THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
July 31, 2011
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
8:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. There are still some very important votes to be taken by members of Congress, but I want to announce that the leaders of both parties, in both chambers, have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default -- a default that would have had a devastating effect on our economy.
The first part of this agreement will cut about $1 trillion in spending over the next 10 years -- cuts that both parties had agreed to early on in this process. The result would be the lowest level of annual domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower was President -- but at a level that still allows us to make job-creating investments in things like education and research. We also made sure that these cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on a fragile economy.
Now, I've said from the beginning that the ultimate solution to our deficit problem must be balanced. Despite what some Republicans have argued, I believe that we have to ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share by giving up tax breaks and special deductions. Despite what some in my own party have argued, I believe that we need to make some modest adjustments to programs like Medicare to ensure that they’re still around for future generations.
That's why the second part of this agreement is so important. It establishes a bipartisan committee of Congress to report back by November with a proposal to further reduce the deficit, which will then be put before the entire Congress for an up or down vote. In this stage, everything will be on the table. To hold us all accountable for making these reforms, tough cuts that both parties would find objectionable would automatically go into effect if we don’t act. And over the next few months, I’ll continue to make a detailed case to these lawmakers about why I believe a balanced approach is necessary to finish the job.
Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required -- on entitlement reform and tax reform -- right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need, and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year.
Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America. It ensures also that we will not face this same kind of crisis again in six months, or eight months, or 12 months. And it will begin to lift the cloud of debt and the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy.
Now, this process has been messy; it’s taken far too long. I've been concerned about the impact that it has had on business confidence and consumer confidence and the economy as a whole over the last month. Nevertheless, ultimately, the leaders of both parties have found their way toward compromise. And I want to thank them for that.
Most of all, I want to thank the American people. It’s been your voices -- your letters, your emails, your tweets, your phone calls -- that have compelled Washington to act in the final days. And the American people's voice is a very, very powerful thing.
We’re not done yet. I want to urge members of both parties to do the right thing and support this deal with your votes over the next few days. It will allow us to avoid default. It will allow us to pay our bills. It will allow us to start reducing our deficit in a responsible way. And it will allow us to turn to the very important business of doing everything we can to create jobs, boost wages, and grow this economy faster than it's currently growing.
That’s what the American people sent us here to do, and that’s what we should be devoting all of our time to accomplishing in the months ahead.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END 8:44 P.M. EDT
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta US Senate. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta US Senate. Mostrar todas las entradas
domingo, 31 de julio de 2011
jueves, 28 de julio de 2011
Economic Impact of a U.S. Default
By Julio A. Cabral Corrada
Cornell '13 - PRSSA
"Pathetic”. This is the word James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, used yesterday during his remarks at a firmwide forum to describe the lack of common sense in Washington. As one of the World’s best financial minds, Mr. Gorman questioned with disappointment the capacity of our “leaders” to truly understand the economic consequences of their inability to compromise. Following the conference meeting, I went straight to my desk in the trading floor.
As I watched in my Bloomberg Terminal all the World markets (which are the engine and best indices of our economy) plummet, I acknowledged there were immediate consequences far more pivotal than a default, tax issues, and election concerns (the three topics emphasized by the politicians and the media). Thus, I decided to challenge on the subject one of my bosses and mentor, Matt Berke, who happens to be a Cornell guy and the Global Head of Equity Risk Management. His response was simple: “You do it. Research, Analyze and Facts. It should be by 10:00 pm on the desk.”
Thus, after completing a full detailed report last night by 8:33pm, I thought I could share a brief abstract of my analysis, which delineates the economic impact a default on our debt could have on our financial system. As many of you have read, President Barack Obama’s administration, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been locked in a standoff for months over what kind of deficit-cutting measures should be tied to an increase in the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. Tim Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, has said the U.S. exhausts its borrowing authority on August 2 (which is next Tuesday!) and risks going into default.
This senseless political wrangling may cost the U.S. its AAA rating, adding $100 billion a year to government costs while dragging down our economic growth. A U.S. credit-rating cut would likely raise the nation’s borrowing costs by increasing Treasury yields by 60 to 70 basis points over the medium term. "Standard & Poor’s, which has given the U.S. a solid ranking since 1941, reiterated exactly one week ago that the chance of a downgrade is 50 percent in the next three months and may happen as soon as August", mentioned the credit agency.
If this were to occur, it will have a critical impact on treasury rates. Those $100 billion a year I mentioned before are capital being used for higher interest rates, and that’s money being taken away from other goods and services of the nation. Also,Treasury yields indicate that investors are favoring bank or company debt over treasuries, raising concerns of the credibility of government debt.
The short-term effect on treasuries of a downgrade would be about 5 to 10 basis points, because few asset managers would be forced to sell these treasuries. "Yields on benchmark 10-year notes fell five basis points, or 0.05 percentage points, to 2.95 percent today. That compares with an average of 4.03 percent since 2001", according to a Morgan Stanley report. The TED spread, the difference between what lenders and the U.S. government pay to borrow for three months, narrowed to 18.7 basis points yesterday, the least since March.
Therefore, as we make borrowing more expensive we are diverting tax dollars to interest payments. In other words, there is less money out there! Since it is more expensive to borrow money, then our economy does not grow (that is why the Federal Reserve has kept interest so low since the financial crisis using quantitative easing—so people can cheaply borrow money and spend more, ultimately stimulating our economy). THEN, if interest rates pick up too much then everyone will suffer. From the homeowner with a mortgage to the student with a college loan, interest rates will rise for everyone. This will hurt the pocket of all families!
