Barack Obama: “I urge House Republicans to stop blocking a bipartisan compromise that would stem this tide.”

And I will fight for that, even if I don’t always think it’s going to win.

When we choose, when we make that decision, I do believe – and there is evidence for this – that the world gets incrementally better, and that is a worthy goal and it’s worth fighting for.

A drift towards extremism was "not inevitable

It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say.