We must also recognize that it's not enough to debate the role of government in reducing violence.

As the President has often said in the past, there are important steps we can take as a country to keep guns out of the wrong hands and get weapons of war off the street.

A child's zip code should never determine her destiny.

That's wrong, and we should fix it.

If you're willing to work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to find a good job.

Thank you for your extraordinary service and I'm so glad that we had an opportunity to visit once again before you move on to even better things.

The head of a household of four who has a full-time, minimum wage job is actually raising his family below the poverty line.

The average worker who would benefit from a rise in the minimum wage to $9 an hour brought home 46 percent of his or her household's total wage and salary income in 2011.

I want to extend the warmest greetings to my good friend, President Napolitano, on a return visit to the White House.

Hopefully, we will all draw inspiration from this and remember why it is that we're lucky to be living in the greatest nation on Earth.

We should reward an honest day's work with honest wages.

Change is always possible; that we may not be able to help everybody, but if we help a few, then that propels progress forward.

I'm here to make sure that we talk about and then work towards giving every child every chance in life.

So giving a raise to $9 an hour would have a real impact on the standard of living for families like that.

That's who we are; that's in our DNA.

Every dollar invested in early learning and development programs saves about $7 down the road in higher earnings.

For America to succeed in the 21st century, we must have the most dynamic, educated workforce in the world.

Last year, there were 443 murders with a firearm on the streets of this city and 65 of those victims were 18 and under. So that's the equivalent of a Newtown every four months.