Whitehouse.gov Feed

Quincy Jones was a trailblazer.
 
He lived his life unapologetically, using his gifts to lift others up. He broke down barriers and opened doors for those who came after him, not for praise but because he knew the power of our shared potential.
 
For more than half a century, as a composer, arranger, record and movie producer, Quincy Jones created art that brought joy to millions of people. As an activist, Quincy Jones championed civil and human rights. He brought together artists who wanted to unite their voices to drive change. As a role model, in particular for young people of color in the music industry, Quincy Jones offered inspiration and mentorship. 
 
I was honored to call Quincy a friend. I will always remember his generosity of spirit, his selfless support, and his deep kindness. Our world has lost a giant. But in his melodies, and in the lives he touched, Quincy’s legacy will live on forever.
 
Today, Doug and I are praying for the Jones family and all those who loved him.  
 

# # #

The post Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Passing of Quincy Jones appeared first on The White House.

Quincy Jones was a musical genius who transformed the soul of America – one beat, one rhythm, and one rhyme at a time.

Growing up as a child facing segregation and poverty, he found music to be a refuge. As a teenager, he trained with some of the greatest musicians ever.

Over the next seven decades, he became a producer, composer, instrumentalist, executive, and so much more, discovering some of our most iconic artists and shaping the most memorable records and scores in history.

His God-given talent earned him countless awards and honors in music, film, and television. He was one of few Americans to earn an EGOT and received 28 Grammy Awards – among the most of all time.

In only a way he could, Quincy Jones solidified Black culture as American culture.

He was a great unifier, who believed deeply in the healing power of music to restore hope and uplift those suffering from hunger, poverty, and violence, in America and the continent of Africa.

Jill and I send our love to his entire family and everyone whose spirit was elevated by his extraordinary contributions.

May God bless Quincy Jones.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the Passing of Quincy Jones appeared first on The White House.

Montage Mountain Resort
Scranton, Pennsylvania

1:52 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Scranton!  (Applause.)  Hey, everybody! 

Can we hear it for Glen?  (Applause.)  Let’s hear it for Glen.

Hi, Scranton.  Good afternoon, everyone.  Good afternoon.  It is so good to be with everyone.  (Applause.)  Thank you. 

Are we ready to do this? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: We- — we’re ready to get out the vote? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re ready to win?

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Okay.  So, first, let me thank Glen.  I was — I was telling him when we were just hanging out backstage, so when I — my first office that I ran for was district attorney, and the Carpenters were the first union to endorse me.  (Applause.)  And — and I — and I’ve always — I mean, even before, but always — I will always and always have stood with labor. 

And so, I’m very proud to stand with you, Glen, with your members, with all the members of labor, as we do this together.  (Applause.) 

And as he pointed out, there’s a huge difference between me and the other guy, which everybody here knows, which is why you are here to help us get out the vote.  (Applause.) 

But I thought I would share with you — so, I was — when I was coming in, someone reminded me of — of a story I’ve shared, which is when I first ran for office as DA.  So, I — I started out at six points in the polls, right?  So, you kn- — for anyone who knows, that’s 6 out of 100.  (Laughter.)  No one thought we could win.  And I used to campaign with my ironing board.  (Laughter.)  Okay.  You are wondering, “Now, what is she talking about?”  (Laughter.)

So, I would grab my ironing board, a roll of duct tape, my pois- — my posters and my flyers, and I’d put them all in my car, and I’d drive to the local grocery stores.  And I’d pull out my ironing board and my duct tape and my posters and my flyers, and I’d walk to the front of the grocery store outside, and I’d stand up my ironing board, because, you see, an ironing board makes a really great standing desk.  (Laughter.)

And I’d use the duct tape to tape my posters on the outside of the thing, and I’d put my flyers on top of the ironing board.  And I would require people to talk to me as they walked in and out of the grocery store.  (Laughter.)

And I will tell you, that is how I love to campaign.  I don’t do it as much anymore, obviously.  But what you all are signing up to do today and what you’ve been doing, like, let’s enjoy it.  You know, and I know you do.  I can feel the mood in here.  Because it’s the best of who we are as a democracy. 

And I think we’ve kind of — (applause) — right?

And that’s what our campaign has been about.  We are a people-driven campaign, and we love the people.  And we see, in the face of a stranger, a neighbor — right? — and that’s the spirit of what we are doing. 

And over these last — you know, this whole era of this other guy, you know, it —  but it — what it’s done with all that talk that’s been about trying to have us point fingers at each other and divide each other, it makes people feel alone.  It makes them feel like there’s nobody standing with them. 

And so, the way I have always been thinking about our campaign and these next 24 hours is as we are getting out the vote, as we are canvassing, let’s be intentional about building community — about building community, about building coalitions, about reminding people we all have so much more in common than what separates us.  There is power in that.  There is power in that.  (Applause.)  And there’s lasting power in that, right?

It’s about the win, and it is about more.  It is about more.  It is about just strengthening our country and reminding each other we are all in this together.  We rise and fall together.  And that is the strength of who we are and everyone here. 

That’s the strength of Bob Casey.  We’ve got to get him back in the United States Senate.  (Applause.) 

That’s the strength of Mayor Cognetti and all that she has been doing.  Right?  (Applause.)

It’s about leadership that is the kind of leadership that we want.  Right?  They are leaders, we are leaders who understand that the measure of our strength is not based on who we beat down.  It’s based on who we lift up.  Right?  (Applause.)  And so, that’s what we’re going to do.  

And so, over these next 24 hours, I know everyone is here, including our youngest leaders — I see you over there.  I know you’re not ready to vote because you look like you’re about eight, but — (laughs) — but you tell the adults in your life why it’s important they vote.  Okay?  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

But over these next 24 hours, let’s — let’s enjoy this moment to knock on a neighbor’s door and in their face, even if we’ve not met them, know that we have a lot that we care about in common and that we are optimistic about the future of our country, that we love our country, and that that’s what this fight is about, and about the promise of America — and the promise of America being represented by everybody who is here.  

So, I thank you all for the time that you have taken out of your busy lives.  There are a number of things that each one of you could be doing right now and — but you’re here, and we’re all here together, under this one roof, as a community of people who care and who are dedicated to the hard work that it requires.  

You know, I — I like to say that you — you know, when you love something, you fight for it.  (Applause.)  And that’s what we’re doing.  And that’s what we’re doing.  We love our country, and we are fighting for the best of who we are.  And —

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And I love you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  I love you.

So —

AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Let’s vote.  Let’s get out the vote.  Let’s get out the vote.  Let’s get out the vote. 

AUDIENCE:  Let’s get out the vote!  Let’s get out the vote!  Let’s get out the vote!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Let’s get out the vote.  Let’s get out the vote.  Let’s get out the vote.   Let’s win. (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

All right, let’s get to work.  Twenty-four hours to go.  And I — I so — I — I’m so grateful for everyone here.  I — I just — I’ll end with this point.  You know, I have the — I have the privilege, I have the blessing of being able to travel around our country.  And I’m telling you guys, we’re good.  We’re good.  We’re good.  (Applause.)  We really are.  

I mean, every — I s- — I go into rooms with people who s- — again, seemingly have nothing in common and have everything in common — rooms of people of all kinds of different backgrounds, of ages coming together in this sense of just the — the collective.  We’re good.

And so, we’re going to keep doing this work with the optimism that it requires to be strong.  Everyone here knows, in the context of your family, in your life, when you believe something is possible, you put in the hard work, and you know it’s good work — hard work is good work, it’s joyful work — and we get the job done.  

Let’s get this done.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)

END                 2:00 P.M. EDT

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Scranton, PA appeared first on The White House.

I congratulate Maia Sandu on her historic reelection as the President of Moldova. 

On Sunday, the Moldovan people went to the polls and voted in favor of President Sandu’s vision for a secure, prosperous, and democratic Moldova. President Sandu’s reelection comes just two weeks after the Moldovan people passed a constitutional referendum in support of membership in the European Union. 

For months, Russia sought to undermine Moldova’s democratic institutions and election processes. But Russia failed. The Moldovan people have exercised their democratic right to choose their own future, and they have chosen to pursue a path aligned with Europe and democracies everywhere.

###

The post Statement by President Joe Biden on Moldova’s Presidential Elections appeared first on The White House.

The United States has deep economic ties to the Western Hemisphere. Through the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, the Biden-Harris Administration’s premier economic initiative for the region, the United States is strengthening and expanding our efforts to enhance regional competitiveness by focusing on the drivers of bottom-up and middle-out economic growth that will create good-quality jobs and more resilient supply chains.

The Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (known as the Americas Partnership or APEP) launched at the Summit of the Americas in 2022, includes member countries that represent90 percent of the hemisphere’s GDP and nearly two-thirds of its people.

At the inaugural Leaders’ Summit on November 3, 2023, President Biden and leaders of the eleven other Americas Partnership countries—Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay—deepened our shared commitment to ahemisphere that is among the most dynamic economic regions in the world.  During the past year, Ministers from the Trade, Foreign Affairs, and Finance tracks have met to set goals and develop priority workstreams to intensify regional economic cooperation.  U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen all hosted their Americas Partnership ministerial counterparts to drive inclusive sustainable growth and strengthen critical supply chains in semiconductors, medical supplies, and clean energy and critical minerals. 

One year on, the initiative is delivering concrete results to improve the lives of people throughout the region while creating economic opportunities within the hemisphere. As National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the Brookings Institutionthis year, “we’re working to make the Western Hemisphere a globally competitive supply chain hub for semiconductors, clean energy, and more.”

Since its launch, the Americas Partnership is: 

Driving investment and expanded entrepreneurship by leading efforts to train an inclusive and diverse cohort of entrepreneurs and connect them with financing opportunities. 

• The Americas Partnership Investor Network was launched at a July 2024 White House meeting hosted by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. As part of the Network, a diverse group of angel and venture capital investors pledged to collectively invest more than $1 billion in early-stage companies and entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2030.  The Inter-American Development Bank’s innovation and venture arm, IDB Lab, contributed $300,000 toward implementation of this Investor Network by the Uruguay Innovation Hub and Endeavor, creating new opportunities for the region’s next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs.  

• The inaugural cohort of 46 impact enterprises from Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama graduated from USAID’s CATALYZE Americas Partnership Accelerator program, with the next cohort of 119 impact enterprises from Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay in the training pipeline.  The program’s work across 10 target countries has mobilized the first $1.5 million of the investment goal of at least $20 million in two years.

• Canada’s AcelerarMe Program is providing training and mentoring to businesswomen in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Mexico, executed by the Thunderbird School of Global Management.  The program aims to graduate an estimated 450 entrepreneurs by 2026.  Already, two active cohorts have completed the majority ofthe training and four new cohorts will begin training in January 2025.

• In 2024, Americas Partnership countries supported Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Americas Partnership SME Inclusive Trade Inventory, including programs which assist micro-SMEs, that are owned and led by women, Indigenous persons, minorities, and those from historically underrepresented and underserved communities.  This fall, Americas Partnership governments held a Best Practices Exchange to strengthen knowledge-sharing among APEP countries. 

Advancing economic competitiveness and supply chain resilience for Americas Partnership economies.

• The Department of State has driven inclusive and sustainable growth by providing up to $7 million to the IDB’s Biodiversity and Natural Capital Facility.  This Fund for Nature is supporting Americas Partnership member countries with technical cooperation to mainstream climate, biodiversity, natural capital, and nature-based solutions into economic development plans and investments.  

• To bolster semiconductor production capabilities across the Western Hemisphere, the Department of State, in collaboration with the IDB, unveiled the CHIPS ITSI Western Hemisphere Semiconductor Initiative.  This groundbreaking initiative, supported through the CHIPS Act International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund, is enhancing semiconductor assembly, testing, and packaging capabilities in key Americas Partnership countries, beginning with Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica.  Under the initiative, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic signed MOUs with Arizona State and Purdue Universities to expand their skilled semiconductor workforce. 

• The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and IDB Invest have supported almost $2 billion worth of projects in APEP member countries over the past year.  In addition, DFC and IDB Invest launched the Americas Partnership Platform to facilitate co-investments, and added a $30 million technical assistance facility to support new and existing projects under the Platform.

• The Inter-American Development Bank delivered a “Phase I” report to Americas Partnership members in June 2024 to evaluate and enhance members’ competitiveness in the three priority supply chain sectors (semiconductors, medical supplies, and critical minerals).  This report highlighted the scale of the nearshoring opportunity in our region, while identifying areas where targeted policy innovations and infrastructure improvements will attract additional investment.  In the next stage, the IDB is engaging policymakers and other stakeholders throughout the region to develop concrete, country-specific policy recommendations in a set of “Phase II” reports. 

• Americas Partnership countries launched the Americas Partnership Clean Hydrogen Working Group, co-led by Chile, Uruguay, and the United States.  Backed by the Department of State’s Power Sector Program, the Working Group seeks to ensure the Western Hemisphere is a global leader in clean hydrogen development and deployment as countries seek to meet their national clean energy and climate goals. 

• APEP countries have led a wide range of initiatives on key member priorities.  For example, Ecuador and Peru have joined forces to promote sustainable food production.  The Dominican Republic has led an effort to promote transparency and integrity in the public sector.  Chile is spearheadingexpanded cooperation in civil and commercial space affairs. Supported by agencies like the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), Americas Partnership countries are also aiming to improve regulatory systems and market access for essential medical products across the region.

• Finally, trade ministers are using the Americas Partnership to promote regional implementation of the 2022 Summit of the Americas Declaration on Good Regulatory Practices, with the goal of promoting compatibility in technical standards that will strengthen supply chains.  

In the year since the November 3, 2023 Leaders’ Summit, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked together with the members of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity to take concrete steps towards fulfilling the hemispheric vision of economic prosperity for all of our citizens.

The post FACT SHEET: The Biden-Harris Administration Marks the Anniversary of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit appeared first on The White House.

Jenison Field House
East Lansing, Michigan

6:04 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Michigan!  (Applause.)  Hi, everyone. 

Can we hear it for Sedrick?  (Applause.) 

All right.  We’re going to do this. 

Hello, Michigan State!  (Applause.)  It is good to be in the house of my dear friend Magic Johnson.  Go Green!  (Applause.)

     AUDIENCE:  Go White!  (Applause.)  

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  All right.  All right.  East Lansing, are we ready to do this?  (Applause.) 

Are we ready to vote?  (Applause.)

Are we ready to win?  (Applause.)

Oh, it’s good to be back in Michigan and to be with so many incredible leaders.  I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist — (applause); Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, and let’s send her to the United States Senate — (applause); and Curtis Hertel, and let’s send him to the U.S. House of Representatives.  (Applause.)

And we are joined today by leaders of the Arab American community, which has deep and proud roots here in Michigan.  (Applause.) 

And I want to say this year has been difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon.  It is devastating.  And as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, t- — (applause) — to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination.  (Applause.)

And we continue to work on a diplomatic resolution across the Israel-Lebanon border to protect civilians and provide lasting stability.  (Applause.)  And as president, I will work tirelessly toward a future with security and dignity for all people.  (Applause.)