Furthermore, and to top it off, I should state that the U.S. unemployment rate rose for a third straight month in June to 9.2 percent, pointing to an economy lacking momentum entering the second half of the year. Employers added 18,000 workers to payrolls, the fewest in nine months.
This is the picture which politicians, the media, and many across America are missing. I hope this helps clarify some doubts about the impact a default will have on our economy. Hopefully, in a near future we will have more intellectually prepared public servers that can make responsible legislation and public policy. This nation needs people with a common sense, not those who want to play partisan politics. The people deserve better. Tomorrow (Thursday) will shall see if a bill is passed.
Have a good one!
lunes, 25 de julio de 2011
Remarks of President Barack Obama/ Debt Speech
Monday, July 25, 2011
Washington, DC
Good evening. Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we’ve been having in Washington over the national debt – a debate that directly affects the lives of every single American.
For the last decade, we have spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card.
As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office. To make matters worse, the recession meant that there was less money coming in, and it required us to spend even more – on tax cuts for middle-class families; on unemployment insurance; on aid to states so we could prevent more teachers and firefighters and police officers from being laid off. These emergency steps also added to the deficit.
Now, every family knows that a little credit card debt is manageable. But if we stay on the current path, our growing debt could cost us jobs and do serious damage to the economy. More of our tax dollars will go toward paying off the interest on our loans. Businesses will be less likely to open up shop and hire workers in a country that can’t balance its books. Interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money – the homeowner with a mortgage, the student with a college loan, the corner store that wants to expand. And we won’t have enough money to make job-creating investments in things like education and infrastructure, or pay for vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Because neither party is blameless for the decisions that led to this problem, both parties have a responsibility to solve it. And over the last several months, that’s what we’ve been trying to do. I won’t bore you with the details of every plan or proposal, but basically, the debate has centered around two different approaches.
The first approach says, let’s live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let’s cut domestic spending to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Let’s cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let’s cut out the waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare – and at the same time, let’s make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. Finally, let’s ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.
This balanced approach asks everyone to give a little without requiring anyone to sacrifice too much. It would reduce the deficit by around $4 trillion and put us on a path to pay down our debt. And the cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small business and middle-class families get back on their feet right now.
This approach is also bipartisan. While many in my own party aren’t happy with the painful cuts it makes, enough will be willing to accept them if the burden is fairly shared. While Republicans might like to see deeper cuts and no revenue at all, there are many in the Senate who have said “Yes, I’m willing to put politics aside and consider this approach because I care about solving the problem.” And to his credit, this is the kind of approach the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was working on with me over the last several weeks.
The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach – an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scales, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about – cuts that place a greater burden on working families.
So the debate right now isn’t about whether we need to make tough choices. Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. The debate is about how it should be done. Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask corporate jet owners and oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don’t need and didn’t ask for?
That’s not right. It’s not fair. We all want a government that lives within its means, but there are still things we need to pay for as a country – things like new roads and bridges; weather satellites and food inspection; services to veterans and medical research.
Keep in mind that under a balanced approach, the 98% of Americans who make under $250,000 would see no tax increases at all. None. In fact, I want to extend the payroll tax cut for working families. What we’re talking about under a balanced approach is asking Americans whose incomes have gone up the most over the last decade – millionaires and billionaires – to share in the sacrifice everyone else has to make. And I think these patriotic Americans are willing to pitch in. In fact, over the last few decades, they’ve pitched in every time we passed a bipartisan deal to reduce the deficit. The first time a deal passed, a predecessor of mine made the case for a balanced approach by saying this:
“Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer.”
Those words were spoken by Ronald Reagan. But today, many Republicans in the House refuse to consider this kind of balanced approach – an approach that was pursued not only by President Reagan, but by the first President Bush, President Clinton, myself, and many Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate. So we are left with a stalemate.
Now, what makes today’s stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling – a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.
Understand – raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. It simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up. In the past, raising the debt ceiling was routine. Since the 1950s, Congress has always passed it, and every President has signed it. President Reagan did it 18 times. George W. Bush did it 7 times. And we have to do it by next Tuesday, August 2nd, or else we won’t be able to pay all of our bills.
Unfortunately, for the past several weeks, Republican House members have essentially said that the only way they’ll vote to prevent America’s first-ever default is if the rest of us agree to their deep, spending cuts-only approach.
If that happens, and we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.
For the first time in history, our country’s Triple A credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether the United States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, and mortgages, car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people. We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis – one caused almost entirely by Washington.
Defaulting on our obligations is a reckless and irresponsible outcome to this debate. And Republican leaders say that they agree we must avoid default. But the new approach that Speaker Boehner unveiled today, which would temporarily extend the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, would force us to once again face the threat of default just six months from now. In other words, it doesn’t solve the problem.
First of all, a six-month extension of the debt ceiling might not be enough to avoid a credit downgrade and the higher interest rates that all Americans would have to pay as a result. We know what we have to do to reduce our deficits; there’s no point in putting the economy at risk by kicking the can further down the road.
But there’s an even greater danger to this approach. Based on what we’ve seen these past few weeks, we know what to expect six months from now. The House will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. Again, they will refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans to give up their tax cuts or deductions. Again, they will demand harsh cuts to programs like Medicare. And once again, the economy will be held captive unless they get their way.
That is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It is a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now. Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare.
Congress now has one week left to act, and there are still paths forward. The Senate has introduced a plan to avoid default, which makes a down payment on deficit reduction and ensures that we don’t have to go through this again in six months.
I think that’s a much better path, although serious deficit reduction would still require us to tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform. Either way, I have told leaders of both parties that they must come up with a fair compromise in the next few days that can pass both houses of Congress – a compromise I can sign. And I am confident we can reach this compromise. Despite our disagreements, Republican leaders and I have found common ground before. And I believe that enough members of both parties will ultimately put politics aside and help us make progress.
