Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2022

May 9, 2022

The President. Hey, thank you very much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Well, I think now is the time I should probably leave. [*Laughter*] You're all very gracious.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

You know, I wasâI came in, and I saw two really important people I shook hands with.

Because everybody knows I like kids better than people. [*Laughter*] Thank you, guys, for being here. Mom and dad owe you a big prize for having to put up with this. [*Laughter*]

Audience member. Yes, sir.

The President. Folksâ[laughter]âfolks, you know, one of the things that I think is important is that we kind of remember who in God's name we are.

You know, you get to the pointâI've been around the Senate for a whileâa year or 2âand the Vice President for a while, and now President of the United States.

And you know, I want to thank Dave and June for hosting this. You know, heâhis biggest operation, he tells me, is up in Claymont, Delaware, where I went toâI went to school in Claymont, Delaware. It's aâit used to be a steel town and a working class town. And I went toâ there was a place called Archmere Academy, and across the street an old John Jakob Raskob estate turned into a school. Andâthe little school called Holy Rosary.

And up in Claymont, it's real simple: They knowâwhen you say something, whether you mean it or not. And it's pretty important that I think the Democrats communicate what we mean, as we've been doing here tonightâas they've been doing here tonight.

You know, the fact is that, you knowâAnthony is going to be a hell of an attorney general. Where are you, Anthony? By the way, he won his House in spite of the fact that I campaigned for him. [*Laughter*] And Dutchâwhere are you, Dutch? There you go, Dutch. I can'tâgood to see you, pal. Dutch is my kind of guy.

And BenâBen Cardin has been a good friend for a long, long time now.

Iâyou know, the fact is that I'm proud of the progress we've made because of the folks I just named, including my host.

You know, we went from having 2 million people with shots when we came into officeâfor COVID shotsâto 220 million people being fully vaccinated. We moved fromâthe jobs report: We had 428,000 new jobs this month, and 8.2 million since we came to office, more thanâmore than any timeâin 15 months.

The deficit is down $350 billion last year. Republicans talked about it, but we actually brought the deficit down $350 billion. And we're on target to reduce the deficit by the end of this fiscal year by 1 trillion, 500 billion dollars. And that's a fact.

And we've made historic investments in solar and wind and battery storageâa whole range of things.

And we appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. But equally important, we've appointed more African American Circuit Court judges than any time than all other Presidents combined.

Here's the point: I made a commitment when I ran. I said, "I want my administration to look like America." And it is. It's looking like America, across the board, from everyâyou cannot look at any part of our administrationâfrom the appointees, to those requiring Senate confirmation, to members of my Cabinetâyou can't look anywhere and not see America.

Because that's who we are. That's our strength. We talked about that strength.

And, folks, you know, the fact is that we rallied the world as wellâand I wish we hadn't had to do itâto keep Putin in place. The fact is, what I've spent most of my time doingâand I've spent now well over 150 hours trying to keep the other heads of state on the same page and keep us together, constantly making sure we're on the same page.

Because I'm confident Putin believedâ[*applause*]âI'm confident Putin believed that he could break up NATO. I'm confident he believed he could break up the European Union, that we couldn't hold it together. But we're doing it. It's not easy, and a lot of other countries have to make greater or lesser sacrifices than we. But it's not easy.

But it's critically important because Putin is aâI've known him for a while. I've spent time with him. He is a very, very, very calculating man. And the problem I worry about now is that he doesn't have a way out right now, and I'm trying to figure out what we do about that. But that's a different story.

But here's the deal: In the meantime, you sometimesâyou know, we generated greater economic growth than any President has in their first 14 months, 15 months, but we also ran into some international crises, and they're consequential. And they're really consequential.

Inflation. You know, weâthe fact is that we stopped investing in ourselves about 20 years ago in any big way. We used to invest in the United States of America. We used to invest 2 percentâour Governmentâ2 percent of our GDP was in research and development. It's less than 1 percent now. And it's been that way for a long time.

We used to be number one in the world; now we're number eight. China used to be number eight; now they're number two.

The generic point is, we have to invest in ourselves, invest in our people, so that we can, in fact, continue to lead the world on all the things that are soâthere are so many incredible opportunities for not only us, but for the rest of the world.

And so what we're doing here is, we find ourselves in inflation being a incredibly difficult problem. For example, last year, because we lacked the ability to find the computer chips to build automobiles, weâwe invented the computer chip here in America, we refined it here in America, and we stopped making it here in America, as my colleagues can tell you. We're now changing that.

But the point is that the reason 30 percent of all the inflation was because of the cost of automobiles last year. This year, it'sâwell, it'sâthis year, we have a similar problem, but it's because of energy because of Putin's gas tax, the gas tax of him causing such a disruption in oil markets around the world.

And so we've got a lot to do. But here's the point: I think that the fact is that I think we can, in factâwe can, in fact, grab hold of this issue and once again reassert ourselves as the lead country in the world across the board. Andâ[*applause*]âno, Iâit's not hyperbole.

But what I don't want to do is go too long here. But you know, look, if you take a look at, you know, the Supreme Court, when theâremember, I'm the guy that led the fight to keep Robert Bork off the Court. Because Robert Bork refused to acknowledge that there was anything remotely approaching a right to privacy and/or the Ninth Amendment. I don't want to get into a constitutionalâmy problem was, I taught constitutional law for 18 years.

