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Biden Lays Out Budget Plan As Battle Looms With GOP. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired March 09, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, guess what? A lot of people are lying in bed at night wondering what they're going to have to do. Are they going to have to sell the house? What are they going to do if one of them gets really sick?
Well, thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which not one single Republican voted for, that I signed into law as soon as I got into office, millions of Americans, millions more enrolled in the Affordable Care Act, saving an additional $800 a year for better coverage, better prices.
My budget is going to make those savings permanent. They were up to now, but they'll expire if they don't get it done again.
The MAGA Republicans all voted to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. They voted to get rid of it over 50 times to get it done, since Barack passed it, 50 times.
(CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: Well, I think it is shameful.
Folks, no one can deny we have a climate crisis. So, we've seen more land - for example, I've been in more helicopter rides these last two years, particularly from Arizona all the way up to Idaho, all the way to the west coast.
More forests have burnt to the ground than the entire state of Maryland, the entire size of the state of Maryland.
Look what's happening. The Colorado River has become a creek. You have all of these environmental problems that are so profound, they're hard to deny. And people are seeing them now. Along with extreme super storms and droughts.
That's why took the most aggressive action ever, in all of history, in any country, to take on the climate crisis by lowering your home energy bills, which MAGA Republicans voted against.
We've gotten to the point where it's cheaper to generate electricity from wind and solar than it is from coal and/or fossil fuels.
And I'm from Scranton. I'm not against coal, per se. A lot of people made a living on that way. But we're providing incentives for folks to make the transition.
So here's what we're doing. We're providing you with a tax credit -
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: - a tax credit and rebates if you're buying new efficient - energy-efficient appliances. Heat pumps. The new heat pumps, they can heat the whole damn house. No, I'm serious, not a joke.
Well, if you need a heater, you need to buy one of the heat pumps, you get a tax credit for doing it.
And water heaters. Tax credit to weatherize your home with better windows and doors.
I gathered together leaders from American Autoworkers on in the South Lawn of the White House, all of the American manufacturers, two summers ago. And guess what? They all agreed.
Within the next month, they came to me and said, we're going to go all electric. We're going to go all electric. And that's going to save billions of gallons of gasoline burning into the air.
It's not only going to save the environment, it's going to help create really good paying jobs. Providing a tax credit for folks who buy electric vehicles. Encouraging them to do it.
We're still going to need combustible engines. We're still going to need oil for 10 or 15 years. All of a sudden, it's not all going away. All of this is going to lower energy costs for families on the average of $1000 a year and create good-paying union jobs.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Jimmy, I told you I was going to be the most pro-union president in history. I kept my promise. I kept my promise.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And, by the way, when we're talking about - we're talking about the creating jobs, my buddies at the IBEW are the strongest support I had this year.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Well, guess what? They're going to install 500,000 charging stations all across America.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And, by the way, the things I'm proposing not only lift the burden off the families of America, it's going to generate economic growth.
And that's not all. To support working parents, my budget expands access to affordable childcare for millions of families and it's going to invest -
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: - in paid family and medical leave, which all of you fought like hell for, so that the U.S. is not the only major economy in the world that doesn't have paid leave.
Folks, my budget also invests in elder care and home care. How many of you are like I went through, like with my mom and my dad as they got older? They wanted to stay in their own home. It was cheaper to stay in their own home than have to sell everything to go into a home.
[14:35:02]
Well, fortunately, I lived close enough that they could move in with me.
But it's cheaper if we provide for them the ability to stay in their homes. It's not only the right thing to do, but it's cheaper for the
taxpayer.
All the things that are going to help folks go to work, generate growth in our nation and still take of their families.
The point is, every time I talk about things, people talk about like, this is an overwhelming burden on the taxpayer. It's going to save money for the taxpayers.
