Joe Biden Hermantown, Minnesota Speech Transcript September 18

Speaker 1: (00:47) Please welcome Senator Tina Smith. Please welcome Senator Tina Smith. Senator Tina Smith : (02:44) There we go. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. I am so glad to be with you all. I want to thank the Carpenters for welcoming us to this amazing apprenticeship program. And I'm so excited to be here with Senator Klobuchar and Vice President Biden. We're all here because we understand that, when people have the right to come together collectively to organize for better working conditions, better wages, safer places to work, they do better, their families do better, and everybody in this country does better. And, from what I've learned from talking to hardworking people all over Minnesota, is that what they want is the freedom and the opportunity to build the lives that they want. And they know that good jobs and their labor union helps them to do that. Senator Tina Smith : (03:33) So, I think about what's happening here in this amazing apprenticeship facility that the Vice President has had a chance to tour that is doing such great work. It is creating pathways for people to have good jobs and good careers with pensions. And this is what is so important for making this country work and making people's lives work. We know what to do to make this country work for everybody, not just those that are at the top. It involves making sure that wages are good. We need a $15 an hour minimum wage. We need to make sure that we have paid family and medical leave. And we need to make sure that, when people work hard and they pay in, that they can count on their pensions being there when they retire. And this is a real challenge for a lot of folks these days. Senator Tina Smith : (04:18) I've talked to folks in Duluth who told me that they had done everything right. They'd worked on weekends. They'd worked on holidays. They paid into their pensions. And now, they're being told that those pensions might not be there. Think about what that means. A Woman said to me, she said, "Tina, I don't have a plan B. I don't have another thing to do here." So, one of the things that I'm so proud to stand with Vice President Biden on and Senator Klobuchar is standing up for the rights of people to have the pensions that they earned. Senator Tina Smith : (04:49) Now, as we think about this most important election, there's no doubt about who is standing with working people in Minnesota and all across this country. And that is Vice President Biden. And that is where I stand as well in this most important Senate election. Now, a couple of days ago, Vice President Biden said, "I think this campaign is a choice between whether you're for Scranton or whether you're for Park Avenue. Is this campaign about Scranton or Park Avenue?" And I know which side I come down on. I come down on Scranton and I come down on the side of Vice President Biden. So, thank you all so much for being here. I'm excited to be a part of the celebration of the hard work and what that hard work can deliver for families in terms of the opportunities to build the lives that they want. Thank you so much. Speaker 1: (06:12) And now, Senator Amy Klobuchar. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (06:36) Well, hello, everyone. It's wonderful to be here. Thank you to the Carpenters for hosting us. Thank you to my friend, Tina Smith, who's doing such a great job. And I'm so proud to have her as a colleague and a friend, a real friend. People say friend in Washington all the time. But, for us, it's true. And then also, to be here and welcome back Vice President Biden to Northern Minnesota. He has been here with me. He's been up here with our steelworkers. He has been up here because he did such great work on domestic violence and came to Duluth to talk about it. And now, he's here with the Carpenters. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (07:19) I was just talking to the Vice President backstage and recounting my background here. I think you all know, my dad grew up in Northern Minnesota. My grandpa was a miner. He worked 1,500 feet underground his entire life. He never got to graduate from middle school or high school because he had nine brothers and sisters. And it was unions that made my grandpa's life safer. My dad still remembers those bodies in the Catholic church at St. Anthony's in Ely because it wasn't safe. Even when my dad was growing up, that was happening. And the unions pushed for safer rules and they pushed for better wages. And it's one of the only reasons that I'm standing up here today. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (08:08) So, we know there's something else going on in our country where we need someone to have our back. I am sick and tired of hearing Donald Trump say that he is somehow making us more safe. Well, we're not safe when we have a pandemic raging across our country where I go visit my dad, who's now 92, at an assisted living and he has COVID and I'm looking at him through a glass door like I was two months ago and I don't even know if I'm ever going to see him again. That's not safe. And it's not safe when people are scared economically. And they don't know if they're going to have their job back. