President Biden Delivers Remarks on Building a Better America 4/14/22 Transcript

Malcolm Hawkins: (00:00) Good afternoon to all in attendance. My name is Malcolm Hawkins and I'm a senior electrical engineering student here at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. I am truly honored to welcome President Biden to this illustrious institution. When I made the decision to attend a North Carolina A&T, I was excited for the journey to come. I looked forward to learning as much as I could so that I would excel upon graduation. After being on campus for four years, I can certainly attest to the excellent education that an HBCU provides. I've been taught by dedicated professors and mentored by individuals who saw my potential to positively impact this world. I've interned at four different companies, participated in and won a national competition and traveled abroad. This and so much more is possible by investment in HBCUs. North Carolina A&T graduates the highest number of African American engineers and they go on to have successful careers in government, industry and academia. Malcolm Hawkins: (00:59) There is always a need for problem solvers who can tackle the most difficult issues, including involving the economy and HBCUs prepare students for the challenge. The key to this preparation is innovation, whether that's through our many centers of excellence or the new Harold Martin Sr. Engineering Research & Innovation Complex, A&T students, regardless of major, graduate with the skills needed to transform their respective fields. Needless to say, as I graduate next month, I feel fully equipped with the knowledge I need to excel in all aspects of my life. I'm excited to see HBCUs continue to rise in prominence, and I can't wait to see how they impact America in the future. With that, please give a warm welcome to the president of the United States, Joe Biden. Joe Biden: (02:05) Hello, hello, hello Greensboro. Chancellor. Joe Biden: (02:11) Please take a seat if you have one. I said that one day, "Take a seat," the press pointed out to me there were no chairs out there. Thank you very, very much for the opportunity to be here. Chancellor, thank you and thank your wife as well for all you do for educating the future of this country. And I've been impressed. I've been on a lot of university campuses. Matter of fact, for four years, I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and this is really an impressive place and a lot of impressive students. And it's good to be here at A&T and I thank you for sharing your story, Malcolm. He's going to... Did you say where you're going? Am I allowed to say where you're going to be working? Joe Biden: (02:54) He's going to work at IBM, a little outfit that does... Just remember when you're chairman of the board remember me. Okay. If I go by and say, "Hey, Malcolm..." And I said, "Is Joe here?" I don't want to hear "Joe who?" Okay? Well, Mayor Vaughn thank you for the passport into the city. It's great to be here with a Congresswoman who delivers to the people of this district. Kathy, you do an incredible job. No, you really do. You really do. My dear friend, Congresswoman G.K. Butterfield, is here? There you go, man. Stand up. I want you to stand up. This guy... He's done so much over his distinguished career for the last 20 years or so. I wish you weren't leaving pal. I wish you weren't leaving, but I understand. But thank for all you've done. Joe Biden: (03:55) And Congresswoman Alba, excuse me, Alma Adams, where's she? There you are. I see the hat. What am I talking about? Alma, how are you? You're the best. Thank you for all the hard work delivered for HBCUs, not just this one, but all across the country. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And you're outstanding governor, one of the best governors in the entire United States America, I say that without reservation, Governor Roy Cooper. Gov. Roy has proved himself to be not a joke, one of the finest governors in the nation. He's displayed so many talents. He's deployed funding for American rescue plan to delivered debt free community college for young people in North Carolina. He's delivered high speed internet in rural communities. He's delivered well deserved raises for teachers and first responders. And thanks for making a difference for the families here in North Carolina, governor, you are setting an example over across the country. Thank you. And look, you can cheer, it's all right. There's a debate in my administration that we never seem to be able to settle and that is that the vice president is incredibly talented. She's a Howard graduate, a great school. And I hear about Morehouse men from my senior advisor, Cedric Richmond, all the time. And you got a great university here. But Delaware State. Delaware State. Joe Biden: (05:34) They launched me into my career, not a joke. As I got elected to the United States Senate when I was 29 years old, chancellor, had to wait 17 days to be eligible to be sworn in, true story. And it wouldn't have happened. And I won by a rousing 3021 votes. And it wouldn't have happened without Delaware State. Most people don't realize is Delaware has the eighth largest black population in America. And the fact is that's, as I say in Claymont, Delaware where I was raised, a little steel town in Delaware, you all brung me to the dance. But here's the deal, I got a member