I realize that a lot of the new members of Congress and I don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues. But we were each elected by some of the same Americans for some of the same reasons. Yes, many want government to start living within its means. And many are fed up with a system in which the deck seems stacked against middle-class Americans in favor of the wealthiest few. But do you know what people are fed up with most of all?
They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word. They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be.
The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government. So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.
America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise. As a democracy made up of every race and religion, where every belief and point of view is welcomed, we have put to the test time and again the proposition at the heart of our founding: that out of many, we are one. We have engaged in fierce and passionate debates about the issues of the day, but from slavery to war, from civil liberties to questions of economic justice, we have tried to live by the words that Jefferson once wrote: “Every man cannot have his way in all things…Without this mutual disposition, we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.”
History is scattered with the stories of those who held fast to rigid ideologies and refused to listen to those who disagreed. But those are not the Americans we remember. We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.
That’s who we remember. That’s who we need to be right now. The entire world is watching. So let’s seize this moment to show why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on Earth – not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations, but because we can still come together as one nation. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
Washington, DC
Good evening. Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we’ve been having in Washington over the national debt – a debate that directly affects the lives of every single American.
For the last decade, we have spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card.
As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office. To make matters worse, the recession meant that there was less money coming in, and it required us to spend even more – on tax cuts for middle-class families; on unemployment insurance; on aid to states so we could prevent more teachers and firefighters and police officers from being laid off. These emergency steps also added to the deficit.
Now, every family knows that a little credit card debt is manageable. But if we stay on the current path, our growing debt could cost us jobs and do serious damage to the economy. More of our tax dollars will go toward paying off the interest on our loans. Businesses will be less likely to open up shop and hire workers in a country that can’t balance its books. Interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money – the homeowner with a mortgage, the student with a college loan, the corner store that wants to expand. And we won’t have enough money to make job-creating investments in things like education and infrastructure, or pay for vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Because neither party is blameless for the decisions that led to this problem, both parties have a responsibility to solve it. And over the last several months, that’s what we’ve been trying to do. I won’t bore you with the details of every plan or proposal, but basically, the debate has centered around two different approaches.
The first approach says, let’s live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let’s cut domestic spending to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Let’s cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let’s cut out the waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare – and at the same time, let’s make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. Finally, let’s ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.
This balanced approach asks everyone to give a little without requiring anyone to sacrifice too much. It would reduce the deficit by around $4 trillion and put us on a path to pay down our debt. And the cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small business and middle-class families get back on their feet right now.
This approach is also bipartisan. While many in my own party aren’t happy with the painful cuts it makes, enough will be willing to accept them if the burden is fairly shared. While Republicans might like to see deeper cuts and no revenue at all, there are many in the Senate who have said “Yes, I’m willing to put politics aside and consider this approach because I care about solving the problem.” And to his credit, this is the kind of approach the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was working on with me over the last several weeks.
The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach – an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scales, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about – cuts that place a greater burden on working families.
So the debate right now isn’t about whether we need to make tough choices. Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. The debate is about how it should be done. Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask corporate jet owners and oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don’t need and didn’t ask for?
That’s not right. It’s not fair. We all want a government that lives within its means, but there are still things we need to pay for as a country – things like new roads and bridges; weather satellites and food inspection; services to veterans and medical research.
Keep in mind that under a balanced approach, the 98% of Americans who make under $250,000 would see no tax increases at all. None. In fact, I want to extend the payroll tax cut for working families. What we’re talking about under a balanced approach is asking Americans whose incomes have gone up the most over the last decade – millionaires and billionaires – to share in the sacrifice everyone else has to make. And I think these patriotic Americans are willing to pitch in. In fact, over the last few decades, they’ve pitched in every time we passed a bipartisan deal to reduce the deficit. The first time a deal passed, a predecessor of mine made the case for a balanced approach by saying this:
“Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer.”
Those words were spoken by Ronald Reagan. But today, many Republicans in the House refuse to consider this kind of balanced approach – an approach that was pursued not only by President Reagan, but by the first President Bush, President Clinton, myself, and many Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate. So we are left with a stalemate.
Now, what makes today’s stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling – a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.
Understand – raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. It simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up. In the past, raising the debt ceiling was routine. Since the 1950s, Congress has always passed it, and every President has signed it. President Reagan did it 18 times. George W. Bush did it 7 times. And we have to do it by next Tuesday, August 2nd, or else we won’t be able to pay all of our bills.
Unfortunately, for the past several weeks, Republican House members have essentially said that the only way they’ll vote to prevent America’s first-ever default is if the rest of us agree to their deep, spending cuts-only approach.
If that happens, and we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.
For the first time in history, our country’s Triple A credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether the United States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, and mortgages, car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people. We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis – one caused almost entirely by Washington.
Defaulting on our obligations is a reckless and irresponsible outcome to this debate. And Republican leaders say that they agree we must avoid default. But the new approach that Speaker Boehner unveiled today, which would temporarily extend the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, would force us to once again face the threat of default just six months from now. In other words, it doesn’t solve the problem.
First of all, a six-month extension of the debt ceiling might not be enough to avoid a credit downgrade and the higher interest rates that all Americans would have to pay as a result. We know what we have to do to reduce our deficits; there’s no point in putting the economy at risk by kicking the can further down the road.
But there’s an even greater danger to this approach. Based on what we’ve seen these past few weeks, we know what to expect six months from now. The House will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. Again, they will refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans to give up their tax cuts or deductions. Again, they will demand harsh cuts to programs like Medicare. And once again, the economy will be held captive unless they get their way.
