President Obama’s
Plans for Moving America Forward
In tonight’s debate, President Barack Obama is
talking about his specific,
concrete plan to continue building our economy from the middle out, not the
top down – here’s how he’ll achieve it:
“Your future is bright, and the fact that you’re making an
investment in higher education is critical, not just to you but the entire
nation. Now, the most important thing we can do is make sure that we are
creating jobs in this country, but not just jobs, good paying jobs. Ones that
can support a family. And what I want to do is build on the five million jobs
that we’ve decree aid over the last 30 months in the private sector alone.
There are a bunch of things we can do to make sure your future is bright.
“Number one, I want to build manufacturing jobs in this
country again. When Governor Romney said we should let Detroit go bankrupt, I
said we’re going to bet on American workers and the American auto industry, and
it’s come surging back. I want to do that in industries not just in Detroit but
all across the country, and that means we change our tax code so we’re giving
incentives to companies that are investing here in the United States and
creating jobs here. It also means we’re helping them and small businesses to
export all around the world to new markets.
“Number two, we’ve got to make sure that we have the best
education system in the world. The fact that you’re going to college is great,
but I want everybody to get a great education, and we worked hard to make sure
that student loans are available for folks like you, but I also want to make
sure that community colleges are offering slots for workers to get retrained for
the jobs that are out there right now and jobs of the future.
“Number three, we’ve got to control our own energy. You
know, not only oil and natural gas, which we’ve been investing in, but also we
have got to make sure we’re building the energy sources of the future, not just
thinking about next year, but ten years from now, twenty years from now. That’s
why we invest in solar, wind, and biofuels. Energy efficient cars. We’ve got
to reduce our deficit, but we have to do it in a balanced way, asking the
wealthy to pay a little bit more along with cuts so we can invest in education
like yours. Let’s take the money we’ve been spending on war over the last
decade to rebuild America -- roads, bridges, schools. We do those things, not
only is your future going to be bright, but America’s future is going to be
bright as well.”
President Obama’s Plans for Moving America
Forward:
1. Create a million new manufacturing jobs:
Manufacturing is an essential building
block of our economy because it sparks innovation, generates higher-wage jobs,
and strengthens entire communities. After declining for a decade, the
manufacturing sector has rebounded – led by the auto industry rescued by
President Obama – and created 530,000 manufacturing jobs over the past 29
months. As the Boston Consulting Group and other outside analysts have noted,
for the first time in years, manufacturing companies are seeking to “insource”
production back to United States.
To achieve
this by the end of 2016, President Obama will:
- ·
Reform the corporate tax code to bring down tax rates –
cutting tax rates on domestic manufacturers by nearly a quarter – while closing
tax preferences and loopholes to pay for it.
- ·
End tax deductions for companies shipping jobs overseas,
and use the savings to create a new tax credit for companies bringing jobs
home;
- ·
Create a new network of 15 to 20 manufacturing innovation
institutes, one of which is opening in Youngstown, Ohio, to bring together
business and research universities to ensure that the next generation of
products are invented and manufactured here.
- ·
Train millions of skilled workers through new investments
in community colleges and student aid.
- · Pursue an
all-of-the-above strategy to produce reliable and affordable sources of energy
here at home.
In contrast, Governor Romney opposed helping the auto
industry, saying “let Detroit go bankrupt.” He mocked President Obama for
encouraging young people to consider manufacturing as a career, proposes large
new tax incentives for companies to move jobs overseas, and would slash domestic
spending that includes research, training, and clean energy even as he gives
more tax cuts for multimillionaires.
2.
Double
exports: In 2010, President
Obama set a goal of doubling exports over five years and created the National
Export Initiative to promote U.S. goods and remove trade barriers, expand access
to credit, and promote strong growth worldwide. In 2010 and 2011, exports rose
by 36 percent, putting us on course to reach our goal. So far, these
record-breaking exports have supported an additional 1.2 million jobs.
To finish the
job, President Obama will:
- ·
Make sure that no foreign company has an unfair advantage
over American companies by offering more generous financing through the
Export-Import Bank to match other countries that aggressively use better
financing than allowed under international rules.
- ·
Negotiate a new, expanded Trans-Pacific Partnership that
will open up new markets that total 40 percent of global trade to more U.S.
goods.
