Cardiac Science Automated External Defibrillators
(Powerheart, Cardiovive, CardioLife models): Recall

Device may not be able to deliver therapy during a cardiac resuscitation attempt.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalP
roducts/UCM200138

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BD Q-Syte Luer Access Devices: Recall

Device may cause an air embolism or leakage of blood and/or therapy, which may result in serious injury or death.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalP
roducts/UCM200137

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Acacia, Inc. Announces Worldwide Voluntary Recall
of IV Extension Sets with BD Q-Syte Luer Access Device

Acacia, Inc. (formally known as MPS Acacia) has voluntarily executed a product recall of certain lots of IV Extension Sets with BD Q-Syte? Luer Access Device. The BD Q-Syte? Luer Access Device is a Needleless Valve manufactured by BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company).

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/UCM200134

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News Conference by the President, 2/9/10

1:38 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  I am glad to see that all of you braved the weather to be here.  A little while ago I had a meeting with the Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, and it went very well.  In fact, I understand that McConnell and Reid are out doing snow angels on the South Lawn together.  (Laughter.)  Can you picture that, Chuck?  Not really?

The meeting did go well, and I appreciate them making the trek.  We had a good and frank conversation and it's one that I hope we can continue on a more regular basis.

We all understand that there are legitimate and genuine differences between the parties, but despite the political posturing that often paralyzes this town, there are many issues upon which we can and should agree.  That's what the American people are demanding of us.  I think they're tired of every day being Election Day in Washington.  And at this critical time in our country, the people sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics.

That's why I'm going to continue to seek the best ideas from either party as we work to tackle the pressing challenges ahead.  I am confident, for example, that when one in 10 of our fellow citizens can't work, we should be able to come together and help business create more jobs.  We ought to be able to agree on providing small businesses with additional tax credits and much needed lines of credit.  We ought to agree on investments in crumbling roads and bridges, and we should agree on tax breaks for making homes more energy-efficient -- all of which will put more Americans to work.  Many of the job proposals that I've laid out have passed the House and are soon going to be debated in the Senate.  We spent a lot of time in this meeting discussing a jobs package and how we could move forward on that.  And if there are additional ideas, I will consider them as well.  What I won't consider is doing nothing in the face of a lot of hardship across the country. 

We also talked about restoring fiscal responsibility.  There are few matters on which there is as much vigorous bipartisan agreement, at least in public, but unfortunately there's also a lot of partisan wrangling behind closed doors.  This is what we know for sure:  For us to solve this extraordinary problem that is so many years in the making, it's going to take the cooperation of both parties.  It's not going to happen in any other way.

I'm pleased that Congress supported my request to restore the pay-as-you-go rule, which was instrumental in turning deficits into surpluses during the 1990s.  I've also called for a bipartisan fiscal commission.  Unfortunately this measure, which originally had received the support of a bipartisan majority of the Senate and was cosponsored by Senators Conrad and Gregg, Democrats and Republicans, was blocked there.  So I'm going to be creating this commission by executive order.  And during our meeting I asked the leadership of both parties to join in this serious effort to address our long-term deficits, because when the politics is put aside, the reality of our fiscal challenge is not subject to interpretation.  Math is not partisan.  There ought to be a debate about how to close our deficits.  What we can't accept is business as usual, and we can't afford grandstanding at the expense of actually getting something done.

During our meeting we also touched briefly on how we can move forward on health reform.  I've already announced that in two weeks I'll be holding a meeting with people from both parties, and as I told the congressional leadership, I'm looking forward to a constructive debate with plans that need to be measured against this test.  Does it bring down costs for all Americans as well as for the federal government, which spends a huge amount on health care?  Does it provide adequate protection against abuses by the insurance industry?  Does it make coverage affordable and available to the tens of millions of working Americans who don't have it right now?  And does it help us get on a path of fiscal sustainability?

We also talked about why this is so urgent.  Just this week, there was a report that Anthem Blue Cross, which is the largest insurer in the largest state, California, is planning on raising premiums for many individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent.  If we don't act, this is just a preview of coming attractions.  Premiums will continue to rise for folks with insurance; millions more will lose their coverage altogether; our deficits will continue to grow larger.  And we have an obligation -- both parties -- to tackle this issue in a serious way. 

Now, bipartisanship depends on a willingness among both Democrats and Republicans to put aside matters of party for the good of the country.  I won't hesitate to embrace a good idea from my friends in the minority party, but I also won't hesitate to condemn what I consider to be obstinacy that's rooted not in substantive disagreements but in political expedience.  We talked about this as well, particularly when it comes to the confirmation process.  I respect the Senate's role to advise and consent, but for months, qualified, non- controversial nominees for critical positions in government, often positions related to our national security, have been held up despite having overwhelming support.  My nominee for one important job, the head of General Services Administration, which helps run the government, was denied a vote for nine months.  When she finally got a vote on her nomination, she was confirmed 96 to nothing.  That's not advise and consent; that's delay and obstruct.

One senator, as you all are aware, had put a hold on every single nominee that we had put forward due to a dispute over a couple of earmarks in his state.  In our meeting, I asked the congressional leadership to put a stop to these holds in which nominees for critical jobs are denied a vote for months.  Surely we can set aside partisanship and do what's traditionally been done to confirm these nominations.  If the Senate does not act -- and I made this very clear -- if the Senate does not act to confirm these nominees, I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess, because we can't afford to allow politics to stand in the way of a well-functioning government.

My hope is that this will be the first of a series of meetings that I have with leadership of both parties in Congress.  We've got to get past the tired debates that have plagued our politics and left behind nothing but soaring debt and mounting challenges, greater hardships among the American people, and extraordinary frustrations among the American people.  Those frustrations are what led me to run for President, and as long as I'm here in Washington, I intend to try to make this government work on their behalf.

So, you know, I'm going to take a couple of questions, guys.

Major.

Q    After meeting with you, John Boehner came out and told us, "The House can't pass the health care bill it once passed; the Senate can't pass the health care bill it once passed.  Why would we have a conversation about legislation that can't pass?"  As a part of that, he said you and your White House and congressional Democrats should start over entirely from scratch on health care reform.  How do you respond?  Are you willing to do that?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, here's how I responded to John in the meeting, and I've said this publicly before.  There are some core goals that have to be met.  We've got to control costs, both for families and businesses, but also for our government.  Everybody out there who talks about deficits has to acknowledge that the single biggest driver of our deficits is health care spending.  We cannot deal with our deficits and debt long term unless we get a handle on that.  So that has to be part of a package.