So, Michigan, two days to go — (applause) — are you ready?  Are you ready? — in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime.  And we have momentum.  It is on our side.  Can you feel it?  (Applause.) 

And we have the momentum because our campaign is tapping into the ambitions, the aspirations, and the dreams of the American people, because we are optimistic and excited about what we can do together — (applause) — and because we know it is time for a new generation of leadership in America.  (Applause.)  And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.  (Applause.)

Now, the race is not yet over, and we need to finish strong.  So, for the next two days, we still have a lot of work to do.  But here’s the thing: We like hard work.  (Applause.)  Hard work is good work.  (Applause.)  Hard work is joyful work.  (Applause.)

And make no mistake, we will win.  (Applause.)  We will win. 

We will win.  We will win. 

And we will win — and w- — (laughs).

     AUDIENCE:  We will win!  We will win!  We will win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And we — and we will win because here’s what everyone here knows: When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.  (Applause.) 

And we have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division.  We are done with that, and we are exhausted with it.  (Applause.)  And America is ready — America is ready for a fresh start, ready for a new way forward, where we see our fellow American not as an enemy but as a neighbor.  (Applause.) 

We are ready for a president who knows that the true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down; it is based on who you lift up.  (Applause.)

And, Michigan, you know me.  I am not afraid of tough fights, evidently.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  For decades as a prosecutor and the top law enforcement officer of the biggest state, I won fights against the big banks that ripped off homeowners.  (Applause.)  I won fights against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students.  I won fights against creditors who abused women, children, and seniors.  (Applause.)  I won fights — I won fights against the cartels that trafficked in guns, drugs, and human beings.  (Applause.)

And — and it is my pledge to you, if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf as president, there is nothing in the world that will stand in my way.  (Applause.)  I’m here for you.

And I will get up every day to fight to make your life better, to bring down the cost of living, to ban corporate price gouging on groceries, to make housing and childcare more affordable.  (Applause.)

My plan will cut taxes for workers, for middle-class families, and small businesses — (applause); lower health care costs, including the cost of homecare for seniors — (applause) — because, by the way, I believe health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.  (Applause.)

And to those certain individuals who still want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act —

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — and take us back to the days when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions, well, you all know what we say: We are —

AUDIENCE:  Not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — not going back.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  We are not going back. 

We are not going back because ours is a fight for the future.  (Applause.)  And it is a fight for freedom — (applause) — including the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do.  (Applause.)

And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide — (applause) — you know where I’m going — as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.  (Applause.)

So, Michigan, I am here to ask for your vote.  I am here to ask for your vote.  (Applause.)  And here — and here is my pledge to you.  As president, I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face. 

I am not looking to score political points.  I am looking to make progress.  (Applause.)

And I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make.  I pledge to listen to experts.  And I pledge to listen to people who disagree with me — (applause) — because, you see, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy.  (Applause.)  In fact, I’ll give them a seat at the table because that’s what strong leaders do.  (Applause.)

And I pledge to always put country above party and self and to be a president for all Americans — (applause) — all Americans.

So, that is my pledge to you, East Lansing.  And let me then ask: Who here has already voted?  (Applause.)  Oh, that’s fantastic.  Thank you.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  All right.  Okay. 

Well, now — now I’ve got to ask you: Please talk to your friends and family and neighbors — (laughter) — and share your perspective on why this election is so important.  Share your perspective on why, with the many, many other things you could be doing with your time right now, you took time out of your busy lives to be here.  Let’s connect with each other and let folks know and encourage them to make their voices heard. 

And for those of you who haven’t voted yet, no judgment — no judgment.  (Laughter.)  But please do take a moment — (laughs) — and think about your plan for when and where you will vote.  Election Day is on Tuesday, November 5th.  (Applause.)

Polls are open here in Michigan from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  (Applause.)  And if you are not yet registered to vote, you can register and vote at your local clerk’s office now through Election Day.  (Applause.) 

It’s a very big deal.  It’s a very big deal.

So, go to IWillVote.com for all the information you need, including when and where to vote and where to drop off your absentee ballot.  But we need everyone to vote in Michigan.  You will make the difference in this election.  (Applause.)  You will make the difference.  You will make the difference.

So —

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  (Applause.)  I love you back.

So — so —

AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  So, here’s the thing.  It all comes down to this.  We are here together, this incredible mix of people from every background, every stage of life, under one roof together.  And we are here together for many reasons, including because we love our country.  We love our country.  (Applause.)  We love our country.

And when you love something, you fight for it.  (Applause.)  You fight for it.

And I do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism, the expression of the love we have for our country, to then fight for its ideals and to fight to realize the promise of America.  That’s what we are about.  (Applause.)  That’s what we are about. 

And I have always believed in our nation’s promise, because I have lived it.  So, I grew up as a child of the Civil Rights Movement.  My parents would take me to the marches when I was in a stroller.  And there were people there — and history has told us, there were people there from every walk of life, coming together to fight for freedom and for opportunity. 

You know, growing up, I saw how hard our mother worked to give her daughters the same chances our country gave her.  And I was blessed to have family by blood and to have family by love — (applause) — who instilled in me — who instilled in me the values of community, compassion, and faith. 

I have spent my life fighting for people who have been hurt and counted out but who never stopped believing that, in our country, anything is possible. 

I have lived the promise of America, and I will tell you, today, I see the promise of America in everyone who is here — in all of you, in all of us.  We are the promise of America.  (Applause.)  We are.  You are.  We are the promise of America. 

And I see it in the fathers and the mothers and the grandparents who work hard every day for their children’s future.  I see it in the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom.  (Applause.)  I see it in the men that support them.  (Applause.)  I see it in Republicans who have never voted for a Democrat before but have put the Constitution of the United States above party.  (Applause.) 

And I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are here and voting for the first time.  (Applause.)  I love Gen Z.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  I do.  I do.

And here’s one of the things that I love about this generation — you, this incredible generation.  You all — you all are rightly impatient for change.  (Applause.)  I know that.  I know that.  I know that about you. 

And here’s the thing, because you all have only known the climate crisis and are leading, then, the charge to protect our planet and our future.  You, who grew up with active shooter drills and are fighting to keep our schools safe.  (Applause.)  You, who know — now know fewer rights than your mothers and grandmothers, are standing up for freedom. 

None of these issues for you are theoretical.  This is not political for you all.  This is your lived experience.  And I see you.  (Applause.)  And I see your power.  And I am so proud of you. 

Can we hear it for our first-time voters?  (Applause.)  Right?  Yeah.  I’m telling you, this is why I know our future is bright.  I’m just so optimistic about it.  I’m so optimistic about it.  (Applause.)

So — all right.  All right.  Two days — we got two days to get this done.  (Applause.)  And nobody can sit on the sidelines.  Let’s spend the next two days so that when we look back, we have no regrets that we did everything we could. 

So, let’s knock on doors.  Let’s text.  Let’s call the voters.  Let’s reach out to family, friends, classmates, neighbors, coworkers. 

And as we do, I have one request on top of everything else I’ve asked of you.  (Laughter.)  Let’s be true to what our campaign has been about from the very start, which is to be intentional about building community.  (Applause.)  Let’s build community while we are doing this.  Let’s build community and be intentional about it.  Let’s be intentional about building coalitions. 

Because we know, look, there’s been so much about this last decade that is just — but it’s — it’s — but the thing is is that it — the tenor of it has been to try and make people feel alone, to make people — and, you know, when you make people feel alone, it’s a way of trying to disempower people, to suggest to them you don’t have people, to suggest to them you don’t have community, which is not true.

And that’s why I say, let’s be intentional about in the face of a stranger, seeing a neighbor, and understanding that our power to lift each other up is immense.  And let us do it with the spirit of knowing the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.  (Applause.)

And we are all in this together.  (Applause.)  We are all in this together.  Because, you know, from the very start, our campaign has not been about being against something; it is about being for something — (applause) — a fight for a future with freedom, opportunity, and dignity for all Americans. 

And so, in these final hours, let us remember that there is power in knowing that we are together.  And let us remember that your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power.  (Applause.)  And you are powerful, and you remember that. 

So, today, Michigan, I ask you: Are you ready to make your voices heard?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in freedom?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in opportunity?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in the promise of America?  (Applause.) 

And are we ready to fight for it?  (Applause.)

And when we fight —

     AUDIENCE:  We win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

                              END                    6:27 P.M. EST

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | East Lansing, MI appeared first on The White House.

Via Teleconference

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Can you hear me?

     MS. MOORE:  Yes, we can hear you. 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Minyon?

     MS. MOORE:  Yes, ma’am.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hi — thank — (laughs).  Good evening, everyone.  Good evening. 

Yes, I am on the tarmac.  I just landed back from East Lansing, Michigan, in Detroit.  Yesterday, I was in five states.  Tomorrow, I’m heading to Pennsylvania.  I’ll be in Pittsburgh.  I’ll be in Philly and Allentown. 

And two days to go.  And I just wanted to get on the call to thank everybody for just all the — everything: for the work; the prayers, the prayers, the prayers; for the friendship; for the sisterhood. 

Jotaka, I thank you for all you’ve been doing to organize.  Minyon, I just thank you for just being my sister and — and my dear, dear close friend.

And, everyone, thank you.  Win With Black Women — this coalition has been in my corner for the last four years and, just four months ago, immediately jumped into action with this weekly call to be the first group to organize tens of thousands of Black women in support of our brand new campaign. 

And I just — I’m so thankful, because you were the catalyst.  When others saw how the leaders on this call organize and — and empower and mobilize, then they, too, said, “Hey, we should do it.”  And — and I know that the leaders here, including and starting with Jotaka, helped other groups to organize to replicate what Win With Black Women has been doing for years now. 

And I just thank everyone.  I thank everyone for building a coalition that has been hard at work to support our campaign — many of those coalition members who are also on this call. 

And at the heart of our coalition-building is our core understanding that we all have so much more in common than what separates us, that we are all in this together, and that we can have an impact on people’s lives, that we know it is our calling.  We are driven by our faith to know that we must live a life of service in some way, whether it be because we choose to be in public office or in other ways.

But it is about lifting people up and reminding them that we are a community of people who care and have so much to be optimistic about. 

So, I thank everyone on this call for being such a part of this people-powered movement. 

And two days away from the election, I know people on this call have been out knocking on doors and calling folks and texting, and we have such momentum.  I’m telling you.  I just left East Lansing, and I was up at — at Michigan State, and these young people are just energized. 

And there were people from every generation of life, every walk of life, coming together under one roof, around a common purpose, and that is about dedicating ourselves to a new generation of leadership, and it’s about the future of our country and doing it with optimism. 

So, I thank you all.  We have more work to do.  And I know everyone here has probably voted early, but I do need your help to make sure that all our family and friends get to the polls.  And let’s mobilize our Facebook groups, our family group chats, and everyone we know. 

And I’ll just close by saying again: I’m so thankful and grateful to everybody here and for this incredible sisterhood.  And we will get this done, we will win, and it will be because we know what’s at stake, we love our country, and we know how to fight for all that is good and important for the future. 

 So, I thank you, everybody.  Minyon, again, thank you for the introduction.  And, everybody, be well.  I’ll see you out there.  Thank you.

                             END

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris on a Campaign Call with Win With Black Women appeared first on The White House.

Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ
Detroit, Michigan

1:29 P.M. EST

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Hi.  Good afternoon, everyone. 

     Q    Good afternoon.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Well, we’re back in Michigan and started the day in a really wonderful, joyful way.  And yesterday, of course, we were in five states.  And today, I will be spending the rest of the day here on the ground in Michigan, talking with voters and reminding them of the stakes and reminding them of the power they possess to actually determine the outcome of this election and the direction of our country. 

So, I’m very much looking forward to today and the next 48 hours.

Any questions?

     AIDE:  Todd, Detroit Free Press.

     Q    Vice President, do you have any closing argument for Arab American voters and voters in the Muslim community as to why they should vote for you in this election?

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Sure.  Absolutely.  Well, first of all, I’m honored to have the support of many Arab American leaders who represent the interests and the — the concerns, also, of the Arab American community.  But I also know well enough to know it is not a monolith.  There are many issues that are the issues that all Americans face and then, of course, some that are specific to what is happening in Gaza. 

And on the subject of Gaza, I have been very clear: The level of death of innocent Palestinians is unconscionable.  We need to end the war, and we need to get the hostages out.  And as president of the United States, I will do everything in my power to achieve that end and a two-state solution where Palestinians will have the right to self-determination and security and — and stability in the region. 

But again, the issues are as varied as they are for any voter.  It includes that, but it is also about bringing down the cost of living.  It is about supporting small businesses in the community.  It is about bringing down the cost of housing, groceries, extending the Child Tax Credit. 

These are issues that resonate in that community, as well as every other community.  And I will continue to speak to members of that community and to ask for their vote, which I hope I earn. 

     AIDE:  Alex.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

Alex?  Alex who?

     Q    Me?

     AIDE:  Yeah, (inaudible).

     Q    I’m Lauren.  (Laughs.)

     AIDE:  Sorry. 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  There we go.

     AIDE:  You have the same last name as someone else.  (Laughter.)

     Q    Oh.  (Laughs.)

     AIDE:  Keep going.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  You know what, it’s 48 hours out.  Everyone is a little tired.  Who was with us last night?  (Laughs.) You’re right.  A few sleep deprived.

     Q    I guess —
    
     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Please.

     Q    — simply, how are you feeling?  And have you submitted your ballot?

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I am feeling great.  I am looking forward to these next 48 hours to continue to talk with the voters and — and talk about the stakes and — and talk about the future of our country, which I think is bright when we are working with the same spirit of building community, building coalitions, and building the strength of our economy and our country.

I have.  I actually just filled out my mail-in ballot.  So, I have voted.

     AIDE:  Darlene.

     Q    Madam Vice President, have you returned the ballot to California?  And how did you vote on Prop 36?

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, I have — my ballot is on its way to California, and I’m going to trust the system that it will arrive there.  And I am not going to talk about the vote on that because, honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election, and I don’t intend to create an endorsement one way or another around it, so — but I did vote. 
    
     AIDE:  Nandita.

     Q    Thank you.  Madam Vice President, Donald Trump prematurely declared victory in 2020.  Just his comments in the past weeks and days seem to suggest, you know, that he’s thinking about it.  How will you and your campaign respond if he does the same thing again?

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, here we are on the Sunday before the election.  And I would ask, in particular, people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter; suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact so that they don’t vote. 

And again, I think that it is a tactic.  It is meant to distract from the fact that we have and support free and fair elections in our country.  We did in 2020.  He lost.  And the systems that are in place for this election in 2024 have integrity.  They are good systems. 

And the vote of the people will determine the outcome of this election.  And everyone must know that their vote is their power to determine the outcome of the election, and their vote will count.  It does matter. 

     AIDE:  Thank you. 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  All right.  Thank you all.

                        END                     1:34 P.M. EST

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris in Press Gaggle | Detroit, MI appeared first on The White House.

