nowhere close to its all-time high. It traded 80% above current levels five years ago. In that way, it is like the Nasdaq, which reached highs in 1999 and 2000 that never will be matched again. Optimism in tech pushed the U.S. index to unsustainable levels. All of this is to say that, although the market in China has sold off, it may still be inexpensive, at least compared to a period of irrational exuberance reached half a decade ago. Either there is something very wrong with the Chinese economy, or the drop is little more than a blip, based on historical prices

Entitlement Cuts on the Table

This weekend, something new surfaced in the battle of the federal budget. President Obama suggested something that until recently was unthinkable. Cuts in entitlements, which includes Social Security and Medicare, could be used to balance the budget. These entitlements are the largest part of federal spending, and reducing them would ding incomes, particularly of elder Americans. Obama will not be reelected, so there is little at stake beyond his popularity. For other politicians there is a risk of a revolt among older Americans who want nothing to do with elected officials who will not protect their financial flanks. According to Reuters:

“He’s reaching out to Democrats who understand we have to make serious progress on long-term entitlement reform and Republicans who realize that if we had that type of entitlement reform, they’d be willing to have tax reform that raises revenues to lower the deficit,” White House senior economic official Gene Sperling said on Sunday on the CNN program “State of the Union.”

Facebook Up and Down

The price recovery of Facebook Inc’s (NASDAQ: FB) shares was trending, but they are selling down again. Optimism that the social network has found a way to raise rates on the ads it runs, and that it had unlocked the value of its users who access the site on mobile devices, moved shares from less than $26 at the end of last year to almost $33 at the end of January. Since then, the stock has declined to less than $27. There is no single cause. One trigger may be the success of LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD). Investors like the company because it has multiple sources of revenue, which Facebook, despite its efforts, does not. Another red flag for Facebook investors is research that says people spend less time on the site than they did just months ago. Finally, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Now That They've Happened, Spending Cuts Seem Here to Stay

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By The Associated Press

Filed under: , ,

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON (AP) – The spending cuts are here to stay if you believe the public posturing Sunday.

The Senate’s Republican leader Mitch McConnell called them modest. House Speaker John Boehner isn’t sure the cuts will hurt the economy. The White House‘s top economic adviser, Gene Sperling, said the pain isn’t that bad right now.

So after months of dire warnings, Washington didn’t implode, government didn’t shut down and the $85 billion budget trigger didn’t spell doom. And no one has a tangible proposal for rolling back those cuts.

“This modest reduction of 2.4 percent in spending over the next six months is a little more than the average American experienced just two months ago, when their own pay went down when the payroll tax holiday expired,” McConnell said.

“I don’t know whether it’s going to hurt the economy or not,” Boehner said. “I don’t think anyone quite understands how the sequester is really going to work.”

And Sperling, making the rounds on the Sunday news shows, added: “On Day One, it will not be as harmful as it will be over time.”

Both parties cast blame on the other for the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts but gave little guidance on what to expect in the coming weeks. Republicans and Democrats pledged to retroactively undo the cuts but signaled no hints as to how that process would start to take shape. Republicans insisted there would be no new taxes and Democrats refused to talk about any bargain without them.

“That’s not going to work,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. “If we’re going to increase revenue again, it’s got to go to the debt with real entitlement reform and real tax reform when you actually lower rates. … I’m not going to agree to any more tax increases that are going to go to increase more government.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said any tax increases were unacceptable.

“I’m not going to do any more small deals. I’m not going to raise taxes to fix sequestration. We don’t need to raise taxes to fund the government,” Graham said.

All of this comes ahead of a new, March 27 deadline that could spell a government shutdown and a debt-ceiling clash coming in May.

Boehner said his chamber would move this week to pass a measure to keep government open through Sept. 30. McConnell said a government shutdown was unlikely to come from his side of Capitol Hill. The White House said it would dodge the shutdown and roll back the cuts, which hit domestic and defense spending in equal share.

“We will still be committed to trying to find Republicans and Democrats that will work on a bipartisan compromise to get rid of the sequester,” Sperling said.

