• 6 months ago
President Biden delivered remarks on Wednesday at North America’s Building Trade Union National Legislative Conference.

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Transcript
00:00Hello.
00:01Hello, hello, hello.
00:02Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:03Thank you.
00:04Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:05Thank you.
00:06Thank you.
00:07Thank you.
00:08Thank you.
00:09Thank you.
00:10Thank you.
00:11Thank you.
00:12Thank you.
00:13Thank you.
00:14Thank you.
00:15Thank you.
00:16Thank you.
00:17Thank you.
00:18Thank you.
00:19Thank you.
00:20Thank you.
00:21Thank you.
00:22Thank you.
00:23Thank you.
00:24Thank you.
00:25Thank you.
00:26Thank you.
00:27Thank you.
00:28Thank you.
00:29Please have a seat.
00:36Whoa!
00:40Whoa!
00:45Whoa!
00:46What a welcome.
00:47I'm going home.
00:48Thank you, thank you, thank you BuildingTrades.
00:54God love y'all.
00:55Thank you.
00:56Thank you.
00:57I really mean it.
01:00And, Sean, thank you for your friendship,
01:03your partnership, and it's been an incredible honor.
01:06And I mean this from the bottom of my heart,
01:07an incredible honor to be endorsed by the Building Trades.
01:13I mean it. You're the best.
01:21Not a joke. It's not a joke.
01:25You're the best in the world.
01:28That's not a joke. You're the best in the world.
01:31You know, you had my back in 2020,
01:33and because of you, I'm standing here
01:35as President of the United States of America.
01:38Because of you.
01:40That's a fact.
01:43Because of you, in 2024,
01:45we're going to make Donald Trump a loser again.
01:49Are you ready? Are you ready?
02:10I'm so damn proud to be with you, and I really mean it.
02:12I'm proud to be with you.
02:14All my relatives, my grandpop, and everybody else up there,
02:18they're all gone now, but in Scranton,
02:20my aunt and uncle used to say,
02:22Joey, you're belt-buckled to shoe sole union.
02:26Well, let me tell you something.
02:27I'm proud to be the most union-
02:29pro-union president in American history,
02:31and it's because of you.
02:32You're proof of what I've always known.
02:34Not a joke.
02:35I've always known that Wall Street didn't build America,
02:38the middle class built America,
02:40and unions built the middle class.
02:43That's a fact. That's a fact.
02:51Folks, being with you today reminds me
02:53of where I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
02:55in Claymont, Delaware.
02:57I was up in Scranton last week.
02:59It's great to have the mayor of Scranton.
03:01By the way, Paige Cognetti. Where are you, Paige?
03:03She's here today.
03:05I don't know. It's a big crowd out there,
03:06but if you see her, you'll know her.
03:10Look, in Scranton, I learned a basic value set
03:14that all of you learn as well, no matter where you're from.
03:17I learned that money doesn't determine your worth.
03:20I learned that all anyone wants is just a fair shot,
03:24a fair shot at making it.
03:25Don't block the road for me. Give me an even shot.
03:28My dad, I swear to God, used to have an expression.
03:31He'd come home after he closed-
03:33he'd come home for dinner
03:34and then go back and close the shop.
03:36My dad would say, Joey, a job- I mean this sincerely.
03:40A job's about a lot more than a paycheck.
03:43It's about your dignity. It's about respect.
03:47It's about being able to look your child in the eye
03:48and say, honey, it's going to be okay.
03:50I mean it. That's what we're all about.
03:53Dignity of all workers. The dignity of workers.
03:59I mean it.
04:01And we all grew up-
04:18we all grew up with folks who sort of looked down on us
04:23because of what our dads did.
04:25They weren't in business. They weren't executives.
04:27They weren't something special.
04:29But they are special.
04:31You know, but people like Donald Trump
04:33learned a different lesson.
04:35He learned the best way to get rich is inherited.
04:39He learned that paying taxes is something working people did.
04:43Not him.
04:44He learned that telling people you're fired
04:47was something to laugh about.
