Open for Questions: More Questions from You Tube — February 5, 2010

00:00 Hello, everyone. And welcome to the White House. Thanks a lot for waiting. Apologies. We were running a few minutes behind.

00:07 But we should have a lot of fun today with our guests here.

00:12 I'm joined by Heather Higginbottom from the Domestic Policy Council and Ben Rhodes from the National Security Staff.

00:19 I'm Macon Phillips. And we'll shortly be joined by Brian Dees from the National Economic Council, who was held up in a meeting,

00:26 but is a plan to get here quickly. Earlier this week, the President answered questions from Steve Grove of YouTube,

00:35 in a really exciting event from the White House. And after that event, YouTube provided us with some more questions to answer,

00:45 which we're going to use to kick off this conversation. Of course, you can also join the live discussion at WhiteHouse.gov

00:52 and we'll be pulling some questions from there as well, as from YouTube.com. So welcome again, and thanks for your patience.

01:03 Let's just get right into the questions. First one's for Heather that comes from Stephanie from Nebraska, who asks,

01:11 I'm a future educator. I want to know what you are planning to do about the implementation of No Child Left Behind.

01:17 The current policy is causing our teachers to teach the test and not really give students what they need in their education.

01:25 Great. Well, thank you, Stephanie, for the question and also for your career choice, because one of the things that is most important

01:31 to strengthening our public education system is highly qualified teachers, and we know we're facing a retirement boom in the coming years,

01:40 and we need more talented young people to enter the profession. So it's great that you're interested in becoming an educator.

01:46 You raise an important point about No Child Left Behind and what that has done to the teaching in some of our schools.

01:52 President Obama is very committed to raising standards in our schools, but doing so in a way that ensures kids are learning

01:59 a variety of subjects to very high standards and that the assessments that are used to measure their progress

02:05 are done not in the drill and kill or fill in the bubble type of test that we have in many schools now,

02:12 but very comprehensive assessments of thinking and learning and that are used to measure progress for a student within the school year.

02:19 So often school districts have tests that are just taken as a snapshot one year to the next,

02:24 and you can't really tell how a student is doing within the year, and we want to, as we revisit No Child Left Behind, make changes to that.

02:32 The President has made education reform one of his key priorities, and we've already had a great opportunity over the course

02:39 of the last year to make some improvements and investments in education, and this year, as he said in the State of the Union last week,

02:46 we hope to update and revisit the No Child Left Behind Act and the point that you make about ensuring teachers are supported

02:52 and have the opportunity to teach the courses in curriculum and their classrooms is key to that.

02:58 Another important element of our education reform platform is really changing the teaching profession.

03:03 The President believes we need to pay teachers more and that we need to reward success.

03:09 He also believes that we really need to support younger teachers like yourself, so that when you enter the profession,

03:14 you have a mentor or someone that can help you identify challenges and become more successful.

03:19 So, again, thank you for contributing in this way, and I would encourage you to follow the debate that we're going to have this year around education reform.

03:28 I think that you'll be pleased with the direction that our assessments and our testing system are going to go in.

03:33 Great. Thanks, Heather. So, actually, Brian just joined us, so why don't you come grab your seat here, which is good,

03:40 because Brian, a lot of the questions that we got are in your expertise, so we're going to try to just make it up,

03:48 but now that you're here, we'll go. So, if you have your microphone on and everything, let's get him taken care of.

03:55 We'll just skip in real quick and go back to another issue that we're hearing a lot about, Heather.

04:02 That's best. One question that came from Joey from California asked,

04:07 could you outline your plan about immigration reform?

04:10 What are your plans about this long overdue campaign promise?

04:13 That's a great question, Joey. I'm glad you brought that up.

04:16 Immigration reform is another of our key domestic priorities.

04:20 It's something that, again, the President talked about last week in the State of the Union.

04:23 He actually also talked about it yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast here in Washington.

04:28 He was commending the leadership of many evangelical leaders who have spoken out and said that we need to fix this broken system.

04:35 The reality is we need this broad support across the political spectrum from different sectors to work with Congress and update this law.