That is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It is a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now. Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare.
Congress now has one week left to act, and there are still paths forward. The Senate has introduced a plan to avoid default, which makes a down payment on deficit reduction and ensures that we don’t have to go through this again in six months.
I think that’s a much better path, although serious deficit reduction would still require us to tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform. Either way, I have told leaders of both parties that they must come up with a fair compromise in the next few days that can pass both houses of Congress – a compromise I can sign. And I am confident we can reach this compromise. Despite our disagreements, Republican leaders and I have found common ground before. And I believe that enough members of both parties will ultimately put politics aside and help us make progress.
I realize that a lot of the new members of Congress and I don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues. But we were each elected by some of the same Americans for some of the same reasons. Yes, many want government to start living within its means. And many are fed up with a system in which the deck seems stacked against middle-class Americans in favor of the wealthiest few. But do you know what people are fed up with most of all?
They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word. They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be.
The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government. So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.
America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise. As a democracy made up of every race and religion, where every belief and point of view is welcomed, we have put to the test time and again the proposition at the heart of our founding: that out of many, we are one. We have engaged in fierce and passionate debates about the issues of the day, but from slavery to war, from civil liberties to questions of economic justice, we have tried to live by the words that Jefferson once wrote: “Every man cannot have his way in all things…Without this mutual disposition, we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.”
History is scattered with the stories of those who held fast to rigid ideologies and refused to listen to those who disagreed. But those are not the Americans we remember. We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.
That’s who we remember. That’s who we need to be right now. The entire world is watching. So let’s seize this moment to show why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on Earth – not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations, but because we can still come together as one nation. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
miércoles, 2 de marzo de 2011
Ciudadanía: aspiración democrática que nos une como pueblo
Por Luis G. Fortuño
Gobernador de Puerto Rico
Un día como hoy, hace 94 años, la historia de nuestro pueblo cambió para siempre. Ese día, los puertorriqueños adquirimos la ciudadanía de los Estados Unidos de América.
El liderato en Puerto Rico la había solicitado al unísono, al efectuarse el cambio de soberanía en el 1898. Casi 20 años más tarde, con la aprobación del Congreso y la firma del presidente Woodrow Wilson, el sueño se convirtió en realidad.
Tal como la declaramos en nuestra Constitución local, la ciudadanía americana es un factor determinante en nuestra vida, tanto individual como colectiva. Nuestra Constitución estatal recoge ese consenso claro, contundente y duradero de nuestro pueblo. No sólo consideramos la ciudadanía americana un factor determinante en nuestra vida, sino también todo lo que ella representa, incluyendo—en las palabras de nuestra Constitución—“nuestra aspiración a continuamente enriquecer nuestro acervo democrático en el disfrute individual y colectivo de sus prerrogativas”.
Nuestra ciudadanía es lo que nos garantiza el derecho a vivir en una sociedad que nos ofrece una extraordinaria combinación de oportunidad, estabilidad, seguridad y bienestar. De hecho, la genialidad del sistema constitucional americano ha hecho posible algunos de los avances más grandes en derechos humanos, innovación, progreso económico y bienestar social, no sólo para sus ciudadanos, sino para toda la humanidad.
Como Comisionado Residente y Gobernador, a través de los años he participado en la ceremonia de juramentación de cientos de nuevos ciudadanos americanos. Compartir ese momento tan especial en la vida de tantos inmigrantes, me ha llevado a menudo a reflexionar sobre el hecho de que los que nacimos automáticamente al amparo de los privilegios de la ciudadanía americana muchas veces no apreciamos plenamente su valor, ni sacamos tanto provecho de sus beneficios, ni nos sentimos tan motivados a exigir por derecho las prerrogativas que ella nos confiere. En contraste, los inmigrantes—muchos de los cuales han sufrido en sus países de origen las dificultades e injusticias que siempre se manifiestan en sociedades que carecen de los pilares democráticos de seguridad, igualdad, estabilidad y oportunidad—dan testimonio viviente de la bendición que representa para ellos ser ciudadano de los Estados Unidos de América.
Un principio central del sistema americano de gobierno, del cual somos parte integral, es que el gobierno está para servirle al pueblo, y no al revés. El individuo y la familia son las unidades básicas de nuestra sociedad. Por lo tanto, es a ellos a quienes tenemos que apoderar, poniendo en sus manos el poder y las oportunidades. Esta filosofía fundamenta todo el programa de buen gobierno que hemos implantado en nuestra administración.
El gobierno está para apoyar al individuo y las familias, no para ahogarles hipotecando el futuro de generaciones venideras. El gobierno tiene la obligación de ofrecer servicios básicos de excelencia, y servicios de apoyo y ayuda, sobre todo a aquellos con menos recursos.
Pero cuando el gobierno excede esa función esencial y limitada, y se convierte en un gobierno paternalista y todo proveedor, crea un ciclo vicioso de dependencia que castiga el éxito y ahoga la capacidad de superación del individuo.
Los principios de nuestra ciudadanía…de igualdad de oportunidades, iniciativa individual y gobierno responsable que aseguran nuestra estabilidad, seguridad y progreso…son precisamente los principios que nos apoderan y nos permiten alcanzar todo nuestro potencial, como individuos y como sociedad. Una sociedad en la cual los individuos y las familias no puedan alcanzar su mayor potencial jamás podrá ser una sociedad sana y próspera.