Atlanta Civic Center
Atlanta, Georgia

1:41 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Georgia!  (Applause.)  Oh, it’s good to be back.

Can we hear for Justin?  (Applause.)

All right, Atlanta.  Are we ready to do this?  (Applause.)  Are we ready to vote?  (Applause.)  Are we ready to win?  (Applause.) 

Oh, it’s good to be back.  It’s good to be back and to be with so many leaders.  And I want to thank everyone here for, out of your busy lives, taking time to be here to have this conversation.  I thank you so very much.  (Applause.)  Everyone who is here, I thank you.

And I want to thank Senators Ossoff and Warnock.  (Applause.)  There’s Senator Warnock. 

Representatives Williams, McBath, Johnson — (applause) — they’re all here. 

Mayor Dickens.  (Applause.) 

Victoria Monét.  (Applause.)

Monica.  (Applause.)

Spike.  (Applause.)

And let’s give it up for Pastor Troy and 2 Chainz.  (Applause.)

All right, Georgia.  So, we have three days left — three days — in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we still have work to do.  We still have work to do. 

But here’s the thing.  We like hard work.  Hard work is good work.  Hard work is joyful work.  And make no mistake, we will win.  We will win.  (Applause.)

And we will win because when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.  (Applause.)

And, Georgia, we have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who spends full time trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other.  We’re done.  We’re done with that.  We are exhausted with that.  Enough of that.  (Applause.)  Enough.

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And we’re not going back.

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And we are not going back, and one of the reasons is because we do know the contrast.  And we know who he is, but, Atlanta, that’s not who we are.  That’s not who we are. 

And it is time for a new generation of leadership in America.  (Applause.)  And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States of America.  (Applause.)

And, Georgia, you know me: I’m not afraid of tough fights, evidently.  (Laughs.)  For decades, I was a prosecutor.  I was the top law enforcement officer of the biggest state.  And I won fights against the big banks who ripped off homeowners, against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students, against predators who abused women and children, against cartels that trafficked in guns and drugs and human beings.  (Applause.)  I won those fights. 

And I pledge to you, if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf as president, there is nothing in the world that will stand in my way.  (Applause.)

And, look, we know who Donald Trump is.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And — and — because we know this is not someone who is thinking about how to make your life better.  This is someone who is increasingly unstable —

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — obsessed with revenge —

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — consumed with grievance —

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — and the man is out for unchecked power.

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And in less than 90 days, it’s either going To be him or me in the Oval Office.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And here’s the thing — so, help spread the word, because part of it is to help people imagine —  you can imagine in your mind that th- — the Oval Office, right? You can picture it.  We’ve seen it on TV.  So, just imagine, if he is elected, on day one, Donald Trump would walk in that Oval Office with his enemies list — stewing over an enemy’s list. 

When I am elected, I will walk in on your behalf with my to-do list — (applause) — my to-do list. 

And at the top of my list is bringing down the cost of living for you — (applause) — and that will be my focus every single day as president.

I will give a middle-class tax cut to over 100 million Americans.  (Applause.)  I will enact the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries.  (Applause.)

We need a medic over here, please.  We need a medic over here.  If everyone can just part a little bit so we can let somebody through.  Okay? 

Okay.  All right.  See, this is what we do.  We look out for each other, right?  (Applause.)  That’s how we roll.  That’s how we roll.  And that’s what leadership looks like: everybody here.  (Applause.)

And among the things also on my to-do list is to fight to make sure that hardworking Americans can actually afford a place to live.  Affordable housing: one of the highest priorities.  (Applause.)

My priorities include knowing that if you are caring for an elderly parent, we need to cover the cost of home care with Medicare — (applause) — which we will do, because I’ve been there.  I took care of my mother when she was sick.  I know what that is — what that work is.  It is about trying to cook something someone feels like eating.  It is about trying to help them put on their clothes.  It’s about trying to put a smile on their face or make them laugh from time to time. 

It’s hard work, and it’s work that is about dignity.  And it is not right that the current situation is such that you’d either have to spend down your savings to qualify for Medicaid or quit your job to be able to take care of a family member, especially if you are in the sandwich generation, which means taking care of your children while you’re taking care of your parent.  (Applause.)

A lot of what motivates me in my work is it’s about dignity — the dignity of all people, that all people deserve that dignity to be able to not just get by but get ahead — (applause) — which is why my plan will also lower the cost of childcare.  (Applause.)

We will cut taxes for small businesses.  (Applause.)  Do we have any small businesses in the house?  (Applause.)  Oh, I love our small businesses.  You all are the backbone of America’s economy. 

We will lower health care costs, because I believe health care should be a right and not just the privilege of those who can afford it.  (Applause.)

On the other hand, Donald Trump’s answer to the financial pressures you face are the same as they were the last time: another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And this time, he would pay for it with a 20 percent national sales tax on everything you buy that is imported. 

And it looks like we need a medic over there.  It’s hot out here, Atlanta. 

Let’s make sure we — again, everyone just try and part the way so someone can come through to help. 

All right, we’re good. 

So, talking about Trump’s plan — because, you know, economists have compared what he’s talking about to what I’m talking about, and they have indicated my plan will strengthen America’s economy.  His will weaken it, including the part about his “Trump sales tax” that would cost the average American family over 4,000 more dollars a year.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And on top of that, Donald Trump still is trying to get rid of — and still wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act —

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — which would throw millions of Americans off health care and take us back to the time insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions.  You remember what that was?

Well, we are not —

AUDIENCE:  Going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — going back.  We are not going back.

And we are not going back because ours is a fight for the future.  (Applause.)  And ours is a fight for freedom — (applause) — like the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do.  (Applause.)

And we remember how we got here.  When he was president, Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention they would undo the rights under Roe v. Wade, and they did as he intended.  And, Atlanta, now, in America, one in three women lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban, including Georgia and every state in the south except Virginia —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — many with no exceptions for rape and incest, which is immoral.

And, look, Donald Trump is not done.  He will ban abortion nationwide.  He wants to restrict access to birth control, put IVF treatments at risk, and force — get this — force states to monitor women’s pregnancies. 

Just google Project 2025.  Look it up for yourself.

And let us agree, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government shouldn’t tell her what to do — (applause) — not the government.  Not the government. 

And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.  (Applause.)  Proudly sign it into law.

So, Georgia, I am here to ask for your vote.  (Applause.)  I am here to ask for your vote.  And here — and here is my pledge to you.  As president, I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face.  I am not looking to score political points.  I am looking to make progress.  (Applause.)

I pledge to you to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make.  I pledge to you to listen to experts and to listen to people who disagree with me, because unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy.  He wants to put them in jail.  I will give them a seat at the table.  (Applause.)  That’s what real leaders do.  (Applause.)  That’s what strong leaders do.  (Applause.)  

And I pledge to you to always put country above party and self, and I pledge to you to be a president for all Americans.  (Applause.) 

So, that is my pledge to you, Atlanta.  And let me ask, anybody here already voted?  (Applause.)  Oh, wow.  My — oh, my goodness.  Well, thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you.  All right.

So — okay, but there’s more to do.  So, now, please just talk to your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers and your classmates and your family and share your perspective on why this election is so important.  Let them know why you decided to take this time out of your life, with your obligations, to be here together.  And encourage them, please, to make their voices heard. 

And for those who haven’t voted yet, let me just be clear, no judgment.  No judgment.  But you still have time.  (Laughs.)  So, please take a moment to think about right now what your plan will be for when and where you vote. 

Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th.  Polls are open here in Georgia from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Remember to bring your photo ID.  Go to IWillVote.com for all the information you need.  And, everyone, please help me spread the word on all of that — (applause) — because we need everyone in Georgia to vote.  You will make the difference in this election.  (Applause.)  You will make the difference. 

So, look, it all comes down to this.  We are all here together from all different kinds of walks of life.  We are all here together for one reason that we share in common — one of the most important reasons.  We are here because we love our country.  (Applause.)  We love our country.  And we know that when you love something, you fight for it.  (Applause.)

And I do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism, of our expression of our love for our country, to fight for the ideals of our country and to fight to realize the promise of America.  That’s what this is about. 

And I will tell you, I have always believed in our nation’s promise, because I have lived it.  I grew up as a child of the Civil Rights Movement.  My parents would take me to the marches when I was in a stroller.  And there were people there from — Atlanta knows the story.  There were people there from all walks of life, coming together to fight for freedom and for opportunity. 

You know, growing up, I saw how hard my mother worked to give her daughters the same chances our country gave her.  I was blessed growing up to have family by blood and to have family by love — (applause) — who instilled in me the values of community, of compassion, of faith. 

I’ve spent my life fighting for people who have been hurt and counted out but who never stop believing that in our country anything is possible.  (Applause.)

I have lived the promise of America.  And today, I see the promise of America in everyone who is here right now — (applause) — in all of you, in all of us.  We are the promise of America.  (Applause.)  We are the promise of America. 

It is in the fathers, in the mothers, in the grandparents who work hard every day for our children’s future.  It is the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom and the men who support them.  (Applause.)  In Republicans who never voted for a Democrat before but put the Constitution above party.  (Applause.)

I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are voting for the very first time.  (Applause.)  Raise your hand.  Where are you?  I love Gen Z.  I love Gen Z.  (Applause.)  Oh.  Because, see, this generation, you are rightly impatient for change.  You are rightly impatient for change.  You are determined to live free from gun violence and tackle the climate crisis and shape the world you inherit. 

For this generation, none of these issues we’re talking about are theoretical or political.  It is a lived experience for you.  And I see your power, and I am so proud of you.

And to everyone, can we hear it for our first-time voters?  (Applause.)  That’s right.  That’s right.

So, Atlanta, we have three days to get this thing done — (applause) — and no one can sit on the sidelines.  Let’s spend the next three days knowing that when we look back on these three days, we will have no regrets about what we could have done.  So, let’s knock on doors.  Let’s text.  Let’s call voters.  Let’s reach out to family and friends and classmates and neighbors and coworkers and your play cousins.  Let’s reach out.  (Laughs.)

And as we do, let us please also be intentional in how we build community.  Let us be intentional in knowing that these last years of this Trump era, yes, they have been exhausting, but they have not been in the best interest of the strength of our nation.  This whole idea that we be pointing fingers at each other, the idea that we have nothing in common when we know the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. 

So, let’s be intentional about building community and building coalitions.  There is power in that, and it will strengthen our country.  (Applause.)

And let’s remind everybody that your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power.  (Applause.)

So, Georgia, today, I ask you: Are you ready to make your voices heard?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in freedom?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in opportunity?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in the promise of America?  (Applause.) 

And are we ready to fight for it?  (Applause.)

And when we fight —

     AUDIENCE:  We win!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.

God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)                                END                2:02 P.M. EDT

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Atlanta, GA appeared first on The White House.

Pfister Hotel
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hi.  Good morning, everyone.

     Q    Good morning.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Well, it’s good to be back in Milwaukee.  We had a wonderful evening last night.  People are enthusiastic, and the road to the White House definitely runs through Milwaukee, and I’m honored to have the support of people here. 

I’m going to continue to remind people: Go to IWillVote.com to know where you vote and — and how you can vote, in terms of in-person and all of those other details that are very important to exercising the power of your vote in this very critical and important election. 

I also want to speak to the comments that have been recently made by the speaker of the House.  It is just further evidence of everything that I’ve actually been talking about for months now, about Trump’s intention to implement Project 2025.

We have talked repeatedly — and the American people know what’s in it.  We’ve talked repeatedly about their intention to get rid of the Affordable Care Act; now to get rid of the CHIPS Act. 

And let’s talk about manufacturing, which is a critical issue for many of the states that will make the difference in this election.  Donald Trump, when he was president, lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs.  We have created over 700[,000] new manufacturing jobs. 

It is my plan and intention to continue to invest in American manufacturing, the work being done by American workers, upholding and lifting up good union jobs, which are good-paying jobs, and doing the work of investing in American industries, including our industries of the future. 

That is the way we are going to win the competition with China for the 21st century, and that is the kind of leadership that America deserves in their president. 

     Q    Madam President, one on — Madam President —

     AIDE:  Mary.  Mary.

     Q    Oh, sorry.

     Q    What’s your message to Milwaukee voters who are saying, you know, Trump might be better for the economy, and we’re hearing that from — including Black men voters who are skeptical that things are just too expensive for them?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, let me make it very clear that I intend to earn the vote of everyone, and I don’t take anyone’s vote for granted, and my highest priority as president will be to bring down the cost because, to that point, look, I know the cost of groceries is too high still, everyone knows it.  And so, my plan includes what we’re going to do in terms of taking on corporate price gouging and having the first-ever national ban on corporate price gouging on groceries. 

My plan includes addressing the issue of affordable housing, including for first-time homebuyers, giving them a $25,000 down payment assistance so they can just get their foot in the door. 

My plan includes addressing the needs of parents — in particular, young parents — which is why I will expand the Child Tax Credit to $6,000 for the first year of their child’s life, which helps pay for everything from child care to a crib and a car seat. 

My plan includes what we’re going to do to invest in our small businesses, including increasing tax breaks for small businesses. 

And overall, my plan, which is about building an opportunity economy, has been reviewed by leading economists in our country, from Goldman Sachs to 32 Nobel laureates, all whom have said that my economic plan actually will strengthen America’s economy.  They’ve reviewed Donald Trump’s plan and have determined he will weaken America’s economy, he will ignite inflation, and he will bring on a recession by the middle of next year. 

     AIDE:  Akayla.

Q    Hi, Madam Vice President.  On the comments from the speaker, he walked back initially saying that they would repeal the CHIPS Act, but he still wants to impose changes to the bill.  Are you concerned about Republicans seeking any changes to the CHIPS Act?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, let’s be clear why he walked it back: Because it’s not popular, and their agenda is not popular. 

And that’s why people are showing up by the thousands — tens of thousands to talk about an agenda that actually is focused on lifting them up.  That’s why I have the support of, yes, Democrats and independents and Republicans, because they want a president of the United States who stops playing politics with their lives. 

They want a president of the United States who invest in affordable health care regardless of who they vote for. 

They want a president of the United States who invests in American manufacturing and American workers. 

And that’s the work I will do, and that is the work I’m committed to do, and I’m very proud to have the support of many leaders from every party who understand that that’s the kind of leadership that we need moving forward.

AIDE:  Asma.

Q    Thank you.  Madam Vice President, I wanted to ask you about your day-one agenda.  I know you said the other day — you talked about having an executive order that would eliminate college degrees for certain federal jobs. 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yes.

Q    Can you tell us about some other day-one priorities?

 THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Absolutely.  Well, it — obviously —

Q    (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — there’s more than one.

 Q    Yes.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And one of them is going to be to submit, basically, a package of proposals that are about bringing down costs. 

So, for example, housing.  What we need to do in terms of creating a tax benefit for folks who want homeownership, what we’re going to do to create a $25,000 down payment assistance plan, what we’re going to do for small businesses.  All of that will require a lot of work. 

And day one is also me getting on the phone with members of the Republican Party, with leaders, with the private sector.  A lot of my plan includes working with the private sector. 

