President Biden Delivers Remarks on his Safer America Plan Transcript

Paige Cognetti: (00:00) Can we get a big welcome home, Mr. President? It is so wonderful to be here with all of you. We were thinking, "President's coming. What can we do to make this day special?" So at our recent popup city halls, we had coloring sheets for kids and we asked them the question, "Why do you love Scranton?" And so many of them said the people. Lovely people, people who help each other, this community has each other's backs. And we know that our president Joe Biden knows this. It is part of his DNA. And we see it in all of the incredible legislation that he has put through as president of the United States. Paige Cognetti: (00:52) Today, we're here to talk about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to give us the resources and cities like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre throughout Northeastern, Pennsylvania, and this whole Commonwealth to fight violence, to prevent violence, to interrupt violence, to make our kids safer, to help our schools be safer. And the president knows how important this is because he is from here, because he knows that we have to have each other's backs as a community if we're going to thrive. It is an honor for us to be here today to welcome him home to celebrate this landmark legislation, and I want to introduce someone that I have worked with across the aisle of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties since day one when we took office just two years ago, and that's Wilkes-Barre mayor, mayor George Brown. George Brown: (01:43) How do I upbeat mayor Paige Cognetti? I don't think I can, but I'm going to try. Folks, go ahead, have a seat please. Down. Yes, we are here today and Joe Biden is here today, and Joe Biden is here for us because he cares about Wilkes-Berry, Luzerne county ,and all the residents in the state of Pennsylvania. As mayor, on behalf of the residents of the city of Wilkes-Berry, I'm honored to welcome president Joe Biden. I first met president Biden in his hometown of Scranton last October, and I said, "Mr. President, please, come to Wilkes-Barre. We have a beautiful city." And guess what? He kept his promise. He's here today. George Brown: (03:11) I want to thank the members of the Biden Harris administration for making this visit possible. I truly believe that president Biden's childhood in Northeastern Pennsylvania was the foundation for his history of leadership and rise to commander in chief. The citizens of Northeastern Pennsylvania are resilient and they truly care about their neighbors, much like president Joe Biden. Mr. Biden has stood up for the American people through the implementation of the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the Inflation Reduction Act. These initiatives are investments that make our community stronger, healthier, and safer. By implementing multiple programs through the American Rescue Plan funds, my administration was able to financially assist residents, businesses, and nonprofits most impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. With the focus on public safety, we were able to utilize the plan funds to enhance public safety for residents, businesses, and owners of businesses throughout the entire community. George Brown: (04:25) Now the American Rescue Plan funds have allowed our police to obtain updated equipment to serve and protect the city of Wilkes-Barre. We're able to purchase 10 new police cars. We're buying 10 bicycles so our police will be on bicycles in the neighborhoods, pure community policing. And we've also purchased other visibility intel that we're going to be using. Things like body cameras that we have now on all of our officers, but also we're going to be increasing the technology by purchasing a gunshot detection technology throughout the city of Wilkes-Barre. This is all done as a result of president Biden's efforts. We welcome the president's initiatives through the Safer America Plan. We will promote a safer community by ensuring that our police department always has the most updated equipment and training. In closing, I'm appreciative of president Biden's visit to Wilkes-Barre today, and even more so the long lasting benefits of the American rescue plan and the path towards a safer Wilkes-Barre through his Safer America Plan. Now it's my honor to introduce to you president Joe Biden. Joe Biden: (06:26) Mr. Mayor, thank you. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you walk down, I want the Caseys to come up with me because where I come from, Scranton's Casey country. We got raised in the same neighborhood in Greenridge, not far from two of the best little candy shops in the whole country. And I just wanted to let... They can't deny me, that's why I wanted them up here. I want them to know. And by the way, this guy has more integrity in his little finger than most people have in their whole body. That's why I love working with him. Bobby Casey: (07:06) Welcome home. Joe Biden: (07:09) And like me, he married way up. Way up. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. As my mother, Jean Finnegan Biden from Greenridge would say, " Please, excuse my back when I'm speaking. I apologize." And by the way, you know one of the best things of all of being president of United States is the Marine Band. They're the best in the world. Stand up guys. They are the very, very, very, very best. They cannot only play, they know how to fight too. God love you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here. Well thank you very much. Thank you. How are you, baby? How old are you? How old are you? Almost double figures. Well look, folks, it's great to be here in Wilkes-Barre. I mean that sincerely. Joe Biden: (08:20) Well, thank you. Well thank you so much. Mayor Brown, thank you for the introduction and the passport to this great city, and mayor Cognetti, we're almost in heaven. We're almost in Scranton. Almost. Being raised in Scranton, I used to say you're going down the line, any rate, and what a leadership lineup you have here in Pennsylvania. I want to thank your outstanding governor, Tom Wolf. Tom and I have been friends a long time. He's truly one of the best governors in the United States of America. Not a joke. Not a joke. And a stand up guy. A stand up guy. And Josh Shapiro is a champion for the rule of law as your attorney general, and he is going to make one hell of a governor. I really mean it. Joe Biden: (09:14) And by the way, he couldn't be here today, we spoke, lieutenant governor, John Fetterman. When I say he is a powerful voice... I used to be in the old days, a pretty good athlete, and if someone was really big and tough, you say, "I wouldn't screw with him if I had a sledgehammer." Well, I'd tell you what, Fetterman's a hell of a guy. A powerful voice for working people, and he's going to make your great United States Senator. You're going to make your great United States Senator. Joe Biden: (09:43) And as I said, Bobby Casey's one of my closest friends, one of our great United States senators. And your Congressman, Matt Cartwright is the real reason I'm here. I'm in Cartwright country. He knows how to deliver for this district, which is so close to my heart. Look, I especially want to thank all the members of law enforcement are here, many of whom are behind me, for always being there for us. And we should always be there from them. Joe Biden: (10:14) And by the way, also a group that you need badly, you don't really appreciate until you need them, is the firefighters. The firefighters been with me my whole career. And let me tell you something, there's an old expression. God made man. Then he made a few firefighters, because you got to be crazy to be a firefighter. By the way, please sit down. I'm sorry. Please sit down. I keep forgetting. Thank you. But look, when I ran for president, I said I looked at the world the way I looked at it growing up in Scranton, and that wasn't hyperbole. I meant that. What families wanted in Scranton when I was growing up, my mom and dad and my grandpop was the basic basic as it is today. A decent- Joe Biden: (11:03) ... The basic, basic, basic as it is today, a decent job, the opportunity to be treated with dignity, everyone. My dad would say everybody, everybody's entitled to be treated with dignity, just simple dignity. The fact is that they want to be able to go to good schools in safe neighborhoods, a decent place to live, and just a fair shot, just a fair shot for their kids. A peace of mind knowing your kids can go to school or the playground or the movies or a high school game and come home safely, not have to think about it. But for too long, too many families haven't had that peace of mind. Joe Biden: (11:41) They watch the news and they see kids being gunned down in schools and on the streets. Almost every single night, you turn the news on that's what you see. They see their neighbors lose their loved ones to drugs like fentanyl, which is a flat killer. They see hate and anger and violence just walking the streets of America and they just want to feel safe again. They want to feel a sense of security. And that's what my crime plan is all about. I call it to Safer America's Plan and both your members of Congress voted for it. It's based on a simple notion. Joe Biden: (12:19) When it comes to public safety in this nation, the answer is not defund the police. It's fund the police. Fund the police and give them ... We expect them to do everything. We expect them to protect us, to be psychologists and to be sociology. I mean, we expect you to do everything. I'm not joking. Everything. You realize more police officers are killed dealing with domestic violence than anything else. Do you realize that? The point is we ask so much of you, so much of you. I've not met a cop who likes a bad cop. There's bad in everything. Joe Biden: (13:07) There's lousy senators. There's lousy presidents. There's lousy doctors. There's lousy lawyers. No, I'm serious. But I don't know any police officer that feels good about the fact that there may be a lousy cop. And I'm tired of not giving the kind of help they need. Folks, look, we're in a situation in this country where we have to give them additional resources they need to get their job done. Matt gets it, Matt Cartwright. And this is not hyperbole. Matt's the chair of the powerful subcommittee that controls the funding for public