- ·
Continue his efforts to stand up for American workers and
businesses in the global marketplace, which have already doubled the rate of WTO
cases against China’s unfair trade practices and established a new trade
enforcement unit to ensure that American workers and businesses are competing on
a level playing field.
In contrast, just two years ago, Governor Romney opposed
efforts to stand up for American workers against unfair imports of Chinese
tires. His budget could make large cuts in business loans, export promotion, and
other help for American companies.
3.
Cut net oil imports in
half: Our dependence on foreign oil
hurts the American economy and environment and leaves us dependent on oil from
unstable regimes overseas. Thanks to booming U.S. oil and gas production,
more efficient cars and trucks, and a world-class refining sector, we cut net
imports by 10 percent -- or a million barrels a day -- last year alone.
President Obama has charted a course to cut net oil imports in half between 2008
and 2020, cutting imports by 5.5 million barrels per day and reducing our
reliance on foreign oil to its lowest level in almost three decades. Thanks to
the progress we have made, President Obama is raising the bar on his previous
goal of cutting imports by a third, or 3.7 million barrels a day by 2025.
To achieve
this, President Obama will pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy that is:
- ·
Opening up millions of acres for exploration and
development, including more than 75 percent of undiscovered oil and gas
resources in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic.
- · Expanding domestic oil production by speeding up the
leasing process and improving safety measures to prevent future spills, reducing
the review period for drilling permits by two-thirds while implementing
important safety measures that will prevent another environmental
disaster.
- ·
Doubling fuel economy standards, an essential step toward
energy independence that will save 2.2 million barrels of oil a day by 2025
while effectively halving many families’ gasoline bills.
- ·
Expanding the use of ethanol and other biofuels, including
a renewable fuel standard that will save over 300 million barrels of oil by
2022.
- ·
Promoting advanced vehicles, including natural gas,
electric, and hybrid electric vehicles, and investing in clean domestic energy
sources including wind, solar, clean coal, nuclear, and biofuels.
In contrast, Governor Romney unveiled an unachievable plan
to achieve energy independence by 2020 because he has vowed to overturn the
President’s doubling of fuel efficiency standards for autos. Romney will
continue giving $4 billion a year in taxpayer subsidies to oil companies posting
near-record profits, while slashing investments in clean energy and advanced
vehicles.
4.
Support
600,000 natural gas jobs by the end of the decade. A revolution in natural gas production helped us become the
world’s leading producer of natural gas in 2009. President Obama will take every
possible action to safely develop this abundant source of American energy, which
experts believe will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.
To achieve this, President Obama is:
- · Streamlining the oversight of natural gas drilling, while
protecting the quality of our air and water and requiring disclosure of
chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing on public lands;
- · Improving access to natural gas fuels along heavily
trafficked trucking routes, helping convert municipal bus and truck fleets to
run on natural gas, and creating a new tax incentive for medium- and heavy-duty
trucks that run on natural gas or other alternative fuels;
and
- · Supporting research and development into new ways to
convert and store natural gas.
In contrast,
Governor Romney supports the Ryan budget which, if cuts are made across the
board, slashes investments in clean energy research and natural gas deployment
by 20 percent.
5.
Cut the growth of college
tuition in half. College tuition and fees have grown by 40
percent over the past decade. President Obama worked to make college more
affordable by expanding scholarships and tax credits, partly financed by ending
wasteful bank subsidies on student loans. He’s set a new goal of cutting tuition
and fee growth in half over the next 10 years, a goal that would save a typical
student thousands of dollars a year.
To achieve
this, President Obama will work with colleges and universities
to:
- ·
Create a Race to the Top-like initiative that rewards
states that put in place reforms to hold down tuition, provide public colleges
with stable funding over time, and ensure that high school graduates are ready
for college-level work;
- ·
Evaluate and expand innovative practices like redesigning
courses with technology, helping more students graduate on time, and recognizing
more transfer credit and prior learning;
- ·
Take away institutional funding from colleges that cannot
or will not offer students a good value and an affordable price.
In contrast,
Governor Romney has no plan to make college more affordable. He has criticized
financial aid for higher education, and even told students concerned about
college affordability to “shop around.” His budget plans could mean cutting Pell
Grants by $1,000 for nearly 10 million students. And Romney would roll back
President Obama’s student loan reform, which saved over $60 billion and allowed
investments in Pell scholarships, community colleges, and deficit reduction.