My plan includes cutting through red tape on the issue of housing.  Again, that includes working with local and state leaders to cut through the red tape, as well as creating incentives for the private-sector builders and developers to actually build new housing so we can increase supply and bring down the cost. 

     AIDE:  Charles.

     Q    Madam President, thank you —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Vice President.

     Q    — for making this —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Three days.

     Q    Vice President.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  But I appreciate that.

     Q    That will go viral, I’m sure.

     Tomorrow, faith leaders in Milwaukee and across the state will be praying about this election —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yes.

     Q    — and encouraging people to get out and vote. 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yes.

     Q    I think, last week, I heard you say, “God’s power works through us.” 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yes.

     Q    What does your faith tell you about who God wants to win this election and lead our divided country?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  My faith and my belief in God tells me that we all must think about our lives through our ability to do good works, and through those works, to lift people up, to help the needy, to help the poor, to help the elderly.  And my plan for my presidency is informed with that spirit and that approach.  And I do believe that people understand that that really is the sign of a real leader, which is not defining one’s strength based on who you beat down, but defining the strength of a leader based on who you lift up. 

     AIDE:  Thank you.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.

                               END

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris in Press Gaggle | Milwaukee, WI appeared first on The White House.

Carpenters Local 445
Scranton, Pennsylvania

1:23 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Oh. (Applause.) Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)

It’s great to be home. (Applause.)

I know all of you folks in this area know when we say “it’s good to be home,” a lot of us mean it because we have family and our roots are here.

And I t- — my — I told my granddaughter my deceased son, Beau, who was a decorated Army veteran — anyway — and an attorney general of the state of Delaware — his daughter, who is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “Pop, you’re heading to Scranton. Can I come?” I wanted you to meet her. (Applause.)

This is Natalie. She’s the love of my life and the life of my love. And I tell you what, man — and she’s probably heard so many stories about Scranton growing up that she — she said, “Can I come?” She has been here before with me — been here before. But we’re not going to get to go to North Washington Avenue this time, okay? (Laughter.)

MS. BIDEN: Okay. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Folks, look, you know, I know a lot of you know folks who used to live in Scranton or don’t live here anymore but still talk about home all the time, because a lot of them had a leave for — like my dad did when coal was dying back in the late ‘40s and the ‘50s. He moved back to Delaware.

My Grandfather Biden, who died six days before I was born in Mercy Hospital in 1942 — 200 years ago. (Laughter.)

But, you know, Scranton is — Scranton becomes part of your heart. It crawls into your heart. And it — it’s real. It’s not hyperbole. It’s not a joke. It’s real.

And my relatives are here right now, the Finnegans. (Applause.) And —

And there’s — you know, I — my only regret every time I come home is that I’m — my mom’s not with me. My mom, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, one of five children. Four — she had four brothers. No one screwed around, man. (Laughter.)

And — but, anyway, I — I just — I’m so proud to be back, and I’m so proud that we finally were able, as Doug pointed out, to — to begin to build back better in a big way. We are. Scranton is coming back. (Applause.)

No — and, by the way, you know, we’ve been through a lot together. Not only have you been my allies, the labor, you’ve been my friends. Carpenters were the first outfit to endorse me in Delaware as a 1972 — as a 29-year-old kid running for the United States Senate. And as they say, you guys “brung me home.” (Laughter.)

I want to thank Doug, who’s been a great, great, great ally. You’ve always had my back, and I think I can honestly say I’ve had yours as well. (Applause.) (Inaudible.)

You understand — you understand what my dad taught me and he used to say at his dinner table, I swear to God. He’d say, “Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about the way you’re treated in the community. It’s about how you’re able to look your kid in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay.’” He meant it. He meant it. And that’s it.

Three days to Election Day, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The choice couldn’t be clearer.

A lot of politicians have trouble saying the word “union,” but I’m not one of them. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!

THE PRESIDENT: And by the way, neither is Kamala. I wouldn’t have chosen her vice president if she had that trouble.

You know, I’m proud to have been the first president who walked the picket line. (Applause.) (Inaudible.) I’ve walked many picket lines, but I didn’t realize — when I walked it as president, they said, “You’re doing that?” I said, “Yeah, damn right I am.” (Laughter.) Well, Kamala walked as well.

But the other guy, every picket line he sees he wants to cross. No, you — I hope —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Trump is a scab!

THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me tell you something. You know, here’s what we — we know that he doesn’t. Wall Street didn’t — you’ve heard me say this a thousand times — and I mean it — my whole career. Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class. (Applause.) Period. I mean it. (Applause.)

There would be no middle class without labor. That’s the God’s truth.

That’s why Kamala and I so proud of the greatest job creation record of any single presidential term in American history — nearly 16 million new jobs so far, 900,000 construction jobs, and we’re just getting started, for real. (Applause.)

And these are good-paying jobs, my dad would say, that provide dignity. You can raise a family on. You can — you can do what — you don’t have to need a college degree to do it and — but if you want to send your kids to college, you can afford to do it.

Look, folks, one of the things that Kamala and I are proudest of is the work we’ve done to protect pensions in this country. We’re damn proud to have protected pensions for millions and millions of union workers.

And I — when I signed and — remember all the crap I got about saying not to do it? The Butch Lewis Act. And guess what? You all have — pensions are guaranteed. You’re getting reimbursed as well. (Applause.)

Including the American Rescue — not one — not one — not one Republican, Democrat, or — in the House or the Senate voted for it –not one — not a single one.

And yesterday, at the Sprinkler and Fitter fi- — the Sprinkler Fitters in Philly, I awarded Rita Lewis, Butch Lewis’ widow, the Presidential Citizens Medal. You know, Butch’s work in our nation — he was — it’s the highest honor you can give a civilian, posthumously.

To see her yesterday to talk about Butch’s story, I was reminded how ordinary people do the most extraordinary things in this country. Butch was a decorated war hero. Couldn’t have been a — could have been a professional baseball player. He was — he was, in fact, recruited, but he devoted himself to labor.

When his pension got cut, he devoted his life to righting the wrong. And so far, a million union workers have had their pensions restored and protected, including back pay. And we did that together. (Applause.)

Because of the people in this room, a strong labor force all over the country exists. But guess what? Guess what? These other guys want to take it away. And not a — it’s not a joke.

Look, folks, if you — let’s be clear about what the stakes are. I come here today not just because of all the work we’ve done together as unions, but to talk about what’s a stake for all of us: your mothers; your fathers; your sisters; your brothers; your friends; the kids you grew up with, whether it was in Minooka or Scranton or wherever it was; the folks you went to school with, who d- — who aren’t members of a union, don’t belong to a trade and find themselves in a ci- –circumstance of just struggling to get by.

This other guy doesn’t care about us. Just look at what his MAGA friends are saying about health care. They want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

Now, you guys have pensions and you have protection because you’re mem- — union members, and we fought like hell to make sure it gets stronger. But there are 40 million people in this country in the Affordable Care Act. Another 100 million people have health care because they have preexisting conditions. Trump wants to take it away.

I’m not — this is not personal. This is just the facts. Facts.

He wants to take away the Affordable Health Care Act. That would have a devastating impact on the kids you grew up with, the people you grew up with.

Don’t forget where you came from. (Applause.) Don’t forget who you’re with. (Applause.)

I mean it. I’m not joking. I am not joking.

Think of all the people who need that health care. Their only way to get health care, they’d lose it. Lose it. Some of your cousins, your brothers, the kids you went to grade school with, all the people who are struggling to make it — they lose it.

He also wants to eliminate the Department of Education. How can you lead the world if we don’t have the best educated pub- — public in the world, the best schools in the world?

Trump and Republicans want to get rid of the CHIPS and Science Act. Well, this bill was signed — I worked like hell to get that done. I wrote that sucker. (Applause.) B- — wh- — wait. No, it’s not like — because where I come from, the neighborhoods I grew up in.

Look, folks, we invented that computer chip — smaller than the tip of my little finger. And it’s — it’s — it — it requires every — the reason we had that recession back early on — guess what? You find out that cars need 300 of those little chips. You find out that everything from nuclear weapons to — everything we need from the watches to refrigerators, they need those chips.

We invented them. We made them better, and we lost them because they went overseas with the other guys because it was cheaper labor. Cheaper labor — that’s why they went th- — there.

And guess what? I remember the look of my fam- — and I see one of my directors here as well, the Scranton girl. You know, when I went to my staff, I said, “I’m going to go to South Korea.” They said, “What the hell are you going to South Korea for?” I said, “I’m going to get the chip industry to come here, come back home.” They said, “Not going to happen.”

Well, I went with — I met with President Moon, and I met with Samsung — the leaders. Talked them into investing over $15 billion and coming back here and investing.

Guess what? Guess what? I asked, “Why?” You know what they said? Not a joke. They said — you guys underestimate yourself. They said, “Because you have the most skilled workers in the world in America.” And — (applause). No, no, no — I’m th- — this is just the facts, man. “And secondly, because it’s the safest place in the world to be.”

Look, it’s going to —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you, Joe!

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank — (applause).

But folks, the country owes you. Think about it. It’s going to mean tens of thousands of jobs — first of all, constructing the factories, all those carpenter jobs. And guess what? And then, when they’re open — these are like — they call them “fabs.” These great, big — they’re as big as football fields. If you have — you’ve not seen them, they’re just going to — just starting to get built — as big as football fields.

You know what the average salary is? One hundred and four thousand dollars. And you don’t need a college degree. (Applause.)

Give –I’ll give you an example. An example is Micron up in Syracuse, where they’re building one of those fabs. In fa- — and they’re building, they’re investing — Micron — investing $100 billion to build them. It’s the kind of investment that won’t — won’t just lift up labor, it’s going to lift up everybody. It’s going to grow the economy.

They want to get rid of it. They want to get rid of it. They wanted to get rid of that.

Look — why? — cheaper labor overseas, man. Cheaper labor.

There’s one more thing Trump and his Republican friends want to do. They want another giant tax cut for the wealthy.

Now, I know some of you guys are tempted to think it’s macho gu- — I — I’ll tell you what, man, when I was in Scranton, I used to — we used to have a little trouble going down the Plot once in a while — (laughter) — from Green Ridge. But I’m serious, these are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the ass. (Laughter.)

By the way, I’m serious. Think about it. My son gave his life for this country. He was attorney general of the state of Delaware. He volunteered to go to Iraq for a year. Came back with Stage 4 glioblastoma.

When I was over there recently, in Paris celebrating the invas- — the day — the D-Day, and a general — a four-star general said Trump wouldn’t go to one of the cemeteries because — because they were “suckers” and “losers.”

They’re the guys you grew up with you want — I — I’m not joking. You know, I don’t want to get started. (Laughter.)

But, folks, look, the reason I accidentally got involved in politics was because we moved to Delaware, which was — civil rights was a big issue. We were a slave state early on. Go back to where I was.

And what happened was I — I got involved because my dad used to say, “Everyone is entitled to a shot, man. No guarantee, just a shot. Just an even shot.” Well, what are these guys doing now?

You know, we fought like hell for our pensions, right? You got it done, right? Well, guess what? For your cousins, your uncles, your aunts, the people who aren’t — are middle-class folks who are just busting their necks, guess what? What’s their pension, their Social Security?

He wants to cut Social Security. Not a joke. Not a joke. That is a pension for the vast majority of American people. They broke their neck their whole lives paying their Social Security, from the first paycheck they got as a kid went into Social Security. They want to cut it. Why? Why? They want to pay for a new tax cut.

He talks about he cuts — cuts for the middle class. How many of you guys make less than 400,000 bucks a year? Raise your hand. (Laughter.) Well, g- — I’m serious. Think about it. Think about this. That’s what they’re talking about doing.

Because, guess what? He’s the first president other than Hoo- — Herbert Hoover who came into office and left with fewer jobs than when he came into office. He left the largest deficit any president has in recent history because of a $2 trillion tax cut, which you got virtually nothing from — virtually nothing from.

You know what the average billionaire — there are a thousand billionaires in America. Do you know how much the average tax they pay — federal? 8.2 percent. Raise your hand if you’d trade places with that tax cut. (Laughter.) No, I’m serious.

And think of how many people in this country depend on Medicare. It’s an add-on for you all, because you bust your neck and we organized. But he wants to cut back on Medicare. What are we talking about? This is what your friends you grew up with are looking at.

Trump thinks tax cuts for the rich folks are more important than protecting Social Security and Medicare. You know, that’s how we take care of folks who we grew up with. We fight for the things that they — he — that they’re going to take away if, in fact, he wins.

I’m not making this stuff up. I swear to God. Check it out. I don’t care if you’re thinking of voting for Trump, you’re a Republican, just check it out what they want to do and what they don’t want to do.

Look, we’ve made a lot of progress, and Kamala will build on that progress. You know, we’ve asked a lot of each other, unions and I — unions and me. And I ask you one more thing. I’m asking you — for your support for Kamala and for Tim Walz. I’m not just asking it for me. I mean, I’m — I’m going to be gone. I’m asking you to do something for yourself and the families, for the people you grew up with, the neighborhoods you come from. That’s what the hell we’re about.

You didn’t leave anybody behind when you’re in grade school or high school. You didn’t walk away when they were attacked. You stepped up.

Well, guess what? We didn’t have a lot of money. We grew up a typical middle-class family — I guess, technically, a slightly lower middle class. We moved to Delaware. We lived in a three-bedroom, split-level home with four kids and a grandpop.

Well, guess what, man? We didn’t think we were poor, but we didn’t have anything left over at the end of the day.

My dad used to say the — the measure of whether you can make it or not is did we have anything a- — after all the bills are paid, is there a little bit left over? But our family stuck together. We looked out for each other. We believed in giving everyone just a fair shot. That’s all. Just a shot — decent chance to get a good education, to have health care so they can sleep at night and not have to roll in —

I remember that small house we lived — it wasn’t a bad house. It was a newly built home. It was a building in suburbia. And my bed was up against the headboard of my mom and dad’s bed.

I remember my dad being so restless one night. I said, “What’s the matter?” My mom said, “We just lost his — he just lost his pension, honey. Just lost his pension.”

How many people you know lie in bed awake, wondering if they really get sick, what happens to them? They going to have to sell their home? Are they’re going to have to make a change? What are they going to have to do?

Look, that’s what’s at stake in this election. So, I’m asking you to do — I’m asking you to talk to your friends and your family, union members, and brothers and sisters. Hit the phones. Knock on doors. Talk to people in your neighborhoods, your old neighborhoods. Let them know how important this election is.

I have vast disagreements with Trump and his personality, and I’m not get- — not even talking about that. What will happen? What will happen if you trade in my administration for his? No, I’m not — I’m not joking. I’m not — I’m nothing special.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Sure, you are!

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, you are, Joe!

AUDIENCE: Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!

THE PRESIDENT: Well, folks —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Joe!

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. (Applause.)

Well, look, folks — so, I guess what I’m saying — I’m keeping it too long standing. But, folks, I think we’ve worked with each other like hell to secure the unions’ vote, to secure the unions’ rights, to secure everything from your health care to pensions to your right to work to pay — the whole range of things. We’ve stuck together, and you’ve done it. You’ve done it.