04:49Not in my household. Not in my neighborhood.
04:52I mean it, sincerely. No joke.
05:00Especially being fired because you had no protection.
05:03Folks, I guess that's how you look at the world from Mar-a-Lago,
05:09where Trump and his rich friends
05:11embraced the same failed trickle-down policies
05:14that have failed working-class families
05:15and union families for over 40 years.
05:18But if you grew up where we grew up,
05:21nobody handed you anything.
05:23Being told you were fired wasn't entertainment.
05:26It was devastating. It was a nightmare.
05:30And, folks, we all know people like Trump who look down on us.
05:35Don't we? We all know somebody we grew up with like that.
05:38Well, folks, where I come from, it matters.
05:40When I look at the economy,
05:42I don't see it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago.
05:43I see it through the eyes of Scranton
05:45and working people like all of you and my family.
05:49You know, we know the best way to grow an economy
05:51is from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down.
05:54My dad used to say,
05:56not a whole hell of a lot trickled down
05:57on his kitchen table and that top-down policy.
06:01When we do that, when we work from the bottom up
06:03and the middle out, the poor have a ladder up,
06:05and the middle class does well.
06:07And, by the way, the wealthy still do very well
06:11if they just start paying the damn taxes.
06:13So it's either Scranton values or Mar-a-Lago values.
06:26These are competing visions of the economy
06:30at the heart of this election,
06:31competing visions of what we look at and see as America.
06:35Folks, one of the reasons I ran for president
06:37was to rebuild the backbone of the middle class,
06:40and we have.
06:42We're following my blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,
06:45and guess what? It's working.
06:47You're building that America.
06:48You're in this room. We're building that America.
06:51For example, thanks to my bipartisan infrastructure law,
06:54more than 51,000 new manufacturing projects
06:57have been announced so far, and we're just beginning.
07:00It's just beginning.
07:02It's just starting.
07:07Roads, bridges, ports, airports, clean water systems,
07:12available high-speed Internet all across America
07:15and built by the building trades.
07:26Remember when President Trump promised this?
07:31I got to be careful.
07:34He promised this infrastructure week.
07:37Well, I tell you what, it took four years.
07:39He never built a damn thing, nothing.
07:42I'm serious. Are you surprised?
07:50I'm sure, I'm making sure the projects
07:53like project labor agreements
07:55so highly skilled workers have a voice on the job.
07:58But even before Trump was President,
08:00Trump preferred non-union workers
08:02than his real estate projects.
08:04And I don't want to get into the stories, but anyway.
08:07Even at that, he didn't keep his word.
08:10He just asked contractors, vendors, and small businesses.
08:13And if you're reading the press, if any of it's true,
08:16he never paid them, a whole hell of a lot of them.
08:19The guy has never worked a day in a working man's boots.
08:23By the way, he gave me a pair of boots as a gift, by the way.
08:27I know how to put them on.
08:30I still sometimes cut the yard.
08:33The Secret Service doesn't let me do it anymore.
08:37Folks, I'm making Davis-Bacon requirements stronger
08:41to guarantee prevailing wage.
08:48By the way, we're making it stronger.
08:58That will...
09:03That loan will increase wages
09:06for more than a million construction workers.
09:09Trump's MAGA allies are trying to take it away now,
09:12but it's not going to happen on my watch.
09:15Since the 1930s, the law has said
09:22when the federal government spends taxpayers' dollars
09:25on a project, it can only buy American products to do it
09:29and use American workers to get it done.
09:32That's Buy America.
09:34Donald Trump failed to uphold that,
09:36but not anymore.
09:38My administration uses American products and American workers.
09:41That's why it's going.
09:45I mean it.
09:48Folks, it's not a joke.
10:01It's not a campaign line.
10:03The God truth is you're the best workers in the world.
10:05That's a fact.
10:06You're the best workers in the world.
10:08When I went out to South Korea to get them to start
10:11to build back those computer chips here in America,
10:14I said, why are you willing?
10:16And they decided to do it, investing billions of dollars.