04:45 President Obama, as he said throughout the campaign, and as he has said over the past year,

04:49 believes we need to take steps to fix the system.

04:53 We've had significant improvements in our border security over the past few years, but there is certainly more that we need to do and should do.

05:00 And at the same time, we need to develop a program to deal with the 10 to 12 people who are here in the country now working and living undocumented.

05:09 And we need to come up with a program that ensures that they are working legally,

05:14 that the employer verification system works and can be counted on in the future, so that once we make this reform, we're not back in the same place in just a few years.

05:23 So this is something that we're quite committed to.

05:25 We've been spending a lot of hours on Capitol Hill working with members of the House and Senate on a bill that can get support from both Democrats and Republicans.

05:34 And the President has tasked Secretary Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security to really be the lead on this, and we've been working very closely with her.

05:41 And this year, we hope to make significant progress on that.

05:44 Great.

05:45 So Brian, welcome.

05:46 Let's get right to one of the questions that came in from Latasha Gibson from State College, Pennsylvania, who asks,

05:55 recently it was reported that the President plans to tax banks to recoup the cost of the bailout.

06:01 If so, how will you ensure that this tax is not passed down to consumers in the forms of fees with or without separation of commercial and investment banking?

06:11 It's a really good question, and thanks for bearing with me.

06:15 You guys are all seeing a little bit of the ongoing craziness that we have here in the White House, but I'm glad to be here.

06:24 The single most important thing for the President with respect to the bailout is ensuring that the American taxpayer gets repaid every cent of the money that went into that program.

06:37 What he's proposed is a modest fee on the nation's largest financial institutions to recoup the about $100 billion that will be necessary to meet that pledge to the taxpayer.

06:50 So there is one question that often comes up.

06:53 It's exactly the one that we heard, which is, aren't the banks going to just pass that on?

06:58 There's a couple important structural aspects of our fee that really get at that problem.

07:03 The first is, this only applies to the 50 or so largest financial institutions.

07:09 Our financial infrastructure in this country is far larger.

07:13 There are about 8,000 banks to the extent that the largest institutions were to decide to respond to this fee by increasing rates for consumers.

07:23 They're going to be at a competitive disadvantage with the vast majority of medium size and smaller banks in this country.

07:30 That's not a position that they're going to want to put themselves in.

07:34 And second, we do, unsurprisingly, we have heard that claim from a lot of the financial institutions themselves.

07:41 They've said, well, if you do anything, if you impose any burden on us after we, the American taxpayer, have stepped in in such an unprecedented way, we have no choice but to pass it on to the consumer.

07:54 It's a difficult argument to take seriously during a period where these banks are now returning to record profits, and in some cases, passing on record bonuses to many of their top executives.

08:06 Our view is that if these banks really have no other option, they could look to these bonuses that they're paying rather than passing on the cost to consumers.

08:15 So, for a number of reasons, we think that, and are confident that this is not going to get passed on to consumers, and fundamentally, it's vitally important because the taxpayers should not have to bear the cost of this rescue.

08:28 Okay.

08:29 Great. Thanks. And we're going to take our first video question that came in, and I believe that comes from Bill in Virginia.

08:38 I'm going to cue that up here, and hopefully you'll be able to put it on your screen at home.

08:42 I apologize for the delay. We're figuring that out.

09:31 Did you hear the question?

09:33 I think I did, and I think the question was, are we going to put a cost on carbon so that big polluters have to pay when they emit carbon into the atmosphere as opposed to continuing to do so for free?

09:46 I think what you have heard from the President of the State of Union and what you've heard, frankly, throughout this presidency is a commitment to build a clean energy economy in this country.

09:59 That's going to require a lot of steps, a lot of which we've already made progress on so far.

10:05 It's going to require new investments in the clean technologies that really have a chance to lead the way in this clean energy economy.

10:13 Investments in things like wind and solar, advanced batteries that will help in the next generation of cars.

10:23 It's also going to require taking steps to create new incentives so that energy efficiency and clean energy are profitable.

