White House Cinco de Mayo Reception

California and play in the NBA for the Miami Heat. Oh, yeah, baby. I stand here before you on the shoulders of giants, there are generations of proud and incredibly accomplished Mexican Americans that came before me. I am proud to continue their legacy and continue to push the traditions of Mexican Americans that make the spirit of our people so great. (00:28) A tradition and a spirit that is principled on hard work, a strong moral code, and the importance of family. Thank you President Biden and the administration for celebrating our community and all our contributions here today. And now without further ado, it is my honor to welcome the president of the United States, Mr. President Joe Biden.

[inaudible 00:00:54]. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Four more years. Four more years. Four more years. Four more years. Four more years.

Well, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm Joe Biden's husband, Joe. Doug, our second gentleman is here also. Doug, good to see you pal. And Jaime, thanks for the introduction, pal.

[inaudible 00:01:28].

I've always looked up to you. Congratulations on a great rookie season in the NBA. As you said, you stand on the shoulders of those that came before you. Future generations will stand on your six foot, six shoulders and be a hell of a lot taller, man. Thanks, Pete and Annette and all the members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus here today. I want to publicly say we're going to meet, I promise. Okay? (01:54) And when I was elected, I promised my administration would look like America. And I'm proud to say it does. I want to thank my cabinet members here today, Secretary Becerra, where are you? Secretary Cardona, Administrator Guzman, former cabinet members of the Obama-Biden administration, Tom Perez. Tom, where are you? Well, I'll tell you what, on Friday, I had the honor of bestowing our nation's highest civilian awards and 19 incredible people, 2 trailblazers Hispanic Americans as well. Teresa Romo, Romeo, excuse me, Teresa Romeo, the first Latina to lead a national union, the American Farmworkers. (02:37) Now if you look inside the door here, I got only a few busts in there, and one of them is Cesar Chavez who started the whole deal. And Dr. Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina to travel to space. I'm glad she decided to come home. In the land of possibilities, they represent something essential about America. We are a nation of immigrants and we shouldn't forget it. Why we're so good, why we're so strong, why we have such potential. We're a nation of dreamers and Cinco de Mayo represents we're a nation of freedom. That's America, the America we share, the America we're fighting for together. And the plan's working. (03:24) We've created 15 million jobs since we took office, record low unemployment among Latinos. The fastest small business creation in more than a decade as we double-loan for Latino-owned businesses. We've invested a record 15 billion in Hispanic-serving colleges and universities, and we've relieved student debt for 4.6 million. A burden disproportionately falling on Latino borrowers and you're the future of our nation. Everybody says, why am I so? Why have I always been so fundamentally focused on Latinos? Simple proposition, you make up 28% of the students in America. Think about it, 28% of all the students in high school and grade school in America are Latino. (04:15) And I want to tell, you the idea we're not going to pay attention is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Look, we have your backs and you've had ours. In March in Nevada, I invited the most ambitious housing plan for decades to come into being. For example, it boosts construction and rental units and lowers rent. It cracked down in discrimination by home appraisers. So Latino homes are finally valued as fairly as they were built by wealthy families. Folks look, we're in a situation where the lower cost across the board, we finally beat big pharma, big pharma, and gave Medicare the power to negotiate low prescription drug prices.

Yes.

And by the way, for example, we capped insulin $35 a month down from 400 a month for seniors on Medicare, including 5 million Latinos. And guess what? It saved not only those lives, but taxpayers, it saved them $160 billion in Medicare costs over the next 10 years. They're not going to have to pay. SO It's a big deal across the board. We also expanded health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, doubling the number of Latinos enrolled since 2020. And I'm proud, last Friday, my administration finally announced a rule that for the first time and finally, finally, I'm able to provide health insurance to the Affordable Care Act for DACA recipients. (05:46) First Bill introduced was about DACA to make sure that they have a direct path to citizenship. And president and I, we created that program 12 years ago. It's given 800,000 DREAMers a chance to go to work and school, contribute their immense talents in America. But more than a third of DREAMers couldn't get health insurance. It's wrong, and this rule changes all that. DREAMers can now get health insurance as they deserve. My first day in office, as I said, I sent a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress. It expands legal pathways for entries for families and employers, includes pathways to citizenship for DREAMers in the only country that they ever called home. (06:24) I love them when people say, why DREAMers? Can you imagine a kid two years old saying, "Mom, don't take [inaudible 00:06:31] grant, it's against the law." Give me a break. These have been model citizens. Congress has to act, and the right thing to do is to keep pushing forward until we get it done, get it done.

