While we're walking, please have the same
Please have a seat if you
if you have one.
I said that once early in my
presidency and there were no chairs.
I couldn't see press for Biden and I don't even
know whether people can stand or sit.
Anyway, it's great to be here.
Thank you Valentino for that introduction.
And and what you said about the union,
you know, I've said it many times,
middle class build America, but
unions built the middle class.
And that's a call.
Governor Rivers,
Mayor Johnson, County Executive probably thank you all for your
warm welcome.
And Tammy Baldwin, you're the best kid.
You're the absolute best. If I had another 10 of
you,
we could rule the world.
It would really thank you for all you do.
Tammy. Appreciate it very much.
And you know, no one does a
no one does more to create good jobs in this
state and
to make sure tomorrow's products are made in America.
Now a very quiet laid back congresswoman
who thank God is on my side.
Thank God, Gwen Moore, you never stop piping to figure
those products.
I love you, Gwen.
You're the best.
And you got two. You got a mayor and a
County Executive.
I used to work for the county.
I was used to be a county Councilman
when I was 26 years old.
And I tell you what,
I ran for the Senate because it's too damn hard
being on the County Council.
Everybody comes up and you goes.
Yeah, county, county and council.
Yeah. You wonder what we do,
huh? Well, the truth of the matter is,
you do a hell of a lot,
and your mayor's doing a hell of a job as
well.
But folks,
I apologize because I try very hard to keep my
speech is between 15 and 18 minutes.
But I got to talk a little bit about Hawaii.
I've been on the phone with the governor coming up
here and the senators
and and let me, let me say,
address that devastating wildfires, some of which are still burning
in Hawaii. They've claimed the lives of 99 people so
far,
and they haven't cleaned things up yet.
The deadliest wildfire, more than 100 years.
The whole city destroyed, generations of Native Hawaiian history turned
into ruin.
I've spoken to Governor Josh Green multiple times and reassured
in the state will have everything it needs from the
federal government.
I immediately approved the governor's request for expedite major disaster
declaration.
That's a fancy word of saying whatever you need,
you're going to get.
And that'll get aid into the hands of people who
desperately need it,
who have lost their loved ones,
who've lost their homes, their livelihoods,
who've been damaged and destroyed.
And think about this, all that area they got to
plow up.
They can't do it now because you don't know how
many bodies are there.
They don't know what's left.
Imagine being a mom or dad,
wondering where your child is.
Imagine being a husband or wife or mother or father.
It's really tough stuff. Almost 500 federal personnel have been
deployed to Maui.
Some
communities and survivors get back on their feet.
FEMA search and rescue teams are sifting through the ashes
in that five mile area that you seen on television.
It's painstaking work, It takes time and
it's nerve racking. Most of the degree can't be removed
until it's done.
My wife Jill and I are going to travel to
Hawaii as soon as we can.
That's what I've been talking to the governor about it.
I don't want to get in the way
I've been to too many disaster areas,
but I want to go make sure we got everything
they need,
Want to be sure we don't disrupt the ongoing recovery
efforts.
FEMA Administrator Griswold, Who is the best we ever had,
I think was on the ground this weekend.
I just talked to her.
She's back in the States.
I have directed her to streamline the process
as quickly as possible to help register survivors for meeting
federal assistance without delay.
To date, FEMA has approved 5050 thousand
meals, 75 liters, 6000 liters of water,
500 beds, 10,000 blankets and as well as other shelter
supplies for survivors just placed in from their homes.
People also authorized one time payments of
$700.00 per household. The folks have been displaced so they
can do the immediate things of just taking care of
medications and prescriptions that they so badly need.
We're working with the state to make sure survivors that
have lost their homes have a place to call home
until we can rebuild.
We're also surging federal personnel of the state
to help the brave firefighters and 1st responders,
many of whom lost their own homes,
their properties while they're out busting their neck to save
other people.
