Robert Gibbs

“ Each of those years would represent roughly a trillion dollars in lost output -- what the economy would produce and what the economy could produce with a significant stimulus.
You could imagine what would happen to our deficit if 5 million more people are applying for unemployment claims -- the money that has to go along with that, the spending that would be involved in that -- as well as what would happen to tax receipts if economic output was, over the course of three years, $3 trillion less than what that economy could produce.
Our failure to act is going to worsen the deficit. ”

“ Obviously, we're in the beginning phases of implementing the recovery and reinvestment plan -- announcement at the Transportation Department today for $28 billion to save or create 150,000 jobs -- a home foreclosure plan, financial stability.
Look, I don't doubt, Jake, that there are some on Wall Street, as I've said before, who would like to wake up, have someone come in, take everything bad, move it over here and let everybody start all over again. And as much as some people may like that, it's not either completely feasible or beneficial to do that. ”

“ Our failure to act and stimulate this economy to create the jobs that are necessary, to lay down those long-term investments, and to provide people with the money they need to meet -- to pay their bills -- if we don't do that, then we're going to see month after month after month continued hurting and pain in the American people. ”

“ Well, as I said, I -- in many ways, my response to the question of the budget -- we have waited for far too long to address health care reform, and we've watched families struggle with it. As the President said during his speech to Congress, a family declares bankruptcy and loses their home every 30 seconds because they get sick. Businesses are struggling with the skyrocketing cost of health care. And the budget -- our budget, state budgets, family budgets, business budgets -- are being overwhelmed by these costs. ”

“ Back to the budget. Through the years, so many Presidents have made the same kinds of promises that this President, this Budget Director, have been making, about cutting waste, going after military cost overruns, farm subsidies. One President's sacrifice always turns out to be somebody's sacred cow on the Hill. ”

“ The point of an economic stimulus plan is to get money into people's hands and into people's pockets so that they use their hand to reach in their pocket and spend that money. That's what a payment like the one we have structured will do because, again, it provides that money out over a period of time where they get used to spending that money every two weeks. ”

“ On health care, a lot of talk in the summit about health care being the number one item for long-term fiscal responsibility, and moving in the direction of health care reform. For people not terribly sophisticated about all this, like me and the average viewers out there, it just seems counterintuitive that you would insure 40-some million people who aren't insured now and that would save money. How are you going to get the long-term deficits under control by health care reform, which means spending more for more people? ”

“ As he said during the campaign, we can disagree without finding ourselves being disagreeable. We can get a piece of legislation that works best for -- not for one political party and not -- the wisdom of each idea shouldn't just be that of one political party, but instead something that works for the American people and, most importantly, something that puts the American people back to work. ”

“ First of all, I believe that if -- the latest statistics based on the economic reports show that 90 percent of these jobs are private-sector jobs. No doubt there are public sector jobs, whether it's police officers or teachers, that are important to our long-term economic growth, that actions that we take or don't take will have a negative impact on whether or not those jobs continue. But obviously, and you saw last week with the CEOs that met with the President, that -- or small business owners -- those are the jobs that are going to fuel an economic recovery, not public sector jobs. ”

“ What we talked about yesterday on Capitol Hill was not one thing or one aspect that will solve our economic crisis, but instead, how an economic recovery and reinvestment plan, a financial stability package, and a reregulation package all together can help move the economy forward. ”

“ I don't think the effort slows down for health care reform, and I think Senator Daschle and others would admit that the effort is far bigger than any one individual. It's so important, it encompasses so much of our economy, and we understand that the system that we currently have whereby Americans pay more for health care and get less from it than virtually any industrialized country on the planet underscores that this is bigger than any one group or any individual. ”

“ If the best way to demonstrate for the American people that you're going to make the investments in their needs, do so honestly by accounting for paying for our endeavors in Iraq and Afghanistan, budgeting for future natural disasters, I think there's certainly every opportunity for any member of Congress to put forward a complete budget that demonstrates in full transparency exactly how they'd like to see it done. ”

“ We are -- the plan evaluates the health and the condition of individual financial institutions, again, to understand what's needed, to understand their health, and to ultimately, again, restore that confidence. And primarily, first and foremost, there's a dramatic expansion that provides -- that will provide lending for the entities that we know need it most. We all hear horror stories about people with good credit that are looking for a student loan, or for an auto loan, or for a housing or commercial real estate loan that can't get access to that capital. ”