Number two, we've got to deal with insurance abuses that affect millions of Americans who've got health insurance.  And number three, we've got to make health insurance more available to folks in the individual market, as I just mentioned, in California, who are suddenly seeing their premiums go up 39 percent.  That applies to the majority of small businesses, as well as sole proprietors.  They are struggling.

So I've got these goals.  Now, we have a package, as we work through the differences between the House and the Senate, and we'll put it up on a Web site for all to see over a long period of time, that meets those criteria, meets those goals.  But when I was in Baltimore talking to the House Republicans, they indicated, we can accomplish some of these goals at no cost.  And I said, great, let me see it.  And I have no interest in doing something that's more expensive and harder to accomplish if somebody else has an easier way to do it. 

So I'm going to be starting from scratch in the sense that I will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals.  What I will not do, what I don't think makes sense and I don't think the American people want to see, would be another year of partisan wrangling around these issues; another six months or eight months or nine months worth of hearings in every single committee in the House and the Senate in which there's a lot of posturing.  Let's get the relevant parties together; let's put the best ideas on the table.  My hope is that we can find enough overlap that we can say this is the right way to move forward, even if I don't get every single thing that I want.

But here's the point that I made to John Boehner and Mitch McConnell:  Bipartisanship can't be that I agree to all the things that they believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things I believe in and want, and that's the price of bipartisanship, right?  But that's sometimes the way it gets presented.  Mitch McConnell said something very nice in the meeting about how he supports our goals on nuclear energy and clean coal technology and more drilling to increase oil production.  Well, of course he likes that; that's part of the Republican agenda for energy, which I accept.  And I'm willing to move off some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway.  But there's got to be some give from their side as well.  That's true on health care; that's true on energy; that's true on financial reform.  That's what I'm hoping gets accomplished at the summit.

Q    Do you agree the House and Senate bill can't pass anymore?

THE PRESIDENT:  What I agree with is that the public has soured on the process that they saw over the last year.  I think that actually contaminates how they view the substance of the bills.  I think it is important for all of these issues to be aired so that people have confidence if we're moving forward on such a significant part of the economy as health care, that there is complete transparency and all of these issues have been adequately vetted and adequately debated.

And this gives an opportunity not just for Democrats to say here's what we think we should do, but it also gives Republicans a showcase before the entire country to say here's our plan; here's why we think this will work.  And one of the things that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell both said is they didn't think that the status quo was acceptable, and that's, right there, promising.  That indicates that if all sides agree that we can't just continue with business as usual then maybe we can actually get something done.

Q    Mr. President, one of the reasons Anthem said -- Anthem Blue Cross says that it's raising its premiums is because so many people are dropping out of individual coverage because the economy is so bad and that leaves the people in the pool who are people who need medical care driving up costs.  One of the reasons why businesses are not expanding right now, in addition to some of the credit issues you've talked about, at least according to business leaders, is they say there's an uncertainty of what they need to plan for because of the energy bill, because of health care.  That's what they say.  I'm not saying it's true or not, but that's what they say.  What do you say when you hear that?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think that the biggest uncertainty has been we just went through the worst recession since the Great Depression and people weren't sure whether the financial system was going to melt down and whether we were going to tip into a endless recession.  So let's be clear about the sources of uncertainty in terms of business investment over the last several years:  A huge contraction, trillions of dollars of losses in people's 401(k)s; people have a lot of debt coming out of the previous decade that they still haven't worked out; the housing market losing a whole bunch of value. 

So the good news is that where we were contracting by 6 percent the economy is now growing by 6 percent.  The CEOs I talked to are saying they are now making investments, and I anticipate that they're going to start hiring at a more rapid clip.  What I've also heard is them saying that we would like to feel like Washington is working and able to get some things done.  
There are two ways of interpreting the issue of uncertainty.  One way would be to say, well, you know what, we'll just go back to what we were doing before on, let's say, the financial markets.  We won't have the regulations that we need; we won't make any changes in terms of "too big to fail."  That will provide certainty -- until the next financial crisis. 

That's not the kind of certainty I think that the financial markets need.  The kind of certainty they need is for us to go ahead and agree on a bipartisan effort to put some rules of the road in place so that consumers are protected in the financial markets; so that we don't have banks that are too big to fail; that we have ways of winding them down and protecting the overall system without taxpayer bailouts.  That requires legislation.  The sooner we can get that done, the better.

The same would be true when it comes to health care.  A lot of CEOs I hear from will say, boy, we'd like you to get health care settled one way or another, but they will acknowledge that when they open up their latest invoice for their premiums and they find out that those premiums have gone up 20 percent or 25 percent, that's the kind of uncertainty that also tamps down business investment.

So I guess my answer would be this:  The sooner the business community has a sense that we've got our act together here in Washington and can move forward on big, serious issues in a substantive way without a lot of posturing and partisan wrangling, I think the better off the entire country is going to be.  I absolutely agree on that.

What I think is important is not to buy into this notion that is perpetrated by some of the business interests that got a stake in this who are fighting financial reform, for example, to say, boy, we'd be doing fine if we just didn't try to regulate the banks.  That I think would be a mistake.

Q    Just to play devil's advocate on that -- a small business, let's say, not somebody who's going to be affected by the regulatory reform, small business -- you have proposed, you would acknowledge, a bold agenda.  And a small business might wonder, I don't know how the energy bill is going to affect me, I don't know how the health care reform bill is going to affect me -- I'd better hold off on hiring.

THE PRESIDENT:  The small businesses I talk to --- and I've been talking to a lot of them as I've been traveling around the country over the last several months -- their biggest problem is right now they can't get credit out of their banks so they're uncertain about that.  And they're still uncertain about orders -- do they just have enough customers to justify them doing more.

It's looking better at this point.  But that's not the rationale for people saying, I'm not hiring.  Let me put it this way.  Most small businesses right now, if they've got enough customers to make a profit and they can get the bank loans required to boost their payroll, boost their inventory, and sell to those customers, they will do so.  Okay?

Let's see, let's get a print guy here.  David.

Q    You heard McConnell talk about nuclear power, offshore drilling, free trade -- that's a lot of Republican stuff.  Is your party going to go for that if you decide to support that --

THE PRESIDENT:  You know, I think that on energy there should be a bipartisan agreement that we have to take a both/and approach rather than an either/or approach.  What do I mean by that? I am very firm in my conviction that the country that leads the way in clean energy -- solar, wind, biodiesel, geothermal -- that country is going to win the race in the 21st century global economy.  So we have to move in that direction.

What is also true is that given our energy needs in order to continue economic growth, produce jobs, make sure our businesses are competitive around the world, that we're going to need some of the old, traditional energy sources as we're developing these new ones and ramping them up.  So we can't overnight convert to an all-solar or an all-wind economy.  That just can't happen.  We're going to have needs in these traditional sources.