How many have still been so impacted themselves,
but they're still working around the clock to put the
fires out,
evacuate survivors to safety, and find the missing.
I've ordered all available federal assets on the island to
assist local crews,
including the US Coast Guard,
the Navy Third Fleet, and the US Army.
In the immediate aftermath, the Coast Guard and Navy supported
maritime searches and rescue operations.
The Army helicopters help fire suppression and efforts on the
Big Island.
Because there's still some burning on the Big Island.
Not the one, that's that,
not the one where you see on television all the
time.
Fema's deployed more than 140 urban search and rescue personnel
as well.
And there's so many organizations to thank,
like the American Red Cross,
helping survivors, missing loved ones,
cell phone providers making sure first responders can make and
respond to emergency calls.
Commercial airlines evacuated 10s of thousands of people from the
island.
The list goes on in the Small Business Administration has
dozens of staff on the island,
and has begun making low interest federal disaster loans available
to Hawaii,
Hawaii, businesses, homeowners and renters and nonprofits to help them
begin to rebuild.
Just to get by for the immediate near term,
we're going to coordinate, continue to coordinate relentlessly for the
people on the ground to make sure the critical work
continues.
In the meantime, you always hear this phrase,
and I've done to so many disasters in my career,
it's almost hollow. Our prayers,
our thoughts and prayers with the people of Wye.
But not just our prayers,
every asset, every asset they need,
we'll be there for them
and we be we'll be there in Maui.
As long as it takes,
As long as it takes.
I mean that sincerely. We have more to report on
this,
but today I kind of walking to talk about what
we're doing to bring manufacturing back home.
It's about our progress pulling an economy from the middle
out
and the bottom up, not the top down.
You know we that trickle down economics not a whole
lot laying on my dad's kitchen table.
But when the middle works and the bottom has a
shot up,
the wealthy do very well.
I'm a capitalist. You make a billion dollars.
Go make it. I mean it
just pay a little more taxes than you're paying right
now,
8% doesn't quite get it.
But look,
I came to office determined to move away from the
trickle down economics
and to focus on the middle class
because I said when the middle class does well,
everybody does well, everybody does well.
The Financial Times. The Wall Street Journal
started calling my plan, not initially,
as a compliment. Bidenomics. Guess what,
folks? They're talking about different than that.
It's working. It's working.
I'm serious
because we're investing in America.
According to Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs,
my plan is leading to a boom.
They call a boom in manufacturing
and manufacturing investment, as you're seeing right here in this
factory,
Over 13.4 million new jobs,
150,000 new jobs in the state of Wisconsin.
Nearly
800,000 new manufacturing jobs nationwide.
More than 20,000 manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin.
From the Green Bay to Verona
to Pleasant Prairie. We've added more jobs in two years
than any president has in American history.
In a four year term,
more in two than any's done and four,
unemployment has been below 4%
for the longest stretch in over 50 years,
50 years. Wisconsin's unemployment rate is just
2.5%. That's lower than it was every single month
the prior administration.
We've recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic.
We've added millions more people are coming off the sidelines
getting back into the workplace.
Remember while they're there saying,
well Biden, just allow people not to work and get
paid.
Guess what? The higher percentage of American workers working day
than ever before.
And while unemployment is down,
in
case you have a notice,
inflation is down too and is going lower.
Remember,
Remember the experts said to get inflation under control
you need to lower wages
and higher unemployment. Not a joke.
Those of your economist knows that's the economic mantra
to get inflation under control.
Fewer jobs, more unemployment,
that's number one. And making sure
that you don't have to deal with.
That's what they say caused inflation.
But I never thought the problem was too many people
working
or working people making too much money.
One reason we've seen inflation fall by 2/3 without losing
jobs is
that we're seeing corporate profits come back to down to
earth.
You know, we've done more,
we've done, we have more to do with inflation though
it's just about 3% now.
It's predicted to go lower than that.
