June 23 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke on the economy and two of his top legislative priorities, health care reform and a bill to address climate change, at White House press conference on Tuesday.
Here are some quotes:
ON OUTLOOK FOR U.S. UNEMPLOYMENT
"I think it's pretty clear now that unemployment will end up going over 10 percent ... because of the fact that even after employers and businesses start investing again and start hiring again, typically it takes a while for that employment number to catch up with economic recovery. And we're still not at actual recovery yet.
"So I anticipate that this is going to be ... a difficult year, a difficult period."
"But what I am saying is that there are some things I know for certain: In the absence of the stimulus, I think our recession would be much worse."
ON WHETHER A SECOND ECONOMIC STIMULUS NEEDED:
"Not yet, because I think it's important to see how the economy evolves and how effective the first stimulus is."
ON A POSSIBLE SECOND TERM FOR FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE:
"I'm not going to make news about Ben Bernanke although I think he has done a fine job under very difficult circumstances ... I think, since the crisis has occurred, Ben Bernanke has performed very well."
ON GIVING THE FEDERAL RESERVE MORE POWER:
"One of the central concepts behind our financial regulatory reform is that there's got to be somebody who is responsible, not just for monitoring the health of individual institutions, but somebody who's monitoring the systemic risks of the system as a whole. And we believe that the Fed has the most technical expertise and the best track record in terms of doing that."
"We are not so much expanding the Fed's power as we are focusing what the Fed needs to do to prevent the kinds of crises that are happening again."
ON THE NEED FOR A CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY:
"There's a whole bunch of financial transactions out there where consumers are not protected the way they should. And that's why we said we're going to put forward a consumer financial protection agency whose only job it is to focus on those issues."
ON PAYING FOR HEALTHCARE REFORM
"We have a long-standing critical problem in our healthcare system that is pulling down our economy. It's burdening families. It's burdening businesses. And it is the primary driver of our federal deficits."
"There's been a lot of talk about, well, a trillion-dollar price tag. What I've said is, if we're going to spend that much money, then it's going to be largely funded through reallocating dollars that are already in the healthcare system, but aren't being spent well."
"This is legislation that will be paid for. It will not add to our deficits over the next decade. We will find the money through savings and efficiencies within the healthcare system -- some of which we've already announced."
"I hope that Congress will continue to make significant progress on this issue in the weeks ahead."
ON CLIMATE CHANGE BILL:
"The nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century's global economy. That's what this legislation seeks to achieve ... I urge members of Congress to come together and pass it.
"This legislation will spark a clean energy transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet."
"At a time of great fiscal challenges, this legislation is paid for by the polluters who currently emit the dangerous carbon emissions that contaminate the water we drink and pollute the air we breathe."
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Patricia Zengerle and Vicki Allen)