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President Obama Remarks about Spending Cuts; Airport Mess After Blizzard; Fight Over Forced Cuts Heats Up; Finance Committee Approves Lew; Fight Over Forced Cuts Heats Up

Aired February 26, 2013 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Spending cuts on the way, jobs on the line. The president speaking at a Virginia shipyard just in a few minutes. It is his latest effort to pressure Congress over the forced spending cuts that take effect in just three days. We're talking about $85 billion in cuts. But Republicans say enough with the scare tactics. They say it is time to get serious about reducing the country's massive debt.

And air travel a mess for millions of folks after this blizzard hit. Just look at the areas that are hardest hit. Plus, how air travel could actually become even a bigger pain if the forced spending cuts go into effect.

And then, the Senate gives a thumbs up to Chuck Hagel's nomination for defense secretary. It clears the way for Hagel's likely confirmation to that cabinet position.

This is CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Suzanne Malveaux. And, of course, we start with this, the blame game over those forced spending cuts heating up now so is the political trash talk in a news conference, it was just a little while ago. House Speaker John Boehner accused the president, of course, of playing politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The president has been traveling all over the country. And today, going down to Newport news in order to use our military men and women as a prop in yet another campaign rally to support his tax hikes. Now, the American people know if the president gets more money, they're just going to spend it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Not to be outdone, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, she fired back the Republicans over the cuts known in Washington as sequestration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: Republicans say they're kicking the can down the road. It's not kick -- I don't think they're even kicking the can down the road. I think they're nudging the potato across the table with their nose. Most don't know what the world sequester means. Sequestration equals unemployment. Sequestration, we don't want it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That's pretty basic. Half of cuts come from defense spending. The Army chief of staff, he says that this could put troops at risk.

(BEGIN VICEO CLIP)

GEN. RAY ODIERNO, CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. ARMY: I understand the seriousness of our country's fiscal situation. We have and we will continue to do our part, but we simply cannot take the readiness of our force for granted. If we do not have the resources to train and equip the force, our soldiers, our young men and women, are the ones who will pay the price, potentially, with their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We're going to go live to Virginia, the president's remarks, as soon as they get under way, in just -- in moments now. But first, I want to bring in our political team to talk about where do we stand with all of this? The forced spending cuts, where do we go from here? John King, he is in our Washington bureau, Dana Bash, of course, on Capitol Hill, Jessica Yellin at the White House. As we mentioned, the president trying to put more pressure on Congress to avoid. What we are talking about $85 billion in forced spending cuts over seven months. Republicans pushing back.

John, I want to start off with you. Congress and the White House, they've known this since the summer of 2011 that this was coming. Talk about the political calculus here. Both sides seem to be positioning themselves as the victim in the scenario. Is that going to fly? I mean, are people going to buy that either way?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, If you look at the public opinion poll, Suzanne, around the country, everybody's mad at Washington. The president gets less of the blame, the Republicans and Congress get more of the blame. But you made a very important point. This is a mess of their own making because they keep going from crisis to crisis to crisis to mini crisis to big crisis, --

MALVEAUX: Yes.

KING: -- because they keep kicking down the road big decisions they need to make about government spend priorities, about tax priorities. And, look, everybody has a point in this debate. Republicans are right when they say, even if you have all these cuts go into effect, $85 billion of government spending will still go up next year. They are correct about that. The president's right. You know, when he makes certain points about, he doesn't have leeway right now the way this law was written to avoid indiscriminate cuts.

But look at the people in the shipyard today. The president, sure he's playing politics. Sure he's going out on the road. Speaker Boehner is right. That's his job. He has the bully pulpit. It's a great advantage of being president. And he's going to make the case that, you know, we need to figure this out in Washington, meaning politicians, and that these poor people shouldn't be held hostage to the inability of our political leadership, both the Democratic president and the Republican House and everyone in between, to do their most basic job.

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Dana, we heard some pretty colorful language, to say the least, from House Speaker Boehner when he called on the Senate to do something to avoid the cuts. And so, here's how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOEHNER: We have moved the bill in the House twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right, Dana, I know that kind of language happens behind the scenes, not so much in public here. Is there any hope with that kind of talk that there's going to be any talks going on before Friday?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not a lot. Not a lot at all. And, look, just starting out with what he said, the substance of what he said about the Senate. As we speak, Suzanne, there are meetings among Democratic -- Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in the Senate trying to figure out exactly what kinds of measures, proposals they are going to put up for a vote before Friday, probably Thursday.