We're near the lowest point in over 2 years and
at the same time
we pay for low wage workers has grown at the
fastest rate in two decades.
Wages are growing faster than inflation,
folks. That's by economics. It's about growing an economy by
strengthening the middle class
and making things in America again.
You know, it's in stark contrast to the conservative Republican
view,
the so-called MAGA view, which is focused on corporate profits,
they say. We should find that that
the rationale up to now has been let's find the
cheapest place in the world to make our product,
let's shut down the corporate,
the the operation in America and send it overseas and
then send the refined product back to America and sell
it here.
That's the philosophy. But you know who believes that
you're significant? Senator Ron Johnson.
He believes outsourcing manufacturing jobs is a great thing.
He's on record as saying he doesn't agree with American
word.
This is what he said
American workers should manufacture. He doesn't think they should manufacture
products that require a lot of Labor.
Here's what he said, Quote,
let the billions of people around the world do that.
End of quote.
You wonder why the hell we got ourselves in trouble.
Well, we've been letting them do that for too damn
long.
It's time to build American products in America.
You can see how Ron Johnson's rationale and Megan backing
out worked out.
Between the year 2000 and January
2021, Wisconsin alone lost more than
136,000 manufacturing jobs alone.
I'd like to see Senator Johnson talk about those,
to talk to those 136,000 people and tell them it
doesn't matter
whether you manufacture things at home or overseas.
Sure as hell does, man.
Not only
for those 136,000 people who lost their job,
but for their families and the communities and the economic
growth that generated here at home.
Let's take a look at how the Johnson philosophy played
out the real time in Wisconsin,
like in Kenosha, about 40 miles from here.
There used to be a lot of people assembling automobiles
there,
making a direct living for their families,
generating economic growth for Kenosha
until American Motors plant closed in 88.
Or take a look at Milwaukee,
known as the manufacturing powerhouse for so long.
That's when I got to the Senate.
I'm I'm, I've been around about 200 years.
When I got to the Senate
in 1973, Milwaukee wasn't a manufacturing powerhouse.
That's that was referred to.
Not a joke. Not a joke.
I don't have to tell anyone in this audience how
hard people here work
and all of you, all of you,
all you've done to keep the city strong.
Still, by early 2000, Milwaukee had lost around two out
of 3 factory jobs.
80,000 jobs were gone, 80,000.
When those jobs were lost,
something else was lost as well.
Pride. A sense of dignity.
My dad and I swear to God this was an
expression used to have an expression.
My dad was a high school educated guy,
was well read and worked like hell.
He
didn't have a chance to go to college.
He used to say Joey,
and this is a God's truth.
Joey, a job's about a lot more than the paycheck.
It's about dignity. It's about respect.
It's about being able to look your kid in the
eye and say,
honey, it's going to be okay and mean it.
That's what a job is about.
Well, the breadwinner, the family loses their job.
They lose their pride,
the sense of dignity that goes to that.
People like Ron believe that is a good thing.
The corporate American bottom line is,
if that's all you need to look at,
it's good for America.
Well, that's not my bottom line.
From the day I took off as I was determined
to turn around with with now the Recall and Bidenomics.
It's one of the reasons why I fought so hard
to write and get past the CHIPS and Science Act.
We used to
invest more in science and research than any country in
the world.
Almost 2% of our gross domestic product.
Now it's about 7 cents of 1%.
We invest. We're the best engineers in the world.
We're the best scientists in the world.
We're the best researchers in the world.
What the hell are we doing?
Well, guess what? That CHIPS and Science Act has generated
2, $131 billion
in the last 18 months in private investments making semiconductors
here in America.
By the way, we, the United States,
invented those semiconductors. We invented them.
When we went to the moon,
there
were those small computer chips the size of the tip
of your finger,
affecting nearly everything in our lives from cell phones,
automobiles, the most sophisticated weapon systems in the world.
Let me give you one concrete example.
