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  • Hello, Michigan! (Applause.) Go Blue! (Applause.) This is a good-looking crowd. (Applause.)

  • Just happy to be out of class. (Applause.) I'm sure that's not true. I'm sure these are

  • all outstanding students. (Applause.) Good to see you.

  • First of all, give Mira a big round of applause for the great introduction. (Applause.) I

  • want to say thanks to your president, Mary Sue Coleman, for her years of outstanding

  • leadership here at Michigan. (Applause.) We've got a few other Michigan leaders who are here

  • today. We've got Congressman John Conyers. (Applause.) We've got Congressman Gary Peters.

  • (Applause.) We've got your mayor, John Hieftje. (Applause.) Former Congressman Mark Schauer.

  • (Applause.) Your Congressman, the legendary John Dingell, could not make it, but his wife

  • Debbie is here. Give her a big round of applause. (Applause.)

  • Now, most importantly I know to all of you, we've got some Wolverines in the house here.

  • (Applause.) We've got Greg Robinson III. (Applause.) We've got Jordan Morgan. (Applause.) We've

  • got Big Ten Player of the Year, Nik Stauskas. (Applause.) And we've got quarterback, Devin

  • Gardner. (Applause.) These guys were outstanding this year. Give them a bigger round of applause

  • than that. (Applause.)

  • You guys had a great run. That last game was as good of a game as we've seen the entire

  • season. I know you wish that that turned out a little bit later -- if you'd had five more

  • seconds, it would have been helpful. (Laughter.) But I wanted to congratulate the coach, Coach

  • Beilein, and the team for a great season. (Applause.)

  • And I understand that Jordan wanted me to talk about my bracket. (Laughter.) My bracket

  • is a mess. (Laughter.) I've learned my lesson -- I will not pick against the Wolverines.

  • (Applause.) It's not going to happen. This is the problem with doing these brackets -- people

  • just trash-talk you non-stop. (Laughter.) It's terrible.

  • And I think it's worth mentioning, I want to congratulate Jordan for playing more games

  • at Michigan than any other player in history -- not only earning an undergraduate degree

  • in engineering -- (applause) -- pursuing a graduate degree in engineering as well. That's

  • the kind of student athlete we're talking about. (Applause.)

  • Now, do some of you guys have chairs? Because if you've got chairs, feel free to sit down.

  • But if you don't, don't sit down, because I don't want you getting hurt.

  • Before I came here today, I stopped at Zingerman's, which is the -- (applause) -- which is the

  • right thing to do when you're in Ann Arbor. (Laughter.) I stopped for two reasons. The

  • first is the Reuben is killer. (Laughter.) So I ordered like the small -- (laughter)

  • -- and it didn't look that small. So I gave half to Valerie Jarrett, who's traveling with

  • us. And then after I finished the half, I wanted the half back. (Laughter.) But it was

  • too late. All she had left was the pickle. (Laughter.) So I took the pickle. (Laughter.)

  • So one of the reasons I went was because the sandwiches are outstanding. The second reason,

  • though, is Zingerman's is a business that treats its workers well, and rewards honest

  • work with honest wages. (Applause.) And that's worth celebrating. And that's what I'm here

  • to talk about today: How do we rebuild an economy that creates jobs and opportunities

  • for every American? And I want to focus on something a lot of people in Michigan are

  • working very hard to accomplish right now, and that is raising the minimum wage to help

  • more folks get ahead. (Applause.)

  • Now, here's the context. Our economy is doing better. It's growing. Our businesses are creating

  • jobs -- 8.7 million new jobs over the past four years. (Applause.) Our manufacturing

  • sector, which had been losing jobs throughout the '90s and throughout the -- what do you

  • call it -- aughts? (Laughter.) You know, the 2000 to 2010, whatever you call that. (Laughter.)

  • But manufacturing had been losing jobs -- about a third of manufacturing had lost -- and obviously

  • that hit Michigan really hard. But we're now seeing the manufacturing sector add jobs for

  • the first time since the 1990s. So that is good news. (Applause.)

  • The housing market is recovering. Obviously the stock market has recovered, which means

  • people's 401(k)s, if they have them, are doing a lot better.

  • Troops that were fighting two wars, they're coming home. (Applause.) We just went through

  • the first month since 2003 where no U.S. soldier was killed in either Afghanistan or Iraq.

  • (Applause.)

  • Today you've got companies looking to invest in the U.S. instead of sending jobs overseas.