No, it really does, saves money for the taxpayers. And generates growth. That's how the economy grows. That's why I was able to create 12 million new jobs in two years.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: More than any president in American history has created in four years. We've done it in two years what no president has done in four years because of you.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: But the point is, it's good for everybody. We're not hurting any - my budget also restores the child tax credit.
When that was in place during the pandemic, guess what? Child poverty was cut in half to the lowest level in all of American history. Guess what? Because moms were able to go to work, moms were able to go
out there and make a living. Folks, we can reduce child poverty and increase child opportunity.
Again, it's going to help millions of parents go to work knowing that children are being taken care of. And yet, only a few of my Republican friends support it.
My wife, Jill, who is a Philly girl -
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: If I didn't root like hell for every Philadelphia team, I'd be sleeping alone.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: You think I'm kidding. Jimmy knows my - oh, whoa.
Anyway, she's in class today teaching. She has an expression she uses for real. She said, any country that out-educates us will out-compete us. Let me say it again, any country that out-educates us will out- compete us.
For decades, we were not only - we were the only country in the world - we led the world economically. We were the only economy in the world that was moving that fast, because we had the best educated public in the world.
We started before any country - others had higher education more sophisticated with a lot of private institutions. But we, everybody in America, at the turn of the 20th century said they would go to school for free for 12 years was a game-changer. It was a game-changer.
But the rest of the world has caught up. We all know 12 years is not enough to succeed in the second quarter of the 21st century. Seriously, 12 years is not enough.
If we want America to have the best educated workforce, we need to invest in preschool, not -
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: I'm not talking about day care. I'm talking about school.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: All of the studies have recently shown - this is real, think about it now - that, you know, you learn - you've heard all of these stories that if you come from a broken home where mom or dad has a drug addiction or there's a real problem, no books in the house, et cetera, by the time the kid gets to first grade, they will have heard a million fewer words spoken.
Not different words, just spoken. They're not included. Well, guess what? Studies that children go to preschool, who go three, four, five - 3, 4, 5 years old go to school, not day care, increase by nearly 50 percent the likelihood that they'll finish high school.
And go on to earn a two or four-year degree, no matter what their background is.
Because guess what? The brain's still developing. They're still developing. They're exposed to the same thing other kids are exposed to. They grow.
We also know that many families struggle to afford college for their children. That's why we have these things called - and some of you may have used them - Pell Grants. For families earning less than $60,000 a year, they can get a Pell Grant to help them pay for college.
In the last two years, we've increased Pell Grants by $900. And my budget increases it by another $820.
Used to be, if you went to University of Pennsylvania - I mean, Penn State or University of Delaware, where I went, state schools, the state paid a significant portion of the tuition.
They're not anymore. They're not paying it anymore. They're paying some, but not much. Because they've cut paying for it.
Well, guess what? Try paying for college. even in a state institution where you can commute, it's as expensive as hell. Especially if you have a couple friends in the family, making less than 60 grand a year.
So it matters a lot. It matters a lot. The more we educate people, the better chance we have. It doesn't mean everybody educated is going to succeed. But it's a significantly better opportunity.
[14:40:09]
And the world is getting a hell of a lot more complicated. A hell of a lot more complicated.
So, I've increased my budget. We increase it now, as I said, we're paying another $820 helping people from families with low incomes.
Let's connect students' careers and opportunities starting in high school. We should provide for two years of community college - by the way, in school, when you're - when you're a sophomore, junior in high school, you should be able to take credits that allow you to qualify for college credit at a state university or a community college.
People are beginning to do that around the country. Some of the best training in the America occurs there.
Let's offer every American a path to a good career, whether they go to college or not, like the path you started here. The first apprenticeship program in the nation in which students can graduate as a full-time journeyman with an associate's degree here.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: In the past two years, we've created, as I said, 12 million jobs, more than two years than any president has done in four years.
I don't have to tell the union workers here that includes 800,000 manufacturing jobs in two years.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Two years.