I'm over the chairman, the largest chip maker in the
world.
In South Korea, it's called SK.
When I was in South Korea,
they're investing now $22 billion
billion in America. And I asked them,
why is the Godstream? Why America?
And he said, #1,
think of this. Now remember it.
Number one, there's no safer place in the world
to have my investment in the United States of America.
And #2, you have the best workers in the world.
And he's right. That's that's the truth.
It's
about time Ron Johnson's friend understood that.
Look, folks, they think you want an
IBWI wouldn't be standing at this time without you guys.
But the IBW, they think
average American. They're not being mean or anything.
They think, well, the being electrician.
Say I want to be an electrician.
You get a you get a car.
Four to five years of apprenticeship.
Hear me? Like going back to college,
four to five years. You get paid,
but not nearly what you get paid.
When you get your car,
you
got to talk more about what you do,
what it takes to get it done.
People aren't trying to be mean.
They just don't know,
I'm sure, in hell. Tell them
The bottom line is we invented chips.
Here in America, we used to produce them.
Here we used to produce 40%.
And now we're bringing them back home.
Thankfully. Thankfully, we have people like Tammy Baldwin
who championed That's the God Truth buy American policies leading
the resurgence of manufacturing in Wisconsin and across the country.
You heard me say it before.
Where in God's name is it written?
And America can't lead the world again in manufacturing.
Where is that written, folks?
Nowhere. You got it. Since I took office,
we've attracted more than 1/2 trillion dollars.
Let me say it again,
1/2 trillion dollars in private investment
in American manufacturing
and the industries of the future.
Spending on construction and manufacturing to manufacturing plants that need
to be built
nearly doubled in the last two years.
And you know that's not just,
that's not just the permanent jobs
they're generating growth, economic growth,
they're built. Look, construction jobs do that as well.
We've added 600,000 good paying construction jobs since I took
office.
When they build these these plants to build these chips,
guess what they call them fabs.
They're as big as football.
Long as football fields,
that's how big they are.
They're gigantic. Guess what? People who work there,
You know what the average salary is in these fabs,
$116,000. And you don't need a college degree.
What the hell are we talking about,
folks?
Instead of exporting American jobs,
we're creating American jobs, exporting American products.
They're being built right here in Wisconsin and places where
factories have been shut down.
Look what you're doing here.
Anger team came to Milwaukee 10 years ago
thanks to tax incentive to clean energy during the Obama
Biden administration.
Then, exactly one year ago tomorrow,
I signed a significant piece of clean energy,
let's say combined, combating the existential threat of climate change,
the single largest investment ever,
anywhere in the world.
Without one single member of the other team voted for
it,
that law reauthorized those clean energy tax credits and expanded
them.
As a result, this this company,
this company predicts that demand for the wind turbine generators
which they're making right here in this facility,
will double next year.
And since I took office,
the private sector has announced more than $3 billion
in investments, Not million billion
in investments for wind energy manufacturing in America,
by the way. It's cheaper.
Cheaper, cheaper than fossil fuels.
Cheaper than fossil fuels.
That's not all. Until this year,
this company didn't think it made sense to make charges
for electric vehicles in the United States.
But then when I signed the byparts influx again,
which which Ron Johnson's friends didn't vote,
they all voted against. That law invests
7.5 billion to build a network of thousands of electric
vehicle charges stretching across the country,
including on I-94. By the way,
over 500,000 of these charges stations.
That's real jobs.
That's real money. By the way,
my grandpa Biden died very young.
He was died in the hospital I was born in
six days before I was there.
Before I was born, he worked for the American Oil
Company.
His job was to go from town to town,
expanding the American Oil Company,
building new gas stations. People didn't know where they want
a couple 1000 gallons of gasoline under the ground where
they are.
What happens if you build a gas station?
You end up with something like a 711 or a
donut shop or a drugstore around.
It generates economic growth.