Nuestro desarrollo económico también debe estar basado en la capacidad de innovación y superación del individuo. El motor básico de nuestra economía es y debe ser el sector privado que, con su vigor, crea un círculo expansivo de progreso. En una sociedad sana y próspera, son nuestras empresas—sobre todo nuestros pequeños y medianos negocios—no el gobierno, los que crean mejores empleos y oportunidades.
Por eso, en este aniversario de la ciudadanía americana, hago un llamado a que renovemos nuestro compromiso individual y colectivo con los principios más básicos de nuestra gloriosa ciudadanía. Y mucho ojo con los que a veces hablan de la ciudadanía, pero no hacen nada en concreto para defenderla. Sus palabras son huecas. No sólo no quieren levantar ni un dedo para aportar a nuestra Nación, sino a todas luces su agenda no tiene otro norte que la de socavar nuestra ciudadanía y nuestra unión a la gran nación de la que somos ciudadanos.
Como dice nuestra Constitución estatal, nuestra aspiración es continuar enriqueciendo nuestro acervo democrático en el disfrute de las prerrogativas de nuestra ciudadanía americana. Para la mayoría de nosotros, esa aspiración no culminará hasta que no alcancemos la estadidad para Puerto Rico. Pero aún aquellos de nuestros conciudadanos que aún no comparten esa visión, sí comparten con nosotros la aspiración de alcanzar mucho más progreso y nuevas conquistas democráticas que emanan de nuestra ciudadanía americana.
Asimismo, les exhorto a todos a honrar con un merecido agradecimiento—como lo haré yo hoy en el Hospital de Veteranos—a aquellos que han cumplido con el sagrado compromiso de defender nuestra ciudadanía. Su sacrificio, el de los que los precedieron, y el de aquellos que siguen defendiéndola hoy como miembros activos de las Fuerzas Armadas de nuestra nación, es lo que ha garantizado que todos podamos seguir disfrutando de los beneficios de la ciudadanía americana que tanto atesoramos.
Gobernador de Puerto Rico
Un día como hoy, hace 94 años, la historia de nuestro pueblo cambió para siempre. Ese día, los puertorriqueños adquirimos la ciudadanía de los Estados Unidos de América.
El liderato en Puerto Rico la había solicitado al unísono, al efectuarse el cambio de soberanía en el 1898. Casi 20 años más tarde, con la aprobación del Congreso y la firma del presidente Woodrow Wilson, el sueño se convirtió en realidad.
Tal como la declaramos en nuestra Constitución local, la ciudadanía americana es un factor determinante en nuestra vida, tanto individual como colectiva. Nuestra Constitución estatal recoge ese consenso claro, contundente y duradero de nuestro pueblo. No sólo consideramos la ciudadanía americana un factor determinante en nuestra vida, sino también todo lo que ella representa, incluyendo—en las palabras de nuestra Constitución—“nuestra aspiración a continuamente enriquecer nuestro acervo democrático en el disfrute individual y colectivo de sus prerrogativas”.
Nuestra ciudadanía es lo que nos garantiza el derecho a vivir en una sociedad que nos ofrece una extraordinaria combinación de oportunidad, estabilidad, seguridad y bienestar. De hecho, la genialidad del sistema constitucional americano ha hecho posible algunos de los avances más grandes en derechos humanos, innovación, progreso económico y bienestar social, no sólo para sus ciudadanos, sino para toda la humanidad.
Como Comisionado Residente y Gobernador, a través de los años he participado en la ceremonia de juramentación de cientos de nuevos ciudadanos americanos. Compartir ese momento tan especial en la vida de tantos inmigrantes, me ha llevado a menudo a reflexionar sobre el hecho de que los que nacimos automáticamente al amparo de los privilegios de la ciudadanía americana muchas veces no apreciamos plenamente su valor, ni sacamos tanto provecho de sus beneficios, ni nos sentimos tan motivados a exigir por derecho las prerrogativas que ella nos confiere. En contraste, los inmigrantes—muchos de los cuales han sufrido en sus países de origen las dificultades e injusticias que siempre se manifiestan en sociedades que carecen de los pilares democráticos de seguridad, igualdad, estabilidad y oportunidad—dan testimonio viviente de la bendición que representa para ellos ser ciudadano de los Estados Unidos de América.
Un principio central del sistema americano de gobierno, del cual somos parte integral, es que el gobierno está para servirle al pueblo, y no al revés. El individuo y la familia son las unidades básicas de nuestra sociedad. Por lo tanto, es a ellos a quienes tenemos que apoderar, poniendo en sus manos el poder y las oportunidades. Esta filosofía fundamenta todo el programa de buen gobierno que hemos implantado en nuestra administración.
El gobierno está para apoyar al individuo y las familias, no para ahogarles hipotecando el futuro de generaciones venideras. El gobierno tiene la obligación de ofrecer servicios básicos de excelencia, y servicios de apoyo y ayuda, sobre todo a aquellos con menos recursos.
Pero cuando el gobierno excede esa función esencial y limitada, y se convierte en un gobierno paternalista y todo proveedor, crea un ciclo vicioso de dependencia que castiga el éxito y ahoga la capacidad de superación del individuo.
Los principios de nuestra ciudadanía…de igualdad de oportunidades, iniciativa individual y gobierno responsable que aseguran nuestra estabilidad, seguridad y progreso…son precisamente los principios que nos apoderan y nos permiten alcanzar todo nuestro potencial, como individuos y como sociedad. Una sociedad en la cual los individuos y las familias no puedan alcanzar su mayor potencial jamás podrá ser una sociedad sana y próspera.