of my cabinet who also slightly partial in North Carolina A&T, Administrator for Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan. Michael. Joe Biden: (06:29) Course you never hear Michael bragging about the place as long as you don't have your hearing aid on. But look, he's a proud Aggie and welcome back to the campus, Michael. And let me tell you, talking about some incredible students here today, I know why Michael's so proud of this school. I really mean it. And A&A is an extraordinary, extraordinary university with a great tradition, an HBCU tradition in all more than 180 years of excellence delivering on that sacred promise we made in America, that every American, from every race, every background, every zip code should have, should have a fair and equal chance to go as far as their God-given talents can take them. Joe Biden: (07:19) And you're providing that here, chancellor, because there's so many, so many great professors here and the program here is so strong. You're giving people an opportunity to take advantage of their God-given talents. That's why I reestablished the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs, with not one, but two North Carolina A&T alums on it. Willie Deese and Janeen Uzzell. Are you here? Are they here? Stand up Willie. Stand up Janeen. Thank you. And also a proud North Carolina native, an NBA star, Chris Paul. He's on it. By the way, he's a hell of ball player who supports the business course here at A&T and is a fierce champion for all HBCUs. That's why I signed an executive order to advance HBCU excellence across the entire administration, everything from policies to funding. And speaking of funding, we were able to deliver more than $5 billion last year to HBCUs and more to come this year. $5 billion. And they said we couldn't do it. Joe Biden: (08:44) But everybody's realized what an incredible asset the HBCUs are. We're also working to increase Pell grants to help millions of black students and lower income families attend community colleges and four year schools. The reason my wife is not with me today, she's a community college professor and she's teaching as we speak. And I'm here today to talk about my plan to create and expand HBCU programs in high demand fields like cyber security, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and so much more. And to talk about why it's so critical that we have to invest in American manufacturing. Joe Biden: (09:20) And if my dad were watching now, he passed away but watching, he'd be mad at me and say, "Excuse my back. I didn't apologize for having my back to you. I apologize." But excuse my back, but I'm looking at you. Why it's essential that the Congress take action quickly to support American innovation. I said today when we were at the cybersecurity unit that more is going to change in the next 10 years than has changed in the last 50 years. Science and technology's moving so incredibly rapidly. It's all part of a broader vision that Vice President Harris and I ran on. Joe Biden: (10:03) It's all part of a broader vision that Vice President Harris and I ran on, to build back a better America than even before the pandemic. A better way with better pay, greater dignity for working people, easing the financial burdens of millions of families, and making it in America. As your Congresswoman said, with America manufacturing, the best engineers in the world, like so many here at AET graduates, make up that cadre. From day one, every action I've taken to rebuild our economy has been guided by one principle: Made in America. It means using products, parts, and materials built right here in the United States of America. It means bring manufacturing jobs back and building the supply chains here at home, not outsourced from abroad. It means betting on American workers, let them do the job and bet on them. It takes a federal government that doesn't just give lip service to buy an American, but actually takes action. Most people don't know. I know the Congresswoman knows. There's been a law in the book since the late '30s that says that you can use American tax dollars, and if your American tax dollars the president is spending, it should be spent on American products and American businesses. Every administration says they'll do it since the late '30s. But now, over time, Buy American has become basically a hollow promise. My administration is making Buy American a reality. We created Made in America in an office in the White House, a Made in America office to oversee these efforts. What's happened is that the exception used to be, if the president spends about $600 to $700 billion of your money on federal projects every year from decks of aircraft carriers to so much more, and he's supposed to buy American businesses, American products. But the fact of the matter is that there was an exception. Joe Biden: (12:02) If you couldn't readily find an American institution, either had part of the supply chain and/or the company, you didn't have to. You could buy it abroad. You could import it. Well, last month, I announced one of the biggest changes in the Buy American act in seven years. Each year, the federal government spends more than $600 billion on goods and services. In the past, if the manufacturing product that you get purchased by the federal government says it is made substantially all in America, it worked. But because of loopholes over time, you know what substantially all meant when I took office? It meant a 55% of the product was made up of American business and American product. It was substantially all an American product. Well, guess what? To me, 55% isn't substantially all. It's slightly over half. We issued a rule, raise the amount of domestic content required to be considered "made in America" from 55% to 75%. Substantially all is going to start meaning substantially all. Joe Biden: (13:06) That's good for American workers and for American businesses, and for communities like Greensboro. I want to thank Congresswoman Manning who's been the strong, strong supporter of Buy American. Now we're seeing the results of our economic vision. Our economy created 431,000 jobs in the month of March alone. 