And so the question then is, are we going to be able to put together a package that includes safe, secure nuclear power; that includes new technologies so that we can use coal -- which we have in abundance and is very cheap, but often is adding to our greenhouse gases -- can we find sequestration technologies that clean that up; can we identify opportunities to increase our oil and natural gas production in a way that is environmentally sustainable?  And that should be part of a package with our development of clean energy.

And my hope is that my Republican friends, but also Democrats, say to themselves, let's be practical and let's do both.  Let's not just do one or the other; let's do both.  Over time I think the transition is going to be more and more clean energy and over time fossil fuels become less prominent in our overall energy mix.  But we've got to do both.

Q    How confident are you there will be that kind of consensus for that double-edged approach?

THE PRESIDENT:  I am just a eternal optimist -- (laughter) -- and so -- it's the right thing to do.  And all I can do is just to keep on making the argument about what's right for the country and assume that over time people, regardless of party, regardless of their particular political positions, are going to gravitate towards the truth.  Okay?

I'm going to take two more.  Let's see --

Q    How about the back?  (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I just want to make sure that I was getting a balance here, so -- go ahead, Chuck.

Q    Awwww --

THE PRESIDENT:  Why is everybody moaning about Todd?

Q    He's too good.  His questions are too precise.  (Laughter.)

Q    Iran -- we got the news today that they're doing more of these -- trying to enhance this uranium even more.  Obviously Secretary Gates today in Paris was quoted as saying basically the dialogue seems to be over and now the question is sanctions.  Where are we on sanctions?  How close is this?  I know you had sort of an end-of-the-year deadline when you stood up there with Sarkozy and Brown.  It's now February.  How quickly is this moving along?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it's moving along fairly quickly.  I think that we have bent over backwards to say to the Islamic Republic of Iran that we are willing to have a constructive conversation about how they can align themselves with international norms and rules and reenter as full members of the international community.

The most obvious attempt was when we gave them an offer that said we are going to provide the conversion of some of the low-enriched uranium that they already have into the isotopes that they need for their medical research and for hospitals that would serve up to a million Iranian citizens.  They rejected it -- although one of the difficulties in dealing with Iran over the last several months is it's not always clear who's speaking on behalf of the government, and we get a lot of different, mixed signals.  But what's clear is, is that they have not said yes to an agreement that Russia, China, Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States all said was a good deal, and that the director of the IAEA said was the right thing to do and that Iran should accept.

That indicates to us that, despite their posturing that their nuclear power is only for civilian use, that they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponization.  And that is not acceptable to the international community, not just to the United States.  So what we've said from the start was we're moving on dual tracks.  If you want to accept the kinds of agreements with the international community that lead you down a path of being a member of good standing, then we welcome you.  If not --

Q    Haven't they responded, though?  I mean, by deciding to do what they did, with these --

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I'm getting to that. 

Q    Okay.

THE PRESIDENT:  And if not, then the next step is sanctions.  They have made their choice so far, although the door is still open.  And what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the international community as a whole.

Q    What do you mean by “regime of sanctions”?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, meaning that there's going to be a --

Q    Some will be U.N. and some will be --

THE PRESIDENT:  We are going to be looking at a variety of ways in which countries indicate to Iran that their approach is unacceptable.  And the U.N. will be one aspect of that broader effort.

Q    China will be there?  You're confident?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, the -- we are confident right now that the international community is unified around Iran's misbehavior in this area.  How China operates at the Security Council as we pursue sanctions is something that we're going to have to see.  One thing I'm pleased about is to see how forward-leaning the Russians have been on this issue.  I think they clearly have seen that Iran hasn't been serious about solving what is a solvable dispute between Iran and the international community.

All right?  I'm going to make this the last question.  And I'll take somebody from the back -- yes.

Q    Me?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.

Q    Thanks for doing this.  It's been a while.  (Laughter.)  On health care, the Republicans are asking whether the February 25th session will include economists and public interest groups and people supporting your side, or will it just be the members of Congress?  And on Anthem Blue Cross, do you have the authority to go in and tell a private company they can't charge that -- how will you stop them?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don't have the authority as I understand it -- I can't simply issue an executive order lowering everybody's rates.  If I could I would have done that already and saved myself a lot of grief on Capitol Hill.  That's why reform is so important.  That's why the status quo is unacceptable. 

But there is no shortcut in dealing with this issue.  I know the American people get frustrated in debating something like health care because you get a whole bunch of different claims being made by different groups and different interests.  It is a big, complicated, tough issue.  But what is also true is that without some action on the part of Congress, it is very unlikely that we see any improvement over the current trajectory.  And the current trajectory is premiums keep on going up 10, 15, 20, 30 percent.  The current trajectory is more and more people are losing health care.

I don't know if people noted, because during the health care debate everybody was saying the President is trying to take over -- a government takeover of health care.  I don't know if anybody noticed that for the first time this year you saw more people getting health care from government than you did from the private sector -- not because of anything we did, but because more and more people are losing their health care from their employers.  It's becoming unaffordable.  That's what we're trying to prevent. 

We want people to be able to get health care from their employers.  But we also understand that you've got to fix the system so that people are able to get it at affordable rates and small businesses can afford to give their employees insurance at an affordable rate.  And that's not happening right now.

To your question about the 25th, my hope is that this doesn't end up being political theater, as I think some of you have phrased it.  I want a substantive discussion.  We haven't refined exactly how the agenda is going to go that day.  We want to talk with both the Democratic and Republican leaders to find out what they think would be most useful.  I do want to make sure that there's some people like the Congressional Budget Office, for example, that are considered non-partisan, who can answer questions. 

In this whole health care debate I'm reminded of the story that was told about Senator Moynihan, who was I guess in an argument with one of his colleagues, and his colleague was losing the argument so he got a little flustered and said to Senator Moynihan, "Well, I'm entitled to my own opinion."  And Senator Moynihan said, "Well, you're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts."  I think that's the key to a successful dialogue on the 25th or on health care.

Let's establish some common facts.  Let's establish what the issues are, what the problems are, and let's test out in front of the American people what ideas work and what ideas don't.  And if we can establish that factual accuracy about how different approaches would work, then I think we can make some progress.  And it may be that some of the facts that come up are ones that make my party a little bit uncomfortable.  So if it's established that by working seriously on medical malpractice and tort reform that we can reduce some of those costs, I've said from the beginning of this debate I'd be willing to work on that.  On the other hand, if I'm told that that is only a fraction of the problem and that is not the biggest driver of health care costs, then I'm also going to insist, okay, let's look at that as one aspect of it, but what else are we willing to do?