  • They want to create more jobs and invest right here in the United States. We're more competitive.

  • We're more productive.

  • Oh, and by the way, 7.1 million Americans have now signed up for coverage through the

  • Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. (Applause.) That's a lot of people -- 7.1.

  • That's enough to fill up The Big House 65 times. (Applause.) And by the way, that doesn't

  • count the more than 3 million young people who have been able to stay on their parents'

  • plans. (Applause.) So we have seniors here who graduate and then it may take a couple

  • months to find a job, or you're doing an internship or something that does not provide health

  • care, you're going to be covered until you get that job that actually provides health

  • insurance. So it provides you the kind of protection you need. (Applause.)

  • So that's the good news. We fought back from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes.

  • We've laid the foundation for America's future growth. But here's the problem: There's been

  • a long-term trend that has really been hitting middle-class folks and folks trying to get

  • into the middle class, and that's been going on since before most of you were born. The

  • economy increasingly has folks at the top doing really well, but then middle-class families,

  • people who are struggling to get into the middle class, they're working harder, but

  • their wages, their incomes aren't going up.

  • And we're a better country than that. In America, we do not believe in opportunity just for

  • the few. We believe that everybody should have a chance at success. Everybody. (Applause.)

  • And we believe our economy grows best not from the top down, but from the middle out,

  • and from the bottom up. (Applause.) And we want to make sure that no matter where you're

  • born, what circumstances, how you started out, what you look like, what your last name

  • is, who you love -- it doesn't matter, you can succeed. That's what we believe. (Applause.)

  • We believe that what matters is the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams

  • and our willingness to take responsibility for ourselves, but also for ourselves. That's

  • what America is about. That's the promise that this country is built on. And for the

  • sake of your generation, we got to make sure that that continues to be the case; that that's

  • not just something we're nostalgic about; that that's something that we project out

  • into the future.

  • So I had a State of the Union a while back and I laid out a four-part Opportunity Agenda

  • to make sure everybody has a shot. And that starts with something I know graduating seniors

  • are thinking about: More good jobs paying good wages; jobs in high-tech and manufacturing

  • and energy and innovation. And there are things we can do to create jobs -- rebuilding our

  • infrastructure in this country, investing in R&D, closing wasteful loopholes that don't

  • create jobs. So we're providing tax breaks to companies that are creating jobs right

  • here in the United States. Those are things we can do right now.

  • Opportunity means training more Americans for the skills needed to fill those jobs.

  • We got to make sure everybody is ready with the skills they need. Not everybody is going

  • to be lucky enough to be a Wolverine and graduate from Michigan. (Applause.) But everybody can

  • get a good, solid base so that they can have a job and a career.

  • Opportunity means guaranteeing every young people access to a world-class education,

  • and that's got to start with pre-K, all the way through higher education. (Applause.)

  • And it means making college more affordable. (Applause.)

  • Some of you may not know this, but before a lot of you even entered college, we took

  • on the student loan system. It was giving billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks

  • to serve as middlemen in the student loan process. We said, why do we need the banks?

  • We cut them out. We used the savings that were generated, billions of dollars, to expand

  • the grants that help millions of low-income students pay for college. And we're offering

  • millions of students who are graduating the chance to cap monthly student loan payments

  • at 10 percent of your income. (Applause.)

  • This is something you need to talk to your counselors about, especially if you're going

  • into teaching or social work, or other professions where it's a passion but you're not going

  • to be an investment banker salary situation. So make sure you find out about this. You

  • can cap -- I mean, I know Stauskas has got the contract coming up, so he'll -- (laughter)

  • -- he doesn't have to worry about these things. But I'm saying later -- I'm not telling him

  • to leave. (Laughter.) I wasn't editorializing on that. (Laughter.)

  • My point is we got to make sure that everybody can afford to do things that may not pay huge

  • sums of money but are really valuable to society.

  • And the good news is more young people are earning college degrees than ever before.

  • But we've still got to do more work to rein in tuition costs. I talked to your president

  • about this. And we got to help more students who are trapped by student loan debt -- because

  • this country cannot afford striving young people to be priced out of a higher education.

  • Everybody has got to be able to afford it. (Applause.)

  • Finally, opportunity means rewarding the hard work of every American -- not just some Americans,

  • every American. That means making sure that folks are paid equal for doing equal work.

  • (Applause.) I do not want my daughters paid less than somebody else's sons for doing the

  • same job. (Applause.)

