President Obama's State of the Union Address

President Obama's State of the Union (SOTU) Address  http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2013#

 Watch the video (enhanced with slides) http://youtu.be/S7doAXkmGJw

President Barack Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address — as delivered

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, fellow citizens:

Fifty-one
years ago, John F Kennedy declared to this chamber that “the
Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress.”
“It is my task,” he said, “to report the State of the Union -- to
improve it is the task of us all.”

Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in 20. Our
housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and
consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever
before.

So,
together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with
renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger.

But we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs -- but too many people still can’t find full-time employment. Corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs -- but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged.

It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle class.

It
is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this
country -- the idea that if you work hard and meet your
responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no
matter what you look like, or who you love.

It
is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on
behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free
enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of
opportunity to every child across this great nation.

The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For
they know that America moves forward only when we do so together, and
that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us
all.

Our work
must begin by making some basic decisions about our budget -- decisions
that will have a huge impact on the strength of our recovery.

Over
the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the
deficit by more than $2.5 trillion -- mostly through spending cuts, but
also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As
a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in
deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.

Now we need to finish the job. And the question is, how?

In
2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree
on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of
budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. They’d devastate priorities like education, and energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. That’s
why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have
already said that these cuts, known here in Washington as the sequester,
are a really bad idea.

Now,
some in Congress have proposed preventing only the defense cuts by
making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training,
Medicare and Social Security benefits. That idea is even worse.

Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And
those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace
the need for modest reforms -- otherwise, our retirement programs will
crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the
promise of a secure retirement for future generations.

But
we can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the
entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the
wealthiest and the most powerful. We
won’t grow the middle class simply by shifting the cost of health care
or college onto families that are already struggling, or by forcing
communities to lay off more teachers and more cops and more
firefighters. Most Americans -- Democrats, Republicans, and independents -- understand that we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. They
know that broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to
deficit reduction, with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody
doing their fair share. And that’s the approach I offer tonight.
On Medicare, I’m prepared to enact reforms that will achieve the same
amount of health care savings by the beginning of the next decade as the
reforms proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs. And the reforms I’m proposing go even further. We’ll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. We’ll
bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare,
because our medical bills shouldn’t be based on the number of tests
ordered or days spent in the hospital; they should be based on the
quality of care that our seniors receive. And I am open to additional reforms from both parties, so long as they don’t violate the guarantee of a secure retirement. Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep -- but we must keep the promises we’ve already made.

To
hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders
in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions
of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the
well-off and the well-connected. After all, why would we choose to make deeper cuts to education and Medicare just to protect special interest tax breaks? How is that fair? Why
is it that deficit reduction is a big emergency justifying making cuts
in Social Security benefits but not closing some loopholes? How does that promote growth?

Now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. We can get this done. The
American people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses spend
less time filling out complicated forms, and more time expanding and
hiring -- a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered
accountants can’t work the system and pay a lower rate than their
hardworking secretaries; a tax code that lowers incentives to move jobs
overseas, and lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that are
creating jobs right here in the United States of America. That’s what tax reform can deliver. That’s what we can do together.

I realize that tax reform and entitlement reform will not be easy. The politics will be hard for both sides. None of us will get 100 percent of what we want. But the alternative will cost us jobs, hurt our economy, visit hardship on millions of hardworking Americans. So
let’s set party interests aside and work to pass a budget that replaces
reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future. And let’s do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors. The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. We can't do it.

Let’s
agree right here, right now to keep the people’s government open, and
pay our bills on time, and always uphold the full faith and credit of
the United States of America. The American people have worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause another.

Now, most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of our agenda. But let’s be clear, deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs -- that must be the North Star that guides our efforts. Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills they need to get those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?

A
year and a half ago, I put forward an American Jobs Act that
independent economists said would create more than 1 million new jobs. And I thank the last Congress for passing some of that agenda. I urge this Congress to pass the rest. But
tonight, I’ll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and
fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just
18 months ago. Let me repeat -- nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It is not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth. That's what we should be looking for.

Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing. After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.

There are things we can do, right now, to accelerate this trend. Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A
once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new
workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to
revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s no reason this can’t happen in other towns.

So
tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing
hubs, where businesses will partner with the Department of Defense and
Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers
of high-tech jobs. And I
ask this Congress to help create a network of 15 of these hubs and
guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made right here
in America. We can get that done.

Now, if we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy -- every dollar. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s. They’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. We need to make those investments.
Today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We
have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the
amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar
-- with tens of thousands of good American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before -- and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.