We're going to be building these facilities all across America
so you can plug in and go
with of the country.
That way you can travel coast to coast without worrying
about running out of power.
Every single one of these charges must be installed by
workers certified by the
IBEW plan. Everyone that was a
thing. Everyone and
every single one must be made in America.
Well, there's a provision in law that I thought I
knew a fair amount,
but I didn't realize. Maybe you did,
Tammy, but I didn't realize back in the 30s you
passed the law.
That's consistent with international trade
that if the Congress passes the law to spend money
and the president has to decide where to spend it,
he has to see or she has to spend it
on American workers and in in America American products.
Most presidents, including Democrats didn't pay a lot of attention
to that,
but I did.
And so now to use a non American product you
got to have a real good reason to prove to
me you can't in fact get it from an American
product. Look folks, this company concluded that it was an
opportunity for them as well,
and now they're making fast charging EV chargers here in
America,
right? In Wisconsin,
your goal is to manufacture
13,000 high speed charges every single year.
And guess what? To the chagrin of your senator,
the other senator, it's going to add
100 good paying jobs.
Folks,
this is happening across the state.
It's a direct result of those clean energy investments I
signed in law a year ago.
Folks, as I've said for a long time,
for a long time, when I think climate,
I think jobs, not a joke.
When I think climate, I think jobs.
That's the future. By the way,
Texas, The state of Texas is a very
enlightened governor. The very state of Texas has the significant
highest
number of wind and solar facilities I think of any
state in the nation,
and it's cheaper than than for fossil fuel.
He wants to shut them down.
It net enlightened
like the 12 solar energy products and Allon Energy
is building across Wisconsin, creating more than 2000 job,
local construction job, most of them union jobs and in
the process of serving customers in Wisconsin,
saving them more than $1.6 billion in energy cost.
These are facts, not fiction.
And back to Kenosha which was hit hard by the
American motors when it closed.
Now Paris Solar is broken down on the state,
broken down on the state's first large scale solar and
battery storage project in Kenosha County.
It's creating 300, good paying construction job,
300.
And just today the company Siemens announced that because of
that law I signed and the significant investment we're making
in clean energy,
they're going to begin manufacture solar inverters here in Wisconsin.
And by the way,
American people are going to be learning,
no matter how well educated,
going to be learning a lot because I bet most
people don't know what a solar inverter is.
It converts solar energy from the sun into electricity.
Kind of a novel idea,
isn't it? How many times you ever think in those
days when you had those real big bills in the
winter and a hot day can?
Why couldn't we capture all this?
Guess what
they're going to be doing a piece of that
sunlight shines down and the Inverter turns into electricity,
and they're going to build them just outside of Kenosha.
Don't tell me Americans can't innovate.
Don't tell me that since I took office,
I've seen more than 3 billion in private investment in
clean energy manufacturing all across Wisconsin.
That's Bidenomics. That's investing in America
totally consistent with international law and trade agreements.
Investing in America means investing in all of America.
When I ran for president,
I made a promise
so I would leave no one behind,
no part of the country to leave behind.
I'm getting mad. A lot of Democrats are getting mad
at me because we're investing actually more in red states
than blue states right now.
But they're all Americans. I made a promise.
I made a promise no matter where.
And folks, red states, blue states,
urban, suburban and rural, all of that will benefit
from what we do. That's why I launched the Rural
Partners Network
to help rural communities, including here in Wisconsin,
in my state of Delaware,
which is mostly rural, believe it or not,
create jobs and economic opportunity.
And my administration has invested hundreds of millions of dollars
to support small and medium sized meat and poultry processors
across the Midwest, including dozens here in Wisconsin,
from Lancaster to Richland Center to Soldiers Grove.
This way, farmers can get the best price for the
product.
They don't have to deal with the only giant processor
that pays them less for what they need.
But they're no, I mean,
that wasn't my dude. That was the secretary of agriculture,
the former governor of Iowa.