safety. Joe Biden: (13:45) He knows what it means investing in effective and accountable community policing that builds public structures, trenches, public safety. I'm old enough to remember when cops used to walk the beat in Wilmington and in Scranton because they knew everybody. They knew the kid. They knew something was trouble. They knew whose house to go and knock on the door and say, mom, your son just did. I'm not being facetious. They knew the neighborhoods. As part of the American Rescue Plan I signed in the law last year, which they voted for, we set aside 350 billion with a B, billion dollars for state and local governments all across America and urged them to use it like your governor did, to make communities safer. Joe Biden: (14:32) Here in Pennsylvania, Governor Wolf was using $250 million of that money to reduce crime and violence across this state. And Mayor Brown just described how it's helping fund community policing here in Wilkes-Barre. But guess what? Every single Republican member of Congress, every single one in this state, every single one voted against a support for law enforcement. They talk about how much they love it. They voted against the funding. Flat out. Flat out. Every Republican in the House, every Republican in the Senate, every single one. Joe Biden: (15:19) I know we expect so much from our law enforcement officers, so we need to support them. That's why my crime plan to help communities recruit, hire and train nationwide more than 100,000 additional officers, accountable officers for community policing. And I mean it. Folks, when it comes to fighting crime, we know it works. Officers on the street who know the neighborhood, not a joke, who know the neighborhood, who know where the families are protecting, who get to training they need to be able to do their jobs well, who work to earn the community's trust. Joe Biden: (16:05) And as we hire more police officers, there should be more training, more help and more accountability. Without public trust, law enforcement can't do its job serving and protecting all the communities. If I can just interject for a moment, my deceased son Beau, he was the attorney general of the state of Delaware. And what he used to do is go down in the east side, called The Bucket, highest crime rate in the country. It is a place where I was the only white guy that worked as a lifeguard down in that area in the east side. Joe Biden: (16:38) And you could always tell where the best basketball in the state is and the best basketball in the city is. It's where everybody shows up. He'd go down and hang out and sit on a bench with my grandson, who's now 17-years-old and the police used to be in the car, local city police. And he'd walk up and bang on the window, say get out of the car dammit and meet these people. Let them see you. Let them know you. Let them know who you are. Well, the truth was, remember what happened to community policing? We went from having enough cops on the street to cities doing well and then deciding they don't need more police officers. Joe Biden: (17:16) So they reduced the police forces. So you didn't have two cops in every vehicle. You had one cop in every vehicle. And I don't blame one cop for not getting out in some certain neighborhoods, not getting out of the car. And what happens is it used to be. I can remember that when my son was the attorney general, he'd go around in the tougher neighborhoods and he would ensure that every single cop gave his cell phone number to the local liquor store owner, the local church, the local grocery store, the local hamburger joint. So if there's a problem, they pick up the phone and call. Joe Biden: (17:51) Because what do people not want to do in tough neighborhoods? They don't want to be the one identified as turning so and so in. I remember going on the east side in Wilmington and one of those old Victorian three story apartment buildings and going up to see woman's whose name, she's passed away, but won't mention her name now and standing in that rotund, that part that stuck out around the building. And she'd say, Joey, I know I what's going on. They all plant it downstairs. I can hear them, but I'm afraid to tell anybody. Afraid to tell anybody, the gangs. Joe Biden: (18:29) And so I got her so that I got a phone number for the local cops. She'd call. They promised not to identify her because they knew there'd be retribution. And the crime rate began to drop for real, not a joke. You got to know people. You got to know and you got to be able to trust the police. The police have to be able to trust the community, but we slipped away from that. We have a hell of a lot fewer cops today than we did when I wrote that initial crime bill. But now we got to get back to it. And by the way, I'm not making the case there aren't bad cops. Joe Biden: (19:01) There's some really lousy cops. There's some really lousy doctors. There's some really lousy lawyers, I mean it. But here's the point, as we've seen too often, public trust is frayed and is broken and it undermines public safety when it gets frayed. It literally undermines safety. Families across the country have to ask why in this nation, for example, so many Black Americans