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (08:47) And what I love about Joe Biden and my friend Kamala Harris, is they're looking not just how we get through this pandemic, but they're looking the day after tomorrow and how we're going to train our workers, what jobs we have available now, and what jobs we have available in the future. And we need a president who will fight for those who have lost their jobs because this administration is selling American workers out when we need to buy American. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (09:16) We need a president who will fight for the people and the workers of Northern Minnesota, not go down to Mar-a-Lago and tell all his rich friends, after he passes a tax bill, you just got a lot richer. I don't think one person from Northern Minnesota was in that room in Florida when he said that. We need a president who knows that we don't have a shortage of CEOs. We have a shortage of plumbers. We have a shortage of construction workers. We have a shortage of people that build things, that really build things. Joe Biden is going to be a president for all of America. And I was so proud to endorse him. After starting my campaign in the middle of a blizzard in Minnesota, I got to end it by endorsing Joe Biden. And I can't think of a more joyful way to end a campaign. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (10:11) One last thing I want to say, it was the Obama, Biden administration that came up here in the face of Denis McDonough, the chief of staff of president Obama, and made sure we did something about Chinese steel dumping. They went to work. They enforced the laws. We passed some new laws. And a number of our iron ore mines reopened. It was their administration that got results. So, if you're worried about your family and your job, you've got a home with Joe Biden. If you're worried about the cost of prescription drugs or childcare, you've got a home with Joe Biden. And if you're worried about the divide in this country and having a president that just keeps adding more fuel to the flames, you've got a home with Joe Biden because he wakes up every morning and thinks how can I lead this country and bring people together. Senator Amy Klobuchar: (11:08) So, luckily, just like the Carpenters, we aren't afraid to roll up our sleeves. I have this vote mask because this is the first day of early voting in Minnesota. So, let's go out there. Let's vote. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work and elect Joe Biden as president of the United States. Thank you very much. Speaker 1: (11:55) And now, please welcome Carpenter's Training Institute executive director, Matt Campanario. Speaker 1: (12:00) Matt Campanario. Speaker 2: (12:06) (singing) Matt Campanario: (12:27) Well, thank you. I'd like to welcome all of you to the Jerry Alander campus of the Carpenters Training Institute. Our mission here is to prepare our 2,500 registered apprentices for a successful career as a professional in the construction industry. We also provide continuing education for all of our membership. Our partnering contractors rely on the continued success of our programs and our members in order to thrive. On behalf of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, the Carpenters Training Institute, and our membership, I'd like to thank Vice President Joe Biden for taking the time to learn more about what the UBC members in our region do, and also hear what issues are important to us. Without further delay, it's my pleasure to introduce Vice President Joe Biden. Speaker 3: (13:21) (singing) Joe Biden: (13:22) Hello, Minnesota. It's good to be back. As Amy was saying, I've been here a number of times up in the Iron Range, and it's a magnificent part of the world. Magnificent part of the world. And I want to thank you so much, Amy, Senator, you've been a great friend and a great, great Senator. And Senator Smith, you're something else, I'll tell you what. Thank you for the job you're doing, and I'm counting on it continuing for another six years. Joe Biden: (14:27) I know you're both fighting around the clock to take care of Minnesotans who are hurting in these multiple crises we face today. We have everything from COVID to unemployment, to a country that is being divided along racial lines. We have institutional racism we're dealing with. A whole range of things. And the people of Minnesota know that they have two of the best Senators in the country on their side. Joe Biden: (14:58) And Matt, thank you so much for that introduction and for showing me around today, this incredible apprentice program here at the Carpenters Training Center. What a lot of people don't know if they're not involved with labor is the apprenticeship program not only trains the best workers in the world, I'm not being facetious, that's a fact, but they get paid while they're doing it. Not full wage, but they're getting paid while they're doing it. And that's why these union apprenticeship programs are so, so critically important they stay this way. It matters. People who still make it while they're learning a trade, a trade that's going to put them in good stead the rest of their lives. Joe Biden: (15:46) It was great to see some of the practical hands-on experience that apprentices and journeymen and women here receive and while, as I said, earning a wage as a benefit. It's a bit quieter here than usual because of COVID-19 restrictions, but