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It's always good to be back in Boston, especially when the weather is like this. [Laughter] But pretty soon fall is going to be in the air. Students coming back. Pats kick off on Thursday. Brady is free. [Laughter] And I've got a lot of good memories about this city. As we were driving up past the Commons, I was thinking about when I was a student here. The truth is, I was in the library most of the time, so I didn't get to have as much fun as I should have.
But the words that I spoke that night in 2004 are the same ones that generations of Americans worked for and fought for. That's the belief that America is the most extraordinary of countries: a place only this country, where somebody like me could rise to the heights of political office; a conviction that no matter who you are or what you look like, or how much money you were born into, we can all make something of ourselves. We can clock in at a job that rewards our work with dignity and security. We can give our kids something better if we're willing to work for it, and instill in them the values of hard work and respect for other people, and love of country, and the notion that here in America we're all in it together, that we are the United States of America. We're a Union.
And those are the beliefs that built this country. Those are the beliefs that built the strongest middle class the world has ever seen. But it wasn't just beliefs, it wasn't just words, that built the middle class in this country. You've got to say more than America is great and that's it. You've got to work for it. It's not enough just to say America is exceptional. You've got to prove it. You've got to work to keep it that way. And that's what generations of the labor movement have done. It was hard-working Americans who marched and organized to help working families get ahead. It was hard-working folks who demanded not simply a bigger paycheck for themselves, but more security for the folks working next to them too. They were the ones who were out in the cold on picket lines. They were the folks who were dealing with the Pinkertons. They were the folks who sometimes got beat or got fired for organizing; got threatened and stood up for an idea that everybody deserves a fair shake.
It was working people, middle class values that restored the meaning of the word "Made in America," "Made in the U.S.A." We had an auto industry that was flat on its back when I came into office. Now we're on track to sell more cars and trucks this year than we have in more than a decade. American manufacturing had been declining for a decade, and then we came in and we nearly created 900,000 jobs in 5 years. Fastest manufacturing growth that we've seen in a very long time.
When I came into office, business leaders said the best place to invest was in China. Well, they don't say that no more. [Laughter] Now the number-one place to invest is right here in the United States of America. That's because we've got the best workers in the world. That's progress.
Now, we're entering into political season. I'm so glad I'm not on the ballot. [Laughter] But it's political season. It starts earlier and earlier, and so now we're starting to hear a lot about middle-class values. Everybody wants to talk about the middle class. But some folks seem confused about what exactly that means. So let me provide a refresher course.
For me, for us, middle class values means providing tax cuts to 98 percent of Americans, but then asking the top 2 percent to pay a little bit more. That's helping middle class families. For us, middle class values means protecting Main Street from another crisis with the toughest Wall Street reforms in history that your Senators helped to make happen. It means reforming student loans and increasing Pell Grants so every kid can afford a college education. And we've got to keep working to make 2 years of community college free for everybody who's willing to work for it. It means helping 16 million Americans gain the security of health insurance, because nobody in America should have to live in fear of going broke just because they or somebody in their family got sick. That's what it means to us to have middle class values.
And we know we've got more work to do to make sure more families feel the gains of this recovery. But the fact is that the verdict is in. Middle class economics works. Looking out for working people works. Bottom-up economics works. Middle class-out economics works. When you make sure everybody gets a fair shot and a fair shake and you're fighting for decent wages for workers and making sure they've got decent benefits, when you reward people who are playing by the rules, that's how everybody does better. That's how America gets ahead. That's how it's always been in this country.
I'll give you an example. Right now Republicans in Washington have the chance to prove they really care about working families. Congress has to pass a budget by the end of this month, or they risk shutting down the Government for the second time in 2 years. Now, everybody knows the world economy is pretty volatile right now. Our economy is a relative bright spot. We're doing better than just about everybody else. So a shutdown would be completely irresponsible. It would be an unforced error, a fumble on the goal line. It would be like a ground ball slipping through somebody's legs. [Laughter] You guys have won a couple since that time, so I can make that joke. If you hadn't had so many World Series wins, I wouldn't make that joke.
Point is, it doesn't have to happen. Congress can pass a budget that does away with this so-called sequester that just lops things off whether it's good or not for the economy, harms our military, hurts working people. We could instead invest in working families, invest in our military readiness, invest in our schools, rebuild our roads, rebuild our ports, rebuild our airports, put people back to work right now. I'll sign that budget. I'm ready to work with them.
But so far at least, instead of hearing about how we can all move together, what we're hearing from those folks is threats that they might shut down the Government over things that don't even have to do with the budget. Try to stop the budget in order to force us to do something that would restrict women's health care, for example. That's not a good idea. And you're seeing all kinds of mindless proposals that would harm our military readiness and cut job training, cut Head Start, cut preschools, cut K-through-12 education.
The President. And says that busting unions prepares him to fight ISIL. [Laughter] I didn't make that up. That's what he said. Really? A whole bunch of them are hoping to make "right to work" the law of the land. They think that's the answer to economic prosperity. You had one who blamed unions for the women's pay gap. Think about that. So what if there were no unions, then suddenly women are all going to be paid equal? These are the same folks who fought against equal pay legislation in Congress.
Now, the good news is, for the past couple of years, working in concert with great Members of Congress like Ed and Elizabeth, we've taken steps to address some issues facing working families. And we've had the cooperation of Governors and mayors in a lot of places. Seventeen States, about 30 cities, have answered the call to raise the minimum wage. I raised wages for Federal contractors. In June, we proposed action to protect a worker's right to overtime, extending protections to as many as 5 million Americans who weren't getting a fair shake when it came to overtime rules. It's a pretty straightforward proposition: If you're working harder and longer, you should get paid for it.
I believe that you should be able to talk openly about how much you get paid to make sure everybody is getting paid the same. That's how we know if there's unfairness in the workplace. That's something Lilly Ledbetter had to deal with and helped contribute to the pay gap. So last spring, I acted to combat pay secrecy. Working with Tom Perez, we are finalizing a rule this week that makes sure that what people are getting paid is out there so you know if you're getting cheated. If you find out you're getting shortchanged, you shouldn't live in fear of getting fired because you raise your voice. You should be able to press your claim.
And I believe that working Americans should have the basic security of paid leave. Right now we are the only advanced nation on Earth that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. Think about that. You had one study found that nearly one in four working moms return to work within 2 weeks of childbirth. Think about that. Now, for the men in the audience in particular, think about that. We wouldn't even go to work if we had to carry around somebody for 9 months. The human race would evaporate. We couldn't even take it. [Laughter] And then, the notion that after you had that baby, you had to go back to work 2 weeks later.
Now, unfortunately, only Congress has the power to give this security to all Americans. But where I can act, I will. And by the way, I just did. As we were flying over here, I signed a new Executive order requiring Federal contractors to allow employees who work on our contracts to earn up to 7 paid sick days a year. This will give about 300,000 working Americans access to paid sick leave for the first time.
And here in Massachusetts, you're already ahead of the game. Last fall, folks easily approved paid sick leave throughout the Commonwealth. In May, Mayor Walsh signed an ordinance allowing for up to 6 weeks of paid parental leave for city employees. You all should be proud of what you're doing for working families in this State.
But that's not a new story here in Massachusetts. You all have always been a little ahead of the curve. Almost two centuries ago, there were the "Mill Girls" up in Lowell, the Nation's first union of working women. Folks in Boston helped lead the way to an 8-hour workday. Generation by generation, from the textile and trolley workers to the hotel and parking workers of today, hard-working men and women like all of you in this Commonwealth have stood up for working families.
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