Joe Biden Speech Transcript on July Job Report & Gains

President Biden: (02:00)
Good morning. What a good morning. Yesterday, the United States Senate took the additional step toward passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill. It’s a bill that would end years of gridlock in Washington and create millions of good paying jobs and put America on a new path to win the race for the economy in the 21st century. Historic investment in roads and rail and transit and bridges and clean energy and clean water will enable us not only to build back, but to build back better than before the economic crisis hit. I want to thank the bi-partisan group of senators for working together and the committee chairs for raising their ideas and concerns with me and Vice President Harris and members of our cabinet. As we did with the trans railroad and interstate highway system, we’ll soon, once again, transform America and propel us into the future. This bill makes key investments to put people to work all across the countries in cities and towns and rural communities, small towns, big towns, along the coastlines and on the plains.

It covers the nation. This could put America to work in good paying union jobs, building and repairing our roads, bridges, ports, airports. And once this bill passes the Senate, I know that body will move toward establishing a framework for the remainder of my build back better agenda. In giving tax cuts to the middle class by investing in childcare and home care for seniors, critical investments to combat climate change and to build a clean energy future. Vital steps needed to bring down the cost of healthcare and so much more. We’re going to do it without raising taxes by even 1 cent on people making less than $400,000 a year.

And here’s another important part of the build. 90% of the jobs created by this legislation will not require a college degree, 90%. It’s a blue collar blueprint to rebuild America, which brings me to another piece of good news this morning. I learned that the economy created 943,000 new jobs in July, 943,000. The unemployment rate fell by a half a percent to 5.4%. Now while our economy is far from complete and we will doubtless will have ups and downs along the way as we continue to battle the Delta surge of COVID, what is indisputable now is this, the Biden plan is working, the Biden plan produces results, and the Biden plan is moving the country forward. We’re now the first administration in history to add jobs every single month on our first six months in office. And the only one in history to add more than 4 million jobs during the first six months.

Economic growth is the fastest in 40 years. Jobs are up. The unemployment rate is the lowest since the pandemic hit. Black unemployment is down as well. Why? Because we put in place the necessary tools early in my presidency, the COVID-19 vaccine plan, the American Rescue Plan to fight the virus and fight the economic mess we inherited. As a result, we’ve been able to make progress on both fronts against grave challenges. And we we’ve put in place the tools to prevent this Delta variant wave of COVID-19 from shutting down our small businesses, our schools, and society. You know, when we first got to office, COVID-19 crisis and economic crisis were unrelenting and devastating for people. And as a nation, we didn’t have the tools to deal with either.

Nearly 4,000 Americans were dying each and every day to the virus, 4,000 a day. The economy had been wiped out. We were down 10 million jobs from where we were before the pandemic. We were in a dark winter with real concerns about what spring would bring, but then we got to work. We passed the American Rescue Plan shortly after I was sworn in that gave us the tools to fight the pandemic and rebuild our economy. And it produced results.

To beat the pandemic, we ramped up testing and protective equipment, and we actually went out and bought enough vaccine so that every single solitary American could be vaccinated. And because of the help of everyone, from the military to civilian efforts, we carried out one of the most difficult logistical challenges in our nation’s history to get 220 million shots in the people’s arms in the first 100 days in office. 220 million. Over the past seven months, we’ve cut COVID 19 deaths by 90%. As of today, 193 million Americans have gotten at least one vaccination shot, including over 70% of adults over the age of 18. 165 million Americans are now fully vaccinated. Because of our success in the vaccination effort, this new Delta variant wave of COVID-19 will be very different, be able to deal that was underway when took office.

Yes, cases are going to go up before they come back down. It’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated. I know I’ve said that constantly and others have as well, the vaccination of the unvaccinated, and it’s needless taking a needless toll on our county. We have roughly 350 million people vaccinated in the United States and billions around the world and virtually no one’s died because of that vaccinations, but even so the impact is going to be very different than what happened last January. Today, about 400 people will die because of the Delta variant in this country. A tragedy, because virtually all of these deaths were preventable if people had gotten vaccinated, seven months ago today, almost 4,000 people died on that very day from COVID-19, 4,000 versus 400. That shows how much our vaccination progress has already done to protect us from the worst of the new Delta COVID-19 wave.