“ Well, look, there's no doubt that the economy is, as the President has talked about extensively, in very bad shape. It's a crisis that spreads not just in this country, but throughout the world. I think a lot of the news today stems from bad news overseas, economically.
But the President believes, and the team is working hard every day to do all that we can to get the economy moving again. That's why we demanded that Congress work expeditiously on a Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that we're now in a process of beginning to implement. ”

“ I don't think any reasonable economist would also demonstrate for you that that's a long-term path towards sustained economic growth; that we have businesses and families that deal with the rising costs of health care; we have schools that aren't preparing our children and our students to compete in that economy, not just with people in different cities in this country but with kids all across the world ”

“ So is there any sort of logic or rationale for the sequencing of the rollout, for example, starting with the stimulus plan, then doing the housing plan, then the financial rescue plan, which might be the hardest for Americans to swallow? Is the President giving Americans something that they most want first, holding the plan that's least palatable for last? ”

“ But tell me which business is going to borrow money to expand, to add jobs, to do stem cell research, that can't find the people either coming out of college today or graduate school to do those jobs. ”

“ Well, let me -- let me describe for you what the President is -- is thinking and what he's saying, which is -- I think you see an energized President fighting on behalf of 3.6 million Americans who have lost their jobs since this recession began in 2007. I think you've seen somebody who is warning of the consequences of not acting swiftly, not acting in the size and scope to meet the challenges that millions of Americans face. Any President facing the kind of economic crisis that we are had better be energized on behalf of the American people. ”

“ Because -- if I could just follow up -- to be more precise in my question, isn't it true that the people who we're talking about raising their taxes, people who make more than a quarter million dollars a year, whether it's going from 35 to 39.6, or the hedge fund managers going from 15 to 35 or 39.6, or capital gains taxes going from 15 to 20 -- that these are the people who will invest to create the new jobs, and at a time of recession, taking their money and giving it to the government or giving it to other people actually could impede the cause of job growth? ”

“ Today the President and Kathleen Sebelius both mentioned bipartisanship on the health care -- on health care work. But in the event -- and with the stimulus, both parties had the basic idea that money needed to be spent, taxes needed to be cut to stimulate the economy. On health care, it seems that the parties are fundamentally at odds, that the Republicans are still pressing for a much more market-based approach, not a government-organized health care system. So how do you get bipartisanship on health care? ”

“ What the budget does do -- sort of -- some of the things that the budget does, in terms of changing tax rates, it's important for people to understand, affect people that are -- if they're single, if they make $200,000 a year or more, or a family that makes $250,000 a year or more, it doesn't even affect them. There's not a member of Congress that makes $200,000 a year or more.
The budget contains a provision that closes the loophole that provides tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas. ”

“ Talking about tomorrow on education, the administration's critics say that, you know, there's a house on fire; that the economy, you know, needs, for example, a functioning credit market and there's still not a fully functioning plan for getting toxic assets off the books. Why should the President be talking something -- about something that admittedly would be, you know, important for future generations to improve education in America, when there's a house on fire right now? ”

“ Well, I think my first advice would be to read the budget. I think if you look at the plan that the President rolled out and the plan that the President got through Congress for economic recovery, you'll see tax cuts for 95 percent of working families. You'll see a plan that cuts a deficit that was completely out of control in half over four years, provides tax cuts, again, for 95 percent of working families, institutes some fairness, gets our economy going again.
It is always interesting to see the religion some groups get when someone new comes to town. ”

“ I think most people in America understand that unless we educate our children and create the workforce that's necessary and needed to support some of the industries that we hope will flourish in an economic recovery -- it's going to take a highly skilled, highly educated workforce -- that those things -- many of those things are connected. Again, I think the American people can be assured that the President spends the vast majority of his time thinking and working on the economy. ”

“ When you say that the President asked Chairman Bernanke for some of his view of where the economy is going over the next few years, is that a reflection that maybe now the President thinks it is to be a matter of many years before there is real sign of improvement? And does he agree with Warren Buffett, who says that the economy has dropped off a cliff? ”