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The President: Well, good morning, everybody.
(applause)
It is good to be here.
And I want to thank Jack Jacobs and all the folks
at Safeway for having us here today, at this busy
distribution center where delivery trucks get
everything from Doritos to diapers where
they need to go.
And by the way, I have a little soft spot for
Safeway in my heart because some of you know
I went to high school in Hawaii and I was living
with my grandparents, and our main grocery
store was Safeway.
It was right down the way.
(applause)
And so my grandmother would send
me out to go shopping at Safeway, and everybody
there always treated me very well.
So I very much appreciate the good work you guys do.
And I want to thank all the workers and
businesspeople and labor leaders and environmental
leaders who are here today as we take another big
step to grow our economy and reduce America's
dependence on foreign oil.
In my State of the Union address, I said that this
would be a year of action, and I meant it.
So over the past three weeks, I've acted
to require federal contractors to pay their
employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour,
because we believe in a higher minimum wage.
(applause)
I've ordered an across-the-board reform
of job training programs so we can train workers
with the skills that employers actually need
and match them to the good jobs that are out there
right now needing to be filled.
I directed the Treasury Secretary to create
something we're calling "myRA" -- it's a new way
to help working Americans start
saving for retirement.
And we've brought together business leaders
who've committed to helping more unemployed Americans find
work, no matter how long they've been looking.
So the point is I'm eager to work with Congress
wherever I can -- but whenever I can act
on my own to expand opportunity for more Americans and
help build our middle class,
I'm going to do that.
And all of you I think understand that although
the economy has been doing better, we've spent the
past five years fighting our way back from the
worst recession of our lifetimes.
Now, the economy is growing.
Our businesses have created over 8.5 million
new jobs over the past four years.
The unemployment rate is actually the lowest it's
been in over five years.
But the trends, the long-term trends that have
hurt middle-class families for decades have continued
-- folks at the top doing better than ever before;
average wages and incomes have barely budged.
Too many Americans are working harder than ever
just to keep up.
So our job is to not only get the economy growing
but also to reverse these trends and make sure that
everybody can succeed.
We've got to build an economy that works for
everybody, not just the fortunate few.
Opportunity for all --
that's the essence of America.
No matter who you are, no matter where you come
from, no matter how you start out, if you're
willing to work hard and take responsibility,
you can succeed.
So I've laid out an opportunity agenda
to help us do that.
Part one is create more new jobs that pay good
wages -- jobs in manufacturing, energy,
exports, innovation.
Part two, we've got to train folks with the
skills they need to fill those jobs.
Part three, we've got to guarantee every child
access to a world-class education.
Part four is making sure that the economy rewards
hard work with equal pay for equal work and wages
you can live on, savings you can retire on, health
insurance you can count on that's there
when you need it.
Now, there are very few factors that are helping
grow our economy more, bringing more good jobs
back to America than our commitment to American
manufacturing and American energy.
And that's why we're here today.
Five years ago, we set out to break our dependence
on foreign oil.
And today, America is closer to energy
independence than we've been in decades.
For the first time in nearly 20 years,
America produces more oil here at home than
we buy from other countries.
Our levels of dangerous carbon pollution that
contributes to climate change has actually gone
down even as our production has gone up.
And one of the reasons why is because we dedicated
ourselves to manufacturing new cars and new trucks
that go farther on a gallon of gas --
and that saves families money, it cuts down harmful
pollution, and it creates new advances
in American technology.
So for decades, the fuel efficiency standards
of our cars and trucks was stuck in neutral
even as other kinds of technology leapt forward.
And that left families and businesses and our economy
vulnerable to fluctuations in oil prices.
Every time oil prices shot up the economy got hurt.
Our automakers were in danger of being
left in the dust by foreign automakers.
Carbon pollution was going unchecked,
which was having severe impacts on our weather.
And that's why, after taking office, my
administration worked with automakers, autoworkers,
environmental advocates, and states across the
country, and we set in motion the first-ever
national policy aimed at both increasing gas
mileage and decreasing greenhouse gas pollution
for all new cars and trucks sold
in the United States.
And as our automakers retooled and prepared to
start making the world's best cars again, we aimed
to raise fuel economy standards to 35.5 miles
per gallon for a new vehicle by 2016.
>> Audience Member: Wow!
>> The President: Yeah, wow.
(Laughter and applause.)
That was an increase of more than eight miles per
gallon over what cars had averaged at the time.
And what we were clear about was if you
set a rule, if you set a clear goal, we would give our
companies the certainty that they needed
to innovate and out-build the rest of the world.
They could figure it out if they had a goal that
they were trying to reach.
And thanks to their ingenuity and hard work,
we're going to meet that goal.
Two years later, we've already seen enormous
progress, and we're building on that progress
by setting an even more ambitious target: We're
going to double the distance our cars and
light trucks can go on a gallon of gas by 2025.
We're going to double it.
And that means -- (applause) --
that's big news.
Because what it means is you've got to fill up
every two weeks instead of every week, and that saves
the typical family more than $8,000
at the pump over time.
I'm assuming you can use $8,000 --
(laughter and applause) --
that you're not
paying at the gas station.
And, in the process, it cuts American oil
consumption by 12 billion barrels.
So we let the automakers decide how they
were going to do it.
We set the goal and we said, go figure it out.
And they invested in innovative and
cost-effective technologies.
And some are already making cars that beat the
target of nearly 55 miles per gallon.
They've got plug-in hybrids.
They've got electric vehicles.
They're taking advantage of the investments that
the Recovery Act made in American advances
in battery technology.