But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Now, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods -- all are now more frequent and more intense. We
can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe
drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen
were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science -- and act before it’s too late.

Now, the good news is we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I
urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based
solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman
worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I
will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take,
now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for
the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more
sustainable sources of energy.

Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. And we’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year -- let’s drive down costs even further. As long as countries like China keep going all in on clean energy, so must we.

Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That’s got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan. But
I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and
technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air
and our water.

In fact, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So
tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an
Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to
shift our cars and trucks off oil for good. If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let’s
take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful
spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.

I’m
also issuing a new goal for America: Let’s cut in half the energy
wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years. We'll work with the states to do it. Those
states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by
constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to
help make that happen.

America’s energy sector is just one part of an aging infrastructure badly in need of repair. Ask
any CEO where they’d rather locate and hire -- a country with
deteriorating roads and bridges, or one with high-speed rail and
Internet; high-tech schools, self-healing power grids. The
CEO of Siemens America -- a company that brought hundreds of new jobs
to North Carolina -- said that if we upgrade our infrastructure, they’ll
bring even more jobs. And that’s the attitude of a lot of companies all around the world. And I know you want these job-creating projects in your district. I’ve seen all those ribbon-cuttings.

So
tonight, I propose a “Fix-It-First” program to put people to work as
soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000
structurally deficient bridges across the country And to make sure
taxpayers don’t shoulder the whole burden, I’m also proposing a
Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade
what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods, modern
pipelines to withstand a storm, modern schools worthy of our children. Let’s prove that there’s no better place to do business than here in the United States of America, and let’s start right away. We can get this done.

And part of our rebuilding effort must also involve our housing sector. The good news is our housing market is finally healing from the collapse of 2007. Home prices are rising at the fastest pace in six years. Home purchases are up nearly 50 percent, and construction is expanding again.

But even with mortgage rates near a 50-year low, too many families with solid credit who want to buy a home are being rejected. Too many families who never missed a payment and want to refinance are being told no. That’s holding our entire economy back. We need to fix it.

Right
now, there’s a bill in this Congress that would give every responsible
homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at
today’s rates. Democrats and Republicans have supported it before, so what are we waiting for? Take a vote, and send me that bill. Why would we be against that? Why would that be a partisan issue, helping folks refinance? Right now, overlapping regulations keep responsible young families from buying their first home. What’s holding us back? Let’s streamline the process, and help our economy grow.

These
initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, housing -- all
these things will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand
and create new jobs. But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs.

And that has to start at the earliest possible age. Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for a private preschool. And
for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool
education can shadow them for the rest of their lives. So tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America. That's something we should be able to do.

Every
dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood education can save
more than seven dollars later on -- by boosting graduation rates,
reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In
states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like
Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read
and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more
stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that chance.

Let’s also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job. Right
now, countries like Germany focus on graduating their high school
students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our
community colleges. So those German kids, they're ready for a job when they graduate high school. They've been trained for the jobs that are there. Now
at schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York
Public Schools and City University of New York and IBM, students will
graduate with a high school diploma and an associate's degree in
computers or engineering.
We need to give every American student opportunities like this.

And
four years ago, we started Race to the Top -- a competition that
convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher
standards, all for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each
year. Tonight, I’m
announcing a new challenge to redesign America’s high schools so they
better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. And
we’ll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and
employers, and create classes that focus on science, technology,
engineering and math -- the skills today’s employers are looking for to
fill the jobs that are there right now and will be there in the future.

Now, even with better high schools, most young people will need some higher education. It’s
a simple fact the more education you’ve got, the more likely you are to
have a good job and work your way into the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt.

Through
tax credits, grants and better loans, we’ve made college more
affordable for millions of students and families over the last few
years. But taxpayers can’t keep on subsidizing higher and higher and higher costs for higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it’s our job to make sure that they do.

So
tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act so that
affordability and value are included in determining which colleges
receive certain types of federal aid.And tomorrow, my administration
will release a new “College Scorecard” that parents and students can use
to compare schools based on a simple criteria -- where you can get the
most bang for your educational buck.

Now, to grow our middle class, our citizens have to have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require. But
we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone
who’s willing to work -- everybody who’s willing to work hard has the
chance to get ahead.

Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And
right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, faith
communities -- they all agree that the time has come to pass
comprehensive immigration reform. Now is the time to do it. Now is the time to get it done. Now is the time to get it done.