Labor is better off today than they’ve ever been since the 19- — early ‘30s. I’m serious. (Applause.) Because — no, because of you.

But you have another power I think you underestimate. You have the power to help all those folks you grew up with who aren’t members of unions, who didn’t get a chance to go to college, didn’t — aren’t doing well, to help them out, because all the things that they rely on, from Social Security to Medicare to the ACA to asce- — to access to education to good schools to teachers being paid, all of it depends on this — outcome of this election.

It’s not — to use a fancy word, it’s not hyperbole to suggest this is the most important election any of us have ever voted in. More is at stake in the direction of this country than ever before.

And I promise you, you may have difficulty — you may have disagreed with some of the things in the Harris-Walz administration, but I wouldn’t have picked her if I didn’t think she had the exact view I do about hardworking people. I’m serious.

And so, look, folks, we need to elect Kamala as president. Let’s remember, as I said, American labor built this country. Let’s remember who we are. We’re good, decent, honorable people, where we believe in honesty, decency, treating everyone with respect. We believe character is not only how we conduct our lives but how we expect other persons — those that lead us to have character.

I’m telling you, Kamala Harris has character to lead this nation. So, let’s remember who the hell we are. I really mean this.

This election is more consequential than any in anyone’s lifetime in this room. And don’t leave behind the people you grew up with. Don’t leave them behind. They may not be part of the unions and have the protection we’ve been able to get, but let’s make sure — let’s make sure they at least keep the Affordable Care Act. Let’s make sure we keep the Department of Education. Let’s make sure we continue to invest in them, provide access to them.

How in the hell can we be the — and, by the way, one last thing, and it’s going to sound self-serving, but I — the only advantage of being the oldest SOB to ever had this job — (laughter) — is I’ve known every major world leader. I know — have more experience with dealing with world leaders than any president has in American history.

And guess what? They’re looking at this election — or if we don’t lead the world, who does? Who do we look to to lead the world? Can we do this “America First” stuff all over again and walk away?

Folks, we’re the United States of America. There’s nothing beyond our capacity — nothing, nothing — if we work together.

So, I ask you, please, not only — I know you’re going to vote — get out the vote to people again. Go back to the people you grew up with, go back to the people you know. Let them know how important it is.

It’s not about personalities. It’s about judgment. It’s about honor. It’s about dignity. It’s about respect.

God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. (Applause.)

1:46 P.M. EDT

The post Remarks by President Biden at a Carpenters Local 445 GOTV Event | Scranton, PA appeared first on The White House.

Wisconsin State Fair Expo Center
West Allis, Wisconsin

9:22 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Wisconsin!  (Applause.)  Let’s hear it for Adrien — (applause) — Cardi B.  (Applause.)

Oh, it’s good to be back.  Good evening.  (Applause.)

Milwaukee, are we ready to do this?  (Applause.)  Are we ready to win?  (Applause.)  Are we ready to vote?  (Applause.)  And we will win.  (Applause.)

Oh, it’s good to be back in Wisconsin and to be with so many leaders.  I thank everyone here for taking the time out of your busy lives to be here this evening.  I thank you.  I thank you.  I thank you.  I thank you.  (Applause.)

And can we please hear it for Tammy Baldwin?  Let’s reelect her to the United States Senate.  (Applause.)  County Executive Crowley, Mayor Johnson, Cardi B — let’s give it up.  (Applause.)

And can we hear it again for MC Lyte, Flo Milli, GloRilla,  Keegan-Michael Key?  (Applause.)

Oh, what a good night. 

All right, we got work to do in Milwaukee.  Okay.  Four days left.  (Applause.)  Four days left in the most consequential election of our lifetime, and we still have work to do.  (Applause.)

But here’s the thing about all of us: We like hard work. (Applause.)  Hard work is good work.  Hard work is joyful work.  And make no mistake, we will win.  (Applause.)  We will win. 

And here’s one of the reasons why: Because when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.  (Applause.)  And in this election, we have an opportunity to finally turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other.  We are done with it.  We are exhausted with it.  We are turning the page.  (Applause.)

And it’s because we know that’s what he’s about.  He is constantly about trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other.  But that’s not who we are.  That’s who he is.  That is not who we are.  (Applause.) 

And it is time for a new generation of leadership in America.  (Applause.)  And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.  (Applause.)

And, Wisconsin, you know me: I’m not afraid of tough fights, obviously.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

For decades, as a prosecutor and the top law enforcement officer of the biggest state, I won fights.  I won fights against the big banks who were ripping off homeowners.  I won fights against for-profit colleges that were scamming veterans and students.  I won fights against predators who abused women and children.  I won fights against cartels that trafficked in guns and drugs and human beings.  (Applause.)

And I pledge to you, if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf, there is nothing that will stand in my way as I fight for you.  (Applause.)

And, look, we know who Donald Trump is.  This is not someone who is thinking about how to make your life better.  This is someone who is increasingly unstable — (applause) –obsessed with revenge.  (Applause.)  He is consumed with grievance.  (Applause.)  And the man is out for unchecked power.  (Applause.)

And, look, in less than 90 days, it’s either going to be him or me in the Oval Office.  (Applause.)

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.

But let’s get the word out.  Let’s get the word out to the folks who are not here to just have them imagine — you know, we’ve all seen the Oval Office on TV.  Imagine, on January 20th, that day, it’s either going to be Donald Trump, if he is elected, which he will not be —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Which he will not be.

But to help people imagine what the stakes are, it’s either going to be him there on day one, walking into that office, stewing over his enemies list —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — or when I am elected, walking in on your behalf, with my to-do list.  (Applause.)  And I’m a hard worker.  (Laughs.)

And at the top of my list is bringing down the cost of living for you.  (Applause.)  That will be my focus every single day as president.

I will give a middle-class tax cut to over 100 million Americans.  (Applause.)  I will enact the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries.  (Applause.)  And I will fight to make sure that hardworking Americans can actually afford a place to live.  (Applause.)

If you are caring for an elderly parent, if you are in the sandwich generation caring for an elderly parent and young children, I will tell you, my plan will cover the cost of home care under Medicare.  (Applause.)  Because I took care of — I took care of my mother when she was sick.  And I know what you are doing, whether it be trying to cook something that they feel like eating, whether it be trying to help them put on a sweater, trying to find a moment where you can bring a smile to their face or make them laugh.  That work is about dignity.  That work is about dignity.  (Applause.)  And I’m going to make sure you have the support and they have the support they deserve.  (Applause.)

 My plan will lower the cost of childcare.  Again, it’s about dignity.  It’s about seeing the strains and the pressures. 

We will cut taxes for small businesses because our small businesses are the backbone of America’s economy.  (Applause.)  Where are our small-business owners?  Let me see our small-business owners.  (Applause.)

And we will lower health care costs, because here’s where I come from on that: Look, I believe access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.  (Applause.)  Dignity — values about the dignity of each of us and the responsibility of real leaders to, unlike my opponent, not think that the measure of their strength is based on who you beat down, but the true measure of strength of a leader based on who you lift up.  (Applause.)

And then, you got Donald Trump, who —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And his answer to the financial pressures you face is the same as it was the last time: another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations.

     AUDIENE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And this time, he will pay for it with a 20 percent national sales tax on everything you buy that is imported: clothes, foods, toys, cell phones — a Trump sales tax that would cost the average American family — the economists have measured it — more than 4,000 more dollars a year. 

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And on top of that, Donald Trump is still — still trying and still wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — which would throw millions of Americans off their health insurance and take us back to when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions.  You remember what that was like?

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, we are —

     AUDIENCE:  Not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — not going back.  We are not going back.  We’re not going back. 

     AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going!  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re not going back, no.

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going!  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Because — because, just like Wisconsin’s motto tells us, we will move —

AUDIENCE:  Forward!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — forward.  (Applause.)  Yes, we will.  I love Wisconsin.  (Laughs.)

And ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom — (applause) — like the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do.  (Applause.)

And we all remember how we got here.  Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade.  They did as he intended, and now, in America, one in three women lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban.  Many —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Right?  Man- — and the harm we’ve seen.  Many of those laws with no exception, even for rape or incest, which is immoral. 

And he’s not done.  He would ban abortion nationwide — yes, even here in Wisconsin.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Even here in Wisconsin, it would be impacted.  And he would restrict access to birth control, put IVF treatments at risk, and force — get this — and force states to monitor women’s pregnancies.  Just —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — google Project 2025.  Just look at it. 

And everyone here, I know, understands — and let us agree, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to simply agree the government shouldn’t be telling her what to do.  (Applause.)  Not the government.  Not the government.  Not the government.  Not some people up in a state legislature, and certainly not Donald Trump.  (Applause.)

And I pledge to you, when Congress — together with Tammy’s help, when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.  (Applause.)  Proudly.

So, Wisconsin —

     AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you. 

     AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

 THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We got work to do.  Thank you.  Thank you.

So, Wisconsin, I am asking for your vote.  (Applause.)  I am asking for your vote. 

And here — and here is my pledge to you: As president, I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face.  I am not — (applause) — I am not looking to score political points.  I am looking to make progress.  (Applause.)  And I pledge — and I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. 
    
I pledge to listen to experts, to listen to people who disagree with me, because, you see — (applause) — unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy.  (Applause.)  He wants to put them in jail.  I’ll give them a seat at the table.  (Applause.)  That’s what real leadership is about.  That’s what strong leadership is about.  (Applause.) 

And I pledge to always put country above party and self and to be a president for all Americans.  (Applause.)  All Americans.

     AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, that — that is my pledge to you, Wisconsin, and now I ask you a question: Who here has already voted?  (Applause.)  Oh, wow.

Okay.  Thank you.  And now I ask you to please talk to your friends and your family and your neighbors — (applause) — and share your perspective on why this is — election is so important. 

And for you who have not voted yet, no judgment.  Let me just be clear — (laughs) — no judgment at all.  But do get to it, if you can.  (Laughter and applause.) 

And for those who have not yet voted, please think about, right now, your plan for voting and think about where and when you will vote.  And if you live here in Milwaukee, remember you can vote early now through Sunday, November 3rd.  (Applause.)  And go to IWillVote.com for all the information you need, including when and where you can vote and where to drop off your absentee ballot, because we need everyone in Wisconsin to vote.  (Applause.)  You are going to make the difference in this election.  You will make the difference.  You will make the difference. 

     AUDIENCE:  Vote!  Vote!  Vote!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, listen, it all comes down to this.  We are here together because we love our country.  We love our country.  (Applause.)  We love our country.  And when you love something, you fight for it.  (Applause.)  You fight for it.  And I do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism, of our expression for our love of our country, to then fight for the ideals of our country and to fight to realize the promise of America.  (Applause.)  That’s what this is about. 

And I have always believed in our nation’s promise because I’ve lived it.  You know, I grew up a child of the Civil Rights Movement.  My parents would take me to marches when I was in a stroller, and there were, at those marches, we all know, people from every walk of life coming together to fight for freedom and to fight for opportunity. 

You know, growing up, I saw how hard my mother worked to raise her two daughters to have the same chances that our country gave her.  And I was blessed to have family by blood and family by love — (applause) — right? — who instilled in me a sense of community and compassion and faith. 

And I’ve spent my life fighting for people who have been hurt and counted out but who never stopped believing, in our country, that anything is possible.

I have lived the promise of America, and today I see the promise of America in everyone who is here — in all of you, in all of us.  (Applause.)  We are the promise of America.  We are the promise of America. 

It’s the fathers and mothers and grandparents who work hard every day for their children’s future, in the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom — (applause) –and the men who support them.  (Applause.)  It’s in the Republicans who never voted for a Democrat before but put the Constitution of the United States above party.  (Applause.)  Right.

I see the promise of America in all the young leaders that I see right now who are voting for the very first time.  Raise your hand.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  I love Gen Z.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  I really do. 

Here’s what I love about you guys.  You are rightly impatient for change.  (Applause.)  I love that about you.  I love that about you. 

You are determined to live free from gun violence.  You are going to take on the climate crisis.  You are going to shape the world you inherit.  (Applause.)  I know that.  I know that. 

And here’s the thing about our young leaders: None of this is theoretical for them.  None of this is political for them.  It’s their lived experience.  It’s your lived experience.  And I see your power.  I see your power, and I am so proud of you. 

Can we please hear it for our first-time voters?  (Applause.)  Can we please hear it?  Yeah.  Yeah.  And those who will be first-time voters.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

You know, the future of our country is so bright; we just have to see it.  It’s so bright. 

So, listen, we got four days to get this thing done.  (Applause.)  Four days.  No one can sit on the sidelines. 

So, let’s spend the next four days so that when we look back on these days, we have no regrets about what we could have done.  (Applause.)  Let’s know we did everything we could do. 

So, let’s knock on doors.  Let’s text.  Let’s call.  Let’s reach out to family and friends and classmates and neighbors and coworkers. 

And here’s a request that I have in that process: And while we are doing all of that, let’s please be intentional about building community.  (Applause.)  Let’s please be intentional about building community. 

You know, there’s something about these la- — this whole Trump era, and it’s — it’s — you know, it’s — it’s been a — it’s made people feel like they have to — it — it’s been powered by this idea that Americans should be pointing their fingers at each other, you know, and — and to make people feel alone and make people feel small, when we all know that we all have so much more in common than what separates us.  (Applause.)

So, let’s be intentional about building community and building coalitions.  There is strength and power in that that will be long-lasting. 

And finally, I’ll say: Just remember, and let’s remind everybody we know, your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power.  (Applause.)  That’s your power. 

 In a democracy, that is a power that is yours.  Don’t let anyone take it from you.  Don’t let anyone take it from you.  (Applause.)

 So, Wisconsin — so, Wisconsin, today, I ask you: Are you ready to make your voices heard?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in freedom?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in opportunity?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in the promise of America?  (Applause.)

And are we ready to fight for it?  (Applause.)

And when we fight —

     AUDIENCE:  We win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.

God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

                              END                  9:46 P.M. CDT

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | West Allis, WI appeared first on The White House.

IBEW Local 890
Janesville, Wisconsin

2:58 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hey, everybody.  (Applause.)  Good afternoon.

Can we hear it again for Garrik?  (Applause.)

Oh, it’s good to be in the house of labor.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  Oh, and it’s great to be with so many leaders.  Thank you, everybody, for taking the time to be here this afternoon for this conversation.  But most importantly, thank you for all of your work.  (Applause.) 

I proudly stand with labor.  I have my whole entire career.  I always will.  This is about the dignity of work.  It is about America’s workforce.  It is about our future, and it’s just about what is right.  I thank you all so very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you.

And, Senator Baldwin — where are you? — I thank you for all you do.  Let’s reelect her to the United States Senate.  (Applause.)  Governor Evers, thank you for being such a friend and such a leader.  Peter Barca, I thank you for all your work.  Let’s send him to the U.S. House of Representatives.  (Applause.) 

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Go Peter! 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And — (laughs) — yeah, that’s right.