wake up knowing they could lose their life just by living their lives. If you come from neighborhoods like I come from down in Delaware, if you have a 16 or 17-year-old son and he gets a driver's license, you sit down and say, look, if you get stopped, put your hands in the wheel. Joe Biden: (19:42) Don't do anything. I mean, I'm being serious. I'm being serious. But here's the point, simply jogging, sleeping in their homes. They made headlines or not. They have a lot of lost souls. Increased trust makes policing more effective and it strengthens public safety. And the communities, by the way, that want the police more than any other community are the tough, poor communities, Black, white, immigrants. They need the help. They want the help. It's not they don't want it. They want the help. Without that, victims don't call for help. Joe Biden: (20:26) Witnesses don't step forward. Crimes go unsolved. Justice isn't served. I took executive action, which I'm allowed to do as president. I always admired governors can take executive action, but all kidding aside, to make some of these reforms for federal officers. I couldn't do it for state officers. One, no federal officer is allowed to use a chokehold. No federal officer can restrict ... There's restricted no knock warrants. We created a national database for officers who have misbehaved and been held accountable, so they can't hide. Joe Biden: (21:02) My plan will help make sure that state and local governments adopt these same reforms. My plan does something else really important. It addresses the opioid epidemic. You realize how many people are dying of opioid overdoses now, and by the way, lace with fentanyl? Attorney General Shapiro can tell you more about that you never want to know for a fact, for real. He's been such a strong leader on this, but we're going to impose tougher penalties for deadly fentanyl trafficking that's poisoning communities across this country. Joe Biden: (21:34) This is a key part of the unity agenda that I announced in my State of the Union Address. We can do this. We have to do this. We'll make America safer. My plan also takes common sense action to reduce gun violence and violence overall. The bills and the progress we made this summer when I signed in the law the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety law we passed in 30 years. It took 30 years. Joe Biden: (22:02) 30 years, took 30 years and we beat the NRA. We took them on and we beat the NRA straight up. You have no idea how intimidating they are to elected officials. The NRA was against it, which means the vast majority, the vast majority of Republicans in Congress couldn't even stand up and vote for it because they're afraid of the NRA. It's not unusual, every Democrats, Republican senators, they get afraid of certain interest groups. They voted against it. Law enforcement supported it, faith leaders and teachers supported it, victims of gun violence and their family supported it, young people in this country, like the students of this great university, supported it, and the NRA and the vast majority of congressional [inaudible 00:22:57] voted against it, saving lives and keeping America safe. Joe Biden: (23:00) But guess what? We took on the NRA and we're going to take them on again and we won, and we will win again. But we're not stopping here, I'm determined to ban assault weapons in this country, determined. I did it once before and I'll do it again. For many of you home, I want to be clear, it's not about taking away anybody's guns, in fact, we should be treating responsible gun owners as examples of how every gun owner should behave. I have two shotguns at home, it's a long store, but I'm not opposed to guns, but I support the Second Amendment and I support the Second Amendment. But the Second Amendment, as one of the most conservative justice in history, Justice Scalia, once wrote, "Like most rights, the rights granted by the Second Amendment are not unlimited." They're not unlimited. Joe Biden: (24:06) Right now you can't go out and buy an automatic weapon, you can't go out and buy a cannon, and for those brave right-wing Americans who say, "It's all about shaping America or keeping America's independent and safe, if you want to fight against a country, you need a F-15, you need something a little more than a gun." No, I'm not joking. Think about this, think about the rationale we use that's used to provide this and who are they shooting at? Shooting at these guys behind me. Joe Biden: (24:38) Folks look, I went to every major school shooting in the country, since I was a chairman of the Judiciary Committee, all the way through as vice president and president. Over 48,000 people died from gunshot wounds in 2021 in the United States of America. Over 26,000 by suicide. When guns are the number one killer, listen to this now, the guns are the number one killer of children in America, of children and number one. More children die from guns than active duty police and active duty military personnel combined. Hear that again. More children in America die from guns than active duty police and active duty military in the United States combined. Joe Biden: (25:34) We have to act. We have to act for those