But here's the deal: The fact of the matter is, it's not just about choice that's at stake here. So much more is at stakeâeverything from contraception. There used to be a law on the books in Connecticutâ*Griswold *v. *Connecticut*âthat said a married couple could notâit was a crime to purchase contraceptives using the privacy of their own bedroom.

There are a whole range of other issues that are susceptible if the reasoning of the Court opinion that was leaked ends up being what the Court opinion is. And it's not certain of that yet.

There's a lot at stake. A whole lot at stake.

And, folks, you know, we're also coming for theâyou know, they're coming for the right to vote. I've never seenâI got involved in politics because my State of Delaware, not unlike Maryland, has the eighth largest Black population in America as a percent of population. That's what got me involved as a kid in civil rights and as public defender.

And the fact is that I've never seen such an onslaught. I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee for years in the Senate as well as Foreign Relations Committee. And I wasâthought I really had made it when I was able to extend the Voting Rights Act for 24 years and got Strom Thurmond to vote for it. Not a joke. I thought weâthought we'd lose.

Look, for some people, it never changes. They've never, ever given up.

And you know, if you take a look at what's at stakeâI'm going to cut to the chase so I can get some questions here. But here's the deal: If you take a look at where these guys are, this is not your father's Republican Party. Did you ever think in the year that we're in at this moment, 2022, there'd be Governors and others banning booksâbanning booksâin schools?

Did you ever think you'd be in a situation where we found thatâyou were in a position where they talk about how we should make Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid up for grabs every 4â5 years? Because that's what they're doing. This is not your father's Republican Party. This is a MAGA party. This is the MAGA party.

And the head of their Republican campaign committee, Senator Rick Scottâthe ultra- MAGA agenda he put forward, he raises taxes on 70 million people who make less thanâwell less than $100,000.

Audience member. No!

Secondly, he requires Congress, every 5 years, to vote to whether or not to keep Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Audience member. No.

The President. Everyâthat's their platform. I'm not joking. Weâve got to start talking more about what these guys are about. That's literally their platform.

And so, folks, we need to control the House and Senate, which I wasâlistening to others people speak, you know the whole deal there. And we can do it.

Right now, when you have a 50/50 Senate and your Presidentâand fortunately, we have a Democratic Vice President. Every time she votes, we win.

But the point is this, you've got 51 "presidents." Any one Member can beâand 48 percentâ 48 Democrats vote with me onâliterally, 95 percent of the time; two change their mind. It just takes one to change their mind and you can't get the 50 votes needed.

And so there's a lot at stake hereâa whole bunch at stake. And I think there are at least four seats that are up for grabs that we could pick up in the Senateâtwo with almost certainty if we do the right thing.

And we're going to keep the House. Because if we don't, just let me remind you: Just look atâwhat I always ask people when the press ask me, I say: "Can you tell me what the Republican Party stands for today? What are they for?" Not a joke. Tell me anything they are for, as a party.

There's good Republicans. I had a reputation, when I was a Senator, of being able to walk across theâwork across the aisle as well as anybody. I passed significant amounts of bipartisan legislation in those 36 years.

But today, if you look at the leaders of the Republican Party, what is their agenda? It's not a conservative agenda. It's not an agenda. They have no agenda; to stop what we're doing.

And, folks, so there's a whole bunch at stake here. And that's why I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, not only for helping me, but so many of you helped other members of the party who are seeking office and will be seeking office this off year. Because if we win, we have an opportunity to do such great things for this country on the environment, on matters relating to health care, on matters relating to mental health, on matters relating to the criminal justice systemâa whole range of things that are within our reach to do.

We have the votes to do it if we pick up theseâat least two seats here. And I think we can do it.

With that, why don't I, as my motherâif she were here, she'd say, "Joey, hush up and take the questions." [*Laughter*]

So thank you for listening, and I'm prepared toââ

[*At this point, the press departed. The event continued; no transcript was provided.*]

NOTE: The President spoke at 7:01 p.m. at the residence of Rep. David J. Trone and his wife June. In his remarks, he referred to Reps. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger and Anthony G. Brown; Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin; Associate Justiceâdesignate Ketanji Brown Jackson; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; and Sens. Joseph A. Manchin III and Kyrsten L. Sinema. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 10. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Potomac, MD.

Locations: Potomac, MD.

Names: Brown, Anthony G.; Cardin, Benjamin L.; Harris, Kamala D.; Jackson, Ketanji Brown; Manchin, Joseph A., III; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Ruppersberger, C.A. "Dutch"; Scott, Richard L.; Sinema, Krysten L.; Trone, David J.; Trone, June.

Subjects: Budget, Federal : Deficit and national debt; Civil rights : Voting rights; Congress : Bipartisanship; Democratic Party : Democratic National Committee; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Economy, national : Improvement; Economy, national : Inflation; Elections : 2022 congressional elections; Employment and unemployment : Job creation and growth; Energy : Gasoline, oil, and natural gas costs; Health and medical care : Medicare and

Medicaid; Judiciary : Federal court nominations and confirmations; Judiciary : Supreme Court :: Associate Justice; Maryland : Democratic Party event; Maryland : President's visits; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Republican Party : National Republican Senatorial Committee; Russia : President; Russia : Ukraine, airstrikes and invasion; Science and technology : Research and development; Social Security and retirement : Social Security program; Ukraine : Russian airstrikes and invasion; White House Office : Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD202200378.