Obama has phoned lawmakers but it isn’t clear to what end; the White House refused Sunday to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Articles of Interest

Gene Sperling: Obama Raised Entitlement Reform In Budget Talks

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

* Obama speaks to Republicans, Democrats
* President wants more revenues to help reduce deficits
* Government shutdown in March unlikely
* Boehner: Endgame for “sequestration” unknown
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama raised anew the issue of cutting entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security as a way out of damaging budget cuts, a White House official said on Sunday, as both sides in Washington tried to limit a fiscal crisis that may soon hit millions of Americans.
Signaling he might be ready to explore a compromise to end automatic spending cuts that began late Friday, Obama mentioned reforming these entitlement programs in calls with lawmakers from both parties on Saturday afternoon.
“He’s reaching out to Democrats who understand we have to make serious progress on long-term entitlement reform and Republicans who realize that if we had that type of entitlement reform, they’d be willing to have tax reform that raises revenues to lower the deficit,” White House senior economic official Gene Sperling said on Sunday on the CNN program “State of the Union.”
Republicans have long argued that the only way to tame budget deficits over the long haul is by slowing the cost of sprawling social safety net programs.
These include the Social Security retirement program and Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs for the elderly, disabled and poor that are becoming more expensive as a large segment of the U.S. population hits retirement age.
While Obama also has proposed some savings on these programs, he has insisted that significant new tax revenues be part of the deficit-reduction formula, an idea Republicans so far reject.
Budget fights in Congress took their most serious turn in years on Friday when $85 billion in indiscriminate spending cuts known as “sequestration” began to kick in after both parties failed to agree on how to stop them. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Articles of Interest

Video: Barack Obama’s Impeachable Offense

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By Kris Zane

Reading the headlines the past few weeks has been like a page out of the book of Revelation. Barack Obama riding on his red horse has been foretelling a literal Armageddon if the so-called “draconian” sequestration cuts go into effect.

But Armageddon turned into Chicago’s cutthroat streets with Obama’s Al Capone-like thugs shaking down enemies when pundits, politicians, and journalists began to show that Obama as John the Baptist crying in the wilderness was really the boy crying wolf.

That the sequestration amounted to about two percent of the budget, that the “draconian” sequestration cuts were Obama’s idea. That it was all a sham to get another tax hike on the “fat cat millionaires and billionaires.”

Of course, the leftist media easily spun the narrative for Obama, blaming those evil Republicans.

At least until journalistic giant Bob Woodward came on the scene, setting the record straight. It was hard to argue against Woodward’s facts, given that he had written an entire book, The Price of Politics, describing the whole sequestration debacle.

So the Obama White House did what they do best: the shakedown.

Obama minion and thug Gene Sperling sent Woodward a threatening email, basically telling him to keep his mouth shut:

But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.

Team Obama’s mistake was that they weren’t dealing with one of their hacks in the mainstream media. This was the man who had brought down Richard Nixon. This was the man who, as the mainstream media began to drink Obama’s Kool-Aid, remained at the water cooler of real journalism.

And he began to sing like a canary. First on CNN. Then on Fox. Then, well, his words were beamed as millions of ones and zeros over the Internet, and Team Obama and the Left did the only thing that was left: mockery.

This was exemplified with Obama henchman David Plouffe’s tweet that Woodward’s statements were merely rantings of a senile old man. And the Left parroted this narrative ad nauseam. Woodward was washed up. Put him out to pasture. Nothing to see here, move on. Give Woodward a teaspoon of Geritol and wheel him out onto the patio.

Except then came Lanny Davis, former Bill Clinton special counsel who had been writing a column for the Washington Times. He too received the shakedown treatment from Team Obama.

Then the wheels began to fall off the sequestration bus.

The media began to turn on Obama.

Arne Duncan, Obama’s Education Secretary, was caught in a lie about the sequestration resulting in “thousands of teacher layoffs,” which was a total fabrication.

But this was only the innocuous part of Obama’s spin machine.

Beneath the surface, there was simmering what can only be called treason.

Barack Obama, putting politics above his primary duty as Commander-in-Chief—that of protecting it’s citizens—pulled the aircraft carrier <a target=_blank target="_blank" …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

News, Politics, Government

Press Gaggle by Press Secetary Jay Carney and Principal Deputy NEC Director Jason Furman, 2/13/2013

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By The White House

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Asheville, North Carolina

10:40 A.M. EST

MR. CARNEY: Welcome aboard Air Force One. It is fantastic to have you here. I know you all covered the President’s speech — State of the Union Address last night. As I think you might expect, we believe the speech went off very well and has been received very well. And as is tradition, the President is traveling the day after the State of the Union to amplify some of the aspects of his agenda that he talked about last night.