  • It means making sure that there are decent benefits and, at minimum, that every American

  • has access to quality, affordable health insurance. It means paychecks and wages that allow you

  • to support a family.

  • All of which brings me back to this issue of the minimum wage, giving America a raise.

  • Now, raising the minimum wage is not going to solve all of our economic challenges. The

  • majority of folks who are working get paid more than the minimum wage. As Americans we

  • understand that some people will earn more than others. But here's one thing we do believe:

  • Nobody who works full-time should be raising their family in poverty, right? (Applause.)

  • If you're working, if you're responsible, you should be able to pay the rent, pay the

  • bills. (Applause.)

  • But that's what's happening right now. All across the country, you can work full-time

  • on the minimum wage and still be in poverty. And that's why, in the year since I first

  • asked Congress to raise the minimum wage, we've seen six states on their own pass laws

  • to raise their minimum wage. Last week, Connecticut became the first state in the country to raise

  • its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. (Applause.) Congratulations, Connecticut.

  • You've got more states and counties and cities that are working to raise their minimum wage

  • as we speak. That includes your state legislators from Ann Arbor -- Adam Zemke and Jeff Irwin

  • -- who are trying to raise it here in Michigan. (Applause.) We're proud of them. Stand up,

  • guys. Come on. There they are. (Applause.) See, I used to be in the state legislature,

  • so I was kind of partial to -- (laughter.)

  • But raising wages is not just a job for organizers, it's not just a job for elected officials,

  • it's also a job for business. It was here in Michigan 100 years ago that Henry Ford

  • announced he was doubling his workers' wages. And at the time, some of his fellow business

  • leaders thought he had lost his mind. But Henry Ford understood it was going to be good

  • for business. Not only did it boost productivity, not only did it reduce turnover, not only

  • did it make employees more loyal to the company, but it meant that the workers could afford

  • to buy the cars that they were building. (Applause.) So you were building -- so by paying your

  • workers more, you were building your own market for your products.

  • And hugely successful companies today, like Costco, they take the same approach. And it's

  • not just big businesses; small businesses, too. In my State of the Union address, I called

  • on more business leaders to boost their employees' wages, give them a fair wage. And since then,

  • you've seen businesses across the country -- small ones, like an ice cream parlor in

  • Florida, to a marketing agency in Georgia, to a pizzeria in St. Louis -- they've all

  • said, you know what, this is the right thing to do.

  • Recently, the Gap decided to raise its base wages, and that benefited about 65,000 workers

  • in the United States -- and it led me to go shopping at Gap. (Laughter and applause.)

  • Some of you may have seen the very attractive sweaters that I purchased for my daughters.

  • (Laughter.) They have not worn them yet, so if they're listening, make me feel good, just

  • wear it one time. (Laughter.)

  • Now, Zingerman's does not have as many workers as the Gap, obviously, but they try to do

  • right by each and every one of them. You've got some big businesses who go to Washington

  • to lobby for special treatment for themselves. So one of Zingerman's owners, Paul Saginaw,

  • flew to D.C. to lobby for his workers, to lobby for better treatment for workers through

  • a higher minimum wage. (Applause.) That's the kind of folks who are running Zingerman's.

  • Then afterwards, he held a sandwich summit here in Ann Arbor to help build support for

  • Michigan's minimum wage going up. And Paul's point is simple: Fair wages and higher profits

  • are not mutually exclusive; they can go hand-in-hand. That's what Henry Ford understood. And Paul

  • opened Zingerman's doors 32 years ago last month so he knows a little bit about business.

  • But he and business owners like him believe higher wages are good for the bottom line.

  • I happen to believe the same thing. So I decided several months ago that the federal government

  • should follow their lead. And so I issued an executive order that requires federal contractors,

  • folks who are doing business with the government, to pay their employees on new contracts a

  • fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. It's the right thing to do. (Applause.)

  • And I'm determined to do my part to lift wages, improve take-home pay any way I can. My attitude

  • is if you cook our troops' meals, you wash their dishes, your country should pay you

  • a living wage. (Applause.)

  • Now, here's the challenge. What Zingerman's can do on its own, what even I can do as the

  • head of the executive branch of the federal government, that doesn't reach everybody.

  • If we're going to do right by our fellow Americans, we need Congress to get onboard. (Applause.)

  • We've got to have Congress to get onboard. We've got to have state legislators to get

  • onboard. (Applause.) Because even though we're bringing manufacturing jobs back to America,

  • we're creating more good-paying jobs in education and health care and business services, there

  • are always going to be folks who do critical work, who bust their tails every day -- airport

  • workers, restaurant workers, and hospital workers, and retail salespeople -- who deserve

  • an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. They're doing necessary jobs -- they should

  • be able to make a living.

