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Obama: "Everywhere In The World, Individuals Want A Chance To Make It If They Try"

Aired March 05, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We can't be satisfied with just recovering the jobs that were lot of in the recession. We have to rebuild the economy so it is creating a steady supply of good jobs today and well into the future, jobs in high tech manufacturing and energy and exports and in American innovation. That's job number one.

Job number two is training more Americans with the skills they need to fill those good jobs. So that our workforce is prepared for the jobs of tomorrow. Part three, guaranteeing every young person in the country access to a world class education from Pre-K all the way to a college education like the one you are getting here.

That's why over the past five years, working with the outstanding congressional delegation from Connecticut, we have been able to make sure that grand dollars are going further than before. We took on a student loan system that gave billions of taxpayer dollars to the big banks and said let's use them to give more students what they need to go to college.

That's why we are offering millions of young people a chance to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of their income. So you need to check it out and go to the web site at the Department of Education and find out how you may be eligible for that.

Today, more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. Of course, and I know your president won't disagree with this, we've also got to do more to reign in the soaring cost of college and help more Americans who are trapped by student loan debt.

Bottom line is whether though is whether it's technical training or community college or four-year university, no young person should be priced out of a higher education. It shouldn't happen. Now there is a fourth part of this agenda.

By the way, I just noticed, if you have chairs, feel free to sit down. I know the folks here don't have chairs, but I don't want you guys -- if you are standing up, bend your knees so you don't faint. All right, I just wanted to check on you.

Now, point number four, the fourth component of this opportunity agenda is making sure that if you are working hard, then you get ahead. That means making sure women receive equal pay for equal work. When women succeed, America succeeds. I believe that. You happy with that, Rosa? Rosa agrees with that. It means making sure that you can save and retire with dignity. It means health insurance that is there when you are sick and you need it most. You guys are doing a great job implementing the affordable care act here in Connecticut. If any of you know a young person who is uninsured, help them get covered at healthcare.gov.

The web site works just fine now. You have until March 31st to sign up and in some cases it costs less than your cell phone bill. Check it out, healthcare.gov, and making work pay means wages and paychecks that let you support a family.

A wage, a paycheck that lets you support a family. Now, I want to be clear about this. Sometimes in our debates with our friends on the other side of the political spectrum, this may not be clear. So let me repeat it once again.

As Americans, we understand that some folks are going to earn more than others. We don't recent success. We are thrilled with the opportunities that America affords. Somebody goes out and starts a business and invents a new product, that's what drives our economy and why the free market economy is the most dynamic on earth.

We are thrilled with that. Everybody agrees on that, but we also believe that nobody who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. That violates a basic sense of who we are. That's why it's time to give America raise. It is time to give America a raise. Now is the time. Now is the time.

A year ago, I asked Congress to raise the minimum wage, the federal minimum wage. Since that time, six states passed laws to raise theirs, including right here in Connecticut. On January 1st, tens of thousands of folks got a raise. Governor Malloy is working to lift the wages even higher, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington State, counties and cities across the country are working to raise their minimum wage as we speak.

The governors here today, Governor Chaffe from Rhode Island, Governor Malloy, Governor Patrick of Massachusetts, and Governor Summon of Vermont and a governor who couldn't be here today of Megan Hasen of New Hampshire all are fighting to give hardworking folks in these great New England states a raise of their own.

They formed a regional coalition to raise the minimum wage. If they succeed in their efforts, New England will have some of the highest minimum wages in the country. They are not stopping there. These four governors are in support of raising America's minimum wage, the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Raising wages is not just a job for elected officials. In my "State of the Union," I asked more business leaders to do what they can to raise their workers' wages. Profitable companies like Costco have long seen higher wages as good business. It's a smart way to boost productivity and reduce turn over and instill loyalty to your employees.

By the way, they do great. They are highly profitable. It's not bad business to do right by your workers. It's good business. That's good business. Two weeks ago, the Gap decided to raise its base wages. That's going to boost wages for 65,000 workers in the United States.

Last week, I read about Jackson's. It's an ice cream parlor in Florida that's been in business since 1956. They just announced they would lift to at least $10.10 an hour without cutting back on hiring. Two weeks ago in Atlanta, a small business owner named Darian Sutherland wrote me to share a lesson his granny taught him.

If you treat your employees right, they will treat you right. Vice President Biden paid Darian's business a visit just yesterday. You have to listen to your grandmother. That is some wise advice. I agree with these business leaders as well.

So what I did as president, I issued an executive order requiring federal contractors if you are doing business with the federal government, pay your employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. That is good for America's bottom line.

And let me tell you who was affected. When I was signing the bill, the executive order, we had some of the workers who would be affected. You have folks who were cooking the meals of our troops or washing their dishes or cleaning their clothes. This country should pay those folks a wage you can live on.

So this is good for business. It is good for business and good for America. Even though we are bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, creating more good jobs in education and health care and business services, there will always be airport workers and fast food workers and hospital workers.

