President Obama announced the launch of a new national standard for fuel efficiency at a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, today, following up on a plan he announced in May.
During today’s stirring campaign-style speech, Obama emphasized how far the economy has come in the past year — thanks, he said, to the Recovery Act — and promised to keep fighting for workers, saying, “I’m skinny, but I’m tough.”
“Because of the steps we have taken, this plant is about to shift into higher gear. 150 of your coworkers came back to work yesterday,” he said, to shouts and cheers. “More than 1,000 will be coming back to work in less than three weeks as production of the Cobalt ramps up. And next year, this plant will begin production of the Chevy Cruze, a new car that will get more than 40 miles per gallon.”
“I just sat in the car. I asked for the keys and they wouldn’t give me the keys,” he joked. “I was gonna take it for a little spin.”
He tied the speech into health care reform, saying that lower health care costs would lead to bigger paychecks.
Reform is a priority, he told the crowd, “So you can start bringing home a little more take home pay. That’s what it’s all about.”
He said he knew union workers spent most of the time at the negotiating table talking about health insurance.
“You need to spend some time negotiating about wages,” Obama said, to extended applause. He also said they had to understand management’s position, because high health care costs hurt them too.
“We all have an interest in reforming the health care system,” he said.
He finished with a call to fight to get the economy back on track.
“As long as you’ve still got an ounce of fight left in you, I’ll have a ton of fight left in me. I’m skinny, but I’m tough,” he said. “We’re gonna rebuild right here, right now. … We’re gonna make Ohio work again.”
The new fuel economy standards, first announced in May, call for new vehicles to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson are announcing the proposed standards today.