the pride of these workers who are learning the skills that will carry them throughout their careers is still unmistakable. Joe Biden: (16:13) My father, and I apologize to the press who follows me for repeating this, but it warrants saying every time, my dad used to have an expression. He said, "Joey, a job's about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in the community." Then he'd end by saying, "It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, 'Honey, it's going to be okay,' and mean it." Joe Biden: (16:39) That's the lesson I've never forgotten. It's the way I grew up surrounded by hard working families in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and a lot of steelworkers in Claymont, Delaware. All those jobs are gone now, those steel working jobs. And that's what I saw here at this training center, dedicated women and men investing in their dignity. In their dignity. Joe Biden: (17:03) Here in the Iron Range, we can see the resilience and the grit, the communities that built America, the metal they're made of. And fortified by the strength of union power, worker power. I think I was saying to you, Matt, that my dad had another expression, "The only way to deal with the abuse of power is with power," and the only real power for workers in America is union power. You're the folks who keep the barbarians on the other side of the gate, and making sure that people can make a decent living. Joe Biden: (17:39) And folks, but here like everywhere else, times are hard. Unemployment is way up due to the pandemic. Fewer workers can be on the job at one time in order to abide by social distancing roles. And the economic outlook for next year, including for the building trades, is more uncertain than it need be. Joe Biden: (17:59) Here in Minnesota and all across the country, there are plenty of folks who are hurting. They're worried about making their next mortgage payment or keeping their rent payments in check. They see the people at the top of the heap doing very well. An incredible number: billionaires in America during this pandemic have made another $300 billion. Hear what I just said? In the middle of the pandemic. They're left of wonder, as a consequence, ordinary folks, "Who's looking out for me?" Joe Biden: (18:38) That's been the entire story of Donald Trump's presidency. Now, in the midst of this unprecedented national crisis, Trump has given up on even pretending to do his job. Almost 200,000 lives lost in the last six months. And experts tell us now, the same studies the administration's relied on to predict what's coming next, that we're going to lose another 215,000 lives between now and January 1st. The United States has another 36,000 new COVID cases per day. Per day. Another average thousand deaths a day. Joe Biden: (19:24) Just across the border, figuratively speaking a stone's throw into Canada, one day earlier this month, the United States had a thousand deaths from COVID, Canada had zero. Just two days ago, three days ago, I believe it was, America had 1,200 deaths, Canada had nine. Nine. Joe Biden: (19:51) So many lives lost unnecessarily because the President is only worried about the stock market and his reelection. He refused to do what you're doing right here in this program, social distance, wear a mask, sanitize. You're protecting your apprentices. He's not protecting America. Joe Biden: (20:09) It's estimated by the scientists that if we just wore masks nationally, we'd save a hundred thousand lives between now and January 1st. Let me say that again. If we just wore a mask nationally, we'd save a hundred thousand lives between now and January, according to the same study. Joe Biden: (20:34) And it was estimated by a great medical school, Columbia medical school, that if the President had just started one week earlier in March than he did, we'd have 36,000 more people sitting at the dinner table tonight, or being able to put your arm around grandpa or grandma tonight. Joe Biden: (20:56) And again, in his own words, recorded by Bob Woodward, the President knew back in February that this was an extremely dangerous communicable disease. Think about it. How many people across the Iron Range, how many empty chairs around those dinner tables because of his negligence and selfishness? How many lies said and lives lost? Imagine if he had just, Amy, on the State of the Union that year, spoke up and said, "We got a problem. We can handle it. Here's what we got to do." I can't think of any president who's ever acted, in my view, so selfishly, about his own reelection instead of a sworn obligation to protect and defend the American people. Joe Biden: (22:06) As I said last night in my hometown, I view this campaign as between Scranton and Park Avenue. All Trump sees from Park Avenue is Wall Street. That's why the only metric of the American prosperity for him is the value of the Dow Jones. Like a lot of you, I spent a lot of my life with guys like Donald Trump looking down on me. Looking down on the people who make a living with their hands. People who take care of our kids, clean our streets. Joe Biden: (22:39) Maybe what bothers me most is when he talks about, reportedly talks about from too many sources confirmed by many outlets, when he's talked about the men and women who join the military and gave full measure for their country