431,000. 7.9 million jobs over the course of my presidency. More jobs in the 14 months I've been president than any president ever created in American history. Unemployment at 3.6% is down from 6.4% when we took office 14 months ago. It's the fastest decline in unemployment to start a president's terms ever recorded. North Carolina, thanks to the American Rescue Plan and the leadership of Governor Cooper has the added 194,000 jobs in the last 14 months. 194,000 jobs. Good job. Joe Biden: (14:12) At 67,000 jobs ahead of where the state was before the pandemic hit. Unlike the past recoveries, this time around with the American Rescue Plan, we made a choice to bring everyone along. Not only has unemployment rate dropped at a record pace here in North Carolina and across the nation, but black unemployment fell by more than 30%. More than 30%. Hispanic unemployment fell from nearly 9% to 4.2% in the year 2021, the fastest single drop ever recorded. We had the largest one year drop in long term unemployment ever recorded in American history. Joe Biden: (14:57) Look, folks. Of the child taxer, we've seen the lowest child poverty rate ever projected, an estimated nearly 40% declined in child poverty, the lowest number of home foreclosures ever recorded, a record low credit card delinquencies because families have more money in their pockets to pay their bills, the list goes on. All told, this economy grew by 5.7% last year in 2021, the fastest growth in 40 years. In the process, doing all this, we still cut the deficit last year by $350 billion, just last year alone, and by an additional $1 trillion this year, if the budget goes through. Folks, don't tell this trickle down idea is the only way to grow an economy. We're actually lowering the deficit, not increasing it. After a long, tough stretch, Americans are back to work. Our economy's gone from being on the mend to being on the move. Joe Biden: (16:04) Now, I know that we're still facing challenges of high prices, inflation. I grew up in a family where when the price of gasoline went up at the pump, it was a conversation at the kitchen table with my dad. Putin's invasion of Ukraine has driven up gas prices and food prices all over the world. Ukraine and Russia are the one and two largest wheat producers in the world. We're number three. They're shut down. We saw that in yesterday's inflation data. What people don't know is that 70% of the increase in inflation was the consequence of Putin's price hike because of the impact on oil prices, 70%. We need to address these high prices, and urgently, for working folks out there. That's part of why what I'm going to talk to you about today, why it's so important. When we build more in America, we increase economic capacity, and ultimately it helps lower everyday prices for families. Joe Biden: (17:10) That's what we're starting to see. Look around. American manufacturing is coming back. Once again, we're seeing the pride that comes from stamping a product, "Made in America." Companies are choosing to build their new factories here in America, when just a few years ago, as you all know, that wouldn't have been the case. They would've built a factory overseas. Intel. The chairman of the board of Intel asked to come and see me a little over a month ago. He's building a semiconductor mega-site just outside of [inaudible 00:17:44], investing $20 billion. By the way, we invented this little thing we call about the size of the fingertip. Guess what? Every advancement is because of us. We don't make them anymore here. You go to Taiwan and other places to get it. Up to eight state of the art factories are going to be in one place that Intel is building. 7,000 new jobs building the facility, and 3,000 jobs running the facility. You know what the average salary of these jobs running the facility will be? $135,000 a year. Making computer chips the size of a fingertip that power of the world and our everyday lives. Smartphones, internet, technology that doesn't even exist today. If Congress passes the Bipartisan Innovation Act that the Congresswoman talked about, and puts it on my desk right now, Intel is ready and they've committed to add, in addition to the $20 billion, $100 billion more. $ 120 billion in one site. That's just the start in Intel and alone. We're seeing it right here, thanks to the leadership of Governor Cooper and Congresswoman Manning. In last year's, Thomas Built Buses at High Point, which I went down to see, it's incredible. What you all are doing is really incredible. They got the largest order to date in North America to build electric school buses, electric school bus fleets, which Administrator Reagan can tell you will mean hundreds of thousands of our children will no longer be inhaling exhaust from diesel school buses. They function in their role. Volvo trucks with the research and development headquarters here in Greensboro got the largest commercial order ever for electric trucks. Just a few months, Toyota announced will invest $1.3 bill- Joe Biden: (20:03) Just a few months ago, Toyota announced will invest 1.3 billion dollars to build a new electric battery manufacturing plant right here in Greensboro. In Greensboro. And folks, you know what that also means? Not just the factory, but the IBW is going to be putting in 530,000 charging stations throughout America. 