And this is where it gets back to the point I was making earlier.  Bipartisanship cannot mean simply that Democrats give up everything that they believe in, find the handful of things that Republicans have been advocating for and we do those things, and then we have bipartisanship.  That's not how it works in any other realm of life.  That's certainly not how it works in my marriage with Michelle, although I usually do give in most of the time.  (Laughter.)  But the -- there's got to be some give and take, and that's what I'm hoping can be accomplished.  And I'm confident that's what the American people are looking for.

So, all right? 

Q    Jobs question? 

THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, since there wasn't a jobs question --

Q    Well, I just --

THE PRESIDENT:  I'll make this the last one, jobs question.

Q    At the stakeout, the Republicans were saying, well, the jobs package we've seen, it's not really ready yet, we're a little worried about the cost.  Are you satisfied that there is something that can be quickly moved through Congress on jobs?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, my understanding is -- first of all, the House has moved forward a jobs package that has some good elements in it.  My understanding is, is that there is bipartisan talks taking place as we speak on the Senate side about some elements of a package.

I think there are some things that a lot of people agree on.  Just to give you an example, the idea of eliminating capital gains for small businesses -- something we can all agree on.  I talked about it at the State of the Union address.  My hope would be that we would all agree on a mechanism to get community banks who are lending to small businesses more capital, because that is something that I keep on hearing is one of the biggest problems that small businesses have out there.

So I think that it's realistic for us to get a package moving quickly that may not include all the things I think need to be done, and it may be that that first package builds some trust and confidence that Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill can work together and then we move on to the next aspect of the package and so forth.  It may take a series of incremental steps, but the one thing I'm absolutely clear about is, is that we've got an economy that's growing right now, a huge boost in productivity -- that's the good news.  The bad news is, is that companies still haven't taken that final step in actually putting people on their payroll full-time.

We're seeing an increase in temporary workers, but they haven't yet taken on that full-time worker.  And so providing some additional impetus to them, right as the economy is moving in a positive direction, I think can end up yielding some good results.

All right?  Thank you, guys.  That was pretty good, thanks.

END
2:11 P.M. EST

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Microsoft Releases February Security Bulletin

Microsoft has released an update to address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows and Office as part of the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for February 2010. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, cause a denial-of-service condition, or operate with elevated privileges.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the bulletins and follow best-practice security policies to determine which updates should be applied.


Read The Full Article:
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#microsoft_releases_february_security_bu
lletin2

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FDA Approves New Indication for Crestor

On Feb. 8 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the cholesterol-lowering medication Crestor (rosuvastatin) for some patients who are at increased risk of heart disease but have not been diagnosed with it. The new indication is for reducing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke or the need for a procedure to treat blocked or narrowed arteries in patients who have never been told they have heart disease but are nevertheless at increased risk of a cardiac event.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/UCM200128

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Cardiac Science Notifies AED Customers of
Voluntary Medical Device Recall

Cardiac Science Corporation [NASDAQ: CSCX] is initiating a worldwide voluntary recall after determining that approximately 12,200 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) may not be able to deliver therapy during a resuscitation attempt, which may lead to serious adverse events or death. These AEDs were manufactured in a way that makes them potentially susceptible to failure under certain conditions. The FDA has been informed of this situation.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/UCM200123

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First Lady Michelle Obama Launches Let's Move:
America's Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids

America’s move to raise a healthier generation of kids
www.LetsMove.gov

THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON – First Lady Michelle Obama today announced an ambitious national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight and unveiled a nationwide campaign – Let’s Move – to help achieve it. 

The Let’s Move campaign will combat the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources.  Let’s Move will engage every sector impacting the health of children to achieve the national goal, and will provide schools, families and communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy. 

To support Let’s Move and facilitate and coordinate partnerships with States, communities, and the non-profit and for-profit private sectors, the nation’s leading children’s health foundations have come together to create a new independent foundation – the Partnership for a Healthier America – which will accelerate existing efforts addressing childhood obesity and facilitate new commitments towards the national goal of solving childhood obesity within a generation.

Almost a year ago, Mrs. Obama began a national conversation about the health of America’s children when she broke ground on the White House Kitchen Garden with students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, DC.  Through the garden, she began a discussion with kids about proper nutrition and the role food plays in living a healthy life.  That discussion grew into the Let’s Move campaign announced today.

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese.  One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. A recent study put the health care costs of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion per year.  This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.

“The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake,” said Mrs. Obama.  “This isn’t the kind of problem that can be solved overnight, but with everyone working together, it can be solved.  So, let’s move.” 

The First Lady launched the Let’s Move campaign at the White House where she was joined by members of the President’s cabinet, including Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, HHS Secretary Sebelius, Education Secretary Duncan, HUD Secretary Donovan, Labor Secretary Solis, and Interior Secretary Salazar, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Members of Congress, mayors from across the nation and leaders from the media, medical, sports, entertainment, and business communities who impact the health of children and want to be part of the solution.  Program participants included:  Tiki Barber, NBC correspondent and former NFL football player; Dr. Judith Palfrey, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Will Allen, Founder and CEO of Growing Power; Mayor Curtatone of Somerville, Massachusetts; Mayor Chip Johnson of Hernando, Mississippi; and local students, including a student from DC’s Bancroft elementary school, and members of the 2009 National Championship Pee-Wee football team, the Watkins Hornets. 

Let’s Move is comprehensive, collaborative, and community-oriented and will include strategies to address the various factors that lead to childhood obesity.  It will foster collaboration among the leaders in government, medicine and science, business, education, athletics, community organizations and more.  And it will take into account how life is really lived in communities across the country – encouraging, supporting and pursuing solutions that are tailored to children and families facing a wide range of challenges and life circumstances.

President Barack Obama kicked off the launch by signing a Presidential Memorandum creating the first ever Task Force on Childhood Obesity which will include the DPC, Office of the First Lady, Interior, USDA, HHS, Education, NEC and other agencies.  Within 90 days, the Task Force will conduct a review of every single program and policy relating to child nutrition and physical activity and develop a national action plan that maximizes federal resources and sets concrete benchmarks toward the First Lady’s national goal. 

