So it is with some regret and sorrow that i have accepted his decision to return to our hometown of chicago. After more than six years of living in washington, arnes wonderful wife, karen, and their excellent kids want to move back home. That has meant in the interim a lot of time apart. So, i will be honest, i pushed for arne duncan to stay, but i also know from personal experience how hard it is to be away from family. On a sustained basis. So while i will miss arne deeply, he has more than earned the right to return home. Has look at what are arne has a conflict over the last 6. 5 years. He is one of the longestserving secretaries of education in our history and one of the more consequential. In just a few years, arne and his team have delivered incredible results at every stage of the educational experience. More than 30 states have raise standards for Early Childhood education, and nearly every state in america has raised standards for teaching and learning. Expectations for what our kids can learn. Our High School Graduation rate is at an alltime high. We have helped millions of more families to afford college and more americans are graduating from college than ever before. That is just scratching the surface. He has done more to bring our educational system, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the 21st century than anybody else. America is going to be better off for what he has done. It is one to be more competitive and more prosperous. It will be more equal and more upwardly mobile. I truly believe no other education secretary could match. Arne bleeds the stuff. He cares so much about our kids and he has been so passionate about his work. And everybody who interacts with him, including people who disagree with him on some issues , never question the genuineness and heart that he has brought to this job. I could not be prouder of him. And for good measure, arne holds the most points scored in an nba allstar game. [laughter] [applause] and he is my favorite partner in pickup basketball, the smartest player i know, even if he is very slow. And has no hops. [applause] [laughter] he knows it is true. I will say that watching ryan, by the way, the sun will soon be son will soon be surpassing the father. This young man has got game. Keep in mind that none of this change has been easy. And we still have a long way to go. One of the things about education is that it does not deliver results tomorrow or the next day. This is a decadelong or longer proposition. We plant seeds now, we make changes now, and we watched each successive class benefit from these reforms and it goes in fits and starts and we have a decentralized system. That is how our education tradition evolved. It is not easy and it is not quick, but we are making progress. Were not going to stop in these last 15 months and that is why it is so important and why i think we are very lucky that even as arne steps down that we have an exceptionally talented educator to step in canada is and that is dr. John king. He is already on the leadership team. He has been an educator all his life, a teacher, principal, a leader of schools, the new york state education chief. He is the right man to lead the department. He shares our commitment to preparing every child for success in a more innovative and competitive world. He has a great team at the department of education, which im very, very proud. His family is equally cool and goodlooking. [laughter] and he has equally exceptional children. I know that together we are going to continue to be able to do great things on behalf of our kids. So arne and john, i want to wish you both a hearty congratulations and good luck. Im going to let them say a few words and give a few remarks before taking questions from the press. Secretary duncan i cried more today than i have in a while. I will try not to get up here and cry. I will start with the president. When he asked us to come to d. C. And work with him, that was a one minute conversation with my wife. It wasnt that we wanted to leave chicago, or become education secretary, i just wanted to be on his team because i believe so much in what he was about and stood for. Seven and a half years later, my admiration is only greater. I want folks to know that with every hard decision, his only question is, what is right for kids. Even if it was a hard political decision, it was never a factor. His passion and his commitment is absolutely extraordinary. For me, it is not the political leadership, its not the educational leadership, it is the moral leadership. I cannot tell you what an unbelievable honor it was just to spend some time. For folks who watched him last night talking about the horrendous gun massacre in oregon and how preventable these things are. We need that moral leadership in times like this. To our team, the team you have at the white house, it has been extraordinary to work with dcc. I think the team at the department of education is stronger than it has ever been. You never know, teams go and you have the b team towards the end, but i think we have the ateam. We have been able to work with the white house and for many folks that are here, with the team in place, im just extraordinarily hopeful and confident about what they can do together. Emma and ted and the rest of the crew, i said a little bit about john. Folks know that all this work is very personal. For the president it is personal. For me, its very personal. John was one of those kids who probably should not be in a room like this if you look at stereotypes. Not the easiest time growing up. He will tell you more about it. He lost both his parents at an early age. He lived with his brother and i that was not very easy either, but he had an amazing teacher who saw something in him and kept him going. Today, he is standing with the president. So many times, i think society off kidsf writes like john. While i am sad in leaving, im extraordinarily happy and proud and thankful that john will get to lead this team. I want to thank everybody for their hard work. I want to thank my parents as well. My dad is a lifelong