Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Everybody, have a seat. Have a seat. Good afternoon, everybody. I’m glad things have cooled off...

What’s holding us back from meeting these challenges, it’s not a lack of plans, it’s not a lack of ideas -- it is a stalemate in this town, in...

I disagree. I think they’re wrong. I believe our prosperity has always come from an economy that’s built on a strong and growing middle class...

Moreover, we’ve tried it their way. It didn’t work. At the beginning of the last decade, Congress passed trillions of dollars in tax cuts that...

So we don’t need more top-down economics. We’ve tried that theory. We’ve seen what happens. We can’t afford to go back to it. We need policies...

By the way, these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are also the tax cuts that are least likely to promote growth. So we can’t afford to keep...

At the same time, most people agree that we should not raise taxes on middle-class families or small businesses -- not when so many folks are just trying...

Now, we can already anticipate -- we know what those who are opposed to letting the high-end tax cuts expire will say. They’ll say that we can’t...

But here's the thing that you have to remember. The proposal I make today would extend these tax cuts for 97 percent of all small business owners in...

So we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. Let's agree to do what we agree on. Right? (Applause.) That’s what compromise...

Middle-class families and small business owners, they deserve that guarantee. They deserve that certainty. It will be good for the economy and it...

As soon as that gets done, we can continue to have a debate about whether it’s a good idea to also extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans....

But right now, our top priority has to be giving middle-class families and small businesses the security they deserve. You’re the ones who are driving...