Were closing their doors five years ago, plants like this were closing their doors. Manufacturing,f the Auto Industry was flatlining. Its own standing on feet and made smart decisions, andalan will tell you if gm chrysler had gone down, suppliers would go down, dealers would have gone down. All of that wouldve had a propellant had a profound impact on ford. I refuse to let that happen. We work with labor and management. Everybody put some skin in the game. We bet on the american worker. Today that that has paid off because the american Auto Industry has come roaring back. [applause] the big three are all profitable hiring new workers, not just building more cars. You are building better cars and trucks. Look at what is going on at the plant. F1 50 is built tougher and more fuel efficient than ever. [applause] you have trouble making them fast enough. You had to bring on a third shift of 900 workers to keep up with demand. [applause] invested 1. 1 billion in this plant, pretty new workers will be joining you on these Assembly Lines in Good Union Jobs building ford vehicles. [applause] more jobs building cars means more jobs for suppliers and distributors. The folksore jobs for who own the restaurants in town or the bars, depending on [laughter] it has an impact on your tax base. It has an impact on the teacher who teaches your kids, the First Responder who keep you safe. All those people are impacted by your success. That fundamental idea that when when some of us are doing well, it is ok. But when everybody has a stake, that is when things start rolling. That is at the heart of every decision i have made as president. When the middle class does better, we all do better. Do better. Workers do better. Verybody does better [applause] in the depth of the crisis, we passed the recovery act to make sure we put a floor below which this country could not fall. We put money in folks pockets with tax breaks helping to keep teachers and firefighters on the job. Our businesses have added 7. 5 million new jobs. [applause] we help responsible homeowners stay in their homes. One of the biggest settlements in history for people who wrongfully lost their homes. Today our Housing Market has healed. We took on the tax code that was too skewed to the wealthy. 2 toed those in the top pay more. Today middleclass tax rates are near the alltime low. Deficits are falling a fastest rate since world war i ii. That is what we did. We invested in new American Technologies to end our addiction to foreign oil. Arey we armored generating more renewable energy, produce more natural gas than anybody in the world. We are about to produce more of our own oil than we buy overseas for the first time in nearly 20 years. [applause] and we took on a broken health care system. Weeks, millions of americans who have been locked out of the Insurance Market are finally going to be able to get Quality Health care. [cheers and applause] out of every 10 americans currently uninsured, six of those 10 will be able to get coverage for less than 100 a month, less than your cell phone bill. [applause] working just like you have been working the last 4. 5 years. We have cleared away the rubble from the crisis. We have started to lay a new foundation for Economic Growth and prosperity. We all had to make adjustments. Im assuming some folks had to tighten their belts and get rid of debt, focus on things that matter, cut out things you did not need. We have shown the world the American People are tough, resilient. The only thing built tougher fordfor trucks ford trucks are the American People. That is what we showed them. [applause] that is the good news. Any working person, middleclass family will tell you we are not yet where we need to be. The economy is growing but it needs to grow faster. We are producing jobs, but we need to create more jobs and more good paying jobs. We have got to make sure we are rebuilding an economy that does not work from the top down, but works from the middle out. That gives opportunity to folks that still do not have a job. We have got to make sure workers are sharing in growth and productivity. Even though businesses are creating jobs, the top 1 took him 20 of the nations income last year. The average worker barely saw a radius saw a raise. It aint fair. It is not right. The trends that have taken hold the last few years of a winner take all economy, a few folks in the top doing better and better and everybody else treading water or losing ground, that is not a model we want. It has been made worse by the recession. What i have been doing the last couple of months, i have been visiting towns like liberty, traveling all across the country talking about what we need to do to reverse those trends and make sure we have a Better Bargain for middleclass americans. Pay good wages, education that prepares our kids for a global economy, a home that is secure, Affordable Health care that is there when you get sick, a secure retirement you can if you are not rich. All of those things that make for a secure life so you can raise your kids and have confidence they will do better than you did. That is what i am focused on. That is what you are focused on. That is what congress should be focused on. [cheers and applause] which brings me to the current situation. [laughter] about what is going on back in washington. Right now, congress is in the middle of the budget debate. There is nothing new