But folk that's not all.
We're also investing $230 million in Wisconsin to support agriculture
that's good for the environment,
like planting cover crops that replenish the soil with nutrients
and absorb carbon from the air.
We're helping farmers, ranchers, foresters,
get paid for doing the right thing.
It's simple, folks. When farmers do well,
when the wealth they generate stays in Wisconsin,
then their children can stay in Wisconsin.
A fine opportunity here and build a stronger rural economy.
Investing in America also means rebuilding our infrastructure.
The governor talked about how many bridges and roads.
I mean, it's amazing. And it's not even been a
year yet.
It's just been about a year.
You know, the last guy talked about infrastructure month.
We got infrastructure. Decade, baby.
Ten years. Oh, think I'm kidding.
I
never had one month. But I'm joking.
I'm not joking. And by the way,
a number of my Republican friends voted against
in this infrastructure bill, including your distinguished other senator.
You know, we used to be #1 in the world
in infrastructure, but over time,
we slipped through the 13th best infrastructure,
13th best infrastructure in the world from #1.
How can you be the best economy in the world
with a second rate infrastructure?
Not a joke. How can you do that?
Well, through the bipartisan infrastructure log,
we've already announced
37,000 projects, 4500 communities across America,
including hundreds of projects as the Governor referenced right here
in Wisconsin.
Let me give you a couple examples.
We're investing $80 million to replace the Interstate Bridge over
the Wisconsin River in Columbia County.
That's a major route connecting people in Milwaukee,
Madison and Chicago.
And look across town, where union workers are building N
Holton Street Bridge,
which is nearly 100 years old.
More than 10,000 vehicles travel over it every single day
across the Milwaukee River. It's dangerous.
And this reconstruction is long overdue.
You, a lot of you were with me when I
was in Pittsburgh,
by the way, the Pittsburgh is a city of bridges,
more bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in America.
I watched that bridge collapse.
I got there and saw it collapse with over 200
feet off the ground going over a valley.
It collapsed. Thank God school was out
during the during the pandemic.
Imagine all the people would have died and they knew
for years they had to do something.
We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild it.
You know, I know everybody kids,
me because I'm an Amtrak guy.
I like rail.
Well, I've traveled over
1,280,000 miles on Amtrak.
I know you think that's nuts,
so I do too. But my
the reason for that is when I got elected,
I was 29 years old.
I was in an office hiring staff and I got
a phone call saying my wife and daughter were dead
and my two boys were not likely to live.
Tractor trailer broadsided and killed them
and I didn't want to stay in Washington.
So I said that a lot of really good senators,
including a couple of good Republican friends became friends.
So just come and stay six months,
help us organize. Hell, we had.
We had 58 Democratic senators already and a Democratic governor.
I didn't know any better,
but I stayed
and I started a commute every day
because having been listed as the poorest man in Congress
for 36 years,
true, my wife called me one day,
says did you read the paper today?
And I was up campaigning for a guy named Pat
Leahy in Vermont.
I said no, honey, I didn't see the Wilmington paper
said headline
above the fold. Only a politician's wife would say that
Biden, the poorest man in Congress.
Is that true? Like I was cheating on her or
something.
But I was, and I couldn't afford a house in
Washington,
and I couldn't afford a house in Delaware.
I sold my house in Delaware.
I'd lose an election. So I started a commute.
It's only 300 miles a day,
but it still takes me an average of four hours
beginning to end.
And So what happened was I
when when you travel as vice President on Air Force
planes,
they keep a precise number of miles to travel.
And I guess what's in my
7th year, sixth year as Vice President,
I there was a headline in the New York paper
saying
Biden travels almost
1,200,000 miles on on Air Force planes 11 million to
100 river.
I'm getting on the train one day with the
Secret Service of the best in the world.