530,000. And when this plant comes online, it's going to produce enough batteries to power 800,000 vehicles per year, with room to grow. It's going to create 1,750 good paying jobs, right here in the Greensboro community. Joe Biden: (20:47) And folks... And by the way, you know, it's not just... There's a lot else happening, if I can divert just a second here. I had a Mary Barrow, the chairman of the board of General Motors. Remember when about 10 months ago, she was suing the state of California for having a higher standard required for gasoline; have to go more miles per gallon? She was suing them saying, 'You can't do what the federal government hadn't done." Well, guess what? We had a long talk. Now I didn't... I mean, it was her idea, not mine. But we had a long talk. Guess what? She decided not only did she drop the suit, but they're going to have 50% of all the vehicles made to General Motors electric vehicles by the year 2030. And guess what? Then Ford came along. Ford came along. They did the same thing. They're investing billions of dollars, 1.7... I mean, this is a major fundamental shift that's taking place. And America's finally deciding to catch up and lead it, instead of being outpaced by China and other countries. All told, thus far we've created 365,000 new manufacturing job in America just last year. That's the best year for US manufacturing in the last 30 years. And even you students who are younger, how many when you were coming up and you hear your parents talk about, "Manufacturing is dead in America? Not going to happen in America." There's not a thing, not a single thing, America cannot do. Not a single thing where we can't out compete the rest of the world. I mean it. Not a single thing. We set our mind to it. Good paying jobs. Jobs you can raise a family on. Jobs that can't be outsourced. Joe Biden: (22:44) [Inaudible 00:22:44] like these don't happen in the vacuum. That require investments. We know what happens when we stop in investing in the future, and the places like Greensboro. We really do. You or your parents remember what it felt like when industries like the textile industry started to decline. Delaware used to be a great textile state. It all evaporated. Good jobs lost over time. Well, guess what. What it did the families, what did to neighborhoods, was consequential. Because we stopped investing in our future for a while. We stopped investing in our people. I got criticized when I kept saying, "We're going to invest in the American people." Joe Biden: (23:29) Decades ago, we used to invest 2% of our gross domestic product in research and development. 2%. And we led the world. Today, we invest less than 1%. The United States of America used to be ranked number one in the world, in investing in the future. Now we're ranked number nine. Number nine in research and development. The United States of America. China was number eight three decades ago. Now it's number two. Other countries are closing in fast. We can, and we must change that. Not by hurting other countries, but by developing ourselves. We have a great opportunity ahead of us, with the bipartisan innovation act I mentioned. Which is going to provide 90 billion dollars in research and development. STEM education, manufacturing, all those elements of the supply chain that we need to produce and products right here in America. Joe Biden: (24:36) If I told those of you who are closer to my age in the audience, if we told your parents that we'd be here, they'd look at like were crazy. "What do you mean? We're the leader in the world." Not so. Congress needs to get this bill to my desk as quickly as possible. Our economic strength is on the line, and national security as well is on the line. Companies are ready to invest in America, and American communities, and American workers. But they need to see that their government is capable of investing in our future. Other countries are racing ahead, but we can't afford to wait. So Congress, get this bipartisan bill to my desk. North Carolina needs it, american needs it, and let's meet this moment together. That's exactly what we did when we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which you lurk like the devil on. Joe Biden: (25:33) Our infrastructure used to be rated the best in the world, again. Now we rank number 13 in the world. Bridges, roads, et cetera. Rank 13. Why do we develop so fast, so well? Where are you going to build your factory? Near a port that can get everything out of that you manufacture? And get everything out to the rest of the world quickly? Or something that takes two weeks, or three weeks to get it there. It's all about