about that. Every year, congress has to pass a budget. It is always a contentious process. Recovery stillur needs to build more strength, so it is important we get it right in washington because even though our success as a country is ultimately going to depend on great businesses like ford, hard workers like you, government has to do some things. Congress has to pass a budget to make sure our Education System ands and prepares our kids workers for the global economy. If were going to rebuild our roads, bridges, ports, government has got to be involved in that. If were going to have Scientific Research and development i was looking at all of this new equipment here. Some of the things that allowed the efficiencies of this plant andinated in laboratories scientists doing work on the government side. That is how we have always maintained our cutting edge. These are things that help us grow. These are things that help the private sector succeed. You whenell people tell you government is irrelevant, no. Everything we do has some connection to making sure we collectively as a democracy are making Smart Investments in the future. That is how it has always been. [applause] Look Congress is doing right now is important. Unfortunately, right now the debate going on in congress is not meeting the test of middle class families. They are not focused on you. They are focused on politics. They are focused on trying to mess with me. [laughter] you. Are not focused on you. Are not focused on [cheers and applause] there are two deadlines coming up that congress has to meet. I want folks to Pay Attention to this. Congress has to meet two deadlines. They are coming up quick. The most deadline, basic constitutional duty congress has is to pass a budget. That is congress 101. If they do not pass a budget by september 30 what is the date today . The 20th. If congress does not pass a budget in 10 days, a week from monday, the government will shut down. A Government Shutdown shuts down Many Services the American People rely on. This is not abstract. Hundreds of thousands of americans will not be allowed to go to work. Uniform,nd women in even those deployed overseas, will not get their paychecks on time. Small businesses will not get their loans processed. Happen asat has to long as Congress Passes a budget. Number one, pass the budget. Two, in the next few Weeks Congress must go to allow the department of the treasury to pay americas bills. Department, that is where we take in money and pay it. Real simple. This is usually done with a simple routine vote to raise what is called the debt ceiling. If you do not raise the debt ceiling, america cannot pay its bills. 1950s, congress has always passed it. Every president has signed it. Democrats, republicans, ronald reagan. [laughter] lyndon johnson. It does not matter. This is just a routine thing you have got to do so treasury can pay the bills. Not pass thises debt ceiling in the next few weeks, the United States will default on its obligations. That has never happened in American History. Basically, america becomes a deadbeat. World sees america not paying its bills, they will not bills fromreasury the United States. If they do, they will do it at much higher Interest Rates. F1 50e wanting to buy an will have to pay much higher Interest Rates eventually, which means you will sell less cars. That is one example of how profoundly distraught and destructive this could be. This is not an abstract thing. Raising the debt ceiling is not the same as approving more spending. Anymore than making your Monthly Payments adds to the koegel tossed as to the total cost of your truck. You do not say i will not pay the note for my truck because im going to save money. Your not saving money. You already bought the truck. You have to pay the bills. And younot saving money might have decided not to buy the truck and but once you bought the truck, you cannot say youre saving money by not paying the bills. Does that make sense . [applause] so raising the debt ceiling does not cost a dime. It does not add a penny to the deficit. All it says is you have to pay for what Congress Already said we are paying spending money on. If you do not do it, we could have another financial crisis. I know a lot of people are concerned about deficits. Our deficits are not coming down so quickly that by the end of the year we will have cut them more than in half since i took office. [applause] i just want to break this down one more time. Dealership andd drive off with the new f150. Unless i paid cash, i still have to pay for it each month. I cannot just say i will not make my car payment this month. That is what congress is threatening to do, just saying i will not pay the bills. There are consequences to that. The bill collectors start calling you. Your credit go south and you have got all kinds of problems. The same is true for a country. Thee do not raise this debt ceiling, we are deadbeats. If we fail to increase the debt limit, we would send our economy into a tailspin. Way. Is a quote by the do you know who said it . The republican speaker of the house, john boehner. He has said if we do not pay our bills, we will have an economic tailspin. Why has it not been done . Democrats and some Reasonable Republicans in congress are willing to raise the debt ceiling and pass a sensible budget. I want to work with democrats and republicans to do just that. Claire mccaskill is