    [House Document 112-55]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

    112th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 112-55

     PRESIDENT'S PLAN ENTITLED ``LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS AND INVESTING IN
                                  THE FUTURE''

                                   __________

                                    MESSAGE

                                      from

                       THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                                  transmitting

    ``LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS AND INVESTING IN THE FUTURE'' THE PRESIDENT'S
                 PLAN FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEFICIT REDUCTION

     September 19, 2011.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the
    Committees on Agriculture, Armed Services, Education and the Workforce,
      Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, House Administration, the
     Judiciary, Natural Resources, Oversight and Government Reform, Rules,
      Science, Space, and Technology, Small Business, Transportation and
          Infrastructure, and Ways and Means and ordered to be printed
    To the Congress of the United States:
        This continues to be a time of challenge for our country.
    We face an economic crisis that has left millions of our
    neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that has made things
    worse. Millions of Americans are looking for work. Across our
    country, families are doing their best just to scrape by--
    giving up nights out with the family to save on gas or make the
    mortgage, or postponing retirement to send a child to college.
        These men and women grew up with faith in an America where
    hard work and responsibility paid off. They believed in a
    country where everyone gets a fair shake and does their fair
    share; they believed that if you worked hard and played by the
    rules, you would be rewarded with a decent salary and good
    benefits. If you did the right thing, you could make it in
    America.
        For decades now, Americans have watched that compact erode.
    They have seen the decks too often stacked against them. And
    they know that Washington has not always put their interests
    first. Too often, our Nation's capital has been consumed by
    partisanship. Too often, the needs of special interests or
    politics have been put ahead of what is best for the country.
        That is what must change. The American people work hard to
    meet their responsibilities. Now, as the Nation faces an
    economy that is not growing and creating jobs as it should, so
    must its leaders. While the continued recovery of our economy
    will be driven by the businesses and workers across our land,
    policymakers in Washington can take steps to help Americans
    right now and set the most favorable conditions we can for
    growth and job creation for years to come. We can live within
    our means and invest for the future.
        That is why last week I presented to the Congress and the
    American people the American Jobs Act, to provide a jolt to the
    economy and give companies confidence that if they invest and
    hire, there will be customers for their products and services.
    This jobs bill will put more people back to work and more money
    in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more
    jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more
    jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long-term unemployed.
    It will provide a tax break for companies that hire new
    workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every
    working American and every small business. It will create jobs
    for people to rebuild our aging infrastructure and repair and
    modernize at least 35,000 schools. Moreover, the proposals in
    the American Jobs Act are the kind of proposals that have been
    supported by Democrats and Republicans in the past.
        I am committed to paying for this jobs bill. The Budget
    Control Act that I signed into law last month will cut annual
    Government spending by about $1 trillion over the next 10
    years. It also charges the Joint Select Committee on Deficit
    Reduction with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in savings.
    As part of this jobs bill, I am asking the Congress to increase
    that amount so that it covers the full cost of the American
    Jobs Act. In addition, I believe that the Congress should seize
    the opportunity that this new Committee presents and do much
    more so that we can put the country on a sustainable fiscal
    path, which is critical for our long-term economic growth and
    competitiveness.
        For this reason, I am sending to the Congress this detailed
    plan to pay for this jobs bill and realize more than $3
    trillion in net deficit reduction over the next 10 years.
    Combined with the approximately $1 trillion in savings from the
    first part of the Budget Control Act, this would generate more
    than $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.
    This would bring the Nation to the point where current spending
    is nolonger adding to our debt and where our debt is no longer
    increasing as a share of our economy--an important milestone on the way
    to restoring fiscal discipline and moving us toward balance.
        This plan is a balanced one that asks everyone to do their
    part. It includes nearly $580 billion in cuts and reforms to
    mandatory programs, of which $320 billion is savings from
    Federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. These
    changes are necessary to maintain the promise of Medicare as we
    know it.
        The plan also realizes more than $1 trillion in savings
    over the next 10 years from our drawdowns in Afghanistan and
    Iraq. And the plan calls for the Congress to undertake
    comprehensive tax reform that lowers tax rates, closes
    loopholes, boosts job creation here at home, cuts the deficit
    by $1.5 trillion, and observes the Buffett Rule--that people
    making more than $1 million a year should not pay a smaller
    share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay.
        To assist the Committee in its work, I also included
    specific tax loophole closers and measures to broaden the tax
    base. Together with the expiration of the high-income tax cuts
    from 2001 and 2003, these measures would be more than enough to
    reach this $1.5 trillion target. They include cutting tax
    preferences for high-income households, eliminating tax breaks
    for oil and gas companies, closing the carried interest
    loophole for investment fund managers, and eliminating benefits
    for those who use corporate jets.
        In sum, the plan I am sending to the Congress today is a
    blueprint for how we can reduce this deficit, pay down our
    debt, and pay for the American Jobs Act in the process. I have
    little doubt that some of these proposals will not be popular
    with those who benefit from these affected programs. And some
    of these changes are ones that we would not make if it were not
    for our fiscal situation. But we are all in this together, and
    all of us must contribute to getting our economy moving again
    and on a firm fiscal footing.
        After all, we are all connected. No single individual built
    America on his or her own. We built it together. We have been,
    and always will be, ``one Nation, under God, indivisible, with
    liberty and justice for all.'' We have always been a people
    with responsibilities to ourselves and with responsibilities to
    one another. This means that as Americans work hard to find a
    job, keep their businesses afloat and grow, and provide for
    their kids, their representatives in Washington must meet their
    responsibilities and make the tough choices needed to get our
    economy back on track.
        This plan lives up to a simple idea: as a Nation, we can
    live within our means while still making the investments we
    need to prosper. It follows a balanced approach: asking
    everyone to do their part, so no one has to bear all the
    burden. And it says that everyone--including millionaires and
    billionaires--has to pay their fair share.
        These may be tough times for our country, but I have a deep
    faith in the American spirit, and we are tougher than the times
    we live in and bigger than the politics we have recently seen.
    If we all put partisanship aside and roll up our sleeves, I
    have no doubt that we can meet the challenges of the moment and
    show the world once again why the United States of America
    remains the greatest country on Earth.

                                                          Barack Obama.
        The White House, September 19, 2011.