And to all the labor leaders here today, including Secretary-Treasurer Noble and President Raes, I thank you all.  And all the brothers and sisters of IBEW, thank you for all the work you do. 

I will tell you — I think it’s now an open secret — I have as a dream that I will — I will visit every IBEW Local in the country.  (Laughter.)  (Applause.)  I’m — I’m on my way.  I’m well on my way.  But, you know, I got more to do.

But I am such a huge fan of what you do.  I am such a huge fan of what you do, because it is about the work you do every day and the apprenticeship programs.  You are building America and America’s future.  And it is such good, good work and exciting work to the benefit of everyone. 

So, I’m so happy to be with all of you this afternoon.  I thank all of the folks who are here.  We have autoworkers here.  We have care workers here.  We have teachers here.  I thank you all.  (Applause.)  Thank you.

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you! 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, let’s get to work.  I love you back.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.) 

So, Janesville, we have just four days left — four days left — (applause) — in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime.  And we have a lot of work still to do, but I know who’s here.  We like hard work.  (Applause.)  Hard work is good work.  (Applause.)  Hard work is joyful work.  (Applause.)

And we will win.  And we will win.  (Applause.)  We will win.  We will win. 

 And part of the reason we will win is because we know that when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.  (Applause.)  And we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who had spent full time trying to have the American people point fingers at each other, full time trying to divide us, have people be afraid of each other.  And folks are exhausted with this stuff.  (Applause.)

And we know that’s who he is.  That’s not who we are.  That’s not who we are.  (Applause.) 

     And nobody understands better than a union member that, as Americans, we all rise or fall together.  Here in Janesville and across our nation, union members have helped lead the figh- — fight for fair pay, better benefits, safer working conditions, and every person in America benefits from your work. 

I tell people everywhere I go, “Thank a union member.  Thank a union member.”  (Applause.)  Because you not — you may not be a member of a union, but thank a union member if you got a five-day workweek.  (Applause.)  Thank a union member for your sick leave.  Thank a union member for your paid vacation leave.  Thank a union member for paid family leave.  Because it is union members that work and put blood, sweat, and tears into raising the conditions of the American worker, wherever they work.  (Applause.) 

     And collective bargaining benefits our entire nation.  You know, I try to explain to some folks — I li- — you know what?  Here’s the thing about collective bargaining.  I’m going to break it down for you.  I don’t need to break it down for anybody here, but — (laughter) — but to — you know, to people who are not here.  And I say: Look, wouldn’t we all want a system that says that, in any negotiation, the outcome would be fair?  Right?  All reasonable people should want that, in any negotiation, the outcome would be fair. 

All right.  So, if you’re talking about the worker — one worker, against the company, against the corporation, is that outcome going to be fair? 

     AUDIENCE:  No.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  No.  The disparity in power is so extreme that that negotiation, if you’re just requiring that worker to negotiate for better working conditions, better benefits, fairer pay, it’s not going to be fair.  Collective bargaining says let the collective, the workers who all stand in the same place, join together as a collective and then negotiate to better ensure just one simple thing: that the outcome is fair.  (Applause.)  That’s what is behind — that’s what is behind this.  It’s about basic fairness, but sometimes you got to fight for fairness. 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And what we know is that when union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up.  (Applause.)  When union workplaces are safer, everyone’s workplace is safer.  And when unions are strong, America is strong.  (Applause.)  Bottom line.  Bottom line.

And everything that we have fought for is on the line in this election.  In less than 90 days, it’s either going to be Donald Trump or me sitting in the Oval Office. 

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  It’s going to be you!

     AUDIENCE:  You!  (Applause.)

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  But here’s the thing that we want to he- —

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Madam President!  Madam President!  Madam President! 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  (Laughs.)  I appreciate you, brother. 

     AUDIENCE:  Madam President!  Madam President!  Madam President! 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Not yet.  Four days.  Four days.  We still got work to do.

     And part of what I’m trying to explain to m- —

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I appreciate you, brother, but let me tell you — (laughter) — part of the thing that I’m trying to help people — not who are here, obviously; not the leaders who are here but others — understand, is if you’re trying to kind of figure out what the stakes are, just imagine the Oval Office.  We’ve all seen it on TV.  And just imagine on January 20th.  Because if he is elected, if Donald Trump is elected, he’s going to be sitting in that Oval Office, stewing over his enemies list, because he spends full time plenting — plotting revenge and retribution — full time.  The man is angry, right?  It — it — but you know what I’m talking about. 

So, imagine on January 20th, it’s either that — him plotting over his enemies list — or me, working for you on my to-do list.  (Applause.)  That’s what we’re talking about.  That’s what we’re talking about.  That’s what we’re talking about.

Because I like hard work, and at the top of my list is bringing down your cost of living.  And it will be my focus every single day as president.  I will always put the middle class first.  I come from the middle class, and I never forget where I come from.  (Applause.)  I never forget where I come from.  Never.

 And we know, to strengthen the middle class, we must make sure that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.  (Applause.)

Under my plan, we will invest in the industries that built America, like steel, iron, the electric power industry.  (Applause.)  And we will ensure that the next generation of breakthroughs, from advanced batteries to cutting-edge solar panels, are not just invented but built right here in America by American workers — (applause) — by American workers.

And as part of that vision, we will invest in manufacturing communities across Wisconsin and across America.  And we will retool existing factories.  They’ve been built out, but we need to upgrade them.  They are where the people are, and where those people are, they don’t want to have to leave.  They want to stay home.  They want their kids and their grandkids to be where they are. 

So, we will retool those factories.  We will hire locally and work with unions to create good-paying jobs, including, by the way, jobs that do not require a college degree.  (Applause.)  Because here’s the thing.  We got to really understand and do better in understanding that a college degree is not the only measure of the skills and the experience of the qualified worker, right?  (Applause.)

And I’m telling you — so, the press is always asking me, “What are you going to do on day one?”  One of the things I’m doing on day one, because I can do it by executive order, is I will eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs — (applause) — and then I will challenge the private sector to do the same.  (Applause.)

As we go forward, when we win, we will also continue to fight to expand the freedom to organize by passing the PRO Act — (applause) — and work to end union busting once and for all.  (Applause.)

We will protect the pensions of union workers and retirees.  (Applause.)  I’ve done it before.  I’ll do it again, because when it comes to your pension, Social Security, Medicare, those are retirement benefits that the people have earned — have earned and are due without anyone trying to take them away.  (Applause.)

And for me, look, this issue is about dignity.  It’s about the dignity that any individual who has worked hard all their lives that they absolutely deserve, which is to retire with dignity, and it is about the dignity of work.  It is about the dignity of hard work and what should then be the benefit of those years of hard work. 

But, look, Donald Trump has a very different view of it all.  Independent economists have said his plans would bankrupt Social Security in the next six years.  And we know a lot of folks are out there, their Social Security check is the only thing that they’ve got.

He called for raising the retirement age to 70.  He intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.

And remember, he said he was the only one — you know how he talks — (laughter) — he said he — he was the only one who could bring back America’s manufacturing jobs.  And then America lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs when he was president, including thousands of jobs right here in Wisconsin.

And — and facts be clear: Those losses started before the pandemic — okay? — making Donald Trump one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs — (applause) — in America’s history.  It’s the truth.

     And his track record for the auto industry was a disaster.  As —

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well — (laughter).  And so, as president, he promised that the auto industry would not, quote, “lose one plant” during his presidency.  Then American auto manufacturers announced the closure of six auto plants when he was president.

Janesville, you know what those closures mean for communities: thousands of union jobs lost, factory sites sitting empty for years, other businesses in town then forced to close.

So, Wisconsin, you know all about Donald Trump’s big empty promises.  He promised to stop offshoring.  Then he cut taxes –he cut taxes for corporations that shipped 200,000 American jobs overseas during his presidency.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And he promised to bring jobs back to the United States, like his promise that Foxconn was going to invest —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — was going to invest $10 billion and create 13,000 manufacturing jobs in Mount Pleasant.  You remember that.  He said Wisconsin would soon be home to a manufacturing plant that he called — again, Donald Trump language — “the eighth wonder of the world.”  (Laughter.)

Yet another empty promise, typical for a person that is all talk, no walk.  (Applause.)

And all that to say, we here know Donald Trump is no friend to labor — no friend to labor.  He has been a union buster his entire career.  He has called union leaders quote, “dues-sucking” people.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  He said that he supports the so-called right-to-work laws 100 percent.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  He joked with a billionaire buddy of his about the mass firing of striking workers. 

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

 THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And while he was president, he lowered labor standards and made it easier for companies to break labor laws and then get federal contracts, right? 

And so, part of why I’m here is to ask all the leaders here, let’s remind all the brothers and sisters of labor about who Donald Trump really is, because he’s got a lot of talk, but if you pay attention to what he’s actually done, if you pay attention to who he has actually stood with when people needed a defender and a friend, you’ll see who he really is. 

And we got to get the word out about this, because there’s a whole lot of misinformation about what he is and who he stands with.  And we know he does not stand with organized labor. 

So, here’s the bottom line.  Donald Trump’s track record is a disaster for working people, and he is an existential threat to America’s labor movement.  (Applause.)  And — and everything Donald Trump intends to do if he is reelected is spelled out in Project 2025, which I still cannot believe they put that thing in writing.  (Laughter.)  Like, they bound it, handed it out, and people read it, and now they can’t handle that.  Right?

He intends to launch a full-on attack on unions and the freedom to organize.  He will ban public-sector unions.  I know we’ve got AFSCME here, right?  He will roll back workplace safety protections.  He will make it easier for companies to deny overtime pay for workers. 

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Talk about trying to take us back.  And he will appoint a union buster to run the Department of Labor —

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — not to mention what would happen with NLRB, right?

So, I say all this to say to the friends that America, as we all know, is ready to chart a new way forward.  We are ready for a new generation of leadership for America — (applause) — and especially the leadership that together we all offer that is optimistic about what we can achieve when we are working together.

There’s a certain spirit of how we think about all this that directly relates to whether, as we move forward, we will be stronger or not.  And here’s the thing that we all know: We’re not going back.  (Applause.)  We are not going back.  We’re not going —

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re not going back.  We’re not going back.  We are not going back. 

And — and here’s the thing, Janesville: It all comes down to this.  We are here together because we love our country.  We love our country.  (Applause.)  We love our country.

And what you all know better than most is when you love something, you fight for it — (applause) — you fight for it.  And I do believe one of the highest forms of patriotism, of our expression of our love for our country, is to then fight for the ideals of our country.  And that’s what’s at play in this election.  And it is about a fight to realize the promise of America. 

So, we got four days, and we’re going to get this done, but nobody can sit by the sidelines. 

     AUDIENCE:  No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We got to remind everybody.  You know, five days from now, you don’t want to look back on these four days and have any regrets about what you could have done.  And everybody here knows how to organize, so I don’t need to tell you that it’s all about talking with each other.  It’s about reaching out to each other.  It’s about, in the face of a stranger, seeing a neighbor and helping — and unity and helping people understand that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.  (Applause.)

And labor how — knows how to do that best.  We knock on doors, know how to text and call folks — (applause) — reaching out to family and friends and neighbors.  And we’ll remind people that their vote is their voice, and their voice is their power, right?  (Applause.)

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, brothers and sisters, today, I ask you: Are you ready to make your voices heard? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Do we believe in freedom? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes! 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Do we believe in opportunity? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Do we believe in the promise of America? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes! 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And are we ready to fight for it? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And when we fight —

     AUDIENCE:  We win!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.

     God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  God bless you.  God bless you.  (Applause.)                              END                3:19 P.M.

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Janesville, WI appeared first on The White House.

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. made additional disaster assistance available to the State of Vermont by authorizing an increase in the level of Federal funding for Public Assistance projects undertaken in the State of Vermont as a result of severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides from July 7 to July 21, 2023.

Under the President’s major disaster declaration issued for the State of Vermont on July 14, 2023, Federal funding was made available for Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation, and Other Needs Assistance at 75 percent of the total eligible costs.         

Under the President’s order today, the Federal share for Public Assistance has been increased to 90 percent of the total eligible costs, except for assistance previously approved at 100 percent for a limited time period.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE  FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

###

The post President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Amends Vermont Disaster Declaration appeared first on The White House.

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of New Mexico and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by a severe storm and flooding from October 19 to October 20, 2024.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in Chaves County.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding also is available to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storm and flooding in Chaves County.

Finally, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Mr. José M. Gil Montañez of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

###

The post President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves New Mexico Disaster Declaration appeared first on The White House.

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and ordered federal aid to supplement the Tribal Nation’s efforts in the areas affected by a severe storm, straight-line winds, and flooding from July 13 to July 14, 2024.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding is also available to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storm, straight-line winds, and flooding.

Lastly, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Mr. Edwin J. Martin of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the Tribal Nation and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

###

The post President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Disaster Declaration for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe appeared first on The White House.

I am grateful to be back at Georgetown for the conversation and the chance to take stock of where we stand at halftime in what has been dubbed the “decisive decade” for global climate action.

In the United States, under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, we have doubled our pace of decarbonization, built 100 gigawatts – 25 million homes worth – of clean power, and catalyzed a trillion dollars of private investment, creating good jobs across the nation.

The scoreboard looks good. The fundamentals are strong. But the hard truth remains that we have more field to gain and even less time to do it. The good news is that we carry with us into the second half a fundamentally rewritten climate playbook – an approach that eschews the gloom and doom and embraces the hope and possibilities. This new playbook is the gamechanger – and why I am confident that America will meet the moment.

Together, we will meet this moment because, over the last four years, we have proven climate action as the new foundry for economic opportunity and economic growth in the United States – the figurative factory floor where we are forging a stronger American middle class and mounting the comeback of American manufacturing.

Proven because the new foundry is already delivering – rising wages, expanding apprenticeships, over 600 new clean energy factories, and union density at rates double the rest of the economy. All of this is accelerating as the foundry taps into the salient, the proximate, and the visible uplift of our communities for its fuel.

We will meet the moment because, in our new playbook, we have pulled the upside of climate action both forward and close, even as we took on a problem that is global in nature and decades in the making.

We have pursued climate action in a way that is co-located with economic opportunity and coincided with pollution reduction – a geographic and temporal alignment of benefits designed to earn the political economy to go big, go fast, and go the distance.

Georgetown Climate Center is an apt place to reflect on this playbook because that approach of co-locating with economic opportunity and coinciding with pollution reduction is impossible to execute without partnership – the kind you work to forge through your efforts here – partnership top to bottom and shoulder to shoulder. That means federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, public and private sector – everybody coming together to make a difference, one neighborhood at a time.

Today, as communities are starting to breathe easier, to turn on the faucet with greater peace of mind, and to work jobs that not only provide pay and benefits but also purpose and dignity, we are unlocking that political economy boost – while those operating the brakes on climate action have become less effective, and the politics of climate inaction are deteriorating.

It might be an unexpected assertion, but it is true – drawn from wellsprings of hope and opportunity, change and improved circumstances, that I have seen as I have traveled from coast to coast, in small towns and big cities: People want us to keep investing in climate solutions and the clean energy economy of the future. And there is a reason.