10:19I said, why are you doing it?
10:20He said, two things.
10:21You have the best workers in the world
10:23and you have the safest place in the world to do it.
10:25Well, folks, when I think climate,
10:28I think jobs, I think union jobs,
10:30good-paying jobs that don't require a college degree.
10:33You've attracted nearly $700 billion
10:36in private sector investment and advanced manufacturing
10:39and semiconductors, clean energy,
10:41and so much more here in America,
10:43creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs,
10:46building trade jobs.
10:48In fact, construction of new factories
10:50has more than doubled in our administration.
10:52Meanwhile, meanwhile, Donald Trump
11:01still thinks windmills cause cancer.
11:09That's what he said.
11:11By the way, I remember when he was trying to deal with COVID,
11:13he said, just inject a little bleach in your veins.
11:18He missed it, it all went to his hair.
11:29I shouldn't have said that.
11:41I probably shouldn't have said that.
11:46You guys are a bad influence on me.
11:51Trump and his MAG allies want to repeal
11:54the most significant investments in climate ever,
11:57the work that you risk your lives doing lots of it.
12:01You know, he wants to risk all those jobs.
12:04Are you surprised? I'm not.
12:06A lot of you don't know that if you want to be a pipe fitter,
12:10a lot of people don't know.
12:11If you want to be a pipe fitter, electrician,
12:13or any of the other trades here,
12:14it takes four or five years of hard work as an apprentice.
12:18Most people think you can walk up and I keep it,
12:20you guys should talk more about this.
12:22They think you walk up and you say,
12:23I want to be an electrician, you get a license.
12:26It's four or five years. It's like going back to college.
12:29It's going like getting a college degree.
12:32And that's the reason, the reason you're the best
12:34is because you're the best trained in the world.
12:36You get it. I get it.
12:38But Donald Trump has no clue.
12:41He undermined union apprenticeships
12:42by lowering standards and lowering pay.
12:45He ended, I ended his anti-work policies
12:48and saved the Building Trades Apprenticeships Program
12:50because they're the gold standard of the world.
12:53They are. They actually are.
13:09Look, and earlier this week, earlier this week,
13:14I teamed up together to recruit young people
13:17into the building trades.
13:19It's my American Climate Corps will now pave,
13:22pave a pathway to your apprenticeship program
13:25because it matters. It matters.
13:27Through my American Rescue Plan,
13:28there's not a single Republican voted for, I might add.
13:31I also enacted the Butch Lewis Act,
13:34the most pro-labor law in 50 years because of you,
13:38because of you.
13:40That one act, that one act
13:52has already protected hard-earned pensions
13:54of over 1 million workers and retirees and counting.
13:58We made that happen while Trump promised it.
14:00He never even lifted a finger to try to get it.
14:03Are you surprised?
14:05I hell no, I'm not either.
14:07Trump put union busters on the National Labor Relations Board
14:12throughout his administration.
14:14I've appointed people in my administration
14:16who actually care about American workers,
14:18like former Building Trades leader Marty Walsh,
14:22who was a great labor secretary.
14:24By the way, if you're ever in need,
14:43if you're ever in a foxhole, I tell you,
14:44you want Marty Walsh with you, man.
14:47Oh, you think I'm kidding. He's the real deal.
14:50You know, I've walked proudly in union picket lines
14:53while, at the same time, Trump bashed unions
14:55from non-union shops.
14:57Are you surprised?
15:00Look, I want to sign the proact in the law.
15:09Trump said he'd veto it. Trump said he'd veto it.
15:12Beyond that, he supports a national right-to-work law,
15:15for God's sake.
15:18Think about it.
15:19What is the single biggest killer could happen?
15:21A national right-to-work law.
15:24Look, he might as well say he doesn't support any unions.
15:27Are we going to let that happen, pal?
15:29We're not going to.
15:31Let me ask you, does anyone here think the tax system is fair?
15:34Raise your hand.
15:36Well, Trump is proud of his $2 trillion tax
15:39cut in his administration
15:41that overwhelmingly benefited the very wealthy
15:43and the biggest corporations
15:44while exploding the federal debt.