They don't like me traveling the train because there's too
many opportunities for people to do bad things,
not trains. And so I'm getting on a train to
go home and see my mom who is sick and
and Hospice at my home
and this guy. I won't mention his name because they
get him in trouble.
But one of the senior guys in Amtrak who I
rode with all the time,
comes up and goes. Joey baby grabs my cheek.
Swear to God I thought you're going to shoot him.
And I said no, no,
no, no, I said what's the matter?
Angie said we just, I read this thing about a
/ 1,000,000 miles on Air Force planes.
He said, hell, you know how many miles you travel
on Amtrak.
I said no, Angie, I don't know.
He said we just had a retirement dinner up in
Newark.
He said you traveled 100 average
117 days a year. Round trip,
300 miles a day,
36 years, that's
1,285,000 miles. I don't want to hear anymore about the
Air Force.
True story. I swear to God
I'm getting off point here,
But anyway.
But rail saves a lot.
Electric rail saves a lot of energy,
a lot of energy in the environment.
Thanks to the infrastructure law,
we're providing $23 million upgrade
modernized Mitchell International Airport, which is going to increase economic
activity in Milwaukee.
We're also removing every single lead pipe in Wisconsin.
Every single one.
These lead pipes are dangerous.
Some of you may remember
I'd have guessed at the last State of the Union
when I was speaking
and a young woman named Deanna Branch.
She's a Milwaukee mom. She had her three-year old son
Aiden with her,
who was hospitaled twice for lead poisoning because of lead
pipes in their home.
Well, guess what? We're moving every single lead pipe in
Wisconsin out of the ground.
That's a fact.
The risk to everyone's health,
especially our children.
And then over 250,000 homes and small businesses across Wisconsin
don't have access to high speed,
affordable Internet.
No parent should have to sit outside at McDonald's when
we have a schools are closed to be able to
get a McDonald's Internet so the kid can do their
homework. Not a joke.
Well, guess what? They do.
But you don't have Internet at home.
That's why we're investing over $1 billion
in every corner of this state,
especially rural communities and family farm
with affordable high speed in at every single home.
Folks,
all our high speed Internet project must use products and
construction materials made in America.
Look folks,
it's really kind of basic,
just decide to invest in America again.
That's what it's all about.
I want you to see exactly what we're making these
investments across the country.
If you want to know exactly where they are,
you can go on the Internet,
go to investor.gov, put in your location and find out
what's happening,
Exactly what's happened or scheduled to happen.
Folks, we've done all this without raising anybody's taxes
making under $400,000.
My friends talk about the big spending Biden.
Well, guess what? I made a promise I'll never raise
federal tax on anyone making less than
$400,000 a year. I kept my promise
and I'm like the last president of my first two
years in office.
Even with all we've done,
I'm the first one to cut the federal debt by
one trillion,
$700 billion.
One trillion, $700 billion cut.
We generated the growth folks.
Every Republican voted against our clean energy investment known as
the Inflation Reduction Act.
Vast majority vote against the bipartisan infrastructure law.
But that didn't stop them from claiming credit for protecting
health of their constituents
that are getting rid of led by getting rid of
lead pipes or putting the work
building new roads and bridges.
Look, I think the vast majority of my Republican college
and Senate know better.
We got to stop the partisanship.
We got to stop this stuff.
This legislation they oppose and attack is now the greatest
thing to come to their states.
You know, they're you have Marjorie Taylor Green.
You know, the very quiet lady from North Carolina,
from from Georgia.
Well, she talked about what Biden's doing is what Roosevelt
did,
what Kennedy did. Well, yeah.
Well, look, folks, like I said,
I made a commitment and I knew this was going
to happen.
I knew what would happen is
the folks who voted against these things and we barely
passed them,
sometimes by one or two votes
when it came to their states,
would claim credit. I want them to get credit.
That's Okay. It's Okay as long as they continue to
support the things we're doing.
You know, I I said I represent all the American
people
and red States and blue states,
but that doesn't mean I can't make fun of the
hypocrisy
of those claiming credit.