as "suckers" and " losers." Unless you think it's made up, remember how he talked about John McCain, a political opponent but a close friend who I did his eulogy. John McCain was no sucker or loser. He was a hero. My son who volunteered and spent a year in Iraq, won the Bronze Star [inaudible 00:11:27], he wasn't a loser or sucker. He was a proud patriot. Joe Biden: (23:38) These are the guys who always thought they were better than me, better than us, because that a lot of money. Guys inherited everything they got and still managed to squander. I have to admit, which I guess is coming out and pretty obvious, particularly relative to Trump, I just have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder about these guys. Joe Biden: (24:00) ... my shoulder about these guys. Recently, and I probably shouldn't have said it last night, but I did, recently I read some stories and was asked questions by leading columnists. It went like this. "If you get elected, you're going to be the first guy in a long time elected president without an Ivy League degree." Like somehow a kid who went to a state university isn't qualified to be president of the United States, doesn't have an Ivy League degree? Let me tell you something. I know how to do the job of being president. It's pretty clear. No matter how wealthy Donald Trump is, no matter how much he doctors his, if he does, his tax returns, he doesn't have a clue how to be president. One of the lessons my mother taught me, not a joke, long time ago taught me and my siblings, it's one that you probably were taught too out here in Minnesota. She said, "Joey, remember nobody's better than you, but everybody's your equal. Nobody's better than you. Everybody's your equal." You don't measure people by the size of their bank accounts. I don't respect people based on how big the house they live in is. I don't look down my nose when people are busting their necks just making a limit, nor do any of you. Trump says, by the way, I'm paraphrasing, everyone's in the stock market. That's why he cares about the stock market. What the hell is he talking about? People, I grew up in Scranton, Claymont, they don't have money in stocks. Every penny we made was to pay the bills and take care of the families, putting clothes in the back, and a roof over our head. In the market? Joe Biden: (26:14) That's why I have a different measure in which I judge the health of the American economy. And my measure is Scranton, Duluth, Harmontown, places where I grew up, that so many people I know grew up. I see hard working women and men who are just trying to earn an honest, decent living to take care of their families. I mean, just to have a little bit of confidence, a little bit of confidence, you can just see around the corner. And they don't have to live literally from paycheck to paycheck. Most do. But hope for a little bit of space. Now the American people have seen these women and men, the essential workers, workers who stock the shelves in the middle of these crisis in the grocery stores, drivers who drove the trucks, delivered the food, farm workers, nurses who risk their lives, in many cases, gave their lives in the middle of this pandemic to save other people. Essential workers. Joe Biden: (27:19) And when they walk down the streets and people come out and clap pans and pots together, tell them how much they're appreciated, that's not enough. They're not asking for anything, they're just asking for a shot. I remind you, given a shot, the American people have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. So it's about time we start to pay essential workers for the fact that they're essential. Blinders have been taken off the American people. I think they're ready. They're ready to insist that the minimum wage be $15 an hour. They're ready to insist that people have childcare and access to it. They're ready to admit and understand the needs that average Americans have. Joe Biden: (28:08) That's why my Build Back Better plan, in fact, my entire campaign is built upon a simple concept. It's time to reward hard work in America, not wealth. Reward work, not wealth. We don't have to penalize wealth, it's the opposite now. Reward wealth and not work. We're going to have to rebuild an economy in the wake of COVID-19. And as we do, we have an incredible opportunity to make long overdue investments for working families. To make sure the wealthy, the very wealthy and big corporations finally began to pay their fair share. I'm not looking to punish anybody, just pay your fair share. Joe Biden: (28:57) It's time we give hard working families who literally built the country through their skills and their sweat and the blood, like the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, a leg up for once. I've a big ambitious plan that bets on the American worker. My plan is going to create millions of good paying jobs building the products and technologies that we need now and in the future. And it starts with a pretty basic idea. When the government spends taxpayers' money, we should spend that money to buy American products made by American workers in American supply chains to generate American growth and opportunity. My plan would tighten the rules to make buy American a reality. During my first term alone, we're going to invest $400 billion in federal money that you go