Nuestro desarrollo económico también debe estar basado en la capacidad de innovación y superación del individuo. El motor básico de nuestra economía es y debe ser el sector privado que, con su vigor, crea un círculo expansivo de progreso. En una sociedad sana y próspera, son nuestras empresas—sobre todo nuestros pequeños y medianos negocios—no el gobierno, los que crean mejores empleos y oportunidades.
Por eso, en este aniversario de la ciudadanía americana, hago un llamado a que renovemos nuestro compromiso individual y colectivo con los principios más básicos de nuestra gloriosa ciudadanía. Y mucho ojo con los que a veces hablan de la ciudadanía, pero no hacen nada en concreto para defenderla. Sus palabras son huecas. No sólo no quieren levantar ni un dedo para aportar a nuestra Nación, sino a todas luces su agenda no tiene otro norte que la de socavar nuestra ciudadanía y nuestra unión a la gran nación de la que somos ciudadanos.
Como dice nuestra Constitución estatal, nuestra aspiración es continuar enriqueciendo nuestro acervo democrático en el disfrute de las prerrogativas de nuestra ciudadanía americana. Para la mayoría de nosotros, esa aspiración no culminará hasta que no alcancemos la estadidad para Puerto Rico. Pero aún aquellos de nuestros conciudadanos que aún no comparten esa visión, sí comparten con nosotros la aspiración de alcanzar mucho más progreso y nuevas conquistas democráticas que emanan de nuestra ciudadanía americana.
Asimismo, les exhorto a todos a honrar con un merecido agradecimiento—como lo haré yo hoy en el Hospital de Veteranos—a aquellos que han cumplido con el sagrado compromiso de defender nuestra ciudadanía. Su sacrificio, el de los que los precedieron, y el de aquellos que siguen defendiéndola hoy como miembros activos de las Fuerzas Armadas de nuestra nación, es lo que ha garantizado que todos podamos seguir disfrutando de los beneficios de la ciudadanía americana que tanto atesoramos.
sábado, 12 de febrero de 2011
Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño at CPAC 2011
Remarks for Governor Luis Fortuño
CPAC Washington D.C. Conference
11 a.m. EST, Marriott Ballroom
February 11, 2011
Good morning. Thank you, Don, for that kind introduction.
It is great to be with you all today, and to have the opportunity to talk about the exciting, new path that the American people have chosen for this country.
Our country voted to change the way Washington is working and it is our responsibility to provide that change.
Two years ago in Puerto Rico, we similarly voted to change the way our government was working because it was also spending beyond what the people could afford.
Some have asked if those of us who cherish freedom and individual liberty can win the Hispanic vote while upholding our principles? Well, in Puerto Rico, we’ve done it.
As a Conservative Republican, I’ve been elected island-wide twice in the last 5 years. In 2008, I was elected by the biggest margin of electoral victory in 44 years.
We also had victories that included two-thirds of the seats in both houses of the State Legislature.
Why did we prevail when the votes were counted? Because when government is growing its own economy at the expense of the real economy - the people’s economy - Americans will choose freedom, opportunity and growth.
We must act now through steady leadership and bold action to take on the big challenges we face with honesty and courage. We must show that our brightest days are ahead and that we can reignite America’s engine of growth.
We need to put our faith in the hopes and dreams and plans of the citizens of this country, because they can out-think,out-dream, out-work and out-produce anybody in the world, as long as they are rewarded fairly when they do it.
That’s exactly what we are doing in Puerto Rico.
Through the tough decisions we made early in my Administration, we are addressing an inherited fiscal crisis that was the worst in the nation.
When I took office two years ago, we had been experiencing the deepest recession since the 1930s, a recession that began two full years before it commenced in the rest of the country.
I inherited a $3.3 billion budget deficit - proportionally speaking, the largest state budget deficit in the country, representing 44 percent of revenues.
Puerto Rico’s credit rating was on the verge of junk status, and I actually had to fly up to meet with the rating agencies before I was sworn in to avoid a downgrade of our bonds.
And after I was sworn in, we didn’t even have money to meet our first payroll. We had to take out a loan to pay it.
We immediately enacted fiscal emergency legislation, with the support of our Legislature, requiring serious spending cuts.
Encouraged by a clear mandate from taxpayers, in just two years, we have cut government expenses by 20 percent. Here’s what we did:
-I took a 10 percent pay cut and agency heads took a 5 percent cut;
-We froze all salaries for two fiscal years;
-We cut government services contracts by 15 percent;
-We cut government operating expenses 10 percent, including official vehicles, cell phones, and credit cards;
-We reduced political appointments by 30 percent;
-We shrank the government employee ranks by 17,000 through a combination of voluntary and mandatory measures. Another voluntary early retirement window enabled us to trim an additional 4,000 last month.
-We reduced the number of government agencies through consolidation;
-And we closed-out our defined benefit pension plan and moved to a performance based defined
contribution plan for future government employees.
We didn’t shy away from the tough decisions. In just two years, our progress is clear and compelling on both, the fiscal and economic side.
We have cut expenses and brought down the budget deficit from 44 percent to 11 percent of revenues. That includes cutting 17 percent of total payroll. And we are on course to balance our budget before the end of my first term.
We’ve reduced our deficit proportionally more than any other state or territory. In a ranking of all the states by budget deficit, as a percentage of revenues, we started of dead last. Now, we are ranked 20th in the country and closing in.
The rating agencies have noticed. They all increased our bond rating to its highest level in 35 years and granted us a “positive” outlook for the first time since 1983.
Now that we have stabilized the economy, we have turned our full focus to restoring growth, and creating the best business climate in the country. We turned to a model where entrepreneurship and innovation are the drivers of economic growth and opportunity, not government.
The debate has already begun at the national level on fundamental tax reform and addressing a tax regime that puts American business at a competitive disadvantage around the globe.