educator at the university of chicago. My mother started teaching before we were born and raised all of us in that program. That changed our lives. All our lives we got to see what kids could do if given the chance and that is why we do this work today. To see what she did at the corner of 46 and greenwood and now have a chance to try to have an impact around the nation, because this man gave us a chance. For my family, i cannot tell you how much it means to us. And finally to my family, i love this work. I love this team. I love the president. I love the chance to serve area the only thing i love more is you guys. I cant wait to come home and see a couple more track meets and maybe have a few more dinners and maybe go to a movie someday. [laughter] that would be amazing. It has been too long. It has been an amazing journey and i feel so proud and so lucky to have been a part of this team. Mr. President , thank you for creating a climate in which all of us here could have the impact that we did. We can never repay the debt of gratitude we all need for your leadership. Thank you so much and i want to turn it over to john. [applause] [applause] dr. King thank you, arne, for the very kind words and thank you, mr. President , for your faith in me and the chance to serve the department. Im deeply honored by the chance of serving and deeply humbled by following in arnes footsteps. He is an extraordinary leader who i have watched demonstrate tremendous. In fighting for kids and in fighting for what is best for them. But also in being willing to listen, to listen to folks and make adjustments and make sure that everything we do every day is to the goal of greater equity. Mr. President , you and our team at the department have laid out an ambitious agenda from strengthening Early Childhood education and expanding access to Early Childhood, to raising standards in teaching and learning through k12 and ensuring that more americans have access to highquality higher education, to ensure that we support our teachers, and we invest in our teachers and provide the best preparation and support and leadership opportunities for them. Its an incredible agenda and im proud to be able to carry it forward with an amazing team that we have at the department. Earlier this week, arne gave a speech at the National Press club and he said education can be the difference between life and death. I know that is true because it was for me. I grew up in brooklyn. I lost my mom when i was eight years old and my dad when i was 12. My dad was very sick before he passed. I moved around between family members and schools. But teachers, new York City Public School teachers are the reason im alive and the reason i became a teacher and the reason im standing here today. Those teachers created amazing educational experiences and also gave me hope about what is possible and what could be possible for me in life. I know schools cannot do it alone. There is work that we have to do on Economic Development and housing and health care, but i know that my parents who spent their lives as new York City Public School educators believe that school is at the heart of our promise of equality and opportunity for all americans. That is what they believe and thats what the president believes and that is what i feel very privileged to be able to work on with this amazing team that we have at the department. Every child in the United States, every college student, every disconnected youth, every working parent who just wants a few more credits to improve their salary and position at their job, everyone deserves the kind of opportunity i had to have a great education. Every child deserves the opportunity that my beautiful daughters have to have a great education, the kind of education their grandparents worked to provide. I am so grateful for my very supportive wife, melissa. I very grateful to the secretary for the opportunity to join the team and grateful to the president to continue to work with the wonderful people at the Education Department to try to expand opportunity. Thank you. [applause] president obama two good men doing really important work. Im lucky to have them both as colleagues and as friends and im looking forward to seeing even more work done in the next few months. We have got some other business to attend to. So all of you who are here to celebrate arne and john are lucky enough now to have to sit through a little press conference with me. [laughter] make yourselves comfortable. [laughter] i warned the kids ahead of time. I said try not to look , completely bored. Im going to take a couple of questions from the press. But first, a few additional pieces of business. First of all, we learned today that our businesses created another 118,000 new jobs in september, which means that we now have had 67 straight months of job creation. 13. 2 million jobs in all. An Unemployment Rate that has fallen from a high of 10 to down to 5. 1 . These longterm trends are obviously good news, particularly for every american waking up each morning and heading off to a new job. But, we would be doing even better if we did not have to continue dealing with unnecessary crises in Congress Every few months. This is especially important right now, because although the American Economy has been chugging along at a steady pace, much of the Global Economy is softening. We have seen an impact on our exports, which was a major driver of growth for us, particularly at the beginning of the recovery. So our own growth could slow if congress does not do away with some of the counterproductive austerity measures that they have put in place and if congress does not avoid the kind of manufactured crises that shatter Consumer Confidence and could disrupt an already skittish Global Economy. On wednesday, more than half of republicans voted to shut down the government for the second time in two years. The good news is that there were enough votes in both parties to pass a lastminute bill to keep the government open and operating for another 10 weeks before we can get a more longterm solution. But keep in mind that