And like I said in the State of the Union,
I'll see them at the groundbreakings.
Look, let me close with this.
I'm not here to declare a victory on the economy.
We're not there yet. We have more work to do,
but we've always had a plan
at turning things around, making an America stronger and safer
and more competitive.
Bidenomics is just another way of saying
restoring the American dream. That's the base,
that's what it is, just restoring the American dream.
I believe every American willing to work hard
should be able to get a job
no matter where they live in the heartland,
small towns raise their kids on a good paycheck and
keep their roots where they grew up.
That's the American dream. That's by economics.
It's rooted what has always worked best for this country.
Investing in America, investing in Americans.
Because when we invest in our people,
when we strengthen the middle class,
we see stronger economic growth
that benefits all Americans. The most important thing I want
to say today is this thank you.
Not thank for how to voter do,
but thank you to the people of Wisconsin.
Thank you to the American people.
We pray some pretty tough times.
In recent years. The pandemic took over
1,000,000 lives. How many empty chairs are there sitting on
dining room tables these days?
Our neighbors, our friends, our fellow Americans
are still living in pain
and loss and isolation caused by the pandemic
it generated. The most severe economic crisis since the Great
Depression
wasn't that long ago that 20 million people in America
were out of work.
But today the American people,
they didn't give up. This constant didn't give up.
Americans didn't give up. America didn't give up.
I've said it 1000 times,
there is no quit in America.
There is no quit in America.
Look how far we've come
today.
Today is not hyper. We have the strongest economy in
the world.
You're looking at me a little skeptical,
but I promise you, check it out.
The strongest economy in the world,
the highest job satisfaction. In 36 years,
our inflation rate has dropped to the lowest among major
economy economic nations in the world,
and if we keep it up,
it's going to go lower according to money.
All I hear from my friends on the other side
of the aisle
is what's wrong with America.
There's a lot wrong with America.
Like every country,
they tell us America's failing,
but they're wrong. Democrats, Republicans,
independents, conservatives, liberals.
I don't think they understand the average American.
Whatever your wife, we set our mind.
It was a country we've always accomplished.
Name me one thing in American history where America stood
together and said we're going to solve that problem.
We didn't do it. Name me one.
Name me one. There's nothing beyond our capacity.
America isn't failing. America's winning.
And I'm proud of the historic legislation,
minorization, fact. They're the right steps going to get our
economy moving again but to build to the future.
But the real hero in the story is all of
you.
And I mean, this is from the bottom of my
heart.
People of Milwaukee, people of Wisconsin,
the American people. Yes, my policy helped create a lot
of these jobs and continue to grow,
But you're the ones getting up every single day,
walking out that door and doing the work.
Yes, my policies have helped create some small businesses
created more than any time in history,
but you're the ones who decided to borrow the money
and take the risk.
In the middle of this concept,
it took the risk
to hire workers fulfilling your dreams.
I've long said it's never,
ever, ever been a good bet to bet against America.
Never. Never. Never.
And it's not a good bet today.
This is still a country that believes in honesty,
decency and integrity. The vast majority of Americans do.
Our political leaders, sometimes in both parties,
don't. We're still a country that believes in hard work.
We're still a country that believes in each and every
one of us is created equal.
We're still a beacon to the world.
That's because small towns and in rural American suburbs,
big cities all across the country,
every ordinary person, people, all ordinary people
do the most extraordinary things.
Let me tell you, America's best days are ahead,
not behind us. Not because of me.
Because of you. It isn't about the past.
It's about the future. It's about each of us writing
the next chapter in American history.
I can honestly say I've never been more optimistic,
and I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
I've never been more optimistic about America's future,
both domestic and foreign. Just have to remember who the
hell we are.
We're the United States of America.
There's nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it
together.
So let's do it together.
God love you. May God bless you all.
May God protect our troops.
Thank you.