And so, we're going to see some kind of movement but likely it will end up just being show votes. We're not going to likely see either of the proposals to at least deal with these forced spending cuts passed. I also just want to show you something that a House Republican member gave to me. This is just kind of, I think, proof that everybody understands, politically, that they have to make the best argument because they think this is going to go into effect. This is a card that was given out to House Republicans today, they're supposed to just put it in their pockets, that has their talking points about why they think that they have done what they need to do to give some proposals to replace this and why the -- this is what they say the president's spending cuts, not theirs.

MALVEAUX: All right. Always a prop in hand, get everybody on the same page here. Thank you, Dana.

I want to bring in Jessica Yellin. So, Jess, let's talk about this because we've seen the full-court press from the White House in the last couple of days. They paint this worst-case scenario from Head Start kids out of school, mentally ill not getting medications, air traffic control disrupted, all these things. Is there anything that the White House is saying or doing beyond warnings of this calamity to actually try to prevent this from happening?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, as you know, the White House can't do anything to avoid these forced cuts without Congressional action. And the most they can do is help the American people believe it is a calamity. You know, one of the challenges here for the White House is that these cuts will not be felt by most Americans right away. Most people will have to hear and read about the effects of them on the news for quite a while.

And so, part of the reason the president is doing this event and doing all of these events -- yes, it's to build public support for his case and to build pressure on Congress, but it's also to try to explain why he thinks these cuts are so bad because so many people aren't actually going to feel them. And it's because something John mentioned, he said they're arbitrary. It's because the way they're designed doesn't give government any control over what gets cut or who gets cut and he thinks that's bad. So, it's a little bit of a difficult case for the president to make and he's going to use his, you know, good speaking skills to try to make it over the next couple of weeks, Suzanne, because everyone expects them to go into effect.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jess, Dana, John, thanks. We're going to take a real quick break. We'll bring you all back on the other end before the president speaks to talk a little bit more about what we expect from the president and how this is all going to play out in the next 48 to 72 hours.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The U.S. could soon have a new secretary of defense. The Senate has just voted to end the filibuster or delay on the confirmation of former Senator Chuck Hagel to replace Leon Panetta. Next, senators are going to take up a simple up or down confirmation vote on Hagel. Confirmation is assured since Democrats have a majority in the Senate. President Obama's choice for secretary of treasury one step closer to confirmation as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Wyden.

SEN. RON WYDEN (R), OREGON: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Wyden, aye, to Schumer.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Schumer, aye, to Miss Stabenow?

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D), MICHIGAN: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Stabenow, aye --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The Senate Finance Committee voted 18 to five to send Jack Lew's nomination to the full Senate for a final vote. Four Republicans joined all 14 Democrats in favor. Lew was the president's chief of staff for about a year. He was nominated in January to succeed Treasury Secretary Timmy Geithner. And we, of course, are waiting for President Obama to talk about the forced spending cuts that that would take effect on Friday. We're going to bring it to you live. We're watching an event out of Virginia, you see that live picture there. We'll bring it to you as soon as he starts to speak, it's going to be happening momentarily.

First of all, I want to bring our political panel back to talk a little bit about what this means politically, but also what does it mean for all of us, you know, the real deal in all of this? John King in Washington out of the Washington bureau, Dana Bash on the Hill, Jessica Yellin at the White House.

So, John, first of all, do we think, and we've seen a lot of really, I guess stage craft, if you will, the trips, this plant that he's visiting now, to make his case to the public. How effective is that at this point? Because it really is just about public opinion now. It doesn't shape what happens on Friday.

KING: Well, he's trying to personalize it, Suzanne. And he's hoping that by keeping his higher standing -- again, he's not way up but higher than the Republicans, especially house Republicans in polling, the president's hoping to convince, you know, more and more Americans to pick up the phone and call Congress and say, hey, do something about this. So, will that work in the short term? Likely not, everyone expects, even though the president's out there publicly saying, stop this.

If you talk to people privately at the White House, and Jess can tell you this better than I, they expect this to go in. If you talk to people on the Hill, they tell you they expect this to happen.

So, what is the president trying to do? He's trying to personalize it. He's going to say, some of these ship builders in front of me, you know blue collar Americans, are not going to get a check in a couple of days or a couple of weeks, so they might have trouble paying their mortgage, they might have trouble feeding their family. You heard the attorney general, Eric Holder, say Americans will be less safe. You've heard other administration officials say, fewer air traffic controllers, fewer TSA people, so longer lines, more delays, perhaps less safe skies.

