Wont disagree over some issues that were passionate about. We will. Congress will pass some bills i cannot sign. Im pretty sure ill take some actions some in congress will not like. Thats natural. Thats how our democracy works. We can find ways to Work Together on issues where theres broad agreement among the American People. So i look forward to republicans putting forward their governing agenda. I will offer my ideas on areas where i think we can move together to respond to peoples economic needs. So just take one example, we all agree on the need to create more jobs that pay well. Traditionally, both parties have been for creating jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads, bridges, ports, waterways. I think we can hone in on a way to pay for it through tax reform that closes loopholes and makes it more attractive for companies to create jobs here in the United States. We can Work Together to grow our exports and open new markets for our manufacturers to sell more American Made goods to the rest of the world. Thats something ill be focused on when i travel to asia next week. We all share the same aspirations for our young people and i was encouraged that this year, republicans agreed to investments that expanded Early Childhood education. I think weve got a chance to do more on that front. Weve got some common ideas to help more young people afford college and graduate without crippling debt so they have the freedom to fill the good jobs of tomorrow and buy their first homes and start a family. And in the five states where a minimum wage increase was on the ballot last night, voters went five for five to increase it. Theyll give about 325,000 americans a raise in states where republican candidates prevailed. So that should give us new reason to get it done for everybody with a National Increase in the minimum wage. So those are some areas where i think weve got some real opportunities to cooperate and i am very eager to hear republican ideas for what they think we can do together over the next couple years. Of course theres still business on the docket that needs attention this year. And here are three places where i think we can coWork Together over the neck several weeks before this Congress Wraps up for the holidays. First im submitting a request to congress for funding to ensure that our doctors, scientists and troops have the resources they need to combat the spread of ebola in africa and increase our preparedness for any future cases here at home. Second, im going to begin Engaging Congress over a new authorization to use military force against isil. The world needs to know we are united behind this effort and the men and women of our military deserve our clear and unified support. Third, back in september, Congress Passed shortterm legislation to keeps the government open and operating into december. That gives congress five weeks to pass a budget for the rest of the fiscal year. And i hope that theyll do it in the same bipartisan, dramafree way that they did earlier this year. When our companies are steadily creating jobs, which they are, we dont want to inject any new uncertainty into the World Economy and to the american economy. The point is, its time for us to take care of business. There are things this country has to do that cant wait another two years or another four years. There are plans this country has to put in place for our future, and the truth is, im optimistic about our future. I have good reason to be. I meet americans all across the country who are determined and big hearted and ask what they can do and never give up and overcome obstacles and they inspire me every single day. So the fact is, i still believe in what i said when i was first elected six years ago last night. For all the maps plastered across our tv screens today and for all the cynics who say otherwise, i continue to believe we are simply more than just a collection of red and blue states. We are the United States. And whether its immigration or Climate Change or making sure our kids are going to the best possible schools to making sure that our communities are creating jobs, whether its stopping the spread of terror and disease to opening up doors of opportunity to everybody whos willing to work hard and take responsibility, the United States has big things to do. We can and we will make progress if we do it together. And i look forward to the work ahead. So with that, let me take some questions. I think that our team got my list. Were going to start with julie pace at associated press. Thank you, mr. President. You said during this election that while your name wasnt on the ballot, your policies were. And despite the optimism that youre expressing here, last night was a devastating night for your party. Given that, do you feel any responsibility to recalibrate your agenda the next two years and what changes do you need to make in your white house and dealings with republicans to address the concerns that voters expressed with your administration . Well, as i said in my opening remarks, the American People overwhelmingly believe this town doesnt work well and that it is not attentive to their needs, and as president , they rightly hold me accountable to do more to make it work properly. Im the guy who was elected by everybody, not just from a particular state or particular district, and they want me to push hard to close some of these divisions, break through some of the gridlock and get stuff done. The most important thing i can do is just get stuff done and help congress get some things done. In terms of agenda items, though, if you look as i just mentioned to a minimum wage increase, for example, now thats something i talked about a lot during the campaign, where voters had a chance to vote directly on that agenda item, they voted for it. And so i think it would be hard to suggest that people arent supportive of it. We know that the surveys consistently say they want to see that happen. The key is to find areas where the agenda that i put forward, one that i believe will help strengthen the middle class and create more ladders of opportunity into the middle class and improve