While the review is underway, Administration and public and private efforts are already moving to combat obesity and reach the First Lady’s national goal:   

Helping Parents Make Healthy Family Choices
Parents play a key role in making healthy choices for their children and teaching their children to make healthy choices for themselves.  But in today’s busy world, this isn’t always easy.  So Let’s Move will offer parents the tools, support and information they need to make healthier choices for their families.  The Administration, along with partners in the private sector and medical community, will: 

Empower Consumers:   By the end of this year, the Food and Drug Administration will begin working with retailers and manufacturers to adopt new nutritionally sound and consumer friendly front-of-package labeling.  This will put us on a path towards 65 million parents in America having easy access to the information needed to make healthy choices for their children.  
Already, the private sector is responding.  Today, the American Beverage Association announced that its member companies will voluntarily put a clear, uniform, front-of-pack calorie label on all of their cans, bottles, vending and fountain machines within two years. The label will reflect total calories per container in containers up to 20oz. in size.  For containers greater than 20 oz., the label will reflect a 12 oz. serving size.  While more work remains to be done, this marks an important first step in ensuring parents have the information they need to make healthier choices 
Provide Parents with a Rx for Healthier Living:    The American Academy of Pediatrics, in collaboration with the broader medical community, will educate doctors and nurses across the country about obesity, ensure they regularly monitor children’s BMI, provide counseling for healthy eating early on, and, for the first time ever, will even write a prescription for parents laying out the simple things they can do to increase healthy eating and active play.
Major New Public Information Campaign:   Major media companies – including the Walt Disney Company, NBC, Universal and Viacom – have committed to join the First Lady’s effort and increase public awareness of the need to combat obesity through public service announcements (PSAs), special programming, and marketing. The Ad Council, Warner Brothers and Scholastic Media have also partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to run PSAs featuring top professional athletes, Scholastic Media’s Maya & Miguel, and Warner Brothers’ legendary Looney Tunes characters.

Next Generation Food Pyramid:  To help people make healthier food and physical activity choices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will revamp the famous food pyramid.  MyPyramid.gov is one of the most popular websites in the federal government, and a 2.0 version of the Web site will offer consumers a host of tools to help them put the Dietary Guidelines into practice. 

Empower Change:  USDA has created the first-ever interactive database – the Food Environment Atlas – that maps healthy food environments at the local level across the country.  It will help people identify the existence of food deserts, high incidences of diabetes, and other conditions in their communities.  This information can be used by parents, educators, government and businesses to create change across the country.  

LetsMove.gov:  To help children parents, teachers, doctors, coaches, the non-profit and business communities and others understand the epidemic of childhood obesity and take steps to combat it, the Administration has launched a new “one-stop” shopping website -- LetsMove.gov -- to provide helpful tips, step-by-step strategies for parents, and regular updates on how the federal government is working with partners to reach the national goal.  

Serving Healthier Food in Schools 
Many children consume as many as half of their daily calories at school.  As families work to ensure that kids eat right and have active play at home, we also need to ensure our kids have access to healthy meals in their schools.  With more than 31 million children participating in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the National School Breakfast Program, good nutrition at school is more important than ever.  Together with the private sector and the non-profit community, we will take the following steps to get healthier food in our nation’s schools:   

Reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act: The Administration is requesting an historic investment of an additional $10 billion over ten years starting in 2011 to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, increase the number of kids participating, and ensure schools have the resources they need to make program changes, including training for school food service workers, upgraded kitchen equipment, and additional funding for meal reimbursements.  With this investment, additional fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products will be served in our school cafeterias and an additional one million students will be served in the next five years.   

Double the number of schools participating in the Healthier US School Challenge:  The Healthier US School Challenge establishes rigorous standards for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity, and nutrition education – the key components that make for healthy and active kids – and provides recognition for schools that meet these standards. Over the next school year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working with partners in schools and the private sector, will double the number of schools that meet the Healthier US School Challenge and add 1,000 schools per year for two years after that.  

We are bringing to the table key stakeholder groups that have committed to work together to improve the nutritional quality of school meals across the country.

New Commitments from Major School Food Suppliers:  School food suppliers are taking important first steps to help meet the Healthier US School Challenge goal. Major school food suppliers including Sodexho, Chartwells School Dining Services, and Aramark have voluntarily committed to meet the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations within five years to decrease the amount of sugar, fat and salt in school meals; increase whole grains; and double the amount of produce they serve within 10 years.  By the end of the 2010-2011 school year, they have committed to quadruple the number of the schools they serve that meet the Healthier US School Challenge.

School Nutrition Association:  The School Nutrition Association (SNA), which represents food service workers in more than 75% of the nation’s schools, has joined the Let’s Move campaign. Working with other education partners, SNA has committed to increasing education and awareness of the dangers of obesity among their members and the students they serve, and ensuring that the nutrition programs in 10,000 schools meet the Healthier US School Challenge standards over the next five years.

School Leadership:  Working with school food service providers and SNA, the National School Board Association, the Council of Great City Schools and the American Association of School Administrators Council have all embraced, and committed to meeting, the national Let’s Move goal.  The Council of Great City Schools has also has set a goal of having every urban school meet the Healthier US Schools gold standard within five years.  The American Association of School Administrators has committed to ensuring that an additional 2,000 schools meet the challenge over the next two years.  These combined efforts will touch 50 million students and their families in every school district in America.

Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food
More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. These communities, where access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited, are known as food deserts.  Lack of access is one reason why many children are not eating recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. And food insecurity and hunger among children is widespread.  A recent USDA report showed that in 2008, an estimated 49.1 million people, including 16.7 million children, lived in households that experienced hunger multiple times throughout the year. The Administration, through new federal investments and the creation of public private partnerships, will: 

Eliminate Food Deserts:  As part of the President’s proposed FY 2011 budget, the Administration announced the new Healthy Food Financing Initiative – a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services that will invest $400 million a year to help bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places such as convenience stores and bodegas carry healthier food options.  Through these initiatives and private sector engagement, the Administration will work to eliminate food deserts across the country within seven years. 

Increase Farmers Markets: The President’s 2011 Budget proposes an additional $5 million investment in the Farmers Market Promotion Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture which provides grants to establish, and improve access to, farmers markets.

Increasing Physical Activity
Children need 60 minutes of active play each day.  Yet, the average American child spends more than 7.5 hours a day watching TV and movies, using cell phones and computers, and playing video games, and only a third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity.  Through public-private partnerships, and reforms of existing federal programs, the Administration will address this imbalance by:

Expanding and Modernizing the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge:  In the coming weeks, the President will be naming new members to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, housed at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The council will be charged with increasing participation in the President’s Challenge and with modernizing and expanding it, so that it is consistent with the latest research and science.

Doubling the Number of Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards:  As part of the President’s Physical Fitness Council, the President will challenge both children and adults to commit to physical activity five days a week, for six weeks.  As part of the First Lady’s commitment to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation, the Council will double the number of children in the 2010-2011 school year who earn a “Presidential Active Lifestyle Award” for meeting this challenge. 