The reality is, Suzanne, look, you know, Social Security won't be touched. Medicare and Medicaid won't be touched. The V.A. military pay won't be touched. So, the politically explosive issues are protected from this because that's not discretionary spending. So, what's the president is just trying to say is this is a dysfunctional government and he's going to blame the Republicans more than himself and the Democrats. They're going to end up hurting middle-class Americans because they can't do that business.

No one expects there to be immediate pain Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday or Monday. And that's one of the reasons both sides are sort of gaming this out politically, because there's yet another deadline coming up in March about funding the government. And both parties, if you talk to them privately, think they'll work this out in a week or two. And, look, assume the president has the upper hand, so the Republican calculation is, even if we're on the losing end in the short term, we can probably figure this out before the damage gets too great.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dana, I want to talk about the Republicans here because what we've seen, we've seen Senator John Cornyn of Texas. And he has agreed with the Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that it would be dangerous to national security. They would put our national security at risk if these severe cuts in the Defense Department actually go through. Now, he's changed his tune, he's changed his message, and said not so much, that actually the budget in the Pentagon is still going to go up. Do Republicans risk not being seen as credible?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think everybody risks not being seen as credible in this. I think maybe this more than many of the crises that we've seen Congress and the White House deal with.

On that particular issue of Republicans in defense, I find it fascinating. I spoke with Senator Cornyn as some of my colleagues up here about that. And what he was saying is that he was effectively trying to try out his message on us about the fact that Republicans should in fact not be saying that the sky's going to fall with regard to defense, which of course has historically been the most important thing when it comes to budget for the Republicans because even if these forced cuts go into effect, overall defense spending will go up.

There definitely is a split among Republicans. If you ask John McCain that, he'll say do not touch defense spending, you to do away with forced cuts. There definitely is what this is also exposing is a real tug-of-war within the GOP over one of the main goals which is getting rid of the deficit and debt and that means reduce spending everywhere and historically, at least, since the Reagan years, really wanted to beef up and continue to beef up the defense department. There's no question.

One thing I want to mention on this whole idea of what you said, Suzanne, which is stage craft by the president, what I'm hearing from Democrats on Capitol Hill, why are you doing this two days before? Where were you with your bully pulpit out there warning about these cuts and making the case we need to get rid of them beforehand? People remember maybe the most is the president in his first debate saying these cuts will never go through. So there is some frustration here among members of his own party as well.

MALVEAUX: Yeah. Summer 2011 that's when everybody knew this was going to happen. I want to bring in Jess to talk about that. It's no accident he's at Newport News. Tell us what is the significance of the picture we're looking at now and specifically the location?

JESSICA YELLIN, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He's at a shipyard where they would feel a quick impact, he'll argue, if these cuts go into effect. And not only -- because there's a very large Naval base nearby and this shipyard helps service the Naval base. I mentioned that many people will not feel the immediate effect of these cuts. So he's located a place where we would see an instant effect. And he'll argue that there could be ripples out from there, because if a person loses their job one day a week, that person can spend less money at their convenience store and so on and it -- the ripple effects impact the community, Suzanne.

I think in the coming days you might see the White House highlight some of the effects to education, teachers and students from some of the budget cuts, maybe even how it could hit your pocketbook with rising gas prices at the same time. Those kinds of impacts that drive this home to regular folks who are trying to digest what this could really mean on a personal level. But I'll emphasize on the note that John made earlier, and Dana made, Suzanne, most people here think that this fight will go past the deadline. We're going to have to see a bit of pain and bleeding before any compromise can be worked out. Both sides are going to have to -- there's going to have to be suffering before anyone's willing to cut a deal, is the current political calculus in the town.

MALVEAUX: All right, Jess, stay with us. Dana, John as well. The gentleman we are watching, he's going to be introducing the president. He's going to speak very briefly. We'll try to get a quick break in before the president appears live. Then we'll bring it to you on the other end of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are waiting for President Obama to speak there. You see a live picture, he's going to going to be introducing the president shortly. This is out of Newport News, Virginia. He's going to be talking about making the case for how devastating automatic spending cuts are going to impact all of us, starting this Friday. We're talking about $85 billion over 7 month period shot from the federal budget if Congress and the White House, but if Congress doesn't do anything. These are automatically going to happen across the board. No deal has been made dealing with the federal deficit and the budget itself. So this is expected to take place Friday here. Almost no federal agency's going to be immune from all of this.