We've also seen more people start - apply to start small businesses than ever before. Not just unions. Small businesses. People are now - more people - what's someone making an application to start a small business - it's about hope. It's about hope.
In the last several decades, corporate America spent - things began to change. I come from the corporate state of the world, Delaware. Literally, more corporations are incorporated in the state of Delaware than any other state in the United States combined.
It used to be, when I was in high school, when I first got started, those corporations had some greater social responsibility. They paid higher taxes. They actually saw to it that people - they trained their employees. They don't train them anymore.
I met with - when I was vice president, I met with the secretary of commerce. We met with - don't hold me to the exact number - 346 CEOs.
Said, what do you need most? You know what the most overwhelming request was? Better educated public. Well, guess what? Back then, they used to educate their workers.
The Dupont company by a new industry, they would educate them how to do it. They're not doing it anymore.
One other thing started happening three or four decades ago. American companies started to ship jobs overseas. Why? Cheaper labor. They'd go where they could find the cheapest labor, in Asia, Africa, wherever it was, and they'd bring home product made.
Well, guess what? We're going to export product and bring jobs home. That's what this is about.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I'm not joking.
Where is it written, where is it written, that America can't lead the world again in manufacturing? Never underestimate what America can do. We can do anything we set our minds to. And we know -
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We know that. We have the world's leading economy. We have the world's best roads, bridges, ports, airports.
If we - when we were back leading the world, we used to have the best infrastructure on earth. But the world caught up.
You know where we rank in terms of quality infrastructure? In the world? Number 13. Thirteen. That's why I signed the bipartisan - this was bipartisan. Republicans joined us. The bipartisan infrastructure law, the most significant instrument and investment to modernize infrastructure in nearly 70 years, since the Eisenhower -
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We and you are going to spend - we're going to spend $1.2 trillion over 10 years to rebuild the infrastructure in this country. How can you lead the world if you have second-rate airports, highway highways, drinking water, et cetera?
Instead of Infrastructure Week, which became a punch line with the last guy, remember, every year, it was going to be Infrastructure Week? Well, we got Infrastructure Decade.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And a modern infrastructure will not only make us more economically competitive. It's going to create more benefits. Save money for the country and families.
[14:44:59]
We're going to replace every lead pipe in the United States of America so children can drink water, 400,000 schools, six million. We're going to make sure that they're not drinking poison. For real. Every American.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: That's going to create thousands and thousands of jobs.
We're delivering high-speed Internet to every home in America so no parent has to drive up to the McDonald's parking lot to help do the homework for their kid because they can't get on the Internet.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Every single person is going to be able to do that.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: But here's the deal. I've been criticized for this next piece - I've probably been criticized a lot before that, too, but for the next piece.
The deal is, when we do these projects, we're going to buy American.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Here's the deal. Back in 1932, we passed a law that's consistent with international trade that when you give a president money, they - when they pass legislation and say, Mr. President, go build a new aircraft carrier deck, they say you should buy American. You should use American products and American workers.
Well, no one paid a lot of attention to that. They say, if it's 40 percent, it's OK and so. Well, guess what? I made sure it's a minimum of 60 percent. And we're going for 100 percent. And we're creating a whole hell of a lot of jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And it's not to hurt any other country. It's not. But think about it. You know, I wonder how many people knew, talked about, quote, "the supply chain" before the pandemic. Everyone knows what the supply chain is now.
Well, guess what? The reason why we stopped making cars for a while, that became so expensive, we lost the supply chain for computer chips.
Because we didn't make - we invented it in America. We miniaturized them. We made them better. And guess what? They went all over overseas, in Southeast Asia, other places.
So when the pandemic hit them and they had to close down, we had no access to computer chips. You can't make an American automobile without those chips. You can't make a refrigerator without those chips. You can't make a cell phone without those chips and so on.