Puerto Rico, as a U.S. territory, has a code that is a mirror image of the Internal Revenue Code. We faced the same challenge in that high taxes – especially on the corporate side – have hindered our competitiveness.
I am convinced that $1 dollar in our taxpayers’ hands will be used more effectively that if that same dollar remains in the government’s hands. Thus, we just approved the largest across-the-board tax cuts at the individual and corporate level in our history.
Starting January of this year, we cut the top corporate rate from 41 percent to 30 percent. The previous seven-tier corporate bracket has been flattened, and in three years, the top corporate rate will drop to 25 percent.
For individuals, tax rates will drop an average of 25 percent this year, increasing to a nearly 50 percent reduction over six years.
To ensure that we sustain fiscal responsibility, individual tax reductions for years 2014 through 2016 will be contingent on the government meeting targeted goals to guarantee that we continue to balance our budget.
Thus, we are making the taxpayer the watchdog for fiscal discipline, and ensuring government keeps that discipline. In addition to the tax reform plan, we have instituted other significant planks in our reform agenda to promote growth and create jobs.
We enacted one of the most advanced and aggressive Public-Private Partnership laws in the country to encourage greater private investment and bring competition and efficiencies to schools, roads, airports, energy, water facilities and other public infrastructure.
We launched a new housing initiative that cuts property and capital gains taxes for buyers and sellers. During the first four months of the program, housing sales increased over 20 percent.
We have some of the highest energy costs in the nation and rely on imported oil for almost 70 percent of our power generation. So we have begun a comprehensive energy program to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil, in favor of natural gas and renewable energy.
We are also merging government agencies to cut duplications, and streamlining operations to be quick, agile and efficient so that government red tape doesn’t get in the way of entrepreneurship and job creation.
A perfect example is the government permitting process. We had government agencies issuing 28 different permits. Now we have 1 permit to do business.
With these reforms, we are convinced that job creation will be spurred, consumers will be stronger, and the economy will be more competitive and prosperous.
I was fortunate in that I had the support of the Legislature and we were able to work as partners to address our challenges comprehensively.
So I think that with big pick-ups in November in Congress, Governors o"ces and state legislatures around the nation, bold leadership is possible. And as you know, the mandate from voters is that bold action in Washington is a must.
So my advice is: Don’t wait and don’t blink. Make the tough decisions early and stick to them with courage.
People are expecting leadership. At the beginning of my term, I went to the Legislature and on TV to tell the public exactly what we faced and what we needed to do to fix it.
Some may not like every decision, but they will respect you for doing what is right and what you said you would do.
The long practice of allowing debt and deficits to grow unchecked has made our country less competitive. It’s time for Government to put its finances on the path of fiscal responsibility.
I am confident that through clear and steady leadership, we will be able to address these challenges, just like many of us are doing around our Nation.
And that brings me back to the important topic I touched upon at the start – reaching out to Hispanics – because this is our time and our opportunity to elevate our pro-growth, pro-family policies and make huge inroads with our Hispanic community around the country.
The late President Reagan said that: “Hispanics are Republicans, they just don’t know it yet.” And he was so right. Actually, I started in the Republican Party as a student in D.C. stuffing envelopes in his campaign.
He brought many of us into the party. And the bottom line here is we are socially conservative, fiscally conservative, we have a natural distrust of government, we want lower taxes, education is key to us, and we want our small and medium-size businesses to flourish. Those are Republican values.
It is clear that Republicans must reach out to Hispanics to build trust. I strongly agree and leave you with this belief. We don’t have to run away from our values and our principles to attract their support. On the contrary, we have to proudly underscore them.
Let’s show America what we can accomplish if we protect individual freedom, promote growth and strengthen our values!
Thank you and God bless you.
Download the Speech in PDF Format.
CPAC Washington D.C. Conference
11 a.m. EST, Marriott Ballroom
February 11, 2011
Good morning. Thank you, Don, for that kind introduction.
It is great to be with you all today, and to have the opportunity to talk about the exciting, new path that the American people have chosen for this country.
Our country voted to change the way Washington is working and it is our responsibility to provide that change.
Two years ago in Puerto Rico, we similarly voted to change the way our government was working because it was also spending beyond what the people could afford.
Some have asked if those of us who cherish freedom and individual liberty can win the Hispanic vote while upholding our principles? Well, in Puerto Rico, we’ve done it.
As a Conservative Republican, I’ve been elected island-wide twice in the last 5 years. In 2008, I was elected by the biggest margin of electoral victory in 44 years.
We also had victories that included two-thirds of the seats in both houses of the State Legislature.
Why did we prevail when the votes were counted? Because when government is growing its own economy at the expense of the real economy - the people’s economy - Americans will choose freedom, opportunity and growth.
We must act now through steady leadership and bold action to take on the big challenges we face with honesty and courage. We must show that our brightest days are ahead and that we can reignite America’s engine of growth.
We need to put our faith in the hopes and dreams and plans of the citizens of this country, because they can out-think,out-dream, out-work and out-produce anybody in the world, as long as they are rewarded fairly when they do it.
That’s exactly what we are doing in Puerto Rico.
Through the tough decisions we made early in my Administration, we are addressing an inherited fiscal crisis that was the worst in the nation.
When I took office two years ago, we had been experiencing the deepest recession since the 1930s, a recession that began two full years before it commenced in the rest of the country.
I inherited a $3.3 billion budget deficit - proportionally speaking, the largest state budget deficit in the country, representing 44 percent of revenues.
Puerto Rico’s credit rating was on the verge of junk status, and I actually had to fly up to meet with the rating agencies before I was sworn in to avoid a downgrade of our bonds.