Today, his focus will be on the need to continue the trend towards a reinvigorated manufacturing sector in this country, and the measures we can take to push that trend forward.

For that reason, I have with me today the Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, your friend and mine, Jason Furman, who I will turn this over to, to discuss today’s business.

MR. FURMAN: Great. Thanks, Jay. So one of the important questions the President posed in the State of the Union is what are we going to do to make America a magnet for jobs. An important part of that answer is manufacturing in America, and that’s what the President will be highlighting today.

He’ll be going to Linamar Plant — that’s a Canadian company that has four U.S. manufacturing facilities. They announced that this one was opening in 2011 to make parts for Caterpillar and other trucks. They employ 160 workers. They’re hiring another 40 at the end of the year.

And this is emblematic of the trend of insourcing that we’re seeing in the United States, in part due to the trained workers we have here in our country, the cost advantages we have in things like electricity because of our abundant natural gas, and our abilities as an exporter.

Because of all of that, we’ve seen 500,000 jobs added in manufacturing in the last three years. And the President wants to not just rest on that, but see what we can do to push it forward and accelerate the pace of job creation. And I think you have the fact sheet which goes through a whole range of them. Gene Sperling will be doing a detailed on-the-record briefing later. But I wanted highlight in particular three things that the President will be talking about today.

One is national manufacturing institutes. He announced one in Youngsville, Ohio last summer on — Youngstown, Ohio — thank you — last summer, that focuses on 3-D printing. In the State of the Union last night he said that this year we’ll be setting up three more; that’s by pulling and using our existing resources. In addition, he would like Congress to pass another trillion — a billion dollars to set up 15 more of those institutes around the country.

Second is corporate tax reform, which would lower tax rates overall, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office

News, Politics, Government

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 2/7/2013

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By The White House

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
10:07 A.M. EST
MR. CARNEY: Good morning, everyone. I wanted to give you a little information before I take your questions in this off-camera gaggle.
Well, first of all, as you know, the President will be speaking in an open press event to House Democrats in Leesburg later today, so you’ll have that to look forward to.
Also today, senior administration officials will meet with businesses association groups and small business association groups here at the White House. Valerie Jarrett, Jeff Zients, Gene Sperling, and Alan Krueger will be in attendance. The larger business association meeting takes place right about now. How about that? And it includes representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Business Roundtable, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the National Retail Federation. I think we provided you a full list of participants, so I will not take up time reading them.
In the afternoon, the same senior administration officials will meet with representatives from a number of smaller business associations, including the Small Business Majority, the NFIB, the National Association of Women Business Owners, and others. The groups will discuss the President’s efforts to find a balanced approach to reduce the deficit and avoid the devastating effects of the sequester along with the discussion of the President’s approach to comprehensive immigration reform and how it fits into our broader economic agenda.
And with that, I go to your questions. Mr. AP.
Q Thanks, Jay. Senator Hagel’s confirmation vote has been postponed with Republicans saying they need more information from him. Should Senator Hagel provide Congress with more information about his past activities?
MR. CARNEY: Well, Senator Hagel has provided extensive information about his activities. I’m not sure which activities you’re referring to. I think there’s been a question about past speeches. And as you know, Senator Hagel has conducted an exhaustive search for all of his speaking engagements over the past five years, as the committee requested. He has provided all available prepared texts and transcripts from those speeches to the committee. There are some speeches that Senator Hagel gave for which there were no prepared remarks and no transcripts. A list of those speeches has also been provided to the committee.
So the broader issue here is we continue to expect the Senate to act quickly to confirm Senator Hagel. As you know, since his confirmation hearing, more senators on both sides of the aisle have announced their support for his confirmation. That includes Senators Johanns, Harkin, Gillibrand, Begich, Udall, Hagan, and Blumenthal.
We continue to urge the Senate to move quickly. This is a uniquely qualified nominee for the position of Secretary of Defense, A. And B, the position of Secretary of Defense needs to be filled. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office