Right.

On this day, two years ago, we're honored to host the First Lady of Mexico to celebrate the unbreakable bonds between our nations, bonds rooted in history, heritage, boosted by record trade, embodied in nearly 40 million Mexican Americans that are here. I want to thank President Lopez Obrador for his partnership. We become friends. I talked to him all... he's helping on immigration. We have a significant economic security, and as well as security overall. Folks, we're doing all this while cutting the federal deficit and fighting to make the wealthy and the big corporations finally begin to pay their fair share. (07:25) Under my plan, no one under less than $400,000 a year is to pay one extra penny in federal taxes. Not a single penny. Did you know that there are 1,000 billionaires in America? Well, guess what? That's good. I'm not a capitalist. You make a billion bucks, go get it. But guess what? Begin to pay your fair share. You know what the average tax rate for a billionaire is in America? 8.2% in federal taxes. Anybody want to trade with them? Well, that's less than the vast majority of Americans. No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a nurse, a firefighter, a cop. That's why I proposed the minimum tax to 25% for billionaires. You know what that'll do? That'll raise $500 billion over the next 10 years. (08:14) Imagine we could do the affordable care for children, paid leave, lower the federal deficit, generate significant economic growth. See, well, he's cheered. That's a kid that knows what he's about, man. But as you know, there are those of a different view. When my predecessor was in office, he enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the super wealthy and the biggest corporations, and exploded the federal debt more than any other president has in his four-year term. He added more. He wants to do it again. He also wants to terminate the Affordable Care Act and iron health care to millions of Latinos, millions. (08:51) He wants to bring back the big pharma to be able to charge 400 a month, so they don't eliminate that legislation instead of 35 a month. He wants to cut social security Medicare. He says there's a lot we can do in terms of cutting. I got one really serious idea how to cut a candidate. Anyway, he brags about getting Roe V Wade overturned. He just did an interview with Time Magazine and said states should monitor women's pregnancy.

No.

Monitor pregnancies? He also said, we should prosecute those who violate abortion bans. The common line, never let that happen. We're going to keep fighting to restore Roe V Wade's law of the land. In the same interview my predecessor vowed to use the U.S military to deport 11 million people here in America he says shouldn't be here. Going to use the military to deport 11 million people in America he calls immigrants, rapists and murderers. He said they are not people. He said the immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country. (10:02) He wants to bring back cruel, inhumane, family separation policies that rip children from their parents at the border. Folks, that's not who we are. That's not America. My administration's reunited 700 of those families and is still looking. Families belong together, folks, not separated.

Yeah.

Let me close with this. We're here in a rose garden. Through that window of the Oval Office, you'll see I have a bust of Cesar Chavez. There's only five bust I have in that office. And in the back corner of the garden here, the rose bush was planted in his honor. He once said, quote, "Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others for their sake and for our own." Folks, the reason why we're the fastest-growing country in the world, why we're the best economy in the world, is because of immigration. That's why we're [inaudible 00:10:58]. That's not hyperbole, that's a fact. (11:02) What I see in the Latino community is doctors, teachers, athletes, artists, communities, construction workers, first responders who put themselves on the line to keep the rest of us safe. You are dreamers and doers. You're cutting cancer, you're commanding the military. You're taking deep steps into space, and it matters. You matter, you really do. You matter more than we can express. As I said earlier, when you have 28% of all the students in our schools up to high school, 28% speaking Spanish, how in God's name can we not pay attention? There's always have been compelling value sets to visions of America. One of those value sets is revenge and retribution. The other is hope and opportunity that we share. (11:52) Honesty, decency, faith, fairness, that's the future we're building together. In America, we defend democracy, we don't diminish it. We protect freedoms, we don't take it away. In America, where economy grows in the middle out and the bottom up. The wealthy pay their fair share, working people have a fair shot. That's what we're about. America, where no one is left behind. I know we can do this. Because of you, I've never been more optimistic about the future. You just remember who we are. We're the United States of America, a nation of immigrants. And there's nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. (12:27) God bless you all. May God bless our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.