families in Buffalo, Uvalde, New Town, El Paso, Parkland, Charleston, Las Vegas, Orlando, I've been to every one of those sites, sit down with those parents, and I spent four hours last time, met with every single one of the parents and families that lost someone, see the looks in their faces. Think about it, think about the devastation that's occurred. We have to act for all those kids gunned down on our streets every single day that never make the news. There's a mass shooting every single day in this country, in the streets of America, every single day. You have to act so our kids can learn to read in school instead of learning to duck and cover. Literally, schools all across America, kids are showing up... The psychological damage done to our kids, not just COVID, but COVID what it's impact and how it's impacted us, and on top of that, a child going to school, children see this on television. Joe Biden: (26:48) We're living in a country awash with weapons of war, weapons that weren't designed to hunt, were designed to take on an enemy, that's what they were designed to do. For God sake, what's the rationale for these weapons outside of a war zone? They inflict severe damage. When I was recently in Uvalde, I almost hesitate to say to some of the kids in here, you know what some of the parents had to do? Supply DNA. Supply DNA because the AR-15 just rips the body apart, could not identify the body. Joe Biden: (27:37) A 20-year-old kid can walk in and buy one. DNA to say, "That's my baby." What the hell's the matter with us? No, I'm not joking. Think about it. What are we doing? And by the way, my dad used to love to hunt in the Poconos when we lived in Scranton, how many deer or bear are wearing Kevlar vests? Huh? Not a joke. Do you realize the bullet out of an AR-15 travels five times as rapidly as a bullet shot out of any other gun, five times as lighter and can pierce Kevlar. Imagine being a parent, not just losing a child, but not being able to physically identify the child or the adult because they've literally been blown apart. Joe Biden: (28:52) We equip our service members with the most lethal weapons on Earth to protect all of us, protect Americans. But we require them to receive significant training, extensive background checks, mental health assessments, they have to learn how to lock up and store their weapons responsibly or they get kicked out, but we let any stranger, an 18-year-old, walk in, a 20-year-old, and buy an AR-15. That's why back in 1994, I took on the NRA and passed the Assault Weapons Ban. For 10 years, mass shootings were down, 10 years in a row since I passed that legislation in 1994 as a senator. But in 2004, Republicans let that ban expire. What happened? Mass shootings in America, tripled, tripled. It's time to ban these, it's time to ban these weapons. We did it before and we can do it again. Folks, it's time to hold every elected official's feet to the fire and ask them, "Are you for banning assault weapons, yes or no?" Ask them. If the answer's no, vote against them. Look, I'm prouder that after seven years we finally have a senate confirmed director of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, responsible for any gun crimes. For seven years the other team would not let us appoint anyone to that job, incredibly important job to help local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, identify the ballistics, a whole range of things, for seven years. We finally got a pass this time out barely. Seven years because they didn't want anybody in that job. My plan gives the bureau the funding to hire more agents to stop gun trafficking. And by the way, there's a lot of states that don't allow you to purchase certain weapons in the state, but just cross the state line and go buy it next door, bring it across the state line. Keep guns out. Mexico, which is causing us real problems, you know what their biggest complaint is? Can't we stop gun trafficking across the Southern border into Mexico? Joe Biden: (31:45) There are certain gun dealers that are basically... Not gun dealers, they're wholesalers providing the weapons to anybody who have the money. Folks look, we can help local law enforcement, we can solve more gun crimes if we have someone heading up, which we finally do, this organization that's designed to track this kind of behavior. Joe Biden: (32:15) Finally, my plan invest in crime prevention programs that help keep young people from getting in trouble in the first place. Under my plan, communities can one, provide afterschool and summer job programs, they get paid for, more access to mental health and drug counseling, more social workers and housing to keep people off the streets instead of when they get out of jail they get $25 and a bus ticket and they end up under the same bridge that they were under before. This will help prevent crime and get young people to pick up paychecks instead of a pistol. The same time we need help people getting out of prison successfully reenter society- Joe Biden: (33:02) It could help people getting out of prison successfully re-enter society, so they don't get in trouble again. If you served your time, you shouldn't be deprived of being able to, if you've