FOX5 Vegas - KVVUFull text of President Obama's speech in Las Vegas

Full text of President Obama's speech in Las Vegas

The following are President Barack Obama's prepared remarks delivered Thursday at a UPS facility in Las Vegas:

Hello, Nevada! It is great to be in Las Vegas. I always say, whenever I come here for the night, I've got to watch my staff. I've got to make sure everyone gets back on the plane.

Thank you, Joe, for that introduction. Scott, thanks to you and the folks at UPS for hosting us today. And thanks to all the elected officials and tribal leaders who took the time to join us.

Now, Harry Reid told me that there's a special guest here this morning.

Wilbur turned 100 years old in October. In a few months, he and his wife Theresa will celebrate their 79th wedding anniversary. That's extraordinary. Wilbur, you're clearly doing something right. You gotta give a couple tips to all the husbands here. And I know your children are proud of you, too. Your son Robert said that you were his role model when he was growing up because you "believed in hard work, and that whatever you got you should earn."

That's good stuff. That's powerful stuff. A lot has changed in Wilbur's lifetime, but that basic American promise has not: that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.

The defining issue of our time is keeping that promise alive.

Today, three years after the worst economic storm in three generations, our economy is growing again. Our businesses have created more than 3 million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s.

We have a lot more work to do. But what we can't do is go back to the very same policies that got us into this mess. We will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. On Tuesday, in the State of the Union, I laid out my vision for how we move forward. I laid out my blueprint for an economy built to last.

It's an economy built on American manufacturing, with more good jobs and more products Made in America. It's an economy built on American energy, fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources that make us more secure and less dependent on foreign oil. It's an economy built on the skills of American workers – getting people the education and training they need so that they're prepared for the jobs of today and ready to compete for the jobs of tomorrow. And most importantly, it's an economy that's built on a renewal of American values – hard work, responsibility, and the same set of rules for everyone, from Wall Street to Main Street. That has to be our future. That's how we restore that basic American promise.

Part of my blueprint for an economy built to last is American energy. And that's why we're here today.

For decades, America has been talking about decreasing our dependence on foreign oil. Well, my Administration has actually done something about it.

Over the last three years, we negotiated the toughest new efficiency standards for cars and trucks in history. And we've opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration. Right now, American oil production is the highest it's been in eight years. Eight years. Last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past 16 years. And today, I'm announcing that my administration will soon open up around 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for exploration and development, which could result in a lot more production of domestic energy.

Here's the thing, though. Even with all this oil production, we only have 2 percent of the world's reserves. So we need an all-out, all-in, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – a strategy that's cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.

A good place to start is with natural gas. We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly a hundred years. Developing it could power our cars, our homes, and our factories in a cleaner and cheaper way. And experts believe it could support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

Now, I know some families are worried about the impact this could have on our environment and on the health of our communities. I share that concern. That's why I'm requiring – for the first time ever – that all companies drilling for gas on public lands disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.

But we've got to keep at it. Think about what could happen if we do. Think about an America where more cars and trucks are running on domestic natural gas than on foreign oil. Think about an America where our companies are leading the world in developing natural gas technology and creating a generation of new energy jobs; where our natural gas resources are helping make our manufacturers more competitive for decades. We can do this.

Last April, we issued a challenge to shipping companies like this one. We said that if you upgrade your fleets to run on less oil or no oil at all, we'd help you succeed. We started out with five companies that accepted the challenge, and UPS was one of the first. Less than a year later, we've got fourteen companies on board, and together, they represent one million vehicles on the road.

But we should do more. And that's why we're here today.

First, let's get more of these natural gas vehicles on the road. The federal fleet of cars is leading by example. We've got to help local governments upgrade their fleets, too. If more of these brown trucks are going green, more city buses should too.

Second, let's offer new tax incentives to help companies buy more clean trucks like these.

Third, let's make sure all these new trucks that are running on natural gas have places to refuel. We're going to keep working with the private sector to develop up to five natural gas corridors along our highways. These are highways that have natural gas fueling stations between cities – just like the one the folks at UPS, South Coast Air, and Clean Energy Fuels are opening today between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

Finally, to keep America on the cutting edge of clean energy technology, I want my Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, to launch a new competition that encourages our country's brightest scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to discover new breakthroughs for natural gas vehicles.

So we're going to keep moving on American energy. We're going to keep boosting American manufacturing. We're going to keep training our workers. But an economy that's built to last also means a renewal of the values that made us who we are: that values of hard work, fair play, and shared responsibility.

Right now, that means stopping a tax hike on 160 million working Americans at the end of next month. People can't afford losing $40 out of each paycheck. Not now. Your voices convinced Congress to extend this middle-class tax cut before. I need your help to get them to do it again. Let's tell Congress to pass this tax cut without drama or delay. Let's get it done.

But in the longer run, if we're going to invest in our future and get our fiscal house in order, we need to make choices. Right now, we're supposed to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was intended to be a temporary tax cut for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. A quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Is that fair? Does that make any sense? Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep investing in everything else – like education and clean energy, a strong military and care for our vets? Because we can't do both.

I believe we should follow the Buffet rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should pay a tax rate of at least 30%. On the other hand, if you make less than $250,000 a year, which 98% of all Americans do, your taxes shouldn't go up.

I know a lot of folks have been running around calling this class warfare. But I think asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes is just common sense. Warren Buffett's doing fine. I'm doing fine. We don't need more tax breaks. You do. You're the ones who have seen your wages stall and the cost of everything from groceries to college tuition go up. You're the ones who deserve a break.

We don't begrudge success in America. We aspire to it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it's not because they envy the rich. Just yesterday, Bill Gates said he agrees with me that Americans who can most afford it should pay their fair share. Call me crazy, but I don't think Bill Gates is envious of wealthy people.

This has nothing to do with envy. It has everything to do with math. Americans understand that if I get tax breaks I don't need and the country can't afford, it either adds to our deficit or takes away from someone else, whether it's a senior, a student, or a family trying to get by. That's not right. That's not who we are. Each of us is only here because someone, somewhere felt a responsibility to each other and to our country's future.

Now it's our turn to be responsible. Now it's our turn to leave an America that's built to last.

I believe we can do this. I believe it because of what I see in states like Nevada, and what I hear when I meet people like you. You know this country only exists because generations of Americans worked together, and looked out for each other, and lived by the idea that out of many, we are one. You know those are the values we have to return to. You know we need an economy built to last. And I know that if we work together and in common purpose, we can build that economy, we can meet this challenge, and we can remind the world once again why the United States is the greatest country on Earth.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.