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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________  ______ For Immediate Release May 19,2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENTON NATIONAL FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS
Rose Garden 
12:22 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Please,everybody have a seat -- have a seat. What anextraordinary day. The sun is out because good things arehappening. Before I get started, just some preliminaryintroductions -- I'll probably repeat them in my formalremarks, but I want to make sure that I acknowledge somepeople who have been critical to this effort and critical to somany efforts at the state and federal levels.First of all, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has just been crackingthe whip and, you know, making Congress so productiveover these last several days. We are grateful for her. Mywonderful Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, is in thehouse. Lisa Jackson, the outstanding administrator of EPA.Some of the finest governors in the country are here -- letme take them in order of good looks -- sorry, Arnold.(Laughter.) Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Governor DevalPatrick of Massachusetts, and Governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger of California. (Applause.) Barbara Boxer just had to leave -- the head of the Environment Committeein the Senate, who'd done just outstanding work. AndSenators Feinstein, Levin and Stabenow couldn't be here
 
because they're busy voting on credit card legislation thatwe're going to get done before Memorial Day.And we've got two outstanding members of the House of Representatives, John Dingell -- where's John? Right here. The Dean of the House who's done so much extraordinarywork around these issues, Sandy Levin. Please give them around of applause. (Applause.)I also want to mention Ron Gettlefinger of the UAW, ourpresident who's just been a great leader during some verytrying times in the auto industry, and Carol Browner, whohelped to make this all happen today. Please give CarolBrowner a big round of applause. (Applause.)Since I'm acknowledging everybody -- I'm in a voluble moodtoday -- let me go ahead and acknowledge my othermembers of the Cabinet who are here who are part of ourenergy green team and do just outstanding work on anongoing basis. First of all, my Secretary of Labor, HildaSolis. (Applause.) The guy who's just cleaning up theDepartment of Interior and doing an extraordinary job, KenSalazar. (Applause.) Our head of HUD, Shaun Donovan.(Applause.) And our Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke.(Applause.)Now, thank you all for coming to the White House today, andfor coming together around what I consider to be a historicagreement to help America break its dependence on oil,reduce harmful pollution, and begin the transition to a cleanenergy economy. This is an extraordinary gathering. Here we have todaystanding behind me, along with Ron Gettlefinger andleadership of the UAW, we have 10 of the world's largestauto manufacturers, we have environmental advocates, aswell as elected officials from all across the country.And this gathering is all the more extraordinary for what
 
these diverse groups -- despite disparate interests andprevious disagreements -- have worked together to achieve.For the first time in history, we have set in motion a nationalpolicy aimed at both increasing gas mileage and decreasinggreenhouse gas pollution for all new trucks and cars sold inthe United States of America. (Applause.) And I want toapplaud the leadership of the folks at the EnvironmentalProtection Agency, the Department of Transportation, andthe White House Office of Energy and Climate Changewho've worked around the clock on this proposal which hasnow been embraced by so many.Now, in the past, an agreement such as this would havebeen considered impossible. It's no secret that these arefolks who've occasionally been at odds for years, evendecades. In fact, some of the groups here have beenembroiled in lawsuits against one another. So that gives youa sense of how impressive and significant it is that theseleaders from across the country are willing to set aside thepast for the sake of the future.For what everyone here believes, even as views differ onmany important issues, is that the status quo is no longeracceptable. While the United States makes up less than 5percent of the world's population, we create roughly aquarter of the world's demand for oil. And this appetitecomes at a tremendous price -- a price measured by ourvulnerability to volatile oil markets, which send gas pricessoaring and families scrambling. It's measured by a tradedeficit where as much as 20 percent of what we spend onimports is spent on oil. It's measured in billions of dollarssent to oil-exporting nations, many that we do not choose tosupport, if we had a choice. It's measured in a changingclimate, as sea levels rise, and droughts spread, forestburns, and storms rage.And what is all the more tragic is that we've known aboutthese costs in one way or another since the gas shortages of the 1970s. And yet all too little has been done. Calls for
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