speed. We can't compete for the jobs in the 21st century if we don't fix our infrastructure. But now, thanks to the infrastructure law, we're turning things around in a major way. We've already announced billions to improve the more than thousand airports in the 50 states that need serious help. Joe Biden: (26:24) Digress again for just a second. I was out, when I was Vice President, at O'Hare airport. And I was trying to get onto the Air Force Two and going up an escalator. And had a sign at the top, "Out of order. Will be fixed in two weeks." Not a joke. The United States of America, on the busiest airports in the world, "Fixed in two weeks." And I got in trouble because I said if I took you into O'Hare airport blindfolded in the middle of the night, and took you into one of China's airports blindfolded in the middle of the night and said, "Where are you? China or the United States? You'd probably think the Chinese airport was ours. Because it's so modern. So different. Joe Biden: (27:12) Well this year, 92 million dollars is available to North Carolina alone to upgrade your airport infrastructure. 92 million dollars. We're modernizing highways, roads, bridges, courts. And this year, North Carolina is going to receive... This year. 1.4 billion dollars in funding for roads and bridges. Another 99 billion dedicated to funding for bridges that are in disrepair. Folks... We're also building a national network of electric charging stations I mentioned earlier, for vehicles powered by these batteries and are going to manufacture here in Greensboro. And this year North Carolina [inaudible 00:28:02] will receive nearly 16 million in electric charging stations. We're also getting rid of poisonous lead pipes that are in 10 million homes in America, and 400,000 schools and daycare centers. And do serious brain damage. Not a joke. So kids and families can have clean drinking water. And this year, North Carolina received 199 million dollars for clean water. Because of that man right there, the governor. Joe Biden: (28:36) And folks, we're going to deliver affordable high speed internet everywhere in urban America, and rural America, suburban and tribal communities. So moms don't have to do this. I wonder if you ever thought this would happen in America. Remember two, three months ago, when schools were still shut down? Showing pictures of moms and dads driving to the parking lot of a McDonald's so they could connect the internet, so the kid could do their homework? Not a joke. Not a joke. What the hell's going on here? Joe Biden: (29:17) All these investments, infrastructure, research and development, and making it in America, are really about one thing: empowering more communities to do what you're doing here in Greensboro. Transforming yourself into a city. City of the future, not the past. Where, instead of shuttered fact trees, we're building clean energy technology that's going to power the future, in America and around the world. Helping America achieve true energy independence by creating good jobs and fighting for climate change. And if we continue this, we're not only going to be investing here, we're going to export billions of dollars worth of product for the rest of the world. One of the proposals I have I won't go into now is a Build Back Better... Joe Biden: (30:03) One of the proposals I have, that we'll go into now, is a build back better world, so all those countries in Africa, and Latin America, and the Middle East, who don't have the capacity to make it better for themselves. We cut down all our forests, we're doing fine. Guess what? We're part of the reason for the global warming. A lot of poor countries...do you realize one of the greatest carbon sinks in the world, absorbing carbon from the air, is the Amazon? The Amazon absorbs more pollutants, more carbon into the soil and the water in the Amazon, than are emitted in the entire United States in one year, every year. But they don't have the money, what they want to do? They want to level it, so they can farm it, they can produce things on it, and use up that sink. Even reinventing the legacy industries that Greensboro has been built on is within possibility. Joe Biden: (31:02) The 21 century smart textiles, they use chips and sensors to do things like regulate temperature in a garment. State-of-the-art facilities that make high-quality furniture. Above all, you're making Greensboro a place where the future is being written, not a joke. The future is being written. Where students at great schools like A&T and other local universities, and your incredible community colleges, can lead learning the cutting edge skills, and state-of-the-art facilities partnering with local employers. They can get out, help America lead the way on robotics, cybersecurity, and so much more, and see that success reflected back home in their communities. Not just in Greensboro, but across the country. Families can have good paychecks, good homes, great futures. My dad was a very well-read man. His greatest regret was he never got to go to college. My dad used to say that everybody deserved just a little bit of breathing room, just a little bit of breathing room. I was raised in a three-bedroom split level home when we moved down to Delaware, when coal died in Scranton and jobs were gone, with four kids, my grand pop, and my mom and dad. I remember one day, you could always hear when dad