Real
reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress
my administration has already made -- putting more boots on the Southern
border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal crossings
to their lowest levels in 40 years.

Real
reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship
-- a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a
meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line
behind the folks trying to come here legally.

And
real reform means fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting
periods and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that
will help create jobs and grow our economy.

In other words, we know what needs to be done. And as we speak, bipartisan groups in both chambers are working diligently to draft a bill, and I applaud their efforts. So let’s get this done. Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away. And America will be better for it. Let’s get it done. Let’s get it done.

But we can’t stop there. We
know our economy is stronger when our wives, our mothers, our daughters
can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace, and
free from the fear of domestic violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. And I now urge the House to do the same. Good job, Joe. And
I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to
their efforts, and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year.

We know our economy is stronger when we reward an honest day’s work with honest wages. But today, a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. Even with the tax relief we put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That’s wrong. That’s why, since the last time this Congress raised the minimum wage, 19 states have chosen to bump theirs even higher.

Tonight,
let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works
full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum
wage to $9.00 an hour.We should be able to get that done.

This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. And a whole lot of folks out there would probably need less help from government. In fact, working folks shouldn’t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while CEO pay has never been higher. So
here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year
-- let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally
becomes a wage you can live on.

Tonight,
let’s also recognize that there are communities in this country where
no matter how hard you work, it is virtually impossible to get ahead. Factory towns decimated from years of plants packing up. Inescapable pockets of poverty, urban and rural, where young adults are still fighting for their first job. America is not a place where the chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that’s why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them.

Let’s
offer incentives to companies that hire Americans who’ve got what it
takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that
no one will give them a chance anymore. Let’s put people back to work rebuilding vacant homes in run-down neighborhoods. And
this year, my administration will begin to partner with 20 of the
hardest-hit towns in America to get these communities back on their
feet. We’ll work with local leaders to target resources at public safety, and education, and housing.

We’ll give new tax credits to businesses that hire and invest. And
we’ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents
to marriage for low-income couples, and do more to encourage fatherhood
-- because what makes you a man isn’t the ability to conceive a child;
it’s having the courage to raise one. And we want to encourage that. We want to help that

Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger America. It
is this kind of prosperity -- broad, shared, built on a thriving middle
class -- that has always been the source of our progress at home. It’s also the foundation of our power and influence throughout the world.

Tonight, we stand united in saluting the troops and civilians who sacrifice every day to protect us. Because
of them, we can say with confidence that America will complete its
mission in Afghanistan and achieve our objective of defeating the core
of al Qaeda.

Already, we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen and women. This spring, our forces will move into a support role, while Afghan security forces take the lead. Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan. This drawdown will continue and by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.

Beyond
2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will
endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We're
negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two
missions -- training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country
does not again slip into chaos, and counterterrorism efforts that allow
us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.

Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self. It's true, different al Qaeda affiliates and extremist groups have emerged -- from the Arabian Peninsula to Africa. The threat these groups pose is evolving. But to meet this threat, we don’t need to send tens of thousands of our sons and daughters abroad or occupy other nations. Instead,
we'll need to help countries like Yemen, and Libya, and Somalia provide
for their own security, and help allies who take the fight to
terrorists, as we have in Mali. And
where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue to
take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat
to Americans.

Now, as we do, we must enlist our values in the fight. That's
why my administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal
and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism efforts. Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. I recognize that in our democracy, no one should just take my word for it that we’re doing things the right way. So
in the months ahead, I will continue to engage Congress to ensure not
only that our targeting, detention and prosecution of terrorists remains
consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that
our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the
world.

Of course, our challenges don’t end with al Qaeda. America will continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world’s most dangerous weapons. The regime in North Korea must know they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations. Provocations
of the sort we saw last night will only further isolate them, as we
stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense and lead the
world in taking firm action in response to these threats.

Likewise,
the leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a
diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that
they meet their obligations, and we will do what is necessary to
prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon

At
the same time, we’ll engage Russia to seek further reductions in our
nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure
nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands -- because our
ability to influence others depends on our willingness to lead and meet
our obligations.

America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks. Now, we know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private emails. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now
our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid,
our financial institutions, our air traffic control systems. We cannot
look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of
real threats to our security and our economy.

And
that’s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will
strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and
developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our
privacy.

But
now Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to give our
government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks. This is something we should be able to get done on a bipartisan basis.

Now,
even as we protect our people, we should remember that today’s world
presents not just dangers, not just threats, it presents opportunities. To
boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing
field in the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete negotiations
on a Trans-Pacific Partnership. And
tonight, I’m announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union
-- because trade that is fair and free across the Atlantic supports
millions of good-paying American jobs.