10:33 And that's really what the comprehensive climate change legislation that's currently working its way through Congress is about.

10:40 The House has passed a comprehensive climate bill, and the President remains committed to working toward getting a similar bill through the Senate as well.

10:53 It's not going to be easy, but we remain committed to that goal, and we do hear a lot about the questions of can we afford that kind of change?

11:02 Can we afford that kind of change in our economy right now?

11:08 But I think the President's perspective is that the country that ends up leading in the clean energy revolution is going to be the country whose economy ends up leading in the 21st century.

11:19 He wants America to be that economy.

11:21 He thinks comprehensive climate legislation is an integral part of that, and so we're going to keep working towards that goal.

11:27 Great.

11:28 So I apologize for the technical error there.

11:31 Let's see if we can get it right the second time.

11:33 And Ben, we actually have a question for you now.

11:34 Our next video question.

11:37 So we'll queue it up here while they're playing it on the screen.

12:10 It's playing now, so let's let it finish here, and then you can answer.

12:17 It's written out here.

12:18 There are anything crashes in Iran that are said to have been caused by old plans due to sanctions on new purchases.

12:25 If there are any plans to normalize trade relations, then there are sanctions that are in some ways punishing the people of Iran and emboldening the government.

12:33 Well, thanks for the question.

12:36 Of course, the United States continues to have certain sanctions on Iran along with the rest of the international community.

12:45 I think what we've done though over the course of the year is make it very clear to the Iranian government that we are offering them a different path in which those sanctions will be lifted and they'll be able to have political and economic integration with the international community

13:00 that will benefit the Iranian people.

13:03 The reason that sanctions are in place on Iran is because they have failed to live up to their international obligations,

13:09 particularly with regards to their illicit nuclear program.

13:13 Iran continually has been found in violation of various obligations that they have, for instance, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

13:21 For instance, just this last year, it was revealed that they've been building a secret nuclear facility in Gom that was in violation of their international obligations.

13:31 So these sanctions are in place because Iran has refused to live up to their obligations.

13:35 It has nothing to do with the international community's desire to punish Iran in particular.

13:41 And what we've said is if you shift course and change your behavior, we will have deeper economic and political integration with the Iranian government.

13:51 Unfortunately to date, the Iranian government has not taken that opportunity.

13:55 For instance, a very fair deal was offered in which we would help Iran develop medical isotopes for a research reactor in Tehran if they agreed to ship their low enriched uranium to a third country.

14:07 They still haven't taken that offer, which remains on the table.

14:11 And what we've said is if Iran continues to violate its international obligations and develop an illicit nuclear program that could be used for a nuclear weapon,

14:18 we will have to move to increased sanctions.

14:21 However, I just want to underscore, though, that the onus is really on the Iranian government because they have the choice.

14:28 If they live up the responsibilities that any other country and any other government has to live up to.

14:33 So again, it's not singling them out. It's holding them in the exact same standard that other countries are held to.

14:38 Those sanctions won't be imposed, and Iran can have that better relationship with the international community.

14:43 I'd also add, though, that just as we're concerned about Iran's nuclear program, we're also deeply concerned about the way in which the Iranian government has treated its people.

14:54 For some time now, of course, there have been human rights concerns in Iran.

14:58 Those have escalated since the June elections in which we've seen Iranians who have attempted to exercise their universal rights,

15:07 been suppressed in some cases imprisoned, and in some cases intimidated by the Iranian government.

15:15 So we're also joining with the international community and calling on Iran and the Iranian government to respect the universal rights of their people.

15:23 And this is, of course, an issue of deep concern to us because we don't want to see any more violence in Iran,

15:31 any more essentially violations of human rights take place on the streets of Iran.

15:39 So in both the nuclear issue and the human rights area, we continue to call on the Iranian government to live up to its own international obligations.

15:47 And if they do so, they will have that deeper economic relationship that will benefit the aspirations of the Iranian people.

15:54 If they don't, the onus will be on them for the consequences that follow.