was restless, I asked Mom on the way to school, "What's the matter?" She said, "Honey, dad's company, they said, no more health insurance." It not only deprives a woman or a man of their health, but of their dignity. Look at their child, their husband, their wife who needs help, and can't get the help. Joe Biden: (33:08) One of the things we're trying to get done in the Congress is to past legislation that won't raise taxes a single penny for anybody making less than $400,000. Above that, it'll only be a smidget. For dealing with insulin, you've got 200,000 kids with type one diabetes. If they don't get their insulin, and many of you may know somebody, or you may be have type one diabetes, you need the insulin. It costs $10 a vile to make. Average price? $646 a month. Not only imagine what happens when you don't have that money because you don't have the insurance or the cash, imagine being a parent, looking to your child with type one diabetes, and know there's not a damn thing you can do. It deprives you of your dignity, takes everything away from you. Guess what? For little or nothing, we can limit that price to $35 a month, and they'll still make 350% profit. Joe Biden: (34:28) That's the story we've got to keep writing. By the way, I'm a capitalist. I'm not somebody doesn't think you should be able to go to make a million or a billion dollars. Pay your fair share. Pay a little, tiny bit. Not a joke. Of the Fortune 500 companies, and I come from the corporate capital of the world, not a joke. More companies are incorporated in the state of Delaware than in the entire United States of America combined. I was a Senator 36 years, but guess what? 55 of them last year didn't pay a single penny in tax, and they made $40 billion. Joe Biden: (35:15) Folks, look, we have to keep going on so many other issues, to deliver the promise of America to all Americans. For example, equity and opportunity require more than just economic investment. They require police and criminal justice reform. Even though Congress isn't taking action, my administration hears and sees people who need it badly. We're making changes in the federal law. Police need more money, not less, in order to have social workers and others with them, not just to teach them how to do their job better. We need rules that I've initiated federally. Joe Biden: (35:56) No more choke holds, no more no-knock warrants, requiring federal agents to wear protective body cameras. We're going to sit back while Republicans in Congress stand in the way, stand in the way of justice? I'm sorry to be partisan about that, but they are. They're unwilling to do anything. We're taking action. Today, my administration has also released the first ever equity action plan, laying out more than 300 concrete commitments to tear down the systematic barriers that have been allowed to fester for far too long in America. Joe Biden: (36:29) Things like getting pollution out of low income neighborhoods. You notice they're always the last ever be touched. In Delaware, we have a big chemical industry. Guess what? The corridor that we run down, going down the state, the fence line communities, the cancer rate...we have one of the highest cancer rates in America. Why? Because all these poor communities live near these stations, near these places. When I was growing up in Claymont, Delaware, not a joke, we lived right on the Pennsylvania border, it was a steel town. There are more oil refineries in Marcus Oak, Pennsylvania, in the bend of Delaware River, than anywhere, including Houston. Joe Biden: (37:11) Guess what? When it got to be fall, when I was in fourth grade, and there got a little frost, my mom would get in the car to drive me to school, which was only three quarters of a mile away, but it was on a highway. Turn on the windshield wiper and there'd be an oil slick on the window. That wouldn't have happened where I live now, in a nice neighborhood, it would never happen. We're making sure that minority owned business can access capital they need to grow, so no community is locked out of opportunity. Joe Biden: (37:50) I'm not saying this because I'm at an HBCU. I've been saying this my whole career. When I ran for office, I said, I'm sick and tired of trickle down economy. I'm about building from the middle up and out, because when the middle does well, everybody does. The poor have a way up, and the wealthy do very well. The bottom line is this: the United States is in the position to out-compete the world once again. We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us, and we still face tremendous challenges. But if we can keep coming together, invest in the backbone of America, the middle class, our great universities, hardworking families, STEM education, clean technologies for tomorrow, there's simply no limit. Joe Biden: (38:34) I mean it, no limit to what we can achieve. Let's continue getting working families a fighting chance. Let's keep investing in the future of this country, of every community. Let's face these challenges head-on. Let's keep building a better America, because that's who we've been. That's who we are. We can do this. Still grow the economy, still be the wealthiest nation in the world, still reduce deficits, by growing. Growing, growing, growing. There's not a single thing America can't do when we do it together, as the United States of America. God bless you all.