So cars are getting better and they're getting more
fuel-efficient all the time.
And for anybody who said this couldn't be done or
that it would hurt the American auto industry,
the American auto industry sold more cars last year
than any time since 2007.
(applause)
And since we stepped in to help the
automakers retool, the American auto industry has
created almost 425,000 new jobs.
So we raised fuel efficiency, helped
consumers, helped improve air quality, and we're
making better cars than ever and the automakers
are hiring more folks again for good jobs all
across the country.
(applause)
More plants are running at full
capacity -- some are even running three shifts,
24 hours a day -- churning out some of the most
high-tech, fuel-efficient, high-performance
cars in the world.
And that's a story of American ingenuity,
American grit, and everybody has a right
to be proud of it.
But today we're taking the next step.
Heavy-duty trucks account for just 4 percent of all
the vehicles on the highway.
I know when you're driving sometimes it feels
like it's more --
(laughter) -- but they're only 4 percent
of all the vehicles.
But they're responsible for about 20 percent
of carbon pollution in the transportation sector.
So trucks like these are responsible for about
20 percent of our on-road fuel consumption.
And because they haul about 70 percent of all
domestic freight -- 70 percent of the stuff
we use, everything from flat-screen TVs to diapers
to produce to you name it -- every mile that we gain
in fuel efficiency is worth thousands of dollars
of savings every year.
So that's why we're investing in research
to get more fuel economy gains.
And thanks to a partnership between
industry and my administration, the truck
behind me was able to achieve a 75 percent
improvement in fuel economy over the last year
-- 75 percent.
That's why we call this "SuperTruck."
(laughter)
It's impressive, this one right
here, as well.
I mean, these are -- first of all,
they're really big.
(laughter)
But you can see how they've redesigned
the truck in order for us to save fuel economy.
And improving gas mileage for these trucks are going
to drive down our oil imports even further.
That reduces carbon pollution even more, cuts
down on businesses' fuel costs, which should pay
off in lower prices for consumers.
So it's not just a win-win, it's a
win-win-win.
You've got three wins.
>> Audience Member: Right!
>> The President: In 2011, we set new standards for
medium- and heavy-duty trucks that take effect
this year and last until 2018.
Three weeks ago, in my State of the Union
address, I said we'd build on that success.
Today, I'm directing the
Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, who is right here
-- former mayor of Charlotte
-- (applause) --
and Gina McCarthy, the Administrator of EPA --
(applause)
-- two outstanding public
servants -- their charge, their goal is to develop
fuel economy standards for heavy-duty trucks that
will take us well into the next decade,
just like our cars.
And they're going to partner with manufacturers
and autoworkers and states and other stakeholders,
truckers, to come up with a proposal by March of
next year, and they'll complete
the rule a year after that.
And businesses that buy these types of trucks have
sent a clear message to the nearly 30,000 workers
who build them: We want trucks that use less oil,
save more money, cut pollution.
So far, 23 companies have joined
our National Clean Fleets Partnership to reduce
their oil consumption or replace their old fleets
of trucks with more fuel-efficient models.
And, collectively, they operate about 1 million
commercial vehicles nationwide.
So this is a lot of companies,
and some of them are competitors.
And if rivals like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, or UPS and
FedEx, or AT&T and Verizon -- if they can join
together on this, then maybe Democrats and
Republicans can do the same.
(Applause)
Maybe Democrats and Republicans
can get together.
(Applause)
So when you see these companies' new electric
or natural gas-powered delivery or garbage
trucks, it's due to this partnership.
And the reason we're here is because Safeway
was an early leader on this issue.
By improving the aerodynamics of its
trucks, investing in larger trailers,
more efficient tires, Safeway has improved
its own fuel efficiency.
And the results are so solid that Safeway now
encourages all the companies it hires
to ship its products to do the same.
So to help our businesses and manufacturers meet
this new goal, we're offering new tax credits
-- both for companies that manufacture heavy-duty
alternative-fuel vehicles and those that build fuel
infrastructure so that trucks running
on biodiesel or natural gas or hybrid electric
technology, they'll have more places to fill up.
Let me say this.
The goal we're setting is ambitious, but these are
areas where ambition has worked out really well for
us so far.
Don't make small plans, make big plans.
And anybody who had dire predictions for the auto
industry, said we couldn't do it, manufacturers
couldn't bring jobs back to America --
every time they say that they're proven wrong.
Every time somebody says you can't grow the economy
while bringing down pollution, it's turned out
they've been wrong.
(Applause)
Anybody who says we can't compete when
it comes to clean energy technologies like solar
and wind, they've had to eat those words.
You can't bet against American workers
or American industry.
You can't bet against America.
Otherwise you're going to lose money every time,
because we know how to do this when we set broad,
ambitious goals for ourselves.
(Applause)
So from day one, we've known we had to rebuild
our economy and transition to a clean-energy future,
and we knew it wouldn't be easy or quick, and we've
got a lot of work to do on both counts.
But the economy is growing.
We're creating jobs.
We're generating more clean energy.
We're cutting our dependence on foreign oil.
We're pumping out less
dangerous carbon pollution.
If we keep going down this road, then we're going to
have a future full of good-paying jobs.
We've got assembly lines that are humming with the
components of a clean energy age.
We got more of the best trucks and cars in the
world designed and engineered
and made in America.
If we keep on going, we're going to leave a better
future for our children.
And I'm proud of Safeway and all its workers for
helping to show us the way.
If it can be done here, it can be done
all across the country.
So congratulations to all of you.
Thank you and God bless you.
God bless America.
(Applause)