15:59 So just a reminder, if you want to join the live discussion that's happening right now, there's actually two places where you can join.

16:06 The first is WhiteHouse.gov slash live. There's a chat room where people are tossing out questions.

16:12 And this is also a follow up event to the question and answer session the President held with YouTube,

16:18 political director Steve Grove earlier this week, and they have a live chat there at youtube.com slash CitizenTube.

16:25 I encourage you to go to one of those places and join the discussion.

16:29 We actually have a question now that came in through YouTube for Heather.

16:34 From ex non-violent felon in Virginia who asks,

16:38 why is it left up to the individual states to restore voting rights for non-violent felons?

16:42 Several states, including Virginia, have historically denied restoration rights even after the person has paid their debt to society for their mistake.

16:50 That's a great question. By and large, a lot of most standards for voting are set at the state level.

16:57 However, there are a series of federal requirements and standards.

17:01 And the particular one that you've identified, which is whether or not felons can vote after having served their sentences,

17:08 one that many legislators and President Obama is among them was in the Senate and is now as President believes that we should address at the federal level.

17:17 Several states have laws that say, once you've served your time, you're done with your prison sentence with probation.

17:23 You should be able to have your voting rights restored.

17:26 And what we need to do is find more ways to encourage people to participate in the political process.

17:32 We've talked about ways of doing that across the board.

17:34 This is an area we want more people to vote.

17:36 We want to make it easier to vote.

17:38 And the President's position and many other legislators position is that for felons,

17:42 once you've served your sentence and you've done your time and you've completed that, you should have your voting rights restored.

17:48 So historically, a lot of these regulations and laws were governed at the state level,

17:52 but increasingly there's been movement in support to some basic federal standards, and this is among them in the discussion.

17:59 So hopefully as we move forward with Congress on issues of access to same-day election and things of that nature,

18:07 this is one of the federal standards that can be addressed.

18:10 Great.

18:12 We had another question come in, Ben, while you were answering about Iran concerning Afghanistan.

18:19 Came in from Bob Barger, who asks, does the U.S. take responsibility for the families in Afghanistan that have lost the main breadwinner?

18:29 Is it done that way between tribes?

18:34 If we don't, maybe it would be a way to develop a relationship with the elders.

18:37 Can you talk a little bit about the sort of non-military work that's being done there and maybe speak to that question?

18:44 Sure. Well, it's an interesting question, Bob.

18:46 And first of all, you speak to a broader challenge in Afghanistan, which is that this is a country that has been plagued by war,

18:57 not just for several years, but for decades.

19:00 And that has left severe losses within families and communities.

19:05 There's literally been a near-constant state of conflict with brief interruptions since the Soviet invasion.

19:13 So this is a very war-torn society that has a lot of work to do to get back on its feet.

19:19 Of course, we have a military strategy in place or the present put in place to achieve our principal goal of denying al-Qaeda an ability

19:28 to recreate the safe haven in Afghanistan that they had before September 11th,

19:33 to break the momentum of the Taliban and prevent their takeover of the government.

19:38 Again, which would take Afghanistan back to the kind of dangerous situation that we faced before September 11th.

19:44 To do that, we are building up Afghanistan's security forces so that eventually, beginning in July of 2011,

19:51 we can begin to hand over responsibility to the Afghan government to Afghan security forces and begin to remove our troops.

19:57 To the point that you make, though, there are obviously a full range of calendars in Afghanistan on the civilian side,

20:03 all the way down to the community or provincial community level that, of course, will be necessary to repair some of those wounds.

20:11 Now, of course, the Afghan government and the Afghan people are the ones who will be providing for themselves in the long term,

20:16 but we have a very robust civilian strategy in place to try to help them rebuild.

20:21 And what we've decided to do is focus our assistance in a number of ways.

20:25 First of all, we don't want our assistance to be siphoned off through corruption.

20:30 Corruption is a huge problem in Afghanistan.

20:32 So what we've said is we're going to invest in those leaders, those ministries, all the way down to provinces,

20:39 where leaders demonstrate, leaders in institutions demonstrate an ability to deliver for the Afghan people without being corrupt.