our schools and make college more affordable to more young people and make sure that were growing faster as an economy and we stay competitive, the key is to make sure that those ideas that i have, overlap somewhere with some of the ideas that republicans have. Theres not going to be perfect overlap. There are going to be some ideas that ive got that i think the evidence backs up would be good for the economy. And republicans disagree. Theyre not going to support those ideas. But im going to keep on arguing for them because i think theyre the right thing for the country to do. There are going to be some ideas theyve got that they believe will improve the economy or create jobs that in my perspective, isnt going to help middle hp class families improve their economic situation. I probably wont support theirs. But i think there are going to be areas where we do agree on infrastructure, on making sure that were boosting american exports, and, you know, part of my task then is to reach out to republicans, make sure that im listening to them, im looking forward to them putting forward a very specific agenda in terms of what they would like to accomplish. Lets compare notes in terms of what im looking at and what theyre looking at, and lets get started on those things where we agree. Even if we dont agree 100 , lets get started on those things where we agree 70, 80, 90 . And if we can do that and build up some trust and improve how processes work in washington, then i think thats going to give the American People a little bit more confidence that, in fact, you know, their government is looking after them. Is there any specific [ inaudible ] in Exchange Given this disastrous election to your party and the message that was sent . Julie, i think every single day, im looking for how can we do what we need to do better. Whether that is delivering basic services the government provides to the American People, whether that is our capacity to work with congress so that theyre passing legislation, whether its how we communicate with the American People about what our priorities and vision is, you know, we are constantly asking ourselves questions about, you know, how do we make sure that were doing a better job and thats not going to stop. I think that every election is a moment for reflection and, you know, i think that everybody in this white house is going to look and say, all right, what do we need to do differently. But the principles that were fighting for, the things that motivate me every single day and motivate my staff every day, those arent going to change. Theres going to be a consistent focus on how do we deliver more opportunity to more people in this country, how do we grow the economy faster, how do we put more people back to work, and, you know, i maybe have a naive confidence that if we continue to focus on the American People, and not on, you know, our own ambitions or image or, you know, various concerns like that, that, you know, at the end of the day, when i look back, im going to be able to say, the American People are better off than they were before i was president and thats my most important goal. But the other thing i just want to emphasize, ive said this before, i want to reiterate, if there are ideas that the republicans have that i have confidence will make things better for ordinary americans, the fact that a republican is suggesting it opas opposed to a democrat that will be irrelevant to me. I want to see what works. Theres some things like rebuilding our infrastructure or Early Childhood education we know works. Im hoping the kind of attitude and approach that Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner have already expressed their desire to get things done, allows us to find some Common Ground. Jeff mason. Thank you, mr. President. In 2010 you called the results of the Midterm Election a shellacking. What do you call this . And can you give us an update on your feelings about the immigration executive order and the result in the aftermath of this election, does the election affect your plans to release it . Is it likely to come out before the lameduck session is over . Have you reduced its scope to just a couple Million People . Well, as i said in my opening statement, theres no doubt that republicans had a good night and what were going to make sure we do is to reach out to Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner, who are now running both chambers in congress, and find out what their agenda is. And my hope is that theyve got some specific things they want to do that xoer respond with some things we want to get done. Whats most important to the American People right now, the resounding message, not just of this election, but basically the last several, is get stuff done. Dont worry about the next election, dont worry about party affiliation. Do worry about our concerns. Worry about the fact that im a single mom and at the end of the month its really hard for me to pay the bills in part because ive got these huge child care costs. Do worry about the fact that i am a young person qualified to go to college but im worried about taking 50,000 a year out in debt. And i dont know how id pay that back. Do worry about the fact that im a construction worker who has been working all my life, and i know that theres construction work that should be done but right now for some reason projects are stalled. If were thinking about those folks, i think were hopefully going to be able to get some stuff done. In terms of immigration, i have consistently said that it is my profound preference and interest to see congress act on a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that would strengthen our borders, would streamline our Legal Immigration system so it works better and were attracting the best and brightest from around the world, and that we give an opportunity for folks who have lived here in many cases for a very long time, may have kids who are u. S. Citizens, but arent properly documented, give them a chance to pay their back taxes, get in the back of the line but get in a process that allows them to get legal. The senate on a bipartisan