Safe and Healthy Schools: The U.S. Department of Education will be working with Congress on the creation of a Safe and Healthy Schools fund as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary School Education Act this year.  This fund will support schools with comprehensive strategies to improve their school environment, including efforts to get children physically active in and outside of school, and improve the quality and availability of physical education.

Professional Sports: Professional athletes from twelve leagues including the NFL, MLB, WNBA, and MLS have joined the First Lady on the Let’s Move campaign and will promote “60 Minutes of Play a Day” through sports clinics, public service announcements, and more to help reach the national goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity in a generation.

Partnership for a Healthier America

Core to the success of this initiative is the recognition that government approaches alone will not solve this challenge. Achieving the goal will require engaging in partnerships with States, communities, and the non-profit and for-profit private sectors. To support this effort, several foundations are coming together to organize and fund a new central foundation – the Partnership for a Healthier America – to serve as a nonpartisan convener across the private, non-profit and public sectors to accelerate existing efforts addressing childhood obesity and to facilitate commitments towards the national goal of solving childhood obesity within a generation.  The Partnership for a Healthier America is being created by a number of leading health care foundations and childhood obesity non-profits, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Alliance for Healthier Generation, Kaiser Permanente, and Nemours, and will seek to add new members in the days and months ahead. 

***EMBARGOED UNTIL NOON EST***
Remarks of First Lady Michelle Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Let’s Move Launch
Washington, DC
February 9, 2010

Hello everyone, thank you so much.  It is such a pleasure to be here with all of you today. 

Tammy, thank you for that wonderful introduction and for your outstanding work in the White House garden.

I want to recognize the extraordinary Cabinet members with us today – Secretaries Vilsack, Sebelius, Duncan, Salazar, Donovan and Solis – as well as Surgeon General Benjamin.  Thanks to all of you for your excellent work. 

Thanks also to Senators Harkin and Gillibrand, and Representatives DeLauro, Christensen and Fudge for their leadership and for being here today.

And I want to thank Tiki Barber, Dr. Judith Palfrey, Will Allen, and Mayors Johnson and Curtatone for braving the weather to join us, and for their outstanding work every day to help our kids lead active, healthy lives.

And I hear that congratulations are in order for the Watkins Hornets, who just won the Pee Wee National Football Championship.  Let’s give them a hand to show them how proud we are.

We’re here today because we care deeply about the health and well-being of these kids and kids like them all across the country.  And we’re determined to finally take on one of the most serious threats to their future: the epidemic of childhood obesity in America today – an issue that’s of great concern to me not just as a First Lady, but as a mom.

Often, when we talk about this issue, we begin by citing sobering statistics like the ones you’ve heard today – that over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled; that nearly one third of children in America are now overweight or obese – one in three. 

But these numbers don’t paint the full picture.  These words – “overweight” and “obese” – they don’t tell the full story.  This isn’t just about inches and pounds or how our kids look.  It’s about how our kids feel, and how they feel about themselves.  It’s about the impact we’re seeing on every aspect of their lives.

Pediatricians like Dr. Palfrey are seeing kids with high blood pressure and high cholesterol – even Type II diabetes, which they used to see only in adults.  Teachers see the teasing and bullying; school counselors see the depression and low-self-esteem; and coaches see kids struggling to keep up, or stuck on the sidelines.

Military leaders report that obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.  Economic experts tell us that we’re spending outrageous amounts of money treating obesity-related conditions like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.  And public health experts tell us that the current generation could actually be on track to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.

None of us wants this kind of future for our kids – or for our country.  So instead of just talking about this problem, instead of just worrying and wringing our hands about it, let’s do something about it.  Let’s act…let’s move. 

Let’s move to help families and communities make healthier decisions for their kids.  Let’s move to bring together governors and mayors, doctors and nurses, businesses, community groups, educators, athletes, Moms and Dads to tackle this challenge once and for all.  And that’s why we’re here today – to launch “Let’s Move” – a campaign that will rally our nation to achieve a single, ambitious goal: solving the problem of childhood obesity in a generation, so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight. 

But to get where we want to go, we need to first understand how we got here.  So let me ask the adults here today to close your eyes and think back for a moment…think back to a time when we were growing up. 

Like many of you, when I was young, we walked to school every day, rain or shine – and in Chicago, we did it in wind, sleet, hail and snow too.  Remember how, at school, we had recess twice a day and gym class twice a week, and we spent hours running around outside when school got out.  You didn’t go inside until dinner was ready – and when it was, we would gather around the table for dinner as a family.  And there was one simple rule: you ate what Mom fixed – good, bad, or ugly.  Kids had absolutely no say in what they felt like eating.  If you didn’t like it, you were welcome to go to bed hungry.  Back then, fast food was a treat, and dessert was mainly a Sunday affair.

In my home, we weren’t rich.  The foods we ate weren’t fancy.  But there was always a vegetable on the plate.  And we managed to lead a pretty healthy life. 

Many kids today aren’t so fortunate.  Urban sprawl and fears about safety often mean the only walking they do is out their front door to a bus or a car.  Cuts in recess and gym mean a lot less running around during the school day, and lunchtime may mean a school lunch heavy on calories and fat.  For many kids, those afternoons spent riding bikes and playing ball until dusk have been replaced by afternoons inside with TV, the Internet, and video games. 

And these days, with parents working longer hours, working two jobs, they don’t have time for those family dinners.  Or with the price of fresh fruits and vegetables rising 50 percent higher than overall food costs these past two decades, they don’t have the money.  Or they don’t have a supermarket in their community, so their best option for dinner is something from the shelf of the local convenience store or gas station. 

So many parents desperately want to do the right thing, but they feel like the deck is stacked against them.  They know their kids’ health is their responsibility – but they feel like it’s out of their control.  They’re being bombarded by contradictory information at every turn, and they don’t know who or what to believe.  The result is a lot of guilt and anxiety – and a sense that no matter what they do, it won’t be right, and it won’t be enough. 

I know what that feels like.  I’ve been there.  While today I’m blessed with more help and support than I ever dreamed of, I didn’t always live in the White House.   

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a working Mom, struggling to balance meetings and deadlines with soccer and ballet.  And there were some nights when everyone was tired and hungry, and we just went to the drive-thru because it was quick and cheap, or went with one of the less healthy microwave options, because it was easy.   And one day, my pediatrician pulled me aside and told me, “You might want to think about doing things a little bit differently.” 

That was a moment of truth for me.  It was a wakeup call that I was the one in charge, even if it didn’t always feel that way. 