I want to bring in Tammy Luhby she's a senior writer at CNNMoney. We've heard a lot of bluster from both sides here. Give us the real deal on impact of how this is going to impact us, these cuts here. $85 billion over 7 months. Who's going to feel it first and how long is it going to take?

TAMMY LUHBY, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY: Thanks. We have two groups that are really going to feel it first. Among the first groups there are going to be 2 million people right now on long-term unemployment benefits, these are the federal extended benefits. They could see benefits cut up to 10 percent, about 9.4 percent. When they start seeing it is going to depend how quickly their state can preprogram their computers to send out smaller checks. The problem is, if the state takes a while and the checks don't go out until April, they'll see really small checks in April because it's retroactive to March 1st.

MALVEAUX: And how will this play out in the months to come? LUHBY: The sequester cuts? Nobody knows because it will take several months for many people to feel it, if at all. Cuts in safety net programs, head start, children losing child care services, fewer meals on wheels for seniors. Congress may do something in between to prevent cuts from rolling out. There will be a few groups that feel it potentially as early as March but many will feel it in April and beyond.

MALVEAUX: All right, Tammy, let's dip in. The president starting to speak.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- get s chance to hang out with nuclear submarines especially submarines my wife has sponsored. So right there, that was worth the trip. But most importantly, it's a great chance to see the incredible men and women who every single day are helping to keep America safe and are just the bedrock of this country's manufacturing base.

Thank you to all of you.

I want to thank our outstanding secretary of the Navy, Ray Mavis, who is here. There he is right there. The good-looking guy there over at the end.

I want to thank your Mayor McKinley Price who served this nation bravely in the U.S. Army.

I want to thank two outstanding Congressmen who care about this facility, care about Virginia, and care about the country. Congressman Bobby Scott is here. And Congressman Scott Rignal is here as well.

Now, the reason I came here today, in addition to seeing just some incredible stuff -- it's true, every time I come to these places I don't know how you all do it. It is just amazing work. But the main reason I'm here is to call attention to the important work you're doing on behalf of the nation's defense, and to let the American people know that this work, along with hundreds of thousands of jobs, are currently in jeopardy because of politics in Washington.

In a few days, Congress might allow a series of immediate, painful, arbitrary budget cuts to take place, known in Washington as the sequester. Now that's a pretty bad name, sequester, but the effects are even worse than the name. Instead of cutting out the government spending we don't need, wasteful programs that don't work, special interest tax loopholes and tax breaks, what the sequester does, it uses a meat cleaver approach to gut critical investments in things like education, national security, life-saving medical research.

And the impact of this policy won't be felt overnight but it will be real. The sequester will weaken America's economic recovery. It will weaken our military readiness. And it will weaken the basic services that the American people depend on every single day. Already the uncertainty around these cuts is having an effect. Companies are starting to prepare for lay-off notices. Families are preparing to cut back on expenses. And the longer these cuts are in place, the greater the damage.

So here, at Newport News ship building, you guys have made an enormous investment because we've said, in order to maintain the finest Navy that the world has ever known, we've got make sure that there's an orderly process whereby we are continually upgrading our ships, building new ships, maintaining our ships properly, and these are some big ships. So it's expensive, and it's complicated and you've got 5,000 suppliers all across country and you've got to have certainty and knowledge about how things are going to proceed over the long term for Mike and others to plan properly.

So you're rightly concerned, Mike is properly concerned about the impact these cuts will have on not just this company but companies and small businesses from all 50 states that supply you with parts and equipment.

Mike was telling me that you guys have already made $1 billion worth of capital investment, you've got half a billion dollars in training cost as you recruit and hire new people. Those aren't commitments that you make lightly. You have to have the capacity to plan have certainty in terms of what it is we're going to be doing.

And you know that if Congress can't get together and plan our nation's finances for the long term, over time some of your jobs and businesses could be at risk. Over at the Norfolk naval station, the threat of these cuts has forced the Navy to cancel the deployment or delay the repair of certain aircraft carriers. One that's currently being built might not get finished. Another carrier might not get started at all and that hurts your bottom line. That hurts this community.