ready to do it. [applause] cleaver is ready to do it. [applause] just passed the budget and raise the debt ceiling, we can get back to focusing on growing oureconomy and educating kids, all of the things we have to do. Unfortunately, there is a faction on the far right of the Republican Party who convinced their leadership to threaten a Government Shutdown and potentially threaten to not raise the debt ceiling if they cannot shut off the Affordable Care ought Affordable Care act also known as obamacare. They are not talking about spending cuts or entitlement reform. Now they are talking about something that has nothing to do with the budget. Right . They are actually willing to plunge america into default if we cannot defund the Affordable Care act. Lets put this in perspective. The Affordable Care act has been in law for three years. The Supreme Court will do it constitutional. It was an issue in last years election. The guy running against me said he would repeal it. We won. [cheers and applause] the voters were pretty clear on this. Republicans in congress tried to repeal or sabotage this more than 40 times. Every time, they have failed. Is in place is already providing people benefits. It is not holding back Economic Growth. It is helping millions of americans, including some of you or your family members you may not be aware of. You can keep your kids on your own Health Insurance plan. Someone is raising their hand right here. Until they are 26 because of the Affordable Care act. [applause] that is one of the main reasons the number of uninsured among young people has gone down over the last three years. Fromrs are benefiting discounted Prescription Drug costs because of the law. If you have got Health Insurance, Insurance Companies cannot impose lifetime limits on you. They cannot use the fine print not to pay if you get sick. Insurance companies have to spend 80 of your premiums on your health care, not on administrative costs and ceo bonuses. Those are happening right now. And Health Care Costs have actually increased at the slowest rate in 50 years, so this is helping to reduce Health Care Costs across the economy. [applause] finally, starting october 1, it is going to help millions more people who do not have Health Insurance right now. Were going to set up rules so just like a worker at ford can benefit from good insurance rates with a lot of workers in one pool, now people who do not have the good fortune to work at ford can also get a good deal. That is what they are fighting for. They want to repeal all of that. They say were going to hold our ground. If you cannot do not repeal it, we will send the economy into default. They will send our economy into a tailspin just like Speaker Boehner said. They want to threaten to fall just to make sure that millions of americans continue not to have health care. D funding Affordable Health care would rob 25 million americans of the chance to get health care coverage. It would cut basic Health Care Services for millions of seniors on medicare already. That is what House Republicans are fighting for. They have gone beyond Holding Congress hostage. They are holding the whole country hostage. One republican senator called shutting the government down over the Affordable Care act, the dumbest idea i have ever heard. I agree with him. [applause] but that is the strategy they are pursuing. The house voted on it today. I tell you what. The American People have worked too hard for too long digging out of a real crisis just to let politicians in washington cause another crisis. [applause] this is the United States of america. We are not some banana republic. This is not a deadbeat nation. We do not run out on our tabs. We are the worlds that iraq investment. Bedrock investment. The world looks to us to make sure the economy is stable. Even threatening Something Like that is irresponsible. I will not negotiate over the full faith and credit of the United States. [cheers and applause] anyonet going to allow to harm this countrys reputation. I will not allow them to inflict economic pain on millions just so they can make an ideological point. But i need you to help. I need you to help Tell Congress to pay our bills on time, pass a budget on time, stop governing from crisis to crisis. Where itocus back on should be, on you, the American People, creating new jobs come a growing our economy, restoring security for middleclass families. That is what you deserve. [applause] it is like they do this every six months. [laughter] isnt it . I do not mind them disagreeing with me. If they would rather people not have Health Insurance, i am happy to have that debate with them. But you do not have to threaten to blow the whole thing up just because you do not get your way. [laughter] right . [applause] i think about something jordan said. Her grandfather worked in this plan, ill go, stepmom worked in this plan. Now she and her brother worked in this plan as the next generation of American Workers at great iconic american company. Our country is coming back because of the resilience and determination of American Workers like jordan and her family. Every day all over this country there are people just like jordan and her brother. They wake up, go to work, live up to their responsibilities, do their jobs, pay their bills. Shouldnt you expect the same thing from the people in washington . [applause] shouldnt you expect the same thing f