6.
Recruit
and prepare 100,000 math and science teachers. In order to
out-compete countries like China and Germany in the future, we need to
out-educate them today – especially in fields like science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM). Teachers are the single most important factor in
schools, and great science and math teachers need both deep content knowledge
and strong teaching skills.
To achieve
this, President Obama will:
- · Fund states
with the best plans, similar to his Race to the Top program that encouraged
nearly every state to raise academic standards and promoted reforms across the
nation;
- · Recognize and
reward the best teachers by creating a new STEM master teacher corps, which will
help improve math and science education nationwide; and
- · Invest in
research and innovation that support the best ways to teach math and
science.
In contrast, Governor Romney mocked President Obama
for saying we need to hire more teachers, saying we should “cut back” on them.
His education plan does not mention math and science teachers. His budget plans
could cut education by nearly 20 percent – leading to fewer teachers in the
classroom.
7.
Train 2 million
workers for real jobs at community colleges. Even with millions of Americans looking for work, many
companies cannot fill their job openings that require technical or other special
skills, particularly in fields like health care, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and information
technology. President Obama would bring together community colleges and
employers, training 2 million Americans for good jobs that actually exist. The
program is modeled on successful local
efforts in Charlotte, Chicago, Orlando
and Louisville.
In contrast, Governor Romney would roll back student
loan reform, which ended bank subsidies and strengthened community colleges by
connecting them to businesses and raising completion rates, and he could cut
federal funding for job training by 20 percent.
8.
End overseas wars and
rebuild the economy. President Obama
responsibly ended the war in Iraq and will end the war in Afghanistan in 2014.
His plan would commit half of the money saved from responsibly ending overseas
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to reducing the deficit and the other half to
putting Americans back to work rebuilding roads, bridges, runways and schools
here in the United States. His plan would make an additional $210 billion
investment over six years to support a million jobs improving America’s roads,
bridges, transit systems, railways, aviation systems and runways, putting
construction workers back to work now and strengthening our economy for years to
come.
In contrast, Governor Romney has attacked the President’s
plan for bringing our troops home and suggested that he is open to leaving them
in Afghanistan indefinitely, but he has no plan to end the war responsibly. At
the same time, the Romney-Ryan budget would require deep cuts in spending on
infrastructure, making it harder to invest in rebuilding our roads, rails, ports
and runways.
9.
Reducing
the deficit by more than $4 trillion. President Obama has put forward a
specific, balanced plan of spending cuts and revenue increases that reduce the
deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, including $1 trillion in
spending cuts he signed into law last summer as part of a deal with
congressional Republicans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that his
budget plan would stabilize the national debt as a share of the economy,
reducing deficits to a sustainable level. As Simpson-Bowles co-chair Erskine
Bowles has said, “The president does support the general framework of the
Simpson-Bowles Plan.”
To achieve
this, President Obama will:
- ·
Cut annual domestic spending to its lowest level as a share
of our economy since President Eisenhower;
- ·
Rein in defense spending based on the advice of our
military leaders;
- ·
Reform Medicare by reducing the cost of health care through
improving quality, getting a better deal on prescription drug prices,
coordinating care and other measures;
- ·
Ask the wealthiest Americans to pay higher taxes on incomes
over $250,000; and
- ·
Close corporate loopholes and wasteful tax subsidies to big
oil companies.
In contrast, Governor Romney has described $5 trillion in
new tax cuts weighted towards the wealthy and a massive defense build-up with no
strategic rationale. As a result, his budget proposals are likely to lead to
deep cuts to middle-class investments that would impact education, innovation
and energy, tax increases on the middle-class, higher deficits, or all of the
above – all the same time he cuts taxes for multi-millionaires by $250,000 a
year. According to Erskine Bowles, “The Romney plan, by sticking to
revenue-neutrality and leaving in place tax breaks, would raise taxes on the
middle class and do nothing to shrink the deficit.” And he would shift health care costs to seniors by ending
Medicare’s guaranteed benefits and replacing them with a voucher
scheme.
Libertarian presidential nominee Gov. Gary Johnson
released the following statement in response to Tuesday night's debate:
Romney Campaign: On Libya