Today, for hundreds of school districts, because of investments through the Biden-Harris Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the iconic yellow school bus is going green – Made in America, by union workers, and showing up at the end of the driveway, no longer pumping diesel pollution into the air.

Today, in communities built over the last century or two, where pipes had been buried for a hundred years and leaking for decades, pipefitters are not just bending metal but also the arc of methane emissions. That same investment is reducing energy costs and safety risks – and the receipts show the impact.

Today, on 80,000 farms and ranches across the country, a new revenue stream is now part of the ledger as the United States leads the next generation of agricultural practice – one that is smarter both in withstanding the trials of climate change and in sourcing the solutions, with farmers paid, finally, to help the land breathe in the carbon from the sky.

Whether on wheels, under our heels, or growing from the ground on which we stand, these climate solutions are now and here. They are delivering the salient, the proximate, and the visible. And, in turn, they are fueling that new foundry, forging economic opportunity and economic growth all across America.

The success of this paradigm-shifting strategy – this new playbook – also comes from harmonizing two sets of tools, the tools to deliver investments and the tools to set standards, all in support of our economic goals.  

We have seen this strategy at work: The investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act enhanced by a complementary architecture of federal standards that spur demand and generate the regulatory certainty needed to accelerate capital formation and encourage entrepreneurial risk-taking. 

It is an important combination, and the success of our new foundry comes from both – the catalytic public investments and tax credits and also the standards that send a signal to the market, spurring long-term investment and firming up that next bet on America.

Bringing the breadth of our tools and partners together helps as we swing for the fences in every sector of the economy. Looking for wins everywhere – power and transportation, buildings and industry, lands and agriculture – gives us a better shot at delivering for everyone. When executed well, the gains from all-in and searching-for-opportunity-everywhere climate action cascade deep through the economy.

I want to give you two examples – one more obvious and the other, hopefully, to make you smile.

Two years ago, sparked by demand from the solar industry, a former steel plant in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, a relic of the World War II era, announced it was making a comeback. Two years later, that spark has sustained, and the plant has tripled in capacity. Hundreds of jobs in a place where, just a few years ago, opportunity seemed forever fenced out.

And then in Milford, Utah, there is Scotty’s Diner, which also got a taste of that cascading economic opportunity. In a town of just 1,500, Scotty’s got a call from a construction crew for an unusually large order – 40 burgers and 40 fries. The owner has since doubled her staff to keep up with the appetite from what she calls “the geothermal thing” – a mega, two-gigawatt geothermal project now being built in her rural community.

That one plant, by the way, permitted on our public lands, increased total U.S. capacity for geothermal generation by 50 percent and reimagined the frontier on a critical clean energy technology where the U.S. can now have the edge.

These jobs – whether at the steel plant or the diner – bring so much more with them than a paycheck. I saw that this fall when I visited a clean energy factory with Sierra Club’s Ben Jealous. Ben pointed out something that has stuck with me ever since. In the hallway out front, he told me to look at the Earth Day artwork made by the kids of the factory workers. It was what you would expect – the most colorful expressions of wonder at nature and its beauty – and conveyed so much more. The artwork captured how the kids saw their parents: not as workers who walk on the ground, but as superheroes soaring to save the planet.

It is not just about putting steel in the ground or even in the spine of the American middle class – it is about filling our wings with a sense of soaring and uplift.

Today, we should all feel that sense of soaring because America is back in the business of doing big things. Too often in our discourse, we talk as if our imaginations have shrunk, as if the Hoover Dam was the apex of our ability to blueprint and build. But this discourse ignores the facts.

Take a look off the coast of Virginia, where the utility company and workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW, are building a two-gigawatt offshore wind farm. Two gigawatts – the same size as the Hoover Dam – and yet just one of 10 similar offshore wind projects that the Biden-Harris administration greenlit over the last four years. Projects that are now spurring a 50-state supply chain, with steel going into the water and clean electricity coming onto the grid. An industry that was just in our imagination a few years ago, towering high today and lifting up our workers and communities at the same time.

We see it shine through in solar as well.

Half the solar installed today came online during the last four years, and, somehow, that may be the least exciting part of the story. Because of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, a technology that was invented in America decades ago is finally being manufactured in America too. In fact, we have quadrupled our capacity to manufacture solar panels in the United States since the start of this administration, and we are set to double that capacity again in a few years.

That is not all. Thanks to tax guidance that the Treasury Department recently finalized – one of over 75 tax guidance projects completed since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act – we are now bringing ingot and wafer manufacturing to our shores. More energy jobs, more energy security, more opportunity and growth unleashed by our new foundry.

By the way, this manufacturing renaissance is also a big deal for innovation – important for America but also for the world’s ability to race toward and reach collective climate goals.

We know this: Manufacturing is the necessary bridge between invention and impact. No country can lead on innovation without the industrial capacity to turn plans into products. That is why America’s manufacturing renaissance delivers on so many bottom lines; because American scientists and engineers can now shine a brighter light into the future. That is good news for everybody. 

Of course, whether it is geothermal, or wind, or solar, or some other fuel or technology altogether, the value proposition depends on a bigger, better grid.

That is why, since the first day of this Administration, we made this a priority. Today, the Biden-Harris administration has financially boosted or environmentally approved over 5,000 miles of new capacity transmission on the grid – adding roads to the electricity highway system, something that must remain a massive national priority. We have worked to adapt the grid to the new realities imposed by the climate crisis. On a bipartisan basis, investment is now moving to bury lines, harden poles, or lay redundant cabling. Senator Murkowski, a champion of this resilience work, talks eloquently about one of these projects – a new high voltage cable that is going to be laid between Kenai and Anchorage. The next time the community faces the prospect of an outage, that cable becomes a vehicle to allow neighbors to help neighbors.

In addition to the new lanes on the electricity highway system and the physical upgrades to boost its resilience, I am excited about another opportunity we are chasing: simply operating our existing energy highway more creatively.

I will start with something wonky: dynamic line ratings. Our grid, as it stands today, has a static speed limit for electricity across the system. But that static speed limit is designed to safeguard the grid during the worst conditions. It does not allow electricity to travel faster during most times when conditions are good. Today, thanks to better sensors and AI, we can set that speed limit through dynamic line ratings. When conditions are good, we can raise the speed limit on the grid. We can squeeze far more capacity out of our existing infrastructure.

Another way we can get more out of the grid is by repaving the roads our electricity travels on. Most transmission cables use the same design that has been in place for a century: aluminum wires that transmit electricity, wrapped in stainless steel cables for durability.

Today, newer advanced cables being made in America employ carbon fiber and superconductors instead of steel and aluminum, making them stronger, lighter, and capable of carrying far more power than a traditional cable. By “reconductoring” our transmission lines, we can quadruple the pace of power we can add to the grid.

Finally, we can use the grid in a fundamentally different fashion by co-deploying battery storage with transmission, Storage As a Transmission Asset. Batteries can help manage rush hour traffic on the grid. When demand is high and you want to move a lot of electricity through the system, you can use the electricity stored in batteries to supplement power generation. When demand is low, you can recharge them. Overall, batteries help optimize the utilization of the transmission system that you have – fewer emissions, more resiliency, lower consumer costs.

To take advantage of that opportunity, we need to make even more of those batteries here, even more cheaply.

Batteries are another example of technology invented here that we had lost the capacity to make. America once at the frontier of the technology but then, for decades, ground ceded to others. Today, thanks to our new playbook – to the investments and the standards – the United States has become a magnet for that investment. Almost overnight, we have gone from a laggard to a leader, the top nation destination for private investment in this space.

We are making the batteries and – double click on them – the anodes and the cathodes, the separators and the materials that go into them too. Earlier this week, I was with President Cecil Roberts and the United Mineworkers at Ruff Creek, where they are now training up workers to make critical inputs – the active materials that go into the cathode of a cutting-edge battery that operates without nickel and cobalt. A union that powered America’s rise in the industrial age is back on the job, ensuring our competitiveness in the global clean energy economy.

Investing in the capacity that these UMWA workers will now create is essential – because mineral security is essential to climate security. Just as the climate imperative compels us to race forward on securing raw materials, as the U.S. is now doing in places like the Salton Sea, we also have to sprint to stand up our capacities to refine and upgrade, recycle and remake these raw materials, as the clean energy economy becomes a circular economy.

Ultimately, it is not just about the grid, or the batteries, or even the inputs. Ultimately, it is about coming together and doing the work of uplift.

I saw it in Western Michigan, where a shuttered nuclear power plant is coming back to serve two rural co-ops – the Hoosiers and the Wolverines – the co-ops teaming up despite their rivaling basketball loyalties. There, I met a union worker who thought he had retired, but was now coming back – out of retirement like the plant, beaming with a sense of pride, and eager to lift up the next generation of workers who will deliver carbon-free electricity to the grid.

I felt it this summer, standing in the Oval Office as Senator Capito, the Republican Ranking Member, and Senator Carper, the Democratic Chair of the Environment Committee, walked into the Oval Office together and shook the President’s hand; as Joe Biden signed into law a bipartisan piece of legislation to advance nuclear energy, our domestic supply chains, and America’s ability to lead on the next generation of tech.

Time and again, even when folks count us out, we show our ability to come together and do the work of uplift. 

To ratify the first environmental treaty in decades, we came together – the manufacturers association joining with environmental advocates to lift up the common ground. To pass the biggest investment in infrastructure since Eisenhower, bipartisan votes gathered to lift up clean energy technologies and environmental remediation. And as we have implemented this historic agenda on climate and clean energy, governors, mayors, and leaders from all parties have come together, proving climate action as a new foundry for economic opportunity and economic growth – truly a project of uplift.

This morning, I was in sunny Philadelphia in a sandy lot for the last stop of the American Climate Corps Tour. The young people there have grown up in a world where the sky turns orange; smoke fills their lungs from fires burning hundreds of miles away; where they get push alerts on the phone warning of the next flood or hurricane barreling through. These young people have all the reason to be angry or despondent. But they have rejected that. Instead, they have answered President Biden’s call from this past Earth Day to join the first-ever American Climate Corps. Choosing to write a different story – one that ends not with doom and gloom but with hope and possibilities. We have so much work to do. But we carry with us this new playbook. We carry with us proof that climate action can be the new foundry for economic opportunity and economic growth in the United States. And we have the example of our youth, who are showing us the way. We have and we must keep coming together and doing the work of uplift. That is how we meet the moment in this decisive decade.

###

The post Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi at Georgetown Law School on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Work to Rebuild our Middle Class and Accelerate American Manufacturing and Innovation appeared first on The White House.

Dane County Regional Airport
Madison, Wisconsin

1:36 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hi, everyone.  Good afternoon.  So, we are in the closing days of this campaign, and Donald Trump and I have been presenting our closing arguments to the American people.

As you’ve heard me say many times, my pledge to the American people is to pursue commonsense solutions, to listen to those — even those who disagree with me, to listen to experts, and to be a president for all Americans.

Donald Trump’s closing argument is very different.  He pits Americans against one another.  He spends full time having Americans point their fingers at one another.  And he spends a considerable amount of time plotting his revenge on his political opponents.

As of last night, just to add more, he has indicated that the person who would be in charge of health care for the American people is be someone who has routinely promoted junk science and crazy conspiracy theories, who once expressed support for a national abortion ban, and who is the exact last person in America who should be setting health care policy for America’s families and children.

And then, even worse, he has increased his violent rhetoric — Donald Trump has — about political opponents and, in great detail — in great detail, suggested rifles should be “trained” on former Representative Liz Cheney. 

This must be disqualifying.  Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president.

Representative Tr- — Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party.  Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge, and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.  His enemies list has grown longer, his rhetoric has grown more extreme, and he is even less focused than before on the needs and the concerns and the challenges facing the American people.

 I have also thought a lot about what this means in terms of our standing in the world.  As vice president, I have represented the United States of America around the world, and what I know is that when we walk in those rooms representing the United States of America, we have the earned and self-appointed authority to then talk about the importance of democracy, the importance of rule of law.  And as a result, people around the world who are fighting for freedom and opportunity hold us up as a model.

America deserves better than what Donald Trump is offering.  America deserves a president who understands our role and responsibility to our people and to the rest of the world to be a model. 

So, I’ll end with this.  Voters are making their decisions.  Many have voted, but there are still those who are making a decision about who they’ll vote for.  And what I offer is I ask folks to, among the many issues before you, just consider who’s going to be sitting in the Oval Office on January 20th.  Either you’re going to have Donald Trump there, who will be stewing over his enemies list, or I will be there, working hard on your behalf on my to-do list. 

That is the choice, among many, that is at stake in this election, and I would be proud to earn the vote of the American people.  And I do intend to win.

     With that, I’ll take any questions. 

     AIDE:  Aamer, AP.

Q    Thank you, Vice President.  Have you had a had a chance to talk to Liz Cheney?  And then, secondly, are you concerned about her general security?  And does — concerning the situation and how tense things are, do you think that the government or the administration, in some form, needs to provide her with security in this situation?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, I’ve not talked to her since this comment was made.  But I will tell you I know Liz Cheney well enough to know that she is tough, she is incredibly courageous and has shown herself to be a — a true patriot at a very difficult time in our country, where, to your point, we see this kind of rhetoric that is violent in nature, where we see this kind of spirit coming from Donald Trump that is so laden with the — the desire for revenge and retribution. 

 And Liz Che- — Cheney is a tough person.  She is an incredible American.  And I have an incredible amount of respect for her. 

     Q    Are you worried about her safety?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I think that Liz Cheney is courageous and that we will always make sure that we are all fighting against and speaking out against any form of political violence.

     AIDE:  Nandita, from Reuters. 

Q    Thank you.  Madam Vice President, you spoke about early voting.  What is your assessment?  What is the data that you are seeing across the battlegrounds?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I’m seeing the folks who are showing up at the various places where we are inviting people to come and talk with us, and where we are talking about the issues at stake.  And I’m seeing an incredible amount of enthusiasm from people of every walk of life, every generation, from our first-time voters to folks who are seniors and have a lot at stake on issues like Social Security and Medicare. 

And what I am enjoying about this moment most is that in spite of how my opponent spends full time trying to divide the American people, what I am seeing is people coming together under one roof who seemingly have nothing in common and know they have everything in common.  And I think that is in the best interests of the strength of our nation.

Q    Are you encouraged by a lot more women showing up in Pennsylvania — a lot of Democratic women, first-time voters?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Women, men, folks of every background are showing up.

AIDE:  Jen Epstein.

Q    Vice President, you’ve had quite a lot of interruptions during your speeches recently, a lot of pro-Gaza protesters.  And, you know, you certainly have — have spoken about democracy when responding to them.  But do you think that you need to say a little bit more about the Mid-East conflict or about what you would do to try to satisfy them? 