gimmick only sets up another potential manufactured crisis just two weeks before christmas. And ive said this before and i want to repeat it. This is not the way the United States should be operating. Oftentimes, i hear from folks up on capitol hill about the need for american leadership. The need for america to be number one. Well, you know what . Around the globe, part of what makes us a leader is when we govern effectively and we keep our own house in order. And we pass budgets and we can engage in longterm planning and can invest in the things that are important for the future. That is u. S. Leadership. When we fail to do that, we diminish u. S. Leadership. It is not how we are supposed to operate. We cannot just keep on kicking down the road without solving any problems or doing any longterm planning for the future. That is true for military. That is true for our domestic programs. The American People, the American Families deserve better and we can grow faster and the economy can improve if Congress Acts with dispatch. It will get worse if they do not. That is why want to be very clear i will not sign another shortsighted spending bill like the one that congress sent me this week. We purchased ourselves 10 additional weeks, and we need to use them effectively. Keep in mind that both parties put in place harmful cuts that make no distinction between spending we dont meet and spending we do. We can revisit the history of how that happened. I have some rather grim memories of it. But the notion was that even as we were bringing down the deficit, we would come up with a sustainable, smart, longterm approach to investing in the things that we need. That did not happen. And so now, these cuts that have been maintained have been keeping our economy from growing faster. It is time to undo them. If we do not, then we will have to fund our economic and National Security priorities in 2016 at the same levels that we did in 2006. Now understand, during that decade between 2006 and 2016, our economy has grown by 12 . Our population has grown by 8 . New threats have emerged. New opportunities have appeared. We cannot fund our country the way we did 10 years ago. Because we have greater demands with an aging population, with kids who need schools, with roads that needs to be fixed, with a military on which we are placing extraordinary demands. And we cannot cut our way to prosperity. Other countries have tried it and it has not worked. We have grown faster than they have because we did not pursue these blind unthinking cuts and to necessary investment for our growth. By the way, because we have grown faster than them, we have brought our deficits down faster than they had. I want to repeat this because the public apparently never believes that. Since i took office, we have cut our deficit by two thirds. The deficit has not been going up. It has been going down precipitously. We have cut our deficits by two thirds. They are below the average deficits over the past four years. The bottom line is that congress has to do its job. It cannot flirt with another shutdown. It should pass a serious budget. And if they do and get rid of some of these mindless cuts, even as we are still prudent about maintaining the spending that we need, but not the spending that we do not need and is not working, their own nonpartisan Budget Office says it will add an extra halfmillion jobs to our economy next year alone. We can immediately put half a million more people back to work. That is if we just have a more sensible budget. In these negotiations, nobody is going to get everything they want. We have to Work Together though, even if we disagree, in order to do the peoples business. At some point we have to want to govern, and not display politics or play to various political bases. At some point we need to pass bills to rebuild our roads, to keep our kids learning and keep our military strong, and help people prepare for and recover from disasters. That is congresss most basic job and that is what government is supposed to do, serve the American People. So with that, let me take some questions and i will start with julie. Hang in there, kids. [laughter] it will be over soon. Thank you, mr. President. There have been several developments in syria i want to ask you about, starting with russias involvement. You met with president putin earlier this week and i wonder if you think his intentions in syria are honest. If russia is targeting groups beyond the islamic state, including u. S. Aligned groups, does the u. S. Military have an obligation to protect them . On the situation in syria broadly, there have obviously been failures in the u. S. Train and equip program. Do you believe that program can be fixed, or would you look at other options . Would you look into a nofly zone, which several dozens of candidates, including your former secretary of state, are now calling for . President obama well, first and foremost, lets understand what is happening in syria and how we got here. What started off as peaceful protests against assad, the evolved into a civil war because assad met those protests with unimaginable brutality. And so this is not a conflict between the United States and any party in syria. This is a conflict between the Syrian People and a brutal, ruthless dictator. Point number two is that the reason assad is still in power is because russia and iran have supported him throughout this process. And in that sense, what russia is doing now is not particularly different from what they had been doing in the past. They are just more overt about it. They have been propping up a regime that has rejected by an overwhelming majority of the syrian population because they have seen he has been willing to drop barrel bombs on children and on villages indiscriminately and has been more concerned about clinging to power than the state of this country. So in my discussions with president putin, i was very clear that the only way to solve the problem in syria is to have a political transition that is inclusive and keeps the state intact and keeps the military intact, maintai