  • So right now there is a bill before Congress that would boost America's minimum wage to

  • $10.10 an hour. It's easy to remember: 10-10. 10-10. Passing this bill would not just raise

  • wages for minimum-wage workers; it would help lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans,

  • including nearly a million people right here in Michigan. It would lift millions of people

  • out of poverty right away. It would help millions more work their way out of poverty right away.

  • (Applause.)

  • It wouldn't require any new taxes. It doesn't require new spending. It doesn't require new

  • bureaucracy. But what it would do is help those families and give businesses more customers

  • with more money to spend. And it would help grow the economy for everybody.

  • So you would think this would be a no-brainer. Politically, you'd think that folks would

  • be rushing to do this. Nearly three in four Americans support raising the minimum wage

  • -- nearly three in four. Here's the problem. Republicans in Congress -- not Republicans

  • out in America, because some of them get paid the minimum wage, so they want to see it raised

  • -- Republicans in Congress don't want to vote to raise it at all. In fact, some want to

  • just scrap the minimum wage. One House Republican said, "It's outlived its usefulness."

  • AUDIENCE: Booo --

  • THE PRESIDENT: No, that's what he said.

  • AUDIENCE PARTICIPANT: Booo --

  • THE PRESIDENT: Don't boo, organize. (Applause.) That's what you need to do, because they may

  • not hear the boos, but they can read a petition and they can see votes. (Applause.)

  • You've got some Republicans saying we shouldn't raise the minimum wage because -- they said

  • this -- because, well, it just helps young people. Now, first of all, I think it's pretty

  • good to help young people. (Applause.) I don't know what's wrong with helping young people.

  • Folks who say that, next thing you know they'll say, "Get off my lawn." (Laughter.) I think

  • it's okay to help young people.

  • But the fact is most people who would benefit from a higher minimum wage are not teenagers

  • taking on their first job. The average age of folks getting paid the minimum wage is

  • 35. A majority of lower-wage jobs are held by women. Many of them work full-time, often

  • to support a family.

  • And, by the way, what's wrong with helping young people get ahead? (Laughter.) Mira puts

  • herself through college on a base wage of less than $3 an hour, because she's working

  • in a restaurant. She works hard -- she does. So we should be making it easier for your

  • generation to gain a foothold on the ladder of opportunity. We shouldn't be making it

  • harder.

  • Now, the truth is the Republicans' refusal so far to raise the minimum wage is pretty

  • consistent with their general worldview -- (laughter) -- which says -- it says basically you're

  • on your own; government doesn't have a role to play in making sure that the marketplace

  • is working for everybody.

  • Just yesterday, Republicans in Congress put forward a budget for the country that I believe

  • would shrink opportunity for your generation. It starts by giving a massive tax cut to households

  • making more than $1 million a year, the very folks who've benefited the most over the last

  • 20 years from this economy that is benefiting people at the top. Then, so they don't blow

  • a hole in the deficit, they'd have to raise taxes on middle-class families with kids.

  • Then they'd force deep cuts to the investments that help our economy grow, like research

  • and clean energy, and investments in middle-class families, like education and job training.

  • When they put these budgets together, usually they don't tell you exactly what they'd cut

  • because they know you wouldn't like it, so you have to kind of do the math. But compared

  • to my budget, if they cut everything evenly in the amount that they're talking about,

  • within a few years about 170,000 kids would get cut from early childhood education. About

  • 200,000 new moms and children would get cut off from the programs that help them to get

  • healthy food. Funding for 21,000 special education teachers would be cut off. And if they wanted

  • to make smaller cuts in any of these -- in any one of these areas, they'd have to make

  • bigger cuts in others. It even cuts Pell grants, which makes it harder for students to pay

  • for a college education.

  • Now, to give them credit, they do have one original idea, which is to repeal Obamacare

  • -- (laughter) -- because they haven't tried that 50 times. (Applause.) Fifty times they've

  • tried to do that. (Laughter.) So that means they would take away health coverage not only

  • for more than 7 million Americans who've done the responsible thing, signed up, bought health

  • care for themselves and their families, but for the 3 million young adults who've been

  • able to stay on their parents' plan under this law. What I just told you about being

  • able to stay on your parent's plan -- the Republicans don't like that.