out and spend, that I have control over as the president or an administration, to invest and purchase products and materials our country needs to modernize the infrastructure, to replenish critical stockpiles, to enhance our national security. Joe Biden: (30:19) I was just going through the apprentice program was one of your carpenters. And you're showing me how to read blueprints. And I'm a frustrated architect. I just love building. My kids years ago bought me a Lightboard. I have no professional training, but I like and I carry around a graph paper. I'm always making up and designing homes and landscapes. It's my way out. Some people can paint. I can't. And you're showing me the blueprints and how they can change several walls in a particular building to conserve and save energy. And he pointed out what you have to learn to be able to read a blueprint. I pointed out to him that my Buy American plan, he said, "By the way," not me, this carpenter said, "And by the way, we can kill two birds with one stone." He didn't use that phrase. He said, "We can do two things at once." He said, "We can improve the environment by using less energy to operate this building and create more jobs." And I said, "I'm going to send you a copy of my plan." Joe Biden: (31:27) I sent a college note exactly what it is. My Buy American Build America plan calls for literally what we started in our administration and couldn't finish, retrofitting four million buildings in America that are leaking millions of gallons of energy now. In the process, creating the four million jobs for skilled labor. Replacing windows, insulation that works, making sure that the unit is tight, including retrofitting two million homes. All of it done in a prevailing way with union labor, creating hundreds of thousands of union certified jobs. That's not hyperbole, that's a fact. That's how it will happen. And saving millions of barrels of oil in the process, improving our environment. That's why the IBEW and a lot of other unions support what we're doing. We're going to put in 500,000 charging stations along our highways. Why? So we can own, own, own the electric car market. Estimated creating a million new jobs in Michigan and Detroit in automobile industry. Look, we can outcompete anybody, we set our mind to it. My infrastructure plan is going to revitalize American infrastructure so the future is made in America. The president keeps talking about he's going to invest in infrastructure, right? How many times has he said when you guys were there he had a plan in '17, his infrastructure plan, it's coming? Then he had one in '18, then he had one in '19, then he has one for '20. Just like his nonexistent healthcare plan that's coming next week. He has no plan. Joe Biden: (33:47) When I got started, this wasn't a partisan issue, dealing with infrastructure. Republicans wanted to build solid infrastructure to make us first in the world, now we rank 28th, just like Democrats did. It was totally nonpartisan. And creating thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of good paying jobs. We're going to invest over time two trillion dollars to build resilient infrastructure. Roads, bridges, ports, right here along with these great Great lakes. 1.5 million new affordable housing units, high speed broadband for every American household. More important than ever as we are educating our children from home because he has no plan how to open our schools. 100 billion dollars to rebuild crumbling schools. How many schools in America do you think there are where you can't safely drink the water from the water fountain? Where they're worried about whether or not there is enough ventilation in the school, where there is leaking energy or still has hazardous materials in the walls. It's ridiculous. Joe Biden: (35:08) We should be spending the money to improve those schools and the safety of our children and our teachers. As I said, retrofitting four million buildings and weatherizing two million homes. And the way we do that is with the tax credits that we're giving them again. All done by certified union labor. Look, I'll fight for workers and unions at every step requiring all federal infrastructure projects to, one, pay prevailing wage, two, prioritize project labor agreements so collective bargaining is in place before the project starts, employee workers from registered apprenticeships. I won't water them down like Trump tried to do. Pass the PRO Act to crack down on employers who are trying to block or break unions. And I'll do it without raising anyone's taxes if you make less than $400,000 a year. I gave my a word as ... You have nothing to worry about if you make less than 400. If you- Joe Biden: (36:03) This is why you have nothing to worry about if you make less than 400. If you make more, you're going to start to pay your fair share. No who makes less than 400 is going to pay a single penny more in taxes under our administration. In fact, tens of millions of middle class families are going to get tax cuts when they need it most, while you're raising your children, while you're trying to get affordable healthcare, buying your first home or saving for retirement. Joe Biden: (36:25) Almost directly after President Trump passed his tax bill in 2017, almost two-trillion dollars, increased the deficit, he went down to Mar-a-Lago and he said