served it, you shouldn't be deprived to being able to get a Pell grant to go to school. You shouldn't be able to get a degree. What's the best thing you can do? Make them productive. They should get access to good jobs where they can earn a decent living. All these steps will prevent crime, not increase it. Joe Biden: (33:35) Let me close with this. A safer America requires all of us to uphold the rule of law, not the rule of any one party or any one person. Let's be clear. You hear some of my friends in the other team talking about political violence and how it's necessary. Think about this now. Did any of you think, even as old as I am, you'd ever be in an election where we talk about it's appropriate to use force, political violence in America. It's never appropriate. Never, period. Never, never, never. No one should be encouraged to use political violence, none whatsoever. Joe Biden: (34:21) Look, if we're in a situation where to this day, the MAGA Republicans in Congress defend the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th, defend them. They all saw it. I don't care how frustrated you are. When I showed up, one of the things I learned as president, even though I'd been vice president for eight years and done a great deal on the foreign policy for the administration, I showed up at a meeting of the major democracies called the G7. I sat down. It was in England and I sat down for this three day conference and I said, "America's back." And Macron, president of France, turned to me and said, "For how long?" For how long? Then made a discussion with Schmidt and all that. I mean, just for how long? Joe Biden: (35:16) And one of them said to me, "Imagine Joe, if you turned on the television in Washington, DC and saw a mob of 1000 people storming down the hallways of the Parliament, breaking down the doors, trying to overturn an outcome of election and killing several police officers in the meantime. Imagine. Imagine what you'd think." Think about what the world saw. Not what we saw, what the world saw. Did you ever think in the United States that would happen? Joe Biden: (35:55) What I find even more incredible is the defense of it. Cops attacked and assaulted, speared with flag poles, sprayed with mace, stomped on, dragged, brutalized. Police lost their lives as a result of that day. Police lost their lives. One of the officers said it was worse than anything he had experienced in war in Iraq. So let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress. Don't tell me you support law enforcement if you won't condemn what happened on the 6th. Don't tell me. Can't do it. For God's sake, whose side are you on? Whose side are you on? Look, you're either on the side of a mob or the side of the police. You can't be pro law enforcement and pro insurrection. You can't be a party of law and order and call the people who attacked the police on January 6th patriots. You can't do it. Joe Biden: (37:24) What are we teaching our children? It's just that simple. But now it's sickening to see the new attacks in the FBI, threatening life of law enforcement agents and their families for simply carrying out the law and doing their job. Look, I want to say this as clearly as I can, there's no place in this country, no place for endangering the lives of law enforcement, no place, none, never, period. I'm opposed to defunding the police. I'm also opposed to defunding the FBI. Look, there's no greater responsibility for government than ensuring the safety of our people. Every parent should be able to know when a kid leaves home to go to school or just walk the street, they're going to come home safely. We can do this. We have to do this. We just need to remember who we are. We are the United States of America. And when we are united, there is not a single thing we cannot do. Not a single thing. I mean it. So folks, let's remember who in God's name we are. I really mean it. What our values are, what we believe. We the people. That's how our Constitution starts, or the declaration. We the people. It's who we are. By the way, no one expects politics to be a patty cake. It sometimes gets mean as hell. But the idea you turn on a television and see senior senators and congressmen saying if such and such happens, there'll be blood in the street. Where the hell are we? Speaker 1: (39:39) Where's that common sense? Joe Biden: (39:40) Well, that's all I'm looking for. And folks, do me a favor. Presumptuous of me to say that. But think about doing me a favor. Please, please elect the Attorney General to the Senate. Elect that big old boy to be governor. And by the way, there are a lot of really ... And I mean this. I'm not being solicitous. Remember what used to be the criticism of Biden when I was running? Biden's too bipartisan. Biden has too many Republican friends. There's a lot of Republicans I've worked with for all the years in the Senate. I got a lot done. We respected each other. When we disagreed, we disagreed on principle. We then went and had lunch together. Not a joke. What in God's name has happened to that in the United States of America? Joe Biden: (40:46) So folks, let's bring it back. We can do this. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you.