And after I was sworn in, we didn’t even have money to meet our first payroll. We had to take out a loan to pay it.
We immediately enacted fiscal emergency legislation, with the support of our Legislature, requiring serious spending cuts.
Encouraged by a clear mandate from taxpayers, in just two years, we have cut government expenses by 20 percent. Here’s what we did:
-I took a 10 percent pay cut and agency heads took a 5 percent cut;
-We froze all salaries for two fiscal years;
-We cut government services contracts by 15 percent;
-We cut government operating expenses 10 percent, including official vehicles, cell phones, and credit cards;
-We reduced political appointments by 30 percent;
-We shrank the government employee ranks by 17,000 through a combination of voluntary and mandatory measures. Another voluntary early retirement window enabled us to trim an additional 4,000 last month.
-We reduced the number of government agencies through consolidation;
-And we closed-out our defined benefit pension plan and moved to a performance based defined
contribution plan for future government employees.
We didn’t shy away from the tough decisions. In just two years, our progress is clear and compelling on both, the fiscal and economic side.
We have cut expenses and brought down the budget deficit from 44 percent to 11 percent of revenues. That includes cutting 17 percent of total payroll. And we are on course to balance our budget before the end of my first term.
We’ve reduced our deficit proportionally more than any other state or territory. In a ranking of all the states by budget deficit, as a percentage of revenues, we started of dead last. Now, we are ranked 20th in the country and closing in.
The rating agencies have noticed. They all increased our bond rating to its highest level in 35 years and granted us a “positive” outlook for the first time since 1983.
Now that we have stabilized the economy, we have turned our full focus to restoring growth, and creating the best business climate in the country. We turned to a model where entrepreneurship and innovation are the drivers of economic growth and opportunity, not government.
The debate has already begun at the national level on fundamental tax reform and addressing a tax regime that puts American business at a competitive disadvantage around the globe.
Puerto Rico, as a U.S. territory, has a code that is a mirror image of the Internal Revenue Code. We faced the same challenge in that high taxes – especially on the corporate side – have hindered our competitiveness.
I am convinced that $1 dollar in our taxpayers’ hands will be used more effectively that if that same dollar remains in the government’s hands. Thus, we just approved the largest across-the-board tax cuts at the individual and corporate level in our history.
Starting January of this year, we cut the top corporate rate from 41 percent to 30 percent. The previous seven-tier corporate bracket has been flattened, and in three years, the top corporate rate will drop to 25 percent.
For individuals, tax rates will drop an average of 25 percent this year, increasing to a nearly 50 percent reduction over six years.
To ensure that we sustain fiscal responsibility, individual tax reductions for years 2014 through 2016 will be contingent on the government meeting targeted goals to guarantee that we continue to balance our budget.
Thus, we are making the taxpayer the watchdog for fiscal discipline, and ensuring government keeps that discipline. In addition to the tax reform plan, we have instituted other significant planks in our reform agenda to promote growth and create jobs.
We enacted one of the most advanced and aggressive Public-Private Partnership laws in the country to encourage greater private investment and bring competition and efficiencies to schools, roads, airports, energy, water facilities and other public infrastructure.
We launched a new housing initiative that cuts property and capital gains taxes for buyers and sellers. During the first four months of the program, housing sales increased over 20 percent.
We have some of the highest energy costs in the nation and rely on imported oil for almost 70 percent of our power generation. So we have begun a comprehensive energy program to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil, in favor of natural gas and renewable energy.
We are also merging government agencies to cut duplications, and streamlining operations to be quick, agile and efficient so that government red tape doesn’t get in the way of entrepreneurship and job creation.
A perfect example is the government permitting process. We had government agencies issuing 28 different permits. Now we have 1 permit to do business.
With these reforms, we are convinced that job creation will be spurred, consumers will be stronger, and the economy will be more competitive and prosperous.
I was fortunate in that I had the support of the Legislature and we were able to work as partners to address our challenges comprehensively.
So I think that with big pick-ups in November in Congress, Governors o"ces and state legislatures around the nation, bold leadership is possible. And as you know, the mandate from voters is that bold action in Washington is a must.
So my advice is: Don’t wait and don’t blink. Make the tough decisions early and stick to them with courage.
People are expecting leadership. At the beginning of my term, I went to the Legislature and on TV to tell the public exactly what we faced and what we needed to do to fix it.
Some may not like every decision, but they will respect you for doing what is right and what you said you would do.
The long practice of allowing debt and deficits to grow unchecked has made our country less competitive. It’s time for Government to put its finances on the path of fiscal responsibility.
I am confident that through clear and steady leadership, we will be able to address these challenges, just like many of us are doing around our Nation.
And that brings me back to the important topic I touched upon at the start – reaching out to Hispanics – because this is our time and our opportunity to elevate our pro-growth, pro-family policies and make huge inroads with our Hispanic community around the country.
The late President Reagan said that: “Hispanics are Republicans, they just don’t know it yet.” And he was so right. Actually, I started in the Republican Party as a student in D.C. stuffing envelopes in his campaign.
He brought many of us into the party. And the bottom line here is we are socially conservative, fiscally conservative, we have a natural distrust of government, we want lower taxes, education is key to us, and we want our small and medium-size businesses to flourish. Those are Republican values.
It is clear that Republicans must reach out to Hispanics to build trust. I strongly agree and leave you with this belief. We don’t have to run away from our values and our principles to attract their support. On the contrary, we have to proudly underscore them.
Let’s show America what we can accomplish if we protect individual freedom, promote growth and strengthen our values!
Thank you and God bless you.
Download the Speech in PDF Format.
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