So - and I've spoken with my European friends, heads of state, made clear to them, we're not trying to deny them of anything. But here's what we're going to do. We're going to be at the beginning of the supply chain, not the end of the supply chain.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: So, folks -
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: So all of the construction materials used in the federal infrastructure projects can be made in America, lumber, glass, drywall, fiber optic cables.
And on my watch, American roads, bridges and highways, they're going to be made with American products.
In addition to that, we can get back to leading the world in inventing and innovation.
Now, we used to support - we used to spend, we used to spend, 2 percent of our entire gross domestic product on innovation and science. We now do 0.7 percent. I propose - what I proposed was the thing called the Chips and Science
Act, to make sure America leads the world in innovation, especially in manufacturing those semiconductors.
Those are those small computer chips the size of the tip of my finger that power everyday lives, cell phones, automobiles, refrigerators, artificial intelligence, so on.
America invented these chips and made them faster, smaller and more powerful. We used to provide 40 percent of the world. Now we're down to 10 percent.
Today's automobiles need 3,000 of those chips. American automakers couldn't make cars because there weren't enough chips available. That's why, remember, the price of cars skyrocketed and they shut down assembly lines.
So we did everything from refrigerators to cell phones. We can never let that happen again.
Since I've been president, we've already seen companies commit from around the world from South Korea to in the United States, companies committed $300 billion to build chip factories all across America, $300 billion.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: From New York to Ohio to Arizona. In Ohio, outside of Columbus, I've referred to it as the field of dreams. Intel came to me and said they wanted to invest.
We're going to invest $20 billion. Already started to build two chip fabs, they call them, factories. And guess what? It's going to create 12,000 jobs - excuse me, I think it's 12,000.
[14:50:08]
And 7,000 of them will be construction jobs. The rest are going to be jobs working in those factories.
You know what will happen working in those factories? You don't need a college degree to work in those factories. The average salary will be $130,000 a year.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: But, folks, my budget is more than about chips. It's about science, as well. Like I said, we use to spend 2 percent of our gross domestic product during research. Today, it's now less than what we were getting - closer to 1 percent, but less than 1 percent.
We used to rank number one in the world in research and development. You know where we rank now? Number nine. Nine. China was number eight. They're now number two. Number two.
This new law in my budget will deliver funding to help us lead the world again.
My budget also will invest in critical issues that matter to families. Increasing the supply of affordable housing, all of which will generate economic growth and prosperity.
I said to my introducer, he said I bought a small home and I worked on it. I said, guess what? That's how every middleclass family came to be.
Why? Because you build equity in that home. After two years, five years, 10 years, you may have $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 in equity. You can borrow against it to send a kid to school and to do a lot of things.
So folks, look, MAGA Republicans are calling for defunding the police Department and defunding the FBI now. That's a good one. I like that one.
Well, guess what? They refuse to provide funding that's going to keep communities safe and secure. You talk about crime. My budget invests in public safety.
It includes funding for more training, more support for law enforcement at a time when they expect to play many roles. We expect our cops to be social workers, psychologists and mental health counselors.
You know, more cops are killed responding to domestic violence calls than anything else. Did you know that?
Folks, I don't want to defund them. They need more help. We don't expect a cop to be everything from a psychologist to a counselor. Today's departments need more investment in this kind of help.
We're going to fund proven strategies for accountable community policing so cops know the communities they serve. And communities know them. We've got to get cops back on the street.
Back on the street in the communities they know, where they know the people, where they stopped in and they know the guy who owns the liquor store. They know the preacher that runs the local ministry. They know the person who runs the local grocery store.
When we did that in the Biden crime bill, crime just plummeted because they know folks.
I remember I was in Wilmington, my son used to be the attorney general of the state of Delaware. He would have his folks go out and knock on the doors.
There was a lady who called who lived on 4th Street, an area that's kind of tough. She rented one of these old Victorian homes, the kind that had the outcropping on the corner of it. And she could hear the gangs below getting ready to do what they're
going to do. She was scared to death to call anybody. She knows, if they found out it was her, they would be back.