basis pa passed a good bill. It wasnt perfect, it wasnt exactly what i wanted, but it was a sound, smart, piece of legislation that really would greatly improve not just our immigration system but our economy and would improve Business Conditions here in the United States. And make sure that american born workers arent undercut by workers undocumented and arent always paid a fair wage and as a consequence employers breaking the rules are able to undercut folks doing the right thing. We got a bipartisan bill out of the senate. I asked john boehner at that point can we pass this through the house. There is a majority of votes to get this passed. Speaker boehner i think was sincere about wanting to pass it, but had difficulty over the last year trying to get it done. What i indicated to him, i feel obliged to do everything i can lawfully with my executive authority to make sure that we dont keep on making the system worse, but whatever actions i take, will be replaced and sue planted by action by congress. You sen send me a bill i can sign and those executive action goss away. Thats the commitment i made not just to the businesses and American People and evangelical community and Law Enforcement folks and everybody who looked at this issue and thinks we need Immigration Reform, thats a commitment i made to john boehner that i would act in the absence of action by congress. Before the end of the year were going to take whatever lawful actions i can take that ill believe will improve the functioning of our immigration system, surge Additional Resources to the border, where i think the vast majority of americans have the deepest concern and ill be reaching out to Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner and other republican and Democratic Leaders to find out how it is they want to proceed and if they want to get a bill done, whether during the lame duck or next year, im eager to see what they have to offer. What im not going to do is just wait. Its fair to say that ive shown a lot of patience and have tried to work on a bipartisan basis as much as possible and im going to keep on doing so but in the meantime, lets figure out what we can do lawfully through executive actions to improve the functioning of the existing system. How are you making [ inaudible ] can you give us a sense of whether or not [ inaudible ]. Jeff, if you want to get into the details, i suspect when i announce that executive action, is it will be rife with detail and a lot of followup questions. Chris jansing. Thank you, mr. President. I want to follow up on a couple things. Start with immigration. Are you concerned that if you sign an executive order on immigration before the end of the year, it will scuttle whatever chances there may be for there to be some sort of compromise on the issues that you talked about and i wonder that given this unhappy electorate clearly and they seem to be disappointed with both sides pretty much, why they punished the democrats more than the republicans by far . Well, as i said, when it comes to the political analysis, thats your job. But what is also true is i am the president of the United States and i think understandably, people are going to ask for greater accountability and responsibility from me than from anybody else in this town. Appropriately so. I welcome that. And, you know, the commitment that i will make to the American People and the way ive tried to conduct myself throughout this presidency im going to wake up every single day doing my absolute best to deliver for them. There are areas where we made Real Progress. I think economically i can look back and there is no doubt on almost every measure we are better off economically than we were when i took office. But what is also true there are still a lot of folks who are anxious and hurting and are having trouble making ends meet or are worried about their childrens future and its my job to give them some confidence that this town can work to respond to some of those worries that folks have. And we havent done a good enough job convincing them of that and i understand that. Theyve been watching washington over the last two, four years, what theyve seen is a lot of arguing and a lot of gridlock, but not a lot of concrete actions, at least legislatively, that have made a difference in their lives. So weve got to make sure that we do a better job and im committed to doing that. On immigration, i know that concerns have been expressed well if you do something through executive actions, even if its within your own authorities, that will make it harder to pass Immigration Reform. I just have to remind everybody, ive heard that argument now for a couple of years. This is an issue i actually wanted to get done in my first term and we didnt see legislative action and in my second term i made it my top legislative priority. We got really good work done by a Bipartisan Group of force but it froze up in the house. And, you know, i think that the best way if folks are serious about getting Immigration Reform done, is going ahead and passing a bill and getting it to my desk and then the executive actions that i take go away. Theyre superseded by the law that is passed. I will engage any member of congress whos interested in this in how we can shape legislation that will be a significant improvement over the existing system. But what we cant do is just keep on waiting. There is a cost to waiting. Theres a cost to our economy. It means that resources are misallocated. When the issue of unaccompanied children cropped up during this summer, there was a lot of folks who perceived this as a major crisis in our immigration system. Now the fact is, that those numbers have now come down and theyre approximately where they were a year ago or two years ago or a year before that. But it did identify a real problem in a certain portion of the border where we got to get more resources. But those resources may be misallocated separating families right now that most of us, most americans, would say, probably wed rather have them pay their back taxes, pay a fine, learn english, get to the back of the line but well give you a pathway where you