There will be retail sales people, hospitality workers. People who work their tails off every day. People working in nursing homes and looking after your grandparents or your parents. Folks who are doing all the hard jobs that make our society work every single day. They don't have anything flashy out there.

You know what, they are not expecting to get rich. They do feel like if they are putting in back breaking work every day, the least they can pay is this. They deserve an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. The working Americans have struggled through stagnant wages for too long. My goal and the goal of everybody on this stage is to help lift wages, help lift take home pay in any way we can.

That's why I have done everything I can to lift wages for hardworking federal contractors and business owners to raise their wages and I'm supporting officials at the elected level and governors. What every American wants is a paycheck to let them support their families and passed down optimism to their kids. That's worth fighting for.

But I want to make one last point. If we are going to finish the job. Congress has to get on board. Congress has to get on board and this is interesting. This should not be that hard. Nearly three in four Americans and half of all Republicans support raising the minimum wage. The problem is, problems in Congress oppose raising the minimum wage. Maybe I should say I oppose raising the minimum wage. The day before, that's possible. Right now a bill in front of the House and the Senate that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Just passing this bill would help not only lift wages for about 200,000 people just right here in Connecticut, it would lift wages for about one million New Englanders. It would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans throughout this country.

It would immediately raise millions of people out of poverty and help them work their way out of poverty and doesn't require new spending and doesn't require new bureaucracy. Here's one last point. It turns out what happens if workers got more money in their pockets. They spend more money that means suddenly businesses have more customers, which means they make more profits, which means they can hire more workers.

Which means you get a virtuous cycle. It's common sense. That's what I'm talking about. It's just common sense. That's all it is. It's common sense. Common sense. It's just common sense. That's all I'm saying. Now, right now Republicans in Congress don't want to vote on raising the minimum wage. Some said they want to scrap the minimum wage.

One said I think it outlived usefulness. I voted to repeal it. One said it never worked. Some of them said it only helps young people. As if that's a bad thing. I think we should want to help young people. I would like to see them put themselves through college on a low wage work study job.

Actually I would like to see them make a living on less than $15,000 a year. Here's the truth about who would help. Most people get a raise are not teenagers on the first job. The average age is 35. A majority of lower wage jobs are held by women. These Americans are working full time often supporting families.

And if the minimum wage had kept pace with our economy's productivity, they would be earning well over $10 an hour today instead it's stuck at $7.25. Every time Congress refuses to raise it, it loses value because cost of living goes higher and minimum wage stays the same and 20 percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan took office.

Since over the last years since I asked Congress to do something and they didn't do it, that was the equivalent of a $200 pay cut for the average minimum wage worker because it didn't take pace with inflation. That's a month of groceries for the average minimum wage worker.

That's two months' worth of electricity. This is not a small thing. This is a big deal. It makes a big difference in the lives of a lot of families. So members of Congress have a choice to make. It is a clear choice. Raise workers' wages, grow our economy or let wages stagnate further and give what amounts to another pay cut.

Fortunately, folks in Connecticut have really good delegations. The senators and representatives are on board. They are all on board. They are fighting the good fight. Anybody who is watching at home, you deserve to know where your elected official stands. Just ask him. Do you support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour?

If they say yes, say thanks. Great job. We need encouragement too, elected officials. If they say no, you should be polite, but you should say why not? Ask them to reconsider. Ask them to side with the majority of Americans instead of saying no, for once say yes. It's time to give Americans a raise.

I want to close by sharing a story of a guy name Doug Wade who is here today. Where is Doug? I am going to embarrass Doug. Here's Doug right here. Doug had a chance to meet Secretary Perez in Hartford last week. Doug is the president of Wades Dairy down in Bridgeport.

So his great grandfather, Frank, started the family business in 1893, 1893. One of the secrets to their success is that they treat their employees like part of the family. Doug pays his own workers fairly. He goes a step further and writes editorials and talks to fellow business leaders and meets with elected officials to make the case for a higher minimum wage for everybody.

Keep in mind, Doug spent most of his life as a registered Republican. This is not about politics. This is about common sense. It's about business sense. And Doug, we were talking back stage, Doug showed me a pay stub. It describes his own story.

When he was flipping burgers in 1970, his employer paid him the minimum wage, but it went 25 percent further than it does today. Doug speaks from experience when he says that things like the minimum wage raise the bar for everybody. He still has that paycheck. It looks like the paycheck I got when I was working at Baskin Robins.

The point that Doug and his family and business represents, is we believe in hard work and responsibility and individual initiative. We come together to raise the bar for everybody. They can look after their kids and lift them up. We look out for each other. That's who we are. That is our story. There millions of Americans like Doug and like all of you who are tired of the arguments ready to move the bar higher.

Let's move the country further and go further. That's what I'm going to do as period and I need your help. Let's give America a raise. God bless the United States of America.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: That is President Obama, just wrapped up comments there in New Britain, Connecticut. He was urging Congress to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. He did not make any remarks on Ukraine and on Russia. We were looking to see if he would and he did not.