20:45 In other words, we're going to reward good performance, and we're not going to continue to put good money after bad,

20:50 because the American people shouldn't essentially fund any kind of corruption that doesn't benefit the Afghan people

20:57 and help achieve our shared goals.

20:58 Secondly, though, what we've decided to do is to focus our assistance to target in areas that can make an immediate impact for the Afghan people.

21:05 For instance, we don't want to be engaged in nation building,

21:08 where we're trying to take responsibility for every function of a government that needs a long time,

21:13 I think, to re-establish its ability to deliver basic services, but what we do want to do is target our assistance in areas

21:19 that can make the most immediate impact for the Afghan people.

21:22 And one of those, for instance, is agriculture.

21:24 Agriculture has long been a staple of Afghanistan's economy.

21:28 It's been what they use to not only feed themselves, but to create exports that they can send abroad to grow their economy.

21:35 So we've developed a robust civilian capacity.

21:38 We have a lot of American agricultural experts, for instance, in Afghanistan.

21:42 We're helping them to develop those crops that can feed their families, feed their communities,

21:47 and get Afghanistan back on its feet.

21:50 It's a huge challenge.

21:51 It's complicated even further by the fact that Afghanistan has a drug trade.

21:55 So what we're trying to do is encourage local farmers to grow crops that aren't feeding that drug trade.

22:03 And that, of course, has to be factored into this strategy.

22:05 But when you talk about the relationships that you mentioned, those tribal relationships, those local relationships that are so important,

22:11 that's what we're focused on, is the kind of assistance can reach ordinary Afghans, make a difference in their lives,

22:18 while on a complementary basis we're providing more security for them.

22:23 Because if there's no security in these communities, then there's never going to be a capacity for them to rebuild

22:28 the kind of economic development that they need to sustain themselves over time.

22:33 So we can't do it all ourselves.

22:35 We can't put Afghanistan back on its feet all by ourselves, but what we can do as we carry out our military strategy

22:40 is, in a complementary sense, improve the governance and development capacity that can have Afghanistan sustain itself

22:46 as we begin to draw down our own presence.

22:49 Great.

22:50 Okay.

22:51 Brian, our next question is for you.

22:54 It comes from Sean in New York, who simply asks,

22:58 what are you doing to bring manufacturing back to the United States?

23:03 That's a great question.

23:05 And it's one that we spend a lot of time focusing on.

23:08 I would say that after several years of a manufacturing industry that has been really battered in the U.S.,

23:19 we are starting to see some positive signs, some indications of a manufacturing leveling off.

23:29 And for the last several months, we've actually seen expansion in the manufacturing sector.

23:34 And today, we received news that the manufacturing sector added jobs last month.

23:41 That's the first time in a while that's happened.

23:44 Obviously, we have a long way to go.

23:47 And the manufacturing sector faces a lot of challenges.

23:51 And so we are looking at that issue across several areas.

23:56 First is identifying how to transition and help our manufacturing sector move into the 21st century.

24:06 So we know that the manufacturing sector of the last century is not going to replicate itself in this century.

24:13 We operate in a global economy.

24:16 We operate in an economy where technology is rapidly changing the way that we make things.

24:22 The fundamental question is how can we continue using the skills that we have as the American economy

24:31 to figure out how we can continue to lead and continue to make things here in this country.

24:36 Clean energy.

24:38 I'll just take one example as an area where we think that there is great promise for American manufacturing.

24:44 Right now, we're seeing substantial growth in a number of areas like building the components that go into wind turbines,

24:51 building the components that go into solar installations, and building advanced batteries as well.

25:02 So we are focusing on targeted ways the government can help private businesses and help the private sector expand those operations.

25:11 Some of that is through tax incentives.

25:14 Ensure that we are providing companies opportunities to benefit if they locate their operations here.

25:21 In the Recovery Act, we passed a program that provides a 30 percent tax credit for companies that build renewable manufacturing

25:29 here in the United States.

25:31 That's something that's important, can encourage companies to invest.