15:46Trump added more to the national debt
15:49than any President in a single term
15:51in all of American history.
15:52The national debt. I cut the national debt so far.
16:01And still got all the other things in.
16:04By doing simple things like, you know,
16:05remember those 40 Fortune 500 companies?
16:08Of those Fortune 500 companies, 40 of them?
16:12I think, no, it was 50,
16:14who didn't pay a single penny in taxes,
16:16made $40 billion, $4 billion, $40 billion.
16:19Guess what?
16:21I did a terrible thing. I made them pay 15 percent.
16:28And we cut the deficit by $70 billion.
16:34Look, now Trump is saying if he gets elected,
16:37he wants to give another.
16:38By the way, that tax cut of his expires next year, okay?
16:44Well, let me tell you something.
16:46It's going to say expired and dead forever
16:48if I'm elected. But anyway, he wants another.
16:50He wants to give another massive tax cut for the wealthy.
16:54And he also says he wants to cut your Medicare
16:57and Social Security,
16:58and you're going to let him not happen?
17:00Oh, hey, by the way, these guys mean this stuff.
17:04They mean it.
17:06And the Republican caucus went ahead
17:08and said they want to do that, too.
17:10Look, folks, I remember there used to be two parties,
17:13real parties, you know,
17:15but this ain't your father's Republican party.
17:16This is a different breed of cat.
17:19Look, I got a better idea.
17:21I'm going to protect Social Security and Medicare
17:23by making the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share.
17:26No billionaire.
17:41Look, guys, no billionaire.
17:46There's a thousand of them in America, a thousand billionaires.
17:49No billionaire should pay less in taxes than a teacher,
17:52a nurse, a construction worker, a police officer.
17:55Guess what? You know what their average tax rate
17:58for a billionaire in America is?
18:00Eight point three percent. That's what they pay.
18:04I'm serious. I'm serious.
18:08Look, if we just charge them 24 percent in their tax,
18:12which isn't the highest tax rate,
18:14we generate 50-
18:16$500 billion over the next 10 years,
18:19allow us to significantly cut the deficit,
18:21allow us to move all and have daycare,
18:24allow us to do so many things to make the country stronger.
18:28I want to point out one thing.
18:29It was a little off point, but I want you to remember it.
18:32I asked the Treasury Department
18:34because I was getting all this compliment
18:36and from some criticism about being so pro-union.
18:40I said, what happens to wages generally
18:42when unions have to get paid a decent salary?
18:46Everybody's salaries goes up. Everybody.
18:50You grow the economy. You grow the economy.
18:54You grow the economy.
18:59Look, the bottom line is we're doing
19:02what's always worked best in this country,
19:04investing in all America and all Americans.
19:08Our plan is working.
19:09So far, we've created over 15 million new jobs.
19:12Including 848,000 construction jobs
19:16for a record 8.2 million across the construction industry.
19:20Folks.
19:28And by the way, did you know there are only two presidents
19:32in American history who left office
19:35with fewer American jobs than they entered in?
19:38Herbert Hoover and, yes, Donald Herbert Hoover Trump.
19:42Only two.
19:47Look, folks. Folks, we're moving again.
19:51We're moving again as a country.
19:53We're beginning to gain momentum.
19:55We have the best economy where we got a lot more to do.
19:58But we're moving again because of you guys and women.
20:01I mean, I'm not being solicitous.
20:03That's why we're moving. We're building again.
20:05And we're just getting started. Let me close with this.
20:09As I travel the country,
20:11I see the amazing things you do,
20:12and I mean it, all over the country.
20:14In red states and blue states.
20:17And this past June, I was in Philadelphia,
20:20Sean's hometown, and I married a Philly girl.
20:23You don't screw around with Philly people.
20:27If I didn't vote for every Ph- --"
20:28root for every Philly team out there,
20:30I'd be sleeping alone.
20:32You all think I'm kidding.
20:36Look, remember when that tanker truck crashed
20:38and closed the key stretch of I-95 in Philly?