Because of these automatic cuts, about 90,000 Virginians who work for the Department of Defense would be forced to take unpaid leave from their jobs. So that's money out of their pockets. Money out of their paychecks. And then that means there's going to be a ripple effect on thousands of other jobs and businesses and services throughout the commonwealth because if they don't have money in their pockets or less money in their pockets that means they're less able to afford to buy goods and services from other businesses. So it's not just restricted to the defense industry. All told, the sequester could cost tens of thousands of jobs right here in Virginia.

But it doesn't just stop there. If the sequester goes into effect, more than 2,000 college students would lose their financial aid. Early education like Head Start and Early Start would be eliminated for nearly a thousand children. And around 18,000 fewer Virginians would get the skills and training they need to find a job.

Across the country, these cuts will force federal prosecutors to close cases and potentially let criminals go. Air traffic controllers and airport security will see cutbacks and that could cause delays at airports across the country. Tens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find child care for their kids. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventative care, like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings, including more than 3500 children right near Virginia.

So these cuts are wrong. They're not smart. They're not fair. They're a self-inflicted wound that doesn't have to happen.

Now, the reason that we're even thinking about this sequester is because people are rightly concerned about the deficit and the debt. But there's a sensible way of doing things and there's a dumb way of doing things. I mean, think about your own family, right? Let's say that suddenly you've got less money coming in. Are you going to say, well, we'll cut out college tuition for the kid, we'll stop feeding the little guy over here, we won't pay our car note even though that means we can't get to work? That's not what you do, right? You step back and say, what is it that's important? Our child's education, making sure they're healthy, making sure we can get to the job, keeping our house, you know, repaired. And then you say, here are the things that aren't so important, and you cut those out. You prioritize and you make smart decisions. Well, we should be doing the same thing.

Now I've laid out a plan that details how we can pay down our deficit in a way that's balanced and responsible. We have the plan right on our web site, the White House web site. Everybody can go see it. It details exactly how we can cut programs that don't work, how we can raise money by closing loopholes that only serve a few as opposed to the average American. We detailed $930 billion in sensible spending cuts that we're willing to make, and $580 billion in wasteful tax loopholes and deductions we're willing to eliminate through tax reform.

What I've said is, if the Republicans in Congress don't like every detail of my proposal, which I don't expect them to, I've told them my door's open. I am more than willing to negotiate. I want to compromise. There's no reason why we can't come together and find a sensible way to reduce the deficit over the long term without affecting vital services, without hurting families, without impacting outstanding facilities like this one, and our national defense. There's a way of doing this.

And the fact is, there are leaders in both parties throughout this country who want to do the same.

I've got to give Scott credit. You know, he's one of your Republican Congressmen who is with us here today. That's not always healthy for a Republican, being with me. But the reason he's doing is it because it's important to you. And he's asked his colleagues in the House to consider closing tax loopholes instead of letting these automatic cuts go through. He's concerned about the deficit. And he's more than prepared to make some really tough cuts. But he wants do it in a smart way.

Bobby Scott, the same thing. Some of the cuts we've proposed, Bobby might not think are perfect, but he knows we've got to make some tough decisions. He just wants to make sure that you aren't the ones who are adversely impacted. And that we're sharing the sacrifice in bringing down our deficit. We're not just dumping it on a few people and not doing it in a dumb way. Senators like John McCain have made similar statements to what Scott said. You're a Republican governor, along with other Republicans around the country, want Congress to stop the sequester, stop these cuts.

But I just have to be honest with you. There are too many Republicans in Congress right now who refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing tax loopholes and special interest tax breaks. And that's what's holding things up right now. Keep in mind, nobody's asking them to raise income tax rates. All we're asking is to consider closing tax loopholes and deductions that the speaker of the House, John Boehner, said he was willing to do a few months ago. He said there's a few loopholes and deductions you could close. Said you could raise $800 billion, a trillion by closing loopholes. We're not even asking for that much. All we're asking is that they close loopholes for the well-off and well-connected, for hedge fund managers, oil companies or corporate jet owners who are all doing very well and don't need these tax loopholes, so we can avoid laying off workers or kicking kids of Head Start or reducing financial aid for college students. I don't think that's too much to ask. I do not think that is partisan. The majority of the people agree with me.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: The majority of Newport News agrees with me.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We need to get this done.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: But the choice is up to Congress. Only Congress has the power to pass a law that stops these damaging cuts and replaces them with smart savings and tax reform. And the second I get that bill on my desk, I'll sign it into law, but I've got to get Congress to pass it.