And are you concerned at all about how you’ll do on — in college towns and in Michigan, in particular, with them?  President Trump today is going to Dearborn, is going to a Palestinian restaurant.  He’s really — this is the second kind of Arab American restaurant he’s gone to.  He seems to be really trying to make a play for a group that would traditionally be pretty Democratic.  Do you think you’ve done enough to reach these voters?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’m very proud to have a significant amount of support from the Arab American community, both because of my position about what we need to do in Gaza and in the region to end the war and bring the hostages home, and my commitment to a two-state solution, but also because, within that community, there are many issues that challenge folks and that they want to hear about, including what we’re going to do to make housing affordable, what we’re going to do to bring down the cost of groceries, what we’re going to do to invest in small businesses. 

I have a plan for all of those things, and that is something that resonates within that community and with all Americans.

Q    Just for voters who say that they’re going to protest, that they want to show the administration that what they did, the — the policy and support for Israel is wrong and are going to make a statement and that they don’t care if it makes Trump the president, what would you tell them?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, there’s a real contrast in this race when you look at who stands for democracy and democratic principles and who does not.  Donald Trump is talking about an enemies list.  He is talking about using the American military to turn on American citizens.  He talks in a way that suggests that there should be retribution and severe consequences just because people disagree with him. 

My point is very clear.  I believe in our democracy.  Democracies are complicated, in a wonderful way, because we like debate.  We accept and receive differences of opinion, and we work them out. 

One of the reasons I am going to have a Republican in my Cabinet is because I want different views.  I — I enjoy and benefit from diverse views, from different perspectives that allow me then to make the best decisions I can make. 

That’s a big difference between me and Donald Trump, and that’s the big difference between someone who truly is a leader and someone who is in it for themselves and wants unchecked power. 

     AIDE:  Thank you, Madam Vice President.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Thank you all.                             

END                1:45 P.M.

The post Remarks by Vice President Harris in Press Gaggle | Madison, WI appeared first on The White House.

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2:43 P.M. EDT

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right, everybody.  Hey, everyone.

Q    Hi.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Hi, hi, hi.  Okay.  I know this is a short flight, but I do have a couple things at the top that’s important.

So, to start, I wanted to mention that open enrollment in the Federal Care Act marketplace, where more than 20 million Americans get health insurance, starts today.  More than a decade after passage of the law, Americans’ health care remains under threat.  Just this week, Speaker Johnson promised massive reform to the ACA.  The Republican Study Committee budget cuts a staggering $4.5 trillion from the ACA, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, consistent with every budget proposed by the former president.

Senator J.D. Vance has taken aim at the very idea of the risk pooling between healthy and sick which lies at the heart of the ACA.  And Republicans in Congress have made clear that one of their first orders of business would be raising premiums in ACA health insurance by an average of 800 bucks per person per year.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have done the po- — the opposite, bringing health insurance to more than ev- — more than ever — mor- — more people than ever before, lowering ACA premiums by 800 bucks per year, getting rid of red tape that the prior administration used to try to keep people from enrolling and expanding enrollment support.

The president and vice president will keep standing up for the affordable health insurance, and they will block any attempt to rip it away. 

Shifting gears just a second, I wanted to quickly discuss a recent ProPublica series highlighting reports of women in states like Texas and Georgia who have died after being denied the lifesaving care they need because of extreme abortion bans.  The stories are heartbreaking, scary, and sickening a- — sickening.  It’s hard to believe or accept as reality, and it’s completely unacceptable. 

This should never happen in America, but, sadly, it is, and tho- — and these abortion bans that are denying women lifesaving care are only possible because the former president appointed three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.  The devastating and gut-wrenching consequences of these bans put in place are — enforced by Republican elected officials are very clear. 

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that women in every state must have the right to make deeply personal decisions about their health.  They also believe that no woman should ever be denied the care she needs.  They will continue to fight back against these extreme bans and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law.

And finally, we’re en route, as you all know, to Philadelphia, where the president will announce new actions to further his administration’s historic support for unions.  While in Philadelphia, he’ll announce that his administration has protected 1.2 million pensions because of the American Rescue M- — Rescue Plan’s Butch Lewis Act.  During the visit, President Biden will announce new funding to prevent cuts to the earned pensions benefits of 29,000 UFCW workers and retirees.

As you can see to my right, I’m joined by acting secretary — Labor Se- — Labor — Labor, Julia Su, who will share more about today’s action and the historic work the President Biden — the president and the vice president have done to support unions.

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Thank you so much, Karine.  Thank you all for being here.  And so, Karine mentioned this.  We are headed to Philadelphia to announce the restoration of the UFCW Tri-State Pension Fund.  This is part of the president’s commitment, which he has had from day one, to do right by working people.  We know that when jobs are good, when working people are protected, our economy is stronger; our nation is stronger. 

This is the third event that I’m doing like this.  The — the first one was with the carpenters in Detroit.  The second was with the Teamsters in Centralia, Illinois.  Again, you know, a situation where working people who had worked a lifetime and were expecting to be able to retire with dignity because of their pensions were seeing the end of those pensions and were going to see their — their benefits slashed dramatically.

Because of the Butch Lewis Act, because of the actions of President Biden and Vice President Harris — noting that Vice President Harris cast the deciding vote to pass the American Rescue Plan, of which the Butch Lewis Act is a part — because of that, these individuals are now going to be able to retire, to be able to live with dignity, to be able to take care of themselves and their families as they expected.

This announcement also comes, obviously, on the same day that we’ve had a jobs day, and, you know, it’s always a time to talk about good jobs, because this administration now, you know, has presided over more jobs being created than any other administration in the same time period.  It’s now over 16 million jobs.  GDP remains strong.  Inflation is still falling.  Wages are still increasing.  Wages have grown faster than inflation for now 17 months straight.  And the unemployment rate remains at 4.1 percent, so it’s been around 4 percent for the longest stretch since the 1960s.

So, labor market remains very strong, and this shows what happens when you have a president and a vice president who are fighting for workers every single day.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Thank you.   Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Secretary.  On the jobs report, should Americans be concerned of — that the economy is cooling in this moment, and what is the administration doing at the moment to ensure that jobs continue to be generated going forward?

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Great.  So, two questions and two answers.  No, we should not be concerned about cooling.  There were some anomalies last month that led to a much lower jobs number.  One was, of course, the devastating hurricanes — back-to-back hurricanes that hit the southeast part of the country.  You know, we saw people who lost their lives, lost their homes, lost their businesses.  The federal government was on the ground immediately, working with state and local authorities to do everything from search and rescue to clearing roads to making sure that people had water and power back.

But in terms of the jobs numbers, it meant that there were employers who, you know, would have been hiring or may have been even ramping up because of the holiday season coming up who just simply couldn’t do that.  So, the hurricanes had a really big effect.

And then, of course, there were workers on strike — over 30,000 of them.  And the — when they’re on strike, their numbers also, you know, show up as a decrease in the jobs.  Just the — the nature of the — of the numbers.

But what do we need to do to continue the incredible economy that we have had is to keep on making the investments that the Biden-Harris administration has had, you know, the — where we’ve got over 60,000 infrastructure projects going on around the country.  I’ve visited many of them.  We have apprenticeship programs bursting at the seams.  People being able to look for jobs and get jobs in communities that were shuttered, where factories were closed in the last administration, now opening up again.  And we just need to keep up that work.

Q    Can I ask about the Boeing strike situation?  It sounds like there’s a vote set for Monday, if memory serves.  Can you speak to what your view is — is on the latest on that and whe- — whether membership will accept?  Will you expect that this will pass —

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Yes.

Q    — as opposed to the previous time when it (inaudible)?

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Yes.  So, I was in Seattle from Monday to Wednesday.  I brought the parties together at the — at my office in Seattle.  They, you know, deserve a lot of credit.  I want to acknowledge the leadership of both the machinists and Boeing for coming to the table and doing the hard work of negotiating. 

You know, the president says this all the time; the vice president acknowledges this all the time: Collective bargaining works.  It doesn’t always look pretty from the outside, but when workers have a voice, when unions are strong and workers are able to help determine the conditions of their work, their wages, the future of their industry, it’s better for everybody. 

And so, now they have a — an unprecedented offer on the table that many people thought was impossible.  And — and they’re — they’re going to vote on it on Monday. 

Q    Sounds like you think it’ll pass. 

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  I don’t know.  You know, I — you know, we believe as — that — that it’s up to the members, of course.  You know, but these workers have not seen a wage increase like this in a very, very long time. 

In fact, the first-year wage increase is more than what they’ve had in — in the last many years combined.  So, it’s a — it’s really a sign of collective bargaining working. 

And, you know, workers exercise their right.  They — you know, i- — that they’re part of what we’re seeing in a Biden-Harris America of — of a new era of worker power, and it is resulting in not just the tremendous job growth we keep talking about but really more equity and more — more powerful working people. 

Q    You touched on this.  But just to be specific, because the president said in his statement that job growth is expected to rebound in November as the hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue, can you give us a sense of what you would project that that could look like?  What could the November picture be?

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  So, obviously, the — the devastating weather-related phenomena that we have been facing, you know, has an impact — right? — has a devastating, direct, personal impact on communities that are affected.  It also has an impact on the economy. 

And so, barring something else like that, you know, that was not a sign of weakness in the economy.  That was really a — you know, a weather-related phenomena.  And so, barring that, we expect, you know, those communities to recover. 

We’re obviously not just watching it happen or hoping it happens.  We’re in there helping it to happen. 

And so, you know, again, the investments that we’re making is really the key here, right?  We would not have seen the kind of economy — the 16 million jobs created — without that.  This is not an administration that has just, you know, hoped for the best.  It’s one that inherited the economy that was still reeling from a global pandemic that the last administration had no idea how to address. 

And what we have done is, you know, really, you know, exceeded all expectations on the recovery.  We need to keep on doing that work.  We need to make sure that those infrastructure projects keep breaking ground; that the fabs that are being built, you know, are completed.  And having union workers do that is a part of that too. 

And so, you know, there’s no reason to expect that the resilient economy that we’ve seen so far will not bounce back from the anomalies of October. 

Q    Was President Biden’s transcript altered — 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Hold on — hold on a second.  Wait a minute. 

Q    Yeah.  (Laughs.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Wait a minute.  Is — any other for the secretary?  Can I have her sit down if — if we’re done?

Q    Keep it tight, because we’re going to land soon.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Oh, okay.  All right.

Q    Thank you so much.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Be careful.

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Thank you all.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Be careful.  Hold on.  I’m going to let AP go first. 

Go ahead, AP.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  On AP’s reporting from last night about the potential doctored co-  — about the doctored comments in the recent transcript.  Were you aware that the Press Office — White House Press Office had done this before the stenographer had taken an approval?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I was asked this question — multiple versions of this question on Wednesday.  I don’t have anything else more to share.  What I can say is — and the president put out a statement that was tweeted out — that’s on X, obviously — ver- — being very clear what he meant, understanding that his words could have been taken out of context. 

He was talking about the comedian.  He was talking about the hateful rhetoric coming out of — from the comedian at the Sunday rally in Madison Square Garden. 

And I said this on Wednesday, and I’m going to keep saying this is that the president is always going to continue to call out hateful rhetoric. 

But of course — of course — and you see this today with the pensions announcement; you saw it this week when he went to Baltimore to an- — to announce some ports infrastructure investment, $147 million that went to Baltimore — to Maryland, specifically; 27 states, 11 of those states are red states.  I mean, these are things that the president wants to continue about, and he always will be a president for everyone, even if you did not vote for him. 

I don’t have anything else to share beyond that.  What I — what we want to make sure — we think what the most important thing for Americans to know is that this is a president that went back and wanted to clarify what he said, because he didn’t want to take it out of context.  I think that says a lot about this president.

And we’ve been pretty consistent about him wanting to be a president and continuing to be a president for all Americans.  And that’s what you’re going to see.  I don’t have anything else to add beyond that.

Q    What does the — have you all received reports about Iran potentially having a re- — a strike against — a retaliatory strike from its proxies?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, as you said, there are reports that Israeli in- — intelligence suggests Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, possibly before the U.S. presidential election.  Is — is that the U.S. view as well?  You know, I’m not — I’m going to be really careful.  I’m not going to — to your question, I’m not going to speculate or discuss intelligence assessments on this from here.

So — but we’ve been very clear that Iran should not respond.  I said this on Wednesday.  We will continue to support Israel.  Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad.  And — and if they choose this to do so, obviously we will continue to support Israel as they continue to protect themselves and their security. 

So, I don’t have anything to share.  I’m not going to read into that.

Q    Is the president aware of former President Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney that he made last night?  And does he have a reaction to that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, he’s aware.  Obviously, you all have done — have covered — covered those remarks.  Here’s what I would say to that.  It is — it is unacceptable; it is dangerous to — to — to s- — to speak to political violence, to talk about political vi- — violence, to lift up political violence. 

And what we are doing and we will continue to do is denounce that, condemn that.  There is no place, anywhere, for any type of violence, no place for political violence. 

And it — and this is a time we shouldn’t be using inflammatory language.  We should be specifically focusing on bringing the country together, and that’s what this president wants to see, and that’s what he’s going to continue to speak to. 

Q    Do you think those comments put Liz Cheney at risk?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, look, I can’t speak to that.  I can’t get into hypotheticals.  What we know is that those type of comments tend to be dangerous, right?  They can be dangerous. 

That’s — we’re hearing violent rhetoric, and we’re going to continue to condemn that.  It is inappropriate in the political space, and — and it is inflammatory language that should not be said by anyone, certainly by — not when someone has a — a leadership — national leadership.

Q    Has there been any discussion about heightening the security preparations this week in response to what we’ve seen?  Whether it’s, you know, ahead of the election, after the election for certain members of Congress, what does that look like at this point?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  For certain members of Congress specifically?

Q    Well, just for that and then broader security preparations.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, look, I — I would have to — as it relates to Congress, obviously, that’s the — something for — the Capitol Police can speak to.  I can’t speak to that.

Look, I think that what you’ll see from this — from this president is that, you know, free and fair elections and especially peaceful election are the cornerstone of our democracy.  And election officials and poll workers are dedicated to public servants who make our democracy work, and they deserve to do their job — their job safely and freely without harassment, without threat of violence. 

So, we strongly condemn anyone who threatens or harasses them.  And so — but I also believe and we also believe that people should trust in our institutions and trust that this will be a free and fair election.

Q    What about Lebanon?  Can you give us a status report?  Are those talks dead?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, a couple of things.  As you know, Brett and —

AIR FORCE ONE CREW MEMBER:  Going to need everyone to take their seats, please.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Well, we got to go.

AIR FORCE ONE CREW MEMBER:  There’s going to be some turbulence.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We’ll — we’ll have more fo- — we can share — I would reach out to the NSC team, and they’ll share more about things.  But we have to sit down.

Thanks, everybody. 

Q    Thanks, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Be careful.  It’s really bumpy.

2:59 P.M. EDT

The post Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su En Route Philadelphia, PA appeared first on The White House.

Dear Mr. Speaker:   (Dear Madam President:)

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.  In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared in Executive Order 12170 of November 14, 1979, is to continue in effect beyond November 14, 2024.

Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing.  Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12170 with respect to Iran.

                               Sincerely,

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

The post Letter to the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Iran appeared first on The White House.