25:35 Another is helping our companies think about how they can access global markets

25:40 because in areas like clean energy where the global market for goods is growing,

25:47 we want to make sure that our companies are exploiting those opportunities

25:51 and gaining greater market share abroad because that gives them a chance to expand higher workers and have more jobs here.

26:00 So we are looking at how to give our companies access to those markets,

26:04 how to make sure that other countries are playing by the rules of our global trading system

26:10 to ensure that they are not putting our companies at a competitive disadvantage.

26:14 All of these steps are things that can help ensure that we have a strong renewable manufacturing base in this country.

26:22 The President often says that while we can't look back and we can't go back to the way things were,

26:30 we cannot have an America where we don't make things here in this country.

26:36 Manufacturing is a lot about who we are as Americans.

26:40 It's also a lot about powering our economy forward.

26:42 It's a sector of the economy that is often more productive, more innovative,

26:46 and where a lot of the ideas that then help the services sector grow as well come from.

26:52 So a lot of these specific steps that we're taking we're going to continue taking,

26:56 but manufacturing ensuring that we have a strong manufacturing sector in this country is a real priority for us.

27:04 Great. Thanks. Heather, the next question is for you.

27:07 It comes from CB in New York. This was a question we got through the YouTube program.

27:16 The price of prescription medicine is outrageous.

27:19 What are you going to do to lower the cost of prescriptions and possibly cap the prices?

27:23 It's a good question, CB.

27:26 One of the most important reasons for the President's effort on health reform

27:31 is to address the spiraling cost of healthcare, and that includes prescription drugs.

27:36 There are several key elements in the package that the House and Senate have passed

27:42 that would address the cost of prescription drugs.

27:44 One thing that's very important that a lot of people have been focused on is something called the Donut Hole,

27:49 and that's a coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug program.

27:52 We can't tell who will do our from the question that you submitted,

27:56 but we have an issue within some of our existing programs as well as just the cost of prescription drugs

28:01 that are rising under health insurance now.

28:03 And so the health reform package contains several different ways to try to address that,

28:08 including within Medicaid and Medicare.

28:10 But really the issue driving healthcare reform is about the exorbitant cost of healthcare

28:18 and how it's rising and making it very unaffordable.

28:20 Just yesterday the President talked about a campaign volunteer that those of us who worked on the campaign

28:26 and work here now heard the story and were very moved by it.

28:29 She was a very, very active volunteer in the campaign in St. Louis, Missouri,

28:33 and she came down with breast cancer and she only had a health insurance policy

28:39 that she referred to as get hit by a bus coverage.

28:43 It wouldn't cover things like routine exams and when she was diagnosed with breast cancer,

28:46 it was too late and she just recently passed away, which was really tragic.

28:49 And the reason that the President invoked this woman in her commitment was that she was fighting for healthcare reform

28:55 and to advocate for it, even before she herself became sick,

29:00 she was fighting for it not just for herself but for others.

29:03 And that's really the motivation that we've had the President's had in moving health reform forward

29:08 and dealing with the high prices, whether it's the prescription drugs, whether it's deductibles,

29:12 whether it's the premiums, whether it's access to care at all is critically important.

29:16 So the cost of prescription drugs is very important and there's different mechanisms to address that,

29:21 but really the big issue here of healthcare costs in general is what's driving a lot of our work in this area.

29:28 Great.

29:29 So we're going to answer two more questions.

29:32 I want to give heads up.

29:33 We're going to do a video question as the second question here, but the first will be for Brian,

29:38 which comes from C.K. and Cincinnati, who says, Mr. President,

29:44 I'm hoping that you can clarify some of the statements you made during the State of the Union.

29:48 How can you do a spending freeze and a job plan at the same time?

29:53 That's a great question.

29:54 It's a great question.

29:56 And we face a really tough challenge in their current economy.

30:03 We have pulled back from the brink of what really could have been a depression just about a year ago.

30:11 Our economy is growing again, but we haven't brought job growth back.