can be legal in this country. So where ive got executive authorities to do that we should get started on that. But i want to emphasize once again, if, in fact, Republican Leadership wants to see an immigration bill passed, they now have the capacity to pass it and hopefully engaging with me and democrats in boths the house and senate, its a bill that i can sign because it addresses the real concerns that are out there. The sooner they do it from my perspective the better. Jonathan carl. Thank you, mr. President. Mitch mcconnell has been the republican leader six years, as long as youve been president , but his office tells me hes only met with you oneonone once or twice during that entire sixyear period. As somebody who came to washington promising to end the hyper partisanship here long before you became president , but gotten worse since you got here, was it a mistake for you to do so little to develop relationships with republicans in congress . I think that every day im asking myself are there some things i can do better and im going to keep on asking that every single day. The fact is that most of my interactions with members of congress have been cordial and theyve been constructive, often times though we havent been able to get whats discussed in the Leadership Meeting through caucuses in the house and the senate to deliver a bill. The good news is, that now Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner are from the same party. I think they can come together and decide what their agenda is. Theyve got sufficient majorities to make Real Progress on some of these issues and ooup im certainly going to be spending a lot more time with them now because thats the only way that were going to be able to get some stuff done. And i take them at their word, that they want to produce. Theyre in the majority. They need to presentp their agenda. I need to put forward my best ideas. I think the American People are going to be able to watch us and theyre paying attention to see whether or not were serious about actually compromising and being constructive. My commitment to them and i said this to them when i spoke to them, anywhere we can find Common Ground im eager to pursue it. That drink with Mitch Mcconnell you joked about at the White House Correspondent dinner . You know, i would enjoy having some kentucky bourbon with Mitch Mcconnell. I dont know what his preferred drink is, but my my interactions with Mitch Mcconnell, he has always been very straightforward with me, to his credit he has never made a promise that he couldnt deliver, and, you know, he knows the legislative process well. He obviously knows his caucus well. Hes always given me i think realistic assessments of what he can get through his caucus and what he cant. I think we can have a productive relationship. Bill mattingly. Thank you, mr. President. Another deadline coming up is your negotiators by november 24th have to figure out if theyre going to reach a deal with iran on a nuclear area, a nuclear agreement. Im interested what your current perspective is on how those negotiations are going . Also, if it is your feeling that you have the power to implement any type of agreement thats reached without any action from congress and then also wanted to touch on the aumf you mentioned, is that more of a codification of the limits you put in place for the mission up to this point or what should we be looking for on that when you send it to the hill . Thank you. On aumf, the leaders will be coming here on friday. It will be an expanded group, not just the four leaders, but a larger group who all have an interest in the issues were discussing today, and im actually going to invoid lloyd austin, the centcom commander to make a presentation about how our fight against isil is proceeding and i think to answer questions and assure that congress is fully briefed on what were doing there. With respect to the aumf, weve already had conversations with members of both parties in congress and the idea is to right size and update whatever Authorization Congress provides to suit the current fight rather than previous fights. You know, in 2001, after the heartbreaking tragedy of 9 11, we had a very specific set of missions we had to conduct and the aumf was designed to pursue those missions. With respect to iraq, there was a very specific aumf. We now have a different type of enemy, the strategy is different, how we partner with iraq and other gulf countries and the international coalition, that has to be structured differently, so it makes sense for us to make sure that the authorization from congress reflects what we perceive to be not just our strategy over the next two or three months, but our strategy going forward. And it will be a process of listening to members of congress as well as us presenting what we think needs to be the set of authorities that we have and im confident were going to be able to get that done. That may be a process of us getting it started now. It may carry over into the next congress. On iran, because of the unprecedented sanctions we put in place, that really did have a crippling effect on irans economy, theyve come to the table and theyve negotiated seriously around assurances theyre not developing a Nuclear Weapon for the first time, and they have abided by the interim rules, we have been able to freeze their program, in some cases reduce the stockpile of Nuclear Material they already had in hand, and the discussions and negotiations have. Constructive. The International Community has been unified and cohesive. Cracks in our allowance. Of even countries where we have differences like russia, have agreed and worked cooperatively in trying to find ways to make sure that we can sprverify and e confidence iran doesnt have the capacity to develop a Nuclear Weapon that could not only threaten friends of ours like israel, trigger a Nuclear Arms Race in the region, but could over the long term potentially threaten us. Whether we can actually get a deal done, were going to have to find out over the next three to four weeks. We have presented to them a framework that would allow them to meet their peaceful energy