And today, it’s time for a moment of truth for our country; it’s time we all had a wakeup call.  It’s time for us to be honest with ourselves about how we got here.  Our kids didn’t do this to themselves.  Our kids don’t decide what’s served to them at school or whether there’s time for gym class or recess.  Our kids don’t choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in super-sized portions, and then to have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn.  And no matter how much they beg for pizza, fries and candy, ultimately, they are not, and should not, be the ones calling the shots at dinnertime.  We’re in charge.  We make these decisions. 

But that’s actually the good news here.  If we’re the ones who make the decisions, then we can decide to solve this problem.  And when I say “we,” I’m not just talking about folks here in Washington.  This isn’t about politics.  There’s nothing Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative, about doing what’s best for our kids.  And I’ve spoken with many experts about this issue, and not a single one has said that the solution is to have government tell people what to do.  Instead, I’m talking about what we can do.  I’m talking about commonsense steps we can take in our families and communities to help our kids lead active, healthy lives.

This isn’t about trying to turn the clock back to when we were kids, or preparing five course meals from scratch every night.  No one has time for that.   And it’s not about being 100 percent perfect 100 percent of the time.  Lord knows I’m not.  There’s a place for cookies and ice cream, burgers and fries – that’s part of the fun of childhood. 

Often, it’s just about balance.  It’s about small changes that add up – like walking to school, replacing soda with water or skim milk, trimming those portion sizes a little – things like this can mean the difference between being healthy and fit or not. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution here.  Instead, it’s about families making manageable changes that fit with their schedules, their budgets, and their needs and tastes. 

And it’s about communities working to support these efforts.  Mayors like Mayors Johnson and Curtatone, who are building sidewalks, parks and community gardens.  Athletes and role models like Tiki Barber, who are building playgrounds to help kids stay active.  Community leaders like Will Allen who are bringing farmers markets to underserved areas.  Companies like the food industry leaders who came together last fall and acknowledged their responsibility to be part of the solution.  But there’s so much more to do.

And that’s the mission of Let’s Move – to create a wave of efforts across this country that get us to our goal of solving childhood obesity in a generation.

We kicked off this initiative this morning when my husband signed a presidential memorandum establishing the first ever government-wide Task Force on Childhood Obesity.  The task force is composed of representatives from key agencies – including many who are here today.  Over the next 90 days, these folks will review every program and policy relating to child nutrition and physical activity.  And they’ll develop an action plan marshalling these resources to meet our goal.  And to ensure we’re continuously on track to do so, the Task Force will set concrete benchmarks to measure our progress.

But we can’t wait 90 days to get going here.  So let’s move right now, starting today, on a series of initiatives to help achieve our goal. 

First, let’s move to offer parents the tools and information they need – and that they’ve been asking for – to make healthy choices for their kids.  We’ve been working with the FDA and several manufacturers and retailers to make our food labels more customer-friendly, so people don’t have to spend hours squinting at words they can’t pronounce to figure out whether the food they’re buying is healthy or not.  In fact, just today, the nation’s largest beverage companies announced that they’ll be taking steps to provide clearly visible information about calories on the front of their products – as well as on vending machines and soda fountains.  This is exactly the kind of vital information parents need to make good choices for their kids. 

We’re also working with the American Academy of Pediatrics, supporting their groundbreaking efforts to ensure that doctors not only regularly measure children’s BMI, but actually write out a prescription detailing steps parents can take to keep their kids healthy and fit. 

In addition, we’re working with the Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal, and Viacom to launch a nationwide public awareness campaign educating parents and children about how to fight childhood obesity. 

And we’re creating a one-stop shopping website – LetsMove.gov – so with the click of a mouse, parents can find helpful tips and step-by-step strategies, including healthy recipes, exercise plans, and charts they can use to track their family’s progress.   

But let’s remember: 31 million American children participate in federal school meal programs – and many of these kids consume as many as half their daily calories at school.  And what we don’t want is a situation where parents are taking all the right steps at home – and then their kids undo all that work with salty, fatty food in the school cafeteria. 

So let’s move to get healthier food into our nation’s schools.  That’s the second part of this initiative.  We’ll start by updating and strengthening the Child Nutrition Act – the law that sets nutrition standards for what our kids eat at school.  And we’ve proposed an historic investment of an additional $10 billion over ten years to fund that legislation. 

With this new investment, we’ll knock down barriers that keep families from participating in school meal programs and serve an additional one million students in the first five years alone.  And we’ll dramatically improve the quality of the food we offer in schools – including in school vending machines.  We’ll take away some of the empty calories, and add more fresh fruits and vegetables and other nutritious options. 

We also plan to double the number of schools in the HealthierUS School Challenge – an innovative program that recognizes schools doing the very best work to keep kids healthy – from providing healthy school meals to requiring physical education classes each week.  To help us meet that goal, I’m thrilled to announce that for the very first time, several major school food suppliers have come together and committed to decrease sugar, fat and salt; increase whole grains; and double the fresh produce in the school meals they serve.  And also for the first time, food service workers – along with principals, superintendents and school board members across America – are coming together to support these efforts.  With these commitments, we’ll reach just about every school child in this country with better information and more nutritious meals to put them on track to a healthier life. 

These are major steps forward.  But let’s not forget about the rest of the calories kids consume – the ones they eat outside of school, often at home, in their neighborhoods.  And when 23.5 million Americans, including 6.5 million American children, live in “food deserts” – communities without a supermarket – those calories are too often empty ones.  You can see these areas in dark purple in the new USDA Food Environment Atlas we’re unveiling today.  This Atlas maps out everything from diabetes and obesity rates across the country to the food deserts you see on this screen. 

So let’s move to ensure that all our families have access to healthy, affordable food in their communities.  That’s the third part of this initiative.  Today, for the very first time, we’re making a commitment to eliminate food deserts in America – and we plan to do so within seven years.  Now, we know this is ambitious.  And it will take a serious commitment from both government and the private sector.  That’s why we plan to invest $400 million a year in a Healthy Food Financing initiative that will bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places like convenience stores carry healthier food options.  And this initiative won’t just help families eat better, it will help create jobs and revitalize neighborhoods across America. 

But we know that eating right is only part of the battle.  Experts recommend that children get 60 minutes of active play each day.  If this sounds like a lot, consider this: kids today spend an average of seven and a half hours a day watching TV, and playing with cell phones, computers, and video games.  And only a third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity.  

So let’s move.  And I mean that literally.  Let’s find new ways for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school.  That’s the fourth, and final, part of this initiative.