30:17 And so there are, for millions of American families, what feels like a technical expansion,

30:23 or what is a technical expansion, continues to feel like a recession.

30:27 And so in the immediate term, that has to be our priority.

30:30 At the same time, when we came into office, we inherited a deficit that was over a trillion dollars.

30:38 It accumulated over a long period of time.

30:41 A lot of the result of decisions made in Washington to not be fiscally responsible and not pay for the things that were done.

30:52 But as a result, we have this twin challenge over the long term, a deficit that is unsustainable.

30:58 So what the President has said is that we need to tackle both at the same time.

31:03 What that means is, in the short term, immediately, we need to make investments to create jobs.

31:09 That's what you heard from the President at the State of the Union.

31:11 And in the past week, the President has been out at event after event talking about specific proposals to help small businesses,

31:19 hire employees, bring on new jobs, make new investments immediately.

31:24 We're hopeful that the Senate is going to act on a jobs bill very soon,

31:30 and the President wants to sign additional jobs legislation into law without delay.

31:35 But at the same time, we don't believe that we can wait to start to take the tough steps that will need to be taken down the road

31:42 to rein in the deficit and ensure that we retain a level of confidence in our economy and our economic stewardship.

31:51 That's what the freeze is about.

31:53 It's saying starting in the fiscal year 2011 that we should freeze discretionary spending,

32:00 the spending that's outside of that which we spend on national security, including veterans,

32:07 that we should freeze it for three years.

32:09 So in the immediate term, we make some investments that will help job growth get going.

32:15 But as we move forward, we have to live within those means and not continue to spend beyond that.

32:23 One important final point, though, is when you freeze spending overall, that doesn't mean that you freeze absolutely everything.

32:31 What it means is you make some investments somewhere and you cut back in other places.

32:36 What it is fundamentally is a disciplining tool.

32:40 It says you've got to live within your means, and if you're going to make an investment,

32:43 for example, the President has talked about some very substantial, in fact, historic investments that he wants to make an education

32:50 because he sees it as a priority.

32:52 But the President has to be accountable.

32:53 If he's going to make those investments going forward over the medium term,

32:57 he's also got to show the American people what government programs he's going to cut back,

33:01 what education programs he's going to consolidate or eliminate because they're not working.

33:06 So we believe you can't wait to show how we're going to impose that discipline on ourselves going forward.

33:12 But we believe that, you know, the strategy, it's not easy, but it's exactly what we need to address the economic crisis.

33:20 Okay?

33:21 So our last question's a video.

33:23 Let's give it a second to queue up, and then I'll play it for you guys.

33:27 Good?

33:28 Okay.

33:29 President Obama's clear nuclear weapons to be the greatest angel to the American people

33:33 and rescated his support for a world without nuclear weapons.

33:37 So we want to know what actions you will take in the next three years to move the world decisively.

33:45 Will you declare clearly the new nuclear weapons under any name or guise?

33:51 You can't get to zero by adding to an already bloated stop.

34:01 Thanks.

34:01 Well, it's a great question.

34:04 The President has made reversing the spread of nuclear weapons a centerpiece of his national security policy.

34:12 And what he has also said is we must seek the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons,

34:18 understanding that we're not going to reach that goal any time soon.

34:21 But that the only way you can enforce non-proliferation regimes around the world,

34:27 the only way that you can mobilize efforts to secure all loose nuclear materials so they can never fall into the hands of terrorists,

34:33 the only way that you can secure the United States is if you're moving in the direction of zero.

34:40 We have a number of steps that are already in motion and several more that we plan to pursue within the next three years

34:47 as you identify to pursue that goal.

34:50 First of all, we're completing a treaty, a negotiations for a treaty with Russia that will be the farthest-reaching arms-controlled treaty

34:57 in nearly 20 years.

34:59 This would be a follow-on to the START treaty.

35:02 And what this will do is dramatically reduce our stockpile and nuclear weapons launchers

35:07 so that Russia and the United States is by far and away the two largest nuclear powers are not retaining bloated Cold War era stockpiles,

35:14 but rather we're moving in the direction of smaller stockpiles and warhead launchers.

