THE
PRESIDENT: Thank you, Nittany Lions! (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Please have a seat. Have a seat.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I love you back. Thank you. It’s great to be here. (Applause.) It is good to be back in Happy Valley. (Applause.) It’s good to be back at Penn State. I want to say, first of all, thank you to Graham Spanier, your President; -- (applause) -- Elizabeth Goreham, the Mayor of State College. (Applause.) Congressman Glenn Thompson is here.
I met this guy -- I hadn’t heard of him before, but apparently he coaches your football team -- Joe Paterno is in the house. (Applause.)
And one last introduction I want to make. Some of you know I have these military aides. They go with me everywhere. They’re from each branch of our Armed Services. They’re the ones who carry the football -- you’ve heard of that? So they’re really important guys. Well, it just so happens that the military aide with me today is Mr. Sam Price, lieutenant colone（中校）l in the Air Force -- happens to be Penn State class of ’95. (Applause.) Sam Price right here. (Applause.) So we"ve got some Lions who are taking care of business on Air Force One as well as here on campus.
Now, last week I visited a small town in Wisconsin that was right next to Green Bay.
AUDIENCE: Ooooh --
THE PRESIDENT: So in the spirit of fairness, I"ve come to Pennslyvania -- (laughter) -- not too far from the center of Steeler Nation -- (applause) -- to wish Steelers’ fans good luck in the Super Bowl, too. (Applause.)
Two years ago I stole one of the team’s owners, Dan Rooney, to be our ambassador to Ireland. So I"ve got some love for the Steelers. I also am aware, though, that this state splits up a little bit, so I suspect there may be a few Eagles fans. (Applause.) You're with us Bears fans. (Laughter.) Sitting at home, watching. (Laughter.)
But that small town in Wisconsin and the borough（区） of State College have something else in common besides championship football teams. These are places where the future will be won. These are the places where the new jobs and the world’s best businesses will take root -- right here in State College; right here in Pennsylvania.
In the short term, obviously we"ve got to focus on the devastation that occurred because of this recession over the last two years. And the best thing we can do to speed up economic growth is to make sure that people and businesses have more money to spend. And that's exactly what the tax cut that we passed in December is doing. Because Democrats and Republicans came together, Americans’ paychecks will be a little bit bigger this year. And businesses will be able to write off their investments, and companies will grow and jobs will be created. That's all good in the short term.
But the reason I wanted to come here to Penn State is to talk about the long term. The reason I wanted to talk to young people is to talk about the future and how we're going to win it.
If we want to make up for the millions of jobs that were lost in this recession, but more importantly, if we want to make sure that America is still a place where you can make it if you try, where you can go as far as hard work and big dreams will take you, then we're going to have to make some serious decisions about our long-term economic health -- at a time when we're facing stiff competition from other nations for jobs and industries of our time.
And I know every young person here feels that pressure. You understand that it’s not going to be a cakewalk（步态竞赛） , this competition for the future, which means all of us are going to have to up our game. We are going to have to win the future by being smarter and working harder and working together. If we want those jobs and businesses to thrive in the United States of America, we’re going to have to out-innovate and out-educate and out-build the rest of the world. That's that we’re going to have to do. (Applause.)
That means investing in cutting-edge research and technology. It means investing in the skills and training of our people. It means investing in transportation and communication networks that can move goods and information as fast as possible. And to make room for these investments, it means cutting whatever spending we just can’t afford.
So I’ve proposed that we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years, which will reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade and will bring annual domestic spending to the lowest share of our economy since Eisenhower was President, meaning since way before most of you were born. (Laughter.) He said, not me. (Laughter.)
Now, just like Americans do every day, government has a responsibility to live within its means. But we also have a responsibility to invest in those areas that are going to have the biggest impact. And in this century those areas are education and infrastructure and innovation. (Applause.) And that last area, innovation is why I’ve come to Penn State today.