20:42It was expected,
20:43like in the last administration,
20:45it would take months and months for anything to happen.
20:48Well, 150,000 vehicles travel that overpass every single day.
20:53What'd we do? We contacted all of you.
20:55We organized. You organized. We rebuilt that.
20:58You rebuilt that in less than two weeks' record time.
21:01How? Because you're the building trades,
21:04laborers, operating engineers, cement finishers, plumbers,
21:07pipe finishers, steelworkers, so many union workers.
21:11You showed up.
21:14You showed up around the clock, and you got it done.
21:28By the way, that's America.
21:32By the way, unions are more popular today
21:35than they've ever been in a long, long time,
21:37not because of Joe Biden supporting it,
21:38because of you.
21:39You always step up. You step into the breach.
21:43You get things done. That's the union movement.
21:46That's what it's about.
21:48In Baltimore, we're moving heaven and earth to —
21:51or, as my dad from Baltimore would say,
21:52Balmer. Balmer.
21:55We're moving heaven and earth to rebuild
21:57over the Francis Scott Key Bridge after a tragic collapse.
22:01And we're doing it with you, with union, labor,
22:04and American steel.
22:06And American steel.
22:09That's America. That's the union movement.
22:22Look, folks, I mean, you're doing — you ought to see —
22:28I mean, I've been to the site. It's incredible.
22:30I've been over that bridge a lot.
22:31I mean, I commuted every day for 36 years as a U.S. senator.
22:36When my wife and daughter were killed.
22:37And I used to commute back and forth to be with my boys.
22:40And I'm over that area in Baltimore Harbor.
22:43It's incredible what you're doing.
22:45And, folks, the choice is clear.
22:48Donald Trump's vision of America
22:50is one of revenge and retribution.
22:53A defeated former President who sees the world from Mar-a-Lago
22:56and bows down to billionaires,
22:59who looks down on American union workers.
23:01It's not just he's not supporting. He looks down on us.
23:04No, I'm not joking. Think about it.
23:07Think about the guys you grew up with
23:08who you'd like to get into the corner
23:09and just give them a straight lift.
23:12I'm not suggesting we hit the President.
23:16But we all know those guys growing up.
23:18We all know guys like that growing up.
23:22My vision of America is one of hope and opportunity.
23:27The view from Scranton, working-class Americans like you.
23:31Here's the future I see.
23:32And I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
23:34I've never been more optimistic about America's chances.
23:37Not because I'm President, but because of the state
23:38of the moment the world needs us.
23:41Look what I just signed.
23:42We just signed the bill to give support to Ukraine.
23:46We —
23:48we rebuilt NATO. We increased it.
24:05Like it or not, we're the leading country in the world.
24:08The rest of the world looks to us.
24:11I see an America where we defend democracy, not diminish it.
24:15I see an America where we protect freedoms,
24:17not take them away.
24:19I see an economy that grows from the middle out
24:22and the bottom up, where the wealthy pay their fair share
24:25so we can have childcare, paid leave, and so much more,
24:28and still reduce the federal deficit
24:30and increase economic growth.
24:33Folks, imagine what we can do next.
24:37Four more years.
24:39Four more years.
24:41Four more years.
24:43Four more years.
24:45Four more years.
24:46Four more years.
24:47Four more years.
24:49Are you ready?
24:55Are you ready to move forward?
24:57Thank you.
25:05We're all ready.
25:08We're ready to move forward, not back.
25:12Are you ready to choose unity over division,
25:14dignity over hate, truth over lies?
25:16Are you ready to choose freedom over democracy —
25:19for democracy?
25:22We can do this.
25:24I'll give you my word as a Biden.
25:25I've never been more optimistic about our future
25:27in my entire career.
25:28Just remember who we are. And I mean this.
25:31Think about it. We are the United States of America,
25:34and there's nothing beyond our capacity —
25:37nothing, nothing, nothing — when we do it together.
25:40We've got to do it together.
25:50God bless you all.
25:53God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.
25:55Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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