So what we are waiting right now is Secretary of State John Kerry. He is in Paris. There is whirlwind diplomacy going on in Europe right now. John Kerry has been meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov throughout the day. They've had multiple meetings that involves other allies, European allies of the U.S. as they try to reach some resolution on Ukraine and certainly at Russia's involvement in that crisis. Kerry, urging at this point, direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, trying to create some resolution and ratchet down the pressure.

So that this doesn't turn in, escalate to something even more dire than it is at this point. I want to bring in as we wait for John Kerry to speak there from Paris, we assume that he may make news. We will bring that to you as soon as it happens.

But let's go ahead now and bring in senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, and CNN political analyst and "Daily Beast" editor in chief, John Avlon, joining us from New York.

Guys, thanks for joining us and I will warn you that as soon as John Kerry comes out, we know some of these remarks have been pretty brief. I am going to cut right out of you and have you hold your thought and revisit on the back side of his remarks.

Jim, first to you. The GOP is really pushing back on raising the minimum wage here. How realistic is the president's push for passing this across the federal minimum wage hike. Is this an election year overture?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not in this Congress, Brianna, unless the president can get a Democratic House, he is not going to get a minimum wage increase to $10.10. He knows that. This is a mid-term speech. This is a midterm speech. This is a campaign speech that he delivered up in Connecticut. The president did make sort of a glancing reference to events overseas.

KEILAR: OK, Jim, I'm going to have you hold your thought for just a moment. We are going to have something to talk about after John Kerry comes out and makes his remarks in Paris. Secretary of State, John Kerry.

There you heard it. John Kerry saying we are going to have a statement in a little while. Things are fast moving at this point. There is a lot of diplomacy in a number of European allies working to find a resolution.

Let's get back to Jim Acosta and John Avlon. I wanted to change the direction here. We heard President Obama talking about the minimum wage as Jim talked about, John. Were you surprised he didn't talk about Ukraine?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I was, Brianna. I mean, this was as Jim said, this was a mid-term election speech. This was a campaign speech. Democrats think they've got a great winning issue in terms of its popularity. Now it's has a chance of passage on, you know, give America a raise.

But the world is looking to the American president for leadership right now, for reassurance in a very tense time when negotiations are going on and a region of the world seems close to the precipice of war. And so the fact that it was just a domestic message for domestic audience and the campaign won at that. Probably not what the world was looking from the president to hear today.

KEILAR: But Jim, I mean, you heard Secretary Kerry there. We heard from, for instance, the French foreign minister who came out and gave a quick little remarks. Kerry didn't do that. You kind of get the sense maybe he doesn't have something to say at this point or they are sort of organizing their thoughts and really trying to come to something so that maybe he had some sort of deliverable or he can give a status check. He is not doing that at this point.

President Obama doesn't comment on what's going on in Ukraine and doesn't comment on Russia at the top of his remarks today as he has done before. Do you read that as things are fast moving and he is really kind of deferring to Secretary Kerry at this point? What do you hearing from the White House?

ACOSTA: Yes, I really think right now, Brianna, what the president is trying to do is give the diplomacy some room to breathe. One word that we heard several times over the last 24 hours is the word deescalate. The president said it last night at the fundraiser in Northern Virginia that he thinks that this crisis can be deescalated in the next couple of days.

Jack Lew, the treasury secretary set it up on Capitol Hill earlier today and one thing we should point out is that CNN has confirmed that Angela Merkel, the German chancellor did talk with Vladimir Putin today about steps to bring a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine.

Interesting to note that, Brianna, because as you know, Merkel talked to the president yesterday and they were talking about this off ramp. So she is sort of acting as an intermediary here and maybe the president and just maybe is trying to step back and let some of that stuff move forward.

KEILAR: And John, what do you think? You said you're surprised that he hasn't come out and said -- he didn't say anything today. He is getting some criticism certainly from Republicans who say that he is weak. We have heard some Republicans say the foreign policy is feckless. We saw "The Washington Post" really slammed President Obama.

Can he really do anything at this point though? This is fast moving and it seems like some of his options are limited when you have a very war-weary U.S?

AVLON: Well, Brianna, I mean, the (inaudible) of the president is largely about moral leadership. I mean, it is that bully pulpit where he may speak softly, but carry a big stick. The Republicans are going to attack the president on anything they can find.

I mean, sometimes they seem schizophrenic as to whether he is allegedly a tyrant with regard to the constitution or a weak impotent, commander in chief. So you are not going to win with that audience. But the office itself has responsibilities in sending a tone to the world about enforcing international standards and Putin as a very old school player on the geopolitical stage trying to push the envelope with aggressive action, trying to say that Russia is a major player.

So it's incumbent upon the president to set a counter balance and that is largely a moral role. It is a moral clarity from speeches while the diplomacy goes on, the very important work of diplomacy in Paris. The two things happen in tandem, not in the (inaudible).

KEILAR: All right, John Avlon and Jim Acosta, thanks to both of you. We are awaiting comments from Secretary Kerry if he is going to give them there in Paris. If when he does, we'll bring them to you live. Coming up next, Anderson Cooper is anchoring from Kiev, Ukraine with the latest on the situation there.

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