  • And their budget guts the rules we put in place to protect middle-class families from

  • another financial crisis like the one that we've endured. So if this all sounds familiar,

  • it should be familiar because it was their economic plan in the 2012 campaign, it was

  • their economic plan in 2010. It's like that movie Groundhog Day -- (laughter) -- except

  • it's not funny. (Applause.) If they tried to sell this sandwich at Zingerman's, they'd

  • have to call it the Stinkburger, or the Meanwich. (Laughter and applause.)

  • Look, here's the truth. They're not necessarily cold-hearted, they just sincerely believe

  • that if we give more tax breaks to a fortunate few and we invest less in the middle class,

  • and we reduce or eliminate the safety net for the poor and the sick, and we cut food

  • stamps, and we cut Medicaid, and we let banks and polluters and credit card companies and

  • insurers do only what's best for their bottom line without the responsibility to the rest

  • of us, then somehow the economy will boom, and jobs and prosperity will trickle down

  • to everybody.

  • And when I say it that way, I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating -- except I'm not. This

  • is their theory. They're pretty unabashed about it. And it's not a new theory. They've

  • held it for decades, through good times and bad. They were making the same argument against

  • FDR when he was setting up Social Security.

  • And, look, it does create opportunity for a handful of people who are already doing

  • really, really well. But we believe in opportunity for everybody. More good jobs for everybody.

  • More workers to fill those jobs. (Applause.) A world-class education for everybody. Hard

  • work that pays off with wages you can live on and savings you can retire on and health

  • care you can count on. That's what "opportunity for all" means. (Applause.) That's what it

  • means.

  • Now, next week, members of Congress have a fresh chance to show which side they're on.

  • They're going to get a yes or no vote on raising the minimum wage all across this country.

  • And they've got to make a clear choice: Talk the talk about valuing hardworking families,

  • or walk the walk and actually value hardworking families. (Applause.) You've got a choice.

  • You can give America the shaft, or you can give it a raise. (Applause.)

  • Here in Michigan, your Senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow -- (applause) -- your

  • Representatives, John Dingell and John Conyers and Gary Peters, they are already onboard.

  • But every American deserves to know where their elected representatives stand on this

  • choice. So those of you -- if you're going back home for spring break or something or

  • -- did that already happen, spring break?

  • AUDIENCE: Yes!

  • THE PRESIDENT: I'm sorry. (Laughter.) Everybody is all, aw, yeah. (Laughter.) Well, I hope

  • you had a good time. (Laughter.) But if you have the chance to talk to a congressman who's

  • not supporting it, you need to ask him, do you support raising the minimum wage to $10.10

  • an hour? If they say yes, then you should say thank you -- (laughter) -- because elected

  • officials do not hear that very often. When they do the right thing, you should reward

  • them.

  • AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you, President Obama!

  • THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

  • Now, if they say no, you shouldn't yell at them. Be polite. Ask them why not. Ask them

  • to reconsider. Tell them to join the rest of the country. For once, instead of just

  • saying no, say yes. It's time for $10.10. It's time to give America a raise.

  • And as I'm looking out at all of you I'm reminded, four years ago I had the privilege of delivering

  • the commencement address at the university, over in the big stadium. (Applause.) And I

  • said our democracy, it's always been noisy, it's always been messy. We have big arguments.

  • But in the end, we've always had the ability to look past our differences and our disagreements

  • and forge a common future. And we've got common values -- hard work, responsibility, pursuing

  • your individual dreams.

  • What the argument is right now about is whether we also affirm the values that make sure we've

  • giving everybody a chance; making sure our fellow citizens can also pursue their dreams;

  • that we're not just looking out for ourselves all the time, but we're also looking out for

  • the person next to you. That's also what America is about. That's what we have to do again.

  • We've got more jobs to create. We've got more kids to educate. We've got more clean energy

  • to create. (Applause.) We've got more troops to bring home. We got more veterans to care

  • for. We got an immigration system we got to fix. (Applause.) We got to build a middle

  • class. We got to give opportunity for everybody who strives for it. We got to make sure everybody

  • -- black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, with or without a disability,

  • folks in the inner city, folks outside the borders of the city -- everybody has got a

  • chance. (Applause.) America is a place for everybody. That's what we're fighting for.

  • That's what I need you to go out there and talk about. (Applause.)

  • Thank you. God bless you. God bless America. (Applause.)

Hello, Michigan! (Applause.) Go Blue! (Applause.) This is a good-looking crowd. (Applause.)

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