to his guests there, and this is a quote, it's on record: "You just got a lot richer," end of quote. He was right. They got a hell of a lot richer. How about the person making 50, 60, or even the family making $120,000 a year? How much did you get? How much richer did you get? It may be the only time he's told the plain truth, his entire presidency. In 2018, the year after that tax cut passed, 91 corporations in the Fortune 500 paid no income tax. Zero tax. Zero. Making billions of dollars, paid zero tax. I guess you guys got all your taxes eliminated too, right? Joe Biden: (37:33) He said he was going to lower the cost of prescription drugs. But guess what, instead of big pharma got billions of dollars in tax cuts, sent they're manufacturing of those drugs overseas, so they'd be cheaper for them to produce, unconscionably raised the prices for ordinary Americans. How many of you people knew your mother's, father's, uncle's, aunt's, friend's had to choose between getting the prescription, not a joke, and putting dinner on the table. Now he says he's going to try to cut drug prices, like he's going to have a healthcare plan. All he's done in this big thing about, he's calling it drug prices cut, all he's done, he sent to the HHS, Health and Human Services, he said, "Study the issue." Joe Biden: (38:33) I have a clear plan. I guarantee I'll lower prices in America for drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which he said he would do. The House and the Senate were ready to do it, and he said he'd veto it if he got it. If you want to participate in the Medicare program, you've got to negotiate with Medicare for the price of that drug, which is significantly lower prices. And for any new specialty drugs that don't have competition that are launched, I'm setting up a review board to recommend a reasonable price based on the board's evaluation, and that price will not be able to be increased beyond the cost of medical inflation unless they can prove they've gone and done some more research and change the nature of the drug. Joe Biden: (39:23) Now, astonishingly, astonishingly, and when my staff told me this, I know both the senators knew this, but when they told me this, I said, "He can't be proposing this." He now is proposing in this budget another multi-billion dollar tax cut for the very wealthy millionaires and billionaires. Here's what he wants to do. He wants to lower the capital gains tax down to 15%. To 15%. Every one of you, including the reporters in this room, unless you're making a lot more than I think you are, every one of you is going to be paying at a higher tax rate than someone making a billion bucks off their investment. You're going to pay a higher tax rate, because they make their money by investing not by the sweat of your brow. Another tax cut worth billions of dollars. Whose hide do you think that's going to come out of? Where's it come from? The deficit is already bonkers. Where do you think it's going to come out of? It'll come out of you and the programs and things that help the American people. Joe Biden: (40:49) Like I said, it's about time we start rewarding work, not wealth. Look, I'm not looking to punish anybody, but dammit, it's about time the super wealthy and corporate America start paying their fair share. That's all it is. Just pay their fair share so hard work and families can start getting a break on childcare, elder care, buying that first home, and the cost of education beyond high school, being able to get started in life. By the way, all of this is going on while Donald Trump is trying to rip away your healthcare. This whole con: "I got a new healthcare program. I'm going to protect pre-existing conditions." He's in the Supreme Court saying get rid of pre-existing conditions. They should not. They shouldn't be able to stand in the way of you getting insurance because it helps insurance companies. Joe Biden: (41:43) And as a gimmick, he's got a new one. He's going to end the payroll tax that you pay in social security. Yet the actuary at the social security says if that were to occur, social security will be bankrupt by the middle of 2023. You may get a few more bucks in your paycheck, then go home and tell your mom and dad social security's about to come to an end. They never liked social security and Medicare to begin with. Look, we can't let this happen, that social security would run dry by 2023. We're so much better than this. This United States of America. We have never, ever, ever, ever been unable to do something when we've done it together. Never. It's time to stand up, Democrats and Republicans. I said it last night, and I know my colleagues know sometimes Democrats get mad at this, I'm running as a Democrat, but I'm going to be President of the United States, not President of the Democratic Party. We must unite this country. It's the only way we can move forward. I believe the American people are ready for it. I believe in half a dozen to a dozen of our Republican colleagues, who've been unable and unwilling to have the guts to take him on because he's so vindictive, with him gone I think they're ready to work. Not on everything, but an awful lot. It's time to take the country back, folks. It's going to start here, today with voting in Minnesota. Joe Biden: (43:34) God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.