35:19 That will be a critical step in reinvigorating non-proliferation efforts, disarmament efforts around the world.

35:27 Secondly, the President is committed to pursuing ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

35:33 This would be a treaty that's long that dates, frankly, all the way back the original idea for it to the time of President Kennedy,

35:40 but the world has never fully come behind it.

35:43 President Obama wants to reinvigorate that effort.

35:46 This would ban the testing of any new nuclear weapons, which would obviously provide a very important tool

35:50 in restricting the further proliferation of these weapons around the world.

35:55 Thirdly, we're seeking a global treaty that would ban the production of the fissile material that is needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

36:03 So, as you see, it's putting in place different blocks, banning testing of these weapons,

36:07 also banning production of the kinds of material, fissile material that is necessary to build nuclear weapons.

36:13 So these are several steps that are part of a broad non-proliferation agenda

36:17 that will move towards a smaller stockpile and move towards that ultimate goal of no nuclear weapons.

36:22 Now, within that, we're also taking other steps concurrently to secure the American people from this threat.

36:29 In April, we'll have a Nuclear Security Summit, which will bring 44 nations together here in Washington,

36:34 to discuss how we're going to reach President Obama's goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within four years.

36:42 The problem here is that you have facilities, material that aren't entirely secure in different parts of the world.

36:48 We know, for instance, terrorists are trying to acquire these weapons, and if they could ever use it, of course, it would possibly have catastrophic consequences.

36:56 So this is the first order of business, to get countries to take measures to secure all of this material.

37:01 Secondly, though, we need to strengthen the non-proliferation treaty, which is a treaty that is in place to stop the spread of these weapons,

37:11 and again, to move towards that goal of a world without them.

37:13 This treaty has three components.

37:16 It's basically a deal that was entered into by all the signatories of this treaty several decades ago.

37:22 And it says, number one, all nations that don't currently have nuclear weapons will not pursue them.

37:27 Number two, all nations that do have nuclear weapons will move towards disarmament, which is why it's so important for the United States to lead,

37:33 as President Obama is, towards this goal of no nuclear weapons.

37:37 And third, that all nations will have the right to peaceful nuclear power.

37:42 So right now, we're trying to reinvigorate that treaty, because that's the tool that is in place, for instance,

37:47 to hold accountable nations like Iran or North Korea who violate that treaty by pursuing a nuclear weapon.

37:53 And so what we've said is we're keeping our end of the bargain.

37:56 We're moving in the direction of reducing our nuclear stockpiles, but Iran and North Korea and countries like that

38:03 are not allowed to break the rules and must be held accountable, for instance, to do stronger sanctions when they do.

38:08 So we're seeking to strengthen the MPT as a fundamental basis of non-proliferation around the world.

38:15 Lastly, into your question about our own stockpile and how we maintain it, the President has said, of course,

38:19 as long as nuclear weapons do exist, the United States must maintain a credible deterrent for ourselves and for our allies.

38:27 We're not going to unilaterally disarm. This is going to be a process done globally.

38:30 So we'll be maintaining that stockpile in order to defend the American people.

38:34 We'll be coming out with a nuclear posture review in the next month or two that will address your question,

38:41 which gets right to the matter of, again, how do we maintain our stockpile in an incredible way over time to ensure that we have a deterrent.

38:52 So I don't want to get ahead of that release, but what I will say is that the President will be taking a whole range of steps again

38:58 to reduce our stockpiles, to ban testing, to restrict the production of this material, to secure loose nuclear materials around the world,

39:05 and to rally the world to stop their spread to additional nations so that the American people are protected from this threat.

39:11 Great. Okay. Well, that concludes today's chat. I really appreciate all of you joining in.

39:19 And the video of this chat will be available at WhiteHouse.gov, so share it with your friends.

39:23 And we'll look forward to doing more of these. And for those of you in the D.C. area, hope you enjoy the snow this weekend

39:29 and stay warm and safe. And for all of you, have a great weekend, and we will see you again soon. Thank you.