So my son made sure the cops gave their phone numbers to people in the neighborhood with a commitment they would never say where they got the information. Guess what? A lot of crime dropped.
They would pick up the phone and say, they outside, I can hear them. They're talking about what they're going to do.
Cops need help. There are some bad cops, by the way. What we did, my Justice Department just did in Louisville, Kentucky, was long overdue to put those suckers in jail.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: By the way, how many cops do you know like bad cops? I don't know many. Not a joke.
We're going to provide 100,000 more community police officers nationwide and invest tens of thousands in school nurses and school counselors and mental health help.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And we're going to save communities billions of dollars over time. Every community needs, especially in the wake of this pandemic.
[14:55:00]
Let's be clear about another key point of my budget. I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare -
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: - without any change. Guarantee.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I won't allow it to be gutted or eliminated as MAGA Republicans threatened to do. MAGA Republicans (INAUDIBLE). My budget will not cut benefits and it definitely won't sunset programs like some of my MAGA Republicans friends want to do.
It will secure Medicare through 2050 and beyond, ensuring that the vital program keeps going strong for generations, without cutting a single penny in benefits.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: By the way, did you all happen to see any of the State of the Union address?
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Yes, folks standing up, "Liar, liar, Biden's a liar." That gentle lady from the state of Georgia -
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Well, no, no, no. I didn't say it for that reason.
But here's the deal. They said "lie." I said, let me ask you, how many of you out there commit you won't cut Medicare or Social Security? And they all stood up and raised their hands and said, we won't do it.
Guess what? They're all on camera.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: I'm counting on them keeping their word. But just in case they don't, I'm around.
Anyway, now my budget is going to give working people a fighting chance.
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: It's going to create good-paying jobs. And we can pay for these jobs by reducing the deficit two ways.
Like for example, cutting $160 billion in Medicare expenses is one. But we also have to ask the wealthiest and biggest corporations to begin to pay their fair share.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And cutting subsidies for special interests.
And by the way, in my first two years in office, the first two years, I brought down the deficit a record $1.7 trillion, more than any president has in American history.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: While doing all the rest of this stuff. Down.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: The new budget I'm introducing today is going to reduce the deficit by nearly $3 billion - a trillion dollars over 10 years.
Another big disagreement with MAGA Republicans - by the way, this ain't your father's Republican Party. There are a lot of good Republicans. They really are. But they're afraid to step out of line because they will get primaried and lose elections.
MAGA Republicans, they don't want things that particularly are going to help working families, like health care, education, public safety, which are going to raise costs on folks.
Look, MAGA Republicans also refuse to raise a single penny in new taxes on the wealthiest people.
So now let me ask you - I'm mean this sincerely. You don't have to if you feel self-conscious. But raise your hand, anybody who thinks our present federal tax system is fair, raise your hand.
No, I'm not joking. People making $400,000 a year don't think it's fair.
You know, we found that in the year 2020, when I got elected, 55 major corporations of the Fortune 500 companies paid zero in federal income tax on $40 billion in profit.
So I insisted on a horrible thing, a burden on them. I introduced legislation making sure that they had to pay a minimum of 15 percent, 15 percent corporate. Just 15 percent. That's less than any of you pay.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Guess what? We did those things to grow the economy and create jobs and give working-class folks a fighting chance. That paid for everything and still allowed me to reduce the deficit. Just begin to pay your fair share.
That's why I'm fighting for another proposal. When I got elected, there were roughly - don't hold me to the exact number because it varies - around 650 billionaires in America.
Now there's over 1,000. You know what the average tax they pay, federal tax? It's 3 percent. T-H-R-E-E, 3 percent. No billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter or any of you in this room.
[14:59:48]
So my plan is to make sure the corporations begin to pay their fair share. It used to be 35 percent. We cut it down to 21 percent. I think we should be paying 28 percent. It's going to be a real fight on that. We should be paying more than 21 percent.