Likewise, the American Rescue Plan has given us the economic tools we need to protect our recovery against the worst impacts of the Delta virus. $1,400 checks in the pockets of millions of Americans help to keep their folks in their homes, helped to put food on the table. Remember those long lines we used to talk about? People line up in their cars for hours just to get a box of food put in their trunk? Help the small businesses and say if they keep the lights on, the doors open, and the employees on the job because states were losing revenue. They were having to lay off essential workers while the aid to states and cities and counties and tribes, they kept essential workers going. Police officers, firefighters, educators on the job. Funding for schools to reopen and ventilation system, sanitation services, protective equipment to keep students and staff safe.

As we vaccinated in America, we developed our economic tools to help our economy recover. As a result in the past three months, we’ve created on average 832,000 new jobs per month since sworn in as compared to 55,000 jobs in the last three months in the previous administration. Look, even so, my message today is not one of celebration. It’s one to remind us we’ve got a lot of hard work left to be done, both to beat the Delta variant and to continue our advance of economic recovery. We all know what it starts with. And I said again and again, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. So we have to get more people vaccinated. That’s it. Well over… What’s the number again? I remind myself, 350 million Americans have already been vaccinated.

They’re doing fine. I’m pleased to report the past week, we’ve seen the first time vaccinations in America go up by 4 million people getting back 4 million shots. That’s more than we’ve seen a long time. I want to thank the governors. I listened to the governor of Maryland today on the television. He’s doing a heck of a job, Democratic governors as well, Republican governors in getting the word out. Look, as you all know, I put in place new incentives and requirements to encourage vaccinations. For example, federal workers will be asked to attest to their vaccination status and anyone who does not attest or is not vaccinated will be required to wear a mask no matter where they work, test one or two times a week, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work.

There’ll be more to come in the days ahead. Once again, I want to thank the local leaders in the private sector, leaders who are imposing vaccine requirements. America can beat the Delta variant just as we beat the original COVID-19. We can do this. So wear masks when recommended. Get vaccinated today. All of that will save lives. And it means we’re not going to have the same kind of economic damage we’ve seen when COVID-19 began, but we aren’t stopping there. The American Rescue Plan was built knowing the recovery would take time. There’ll be ups and downs. So let me outline today six specific actions people will see over the next few weeks to make sure that we fight the Delta variant and wait for new vaccinations to be finished and keep our economy strong.

First, thanks to the latest middle-class tax cut in a long time, the next monthly check that is the child tax credit… The next month, next nine days, checks are going out to almost 40 million families of children in nine days, again in the next month or the middle of this month, I should say. On August 15th, for example, a family with two young kids under the age of seven is going to get a check for $600 paid immediately. And they get a check next week, next month for $600, et cetera. If you’re a family with two kids between the ages of seven and 17, you’re going to check for $500, $250 per child, and that will continue month after month.

Second, I’ve looked ahead. We’ve looked at it and now schools have the resources they need to safely reopen as school year starts again so that every child can be in school, full time, safe and this year. Third, we provided months ago, states and localities with $45 billion in their coffers, the state and localities to help renters and landlords to keep people in their homes, keeping the local economy strong. That money has to get out now. I’m urging all local offices to get that money out and we’re going to send more help to small businesses on Main Street, so the Delta variant doesn’t cause them to lay off employees and shutter their doors. There’s something called the Paycheck Protection Program. It’s a loan program. Forgivable, if a small business kept their employees in the job and their doors open. We’re now in the process to forgive those loans for small businesses who are doing the right thing, putting them in a better position to keep their businesses going.

Fifth, if anyone was worried about getting health insurance during the pandemic, there’s help today. For those who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, we’re covering more people with more extensive benefits with premiums that average 40% lower. If you don’t have insurance, you can still sign up under the Affordable Care Act through August the 15th, just go to healthcare.gov today.

And six, we’re going to lower the prices on everything from prescription drugs to hearing aids by allowing businesses to compete, which will give them more choices and lower costs. For example, you’re not going to have to go to a doctor to get a prescription to get a hearing aid. You’re going to go right to the counter of the store and buy it over the counter. The bottom line is this, what we’re doing is working, but don’t take my word for it. Forecasters on Wall Street project over the next 10 years, our economy will expand by trillions of dollars and we’ll create 2 million more jobs a year, good paying jobs. We just have to keep going. And it’s simple. That means get vaccinated, please. It’s safe. It works, and will save lives and maybe save your life. And I said before, this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated. So please get vaccinated. We can get this done. We just have to stay the course. We just have to remember who we are. You’ve heard me say it before, we’re the United States of America. There’s not a single thing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. God bless you all and may God protect our troops and have a good weekend. Thank you.

Joe Biden Speech Transcript on July Job Report & Gains

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