We
also know that progress in the most impoverished parts of our world
enriches us all -- not only because it creates new markets, more stable
order in certain regions of the world, but also because it’s the right
thing to do. In many places, people live on little more than a dollar a day. So
the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme
poverty in the next two decades by connecting more people to the global
economy; by empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds
new opportunities to serve, and helping communities to feed, and power,
and educate themselves; by saving the world’s children from preventable
deaths; and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation, which
is within our reach.

You see, America must remain a beacon to all who seek freedom during this period of historic change. I
saw the power of hope last year in Rangoon, in Burma, when Aung San Suu
Kyi welcomed an American President into the home where she had been
imprisoned for years; when thousands of Burmese lined the streets,
waving American flags, including a man who said, “There is justice and
law in the United States. I want our country to be like that.”

In defense of freedom, we’ll remain the anchor of strong alliances from the Americas to Africa; from Europe to Asia. In
the Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their
universal rights, and support stable transitions to democracy.

We
know the process will be messy, and we cannot presume to dictate the
course of change in countries like Egypt, but we can -- and will --
insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people. We’ll
keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that has murdered its own people,
and support opposition leaders that respect the rights of every Syrian. And we will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace.

These are the messages I'll deliver when I travel to the Middle East next month. And
all this work depends on the courage and sacrifice of those who serve
in dangerous places at great personal risk –- our diplomats, our
intelligence officers, and the men and women of the United States Armed
Forces. As long as I’m
Commander-in-Chief, we will do whatever we must to protect those who
serve their country abroad, and we will maintain the best military the
world has ever known.

We'll invest in new capabilities, even as we reduce waste and wartime spending. We will ensure equal treatment for all servicemembers, and equal benefits for their families -- gay and straight. We
will draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters and
moms, because women have proven under fire that they are ready for
combat.

We will
keep faith with our veterans, investing in world-class care, including
mental health care, for our wounded warriors -- (applause) -- supporting
our military families; giving our veterans the benefits and education
and job opportunities that they have earned. And
I want to thank my wife, Michelle, and Dr. Jill Biden for their
continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they
have served us. Thank you, honey. Thank you, Jill.

Defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes one of the most fundamental right of a democracy: the right to vote. When
any American, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied
that right because they can’t afford to wait for five or six or seven
hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals.

So tonight, I’m announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in America. And it definitely needs improvement. I’m
asking two long-time experts in the field -- who, by the way, recently
served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for Governor Romney’s
campaign -- to lead it. We can fix this, and we will. The American people demand it, and so does our democracy.

Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource: our children. It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming
majorities of Americans -- Americans who believe in the Second
Amendment -- have come together around common-sense reform, like
background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their
hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police
chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition
magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they’re tired
of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned.

Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. Now, if you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote. Because
in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays,
graduations, anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet
from a gun -- more than a thousand.

One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends they all thought they were her best friend. Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house.

Hadiya’s
parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more
than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun
violence. They deserve a vote. They deserve a vote. Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote.The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The
families of Oak Creek and Tucson and Blacksburg, and the countless
other communities ripped open by gun violence –- they deserve a simple
vote. They deserve a simple vote.

Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. In fact, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I’ve outlined tonight. But we were never sent here to be perfect. We
were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation,
expand opportunity, uphold our ideals through the hard, often
frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

We
were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they
look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all
across this country. We should follow their example.

We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez. When Hurricane Sandy plunged her hospital into darkness, she wasn’t thinking about how her own home was faring. Her mind was on the 20 precious newborns in her care and the rescue plan she devised that kept them all safe.

We should follow the example of a North Miami woman named Desiline Victor. When Desiline arrived at her polling place, she was told the wait to vote might be six hours. And
as time ticked by, her concern was not with her tired body or aching
feet, but whether folks like her would get to have their say. And hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in line to support her -- because Desiline is 102 years old. And they erupted in cheers when she finally put on a sticker that read, “I voted.

We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He
fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers to
protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside, even as he lay
bleeding from 12 bullet wounds. And when asked how he did that, Brian said, “That’s just the way we’re made.”

That’s just the way we’re made. We may do different jobs and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title -- we are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made. It describes what we believe. It
captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept
certain obligations to one another and to future generations, that our
rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our
third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of
these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter of our
American story.

Thank you. God bless you, and God bless these United States of America.