We’ll increase participation in the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge.  And we’ll modernize the challenge, so it’s not just about how athletic kids are – how many sit-ups or push-ups they can do – but how active they are.  We’ll double the number of kids who earn a Presidential Active Lifestyle Award in the next school year, recognizing those who engage in physical activity five days a week, for six weeks.  We’ve also recruited professional athletes from a dozen different leagues – including the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the WNBA – to promote these efforts through sports clinics, public service announcements and more. 

So that’s some of what we’re doing to achieve our goal.  And we know we won’t get there this year, or this Administration.  We know it’ll take a nationwide movement that continues long after we’re gone.  That’s why today, I’m pleased to announce that a new, independent foundation has been created to rally and coordinate businesses, non-profits, and state and local governments to keep working until we reach our goal – and to measure our progress along the way.  It’s called the Partnership for a Healthier America, and it’s bringing together some of the leading experts on childhood obesity, like The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, The Kellogg Foundation, the Brookings Institution, and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which is a partnership between the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation.  And we expect others to join in the coming months. 

So this is a pretty serious effort.  And I know that in these challenging times for our country, there are those who will wonder whether this should really be a priority.  They might view things like healthy school lunches and physical fitness challenges as “extras” – as things we spring for once we’ve taken care of the necessities.  They might ask, “How can we spend money on fruits and vegetables in our school cafeterias when many of our schools don’t have enough textbooks or teachers?”  Or they might ask, “How can we afford to build parks and sidewalks when we can’t even afford our health care costs?”

But when you step back and think about it, you realize – these are false choices.  If kids aren’t getting adequate nutrition, even the best textbooks and teachers in the world won’t help them learn.  If they don’t have safe places to run and play, and they wind up with obesity-related conditions, then those health care costs will just keep rising. 

So yes, we have to do it all…we’ll need to make some modest, but critical, investments in the short-run…but we know that they’ll pay for themselves – likely many times over – in the long-run.  Because we won’t just be keeping our kids healthy when they’re young.  We’ll be teaching them habits to keep them healthy their entire lives.

We saw this firsthand here at the White House when we planted our garden with students like Tammy last Spring.  One of Tammy’s classmates wrote in an essay that her time in the garden, and I quote, “…has made me think about the choices I have with what I put in my mouth…”  Another wrote with great excitement that he’d learned that tomatoes are both a fruit and a vegetable and contain vitamins that fight diseases.  Armed with that knowledge, he declared, “So the tomato is a fruit and is now my best friend.” 

Think about the ripple effect when children use this knowledge to make healthy decisions for the rest of their lives.  Think about the effect it will have on every aspect of their lives.  Whether they can keep up with their classmates on the playground and stay focused in the classroom.  Whether they have the self-confidence to pursue careers of their dreams, and the stamina to succeed in those careers.  Whether they’ll have the energy and strength to teach their own kids how to throw a ball or ride a bike, and whether they’ll live long enough to see their grandkids grow up – maybe even their great grandkids too.  

In the end, we know that solving our obesity challenge won’t be easy – and it certainly won’t be quick.  But make no mistake about it, this problem can be solved. 

This isn’t like a disease where we’re still waiting for the cure to be discovered – we know the cure for this.  This isn’t like putting a man on the moon or inventing the Internet – it doesn’t take some stroke of genius or feat of technology.  We have everything we need, right now, to help our kids lead healthy lives.  Rarely in the history of this country have we encountered a problem of such magnitude and consequence that is so eminently solvable.  So let’s move to solve it.

I don’t want our kids to live diminished lives because we failed to step up today.  I don’t want them looking back decades from now and asking us, why didn’t you help us when you had a chance?  Why didn’t you put us first when it mattered most? 

So much of what we all want for our kids isn’t within our control.  We want them to succeed in everything they do.  We want to protect them from every hardship and spare them from every mistake.  But we know we can’t do all of that.  What we can do…what is fully within our control…is to give them the very best start in their journeys.  What we can do is give them advantages early in life that will stay with them long after we’re gone.  As President Franklin Roosevelt once put it: “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

That is our obligation, not just as parents who love our kids, but as citizens who love this country.  So let’s move.  Let’s get this done.  Let’s give our kids what they need to have the future they deserve. 

Thank you so much.

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Turkey Hill Dairy Issues Recall On Chocolate
Marshmallow Ice Cream That May Contain Undeclared Treenuts (Almonds)

Turkey Hill Dairy of Conestoga, Pa., is recalling its 1.5 qt. (48 oz./1.42L) packages of Chocolate Marshmallow Premium Ice Cream because the product may contain almonds that were inadvertently added during production.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/UCM200122

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Remarks by the President Before Meeting with
Bipartisan Leaders of the House and Senate

Cabinet Room

10:21 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  Well, I want to thank both Democratic and Senate Leaders -- Democratic Senate Leaders, Democratic House Leaders, as well as Republican Leaders from the House and Senate for joining us.

As I said in my State of the Union, part of what we’d like to see is the ability of Congress to move forward in a more bipartisan fashion on some of the key challenges that the country is facing right now.  I think it’s fair to say that the American people are frustrated with the lack of progress on some key issues.  And although the parties are not going to agree on every single item, there should be some areas where we can agree and we can get some things done even as we have vigorous debates on some of those issues that we don’t agree on.

A good place to start, and what I hope to spend a lot of time on in these discussions today, is how we can move forward on a jobs package that encourages small business to hire, that is helping to create the kind of environment where now that we have economic growth people actually are starting to add to their payroll.  I think there are some ideas on both the Republican and Democrat side that allow us to potentially, for example, lower rates for small businesses on their taxes, to help spur on some growth.  And my hope is is that both in the House and the Senate we’ll see some packages moving over the next several weeks that can provide a jumpstart to hiring and start lowering the unemployment rate.

Another area where I hope we can find some agreement is on the issue of getting our deficits and debt under control.  Both parties have stated their concerns about it; I think both parties recognize that it’s going to take a lot of work.  I have put forward the idea of a fiscal commission and I'm going to be discussing both with my Democratic and Republican colleagues how we can get that moving as quickly as possible so that we can start taking some concrete action.  I think the American people want to see that concrete action.

I'm also going to just be talking about some more mundane matters, things like making sure that we have our government personnel in place on critical positions -- in critical positions that involve our basic government function and seeing if we can accelerate that and try to find some agreement in those areas.  And then I'm going to spend some time listening because there may be some priorities that both the Republican and Democratic Leaders have that they want to raise at this meeting.

My hope is this is not going to be a rare situation; we’re going to be doing these on a regular basis.  And I'm very thankful that everybody here has taken the time to come.  I'm confident that if we move forward in a spirit of keeping in mind what’s best for the American people that we should be able to accomplish a lot.

All right.  Thank you very much everybody.

END
10:24 A.M. EST

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