None of us will get 100 percent of what we want. Democrats, they've got, you know, to make tough choices too. Democrats like me. We've said we're prepared to make tough cuts and reforms including programs like Medicare. But if we're willing to compromise, Republicans in the House have to compromise as well. That's what democracy is about. That's what this country needs right now.

So --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: -- let me --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Let me just make one last point, by the way, for those following this. Lately, some people have been saying, well, maybe we'll just give the president some flexibility. He can make the cuts the way he wants and that way it won't be as damaging. You know the problem is, when you're cutting $85 billion in seven months, which represents over a 10 percent cut in the defense budget in seven months, there's no smart way to do that. There's no smart way to do that. You don't want to have to choose between, let's see, do I close funding for the disabled kid or the poor kid? Do I close this Navy shipyard or some other one? When you're doing things in a way that's not smart, you know, you can't gloss over the pain and the impact it's going to have on the economy.

And the broader point is, Virginia, we can't just cut our way to prosperity. We can't just cut our way to prosperity. We can't ask seniors and working families like yours to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and the most powerful. We're not going to grow the middle class by shifting the cost of health care or college on the families already struggling, or forcing communities to lay off more teachers or cops or firefighters or ship builders and then folks who are doing well don't have to do anything more. That's not fair. And it's not good for the economy.

And the other thing we've got to do is stop having crises manufactured every month. It seems like -- I know you must get tired of it.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Didn't we just solve this thing? Now we've got another thing coming up?

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: I mean think about if Mike Peters ran his business this way up, once every month or two there would be a crisis you weren't sure whether or not you're working or not. Even if it got solved, eventually or ultimately, you know, it would be discouraging on people. You'd be less productive. Ships wouldn't get built as fast. You'd waste money because you don't know exactly what to expect. Folks aren't sure, am I showing up to work today or not? If it's not a good way to run a business, it's sure not a good way to run a country.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Now --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: -- all of you, the American people, you've worked to hard for too long, rebuilding and digging our way out of the financial crisis back in 2007 and 2008 to just see Congress cause another one. The greatest nation on earth can't keep on conducting its business drifting from one crisis to the next. We've got to have a plan. We've got to invest in our common future. Our true north is a growing economy that creates good middle class jobs, a country that provides its people with the skills they need get those jobs and make sure that you're getting paid a decent wage for working hard, so you can support your families. That's what we should be focused on right now, not weakening the economy --

(APPLAUSE) OBAMA: -- not laying people off.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: That's what we should be talking about in Washington.

If you agree with me, I need you to make sure your voices are heard. Let your leaders know what you expect of them. Let them know what you believe. Let them know that what this country was built on was a sense of obligation to not just each other but to future generations. We've got to shoulder those obligations as one nation and as one people.

You know I -- I was in a conversation with some of the governors from across the country yesterday, and I told them, I said, I've run my last election. Michelle's very happy about that.

(LAUGHTER)

I'm not interested in spin. I'm not interested in playing a blame game. At this point, all I'm interested in is just solving problems.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: All I'm interested in is making sure that when you get up early in the morning and get to this shift at 5:30 in the morning, that you know if you do a good job and if you work hard and if you're making sure that all of the parts to this incredible ship that you're building is where they need to be, if you're doing what you do, you can go home feeling satisfied. I did my job. I did my part. I can support my family. I can take pride in what I've done for this country. That's all I want. I want us to be able to look back five years from now, 10 years from now, and say, we took care of our business and we put an end to some of these games that maybe I guess are entertaining for some but are hurting too many people. But in order for us to make that happen I'm going to need you.

You know, the one thing about being president is, after four years, you get pretty humble. You'd think maybe you wouldn't, but you become more humble. You realize what you don't know. You realize all of the mistakes that you make. But you also realize you can't do things by yourself. That's not how our system works.

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OBAMA: You've got to have the help and the goodwill of Congress. And what that means is make sure that constituents of members of Congress are putting some pressure on them, making sure they're doing the right thing, putting an end to some political games.

So I need you, Virginia, to keep up pressure. I need you keep up the effort. I need you to keep up the fight.

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OBAMA: If you do, Congress will listen. (APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: If you stand up and speak out, Congress will listen. And together, we will unleash our true potential and we'll remind the world just why it is the United States builds the greatest ships on earth and is the greatest nation on earth.

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OBAMA: Thank you. God bless you.

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OBAMA: God bless the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

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