English subtitles for clip: File:2010-11-06 President Obama's Weekly Address.ogv

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The President: This week, Americans
across the country cast their votes

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and made their voices heard.

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And your message was clear.

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You're rightly frustrated with
the pace of our economic recovery.

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So am I.

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You're fed up with partisan
politics and want results.

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I do too.

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So I congratulate all this week's winners --

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Republicans, Democrats, and
Independents.

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But now, the campaign season is
over.

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And it's time to focus on our
shared responsibilities to work

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together and deliver those
results: speeding up our

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economic recovery, creating
jobs,

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and strengthening the middle
class so that the American Dream

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feels like it's back within
reach.

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That's why I've asked to sit
down soon with leaders of both

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parties so that we can have an
extended discussion about what

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we can do together to move this
country forward.

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And over the next few weeks,
we're going to have a chance to

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work together in the brief
upcoming session of Congress.

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Here's why this lame-duck
session is so important.

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Early in the last decade,
President Bush and Congress

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enacted a series of tax cuts
that were designed to expire at

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the end of this year.

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What that means is, if Congress
doesn't act by New Year's Eve,

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middle-class families will see
their taxes go up starting on

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New Year's Day.

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But the last thing we should do
is raise taxes on middle-class families.

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For the past decade, they saw
their costs rise,

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their incomes fall, and too many
jobs go overseas.

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They're the ones bearing the
brunt of the recession.

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They're the ones having trouble
making ends meet.

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They're the ones who need
relief right now.

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So something's got to be done.

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And I believe there's room for
us to compromise and get it done together.

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Let's start where we agree.

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All of us want certainty for
middle-class Americans.

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None of us want them to wake up
on January 1st with a higher tax bill.

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And that's why I believe
we should permanently extend the

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Bush tax cuts for all families
making less than $250,000 a year.

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That's 98% of the American
people.

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We also agree on the need to
start cutting spending and

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bringing down our deficit.

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That's going to require everyone
to make some tough choices.

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In fact, if Congress were to
implement my proposal to freeze

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non-security discretionary
spending for three years,

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it would bring this spending
down to its lowest level as a

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share of the economy in 50
years.

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But at a time when we're going
to ask folks across the board to

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make such difficult sacrifices,
I don't see how we can afford to

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borrow an additional $700
billion from other countries to

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make all the Bush tax cuts
permanent,

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even for the wealthiest 2% of
Americans.

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We'd be digging ourselves into
an even deeper fiscal hole and

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passing the burden on to our
children.

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I recognize that both parties
are going to have to work

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together and compromise to get
something done here.

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But I want to make my priorities
clear from the start.

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One: middle class families need
permanent tax relief.

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And two: I believe we can't
afford to borrow and spend

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another $700 billion on
permanent tax cuts for

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millionaires and billionaires.

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There are new public servants in
Washington,

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but we still face the same
challenges.

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And you made it clear that it's
time for results.

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This a great opportunity to show
everyone that we got the message

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and that we're willing, in this
post-election season,

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to come together and do what's
best for the country we all love.

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Thanks.