Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

June 27, 2023

The President. Well, folks, you know, I may step down there and talk so I can see you all.

Look, I'll try to be relatively brief here.

Sandy and Stewart, you've been helping me for a long time, and helping me not only with your personal contributions, but you know, people make judgments about elected officials, in large part by the people who support them. I really mean it. It's all of you who have beenâalmost every one of you have helped me in the past. Every one of you has been really generous.

And, by the way, I want you to meet the next United States Senator from the State of Delaware. Stand up, Congresswoman.

Our families are close. Her sister ran my office that got me reelected. Her father was first- team all-American in basketball. And he was with the "Fabulous Five." He is literally picked as one of the best ball players in history. He went to an all HBCU. They won the national championship back in the sixties. And her dad is an incredible guyâincredible guy. But her mother has all the brains. Butâall friends.

Look, folks, you know, there's a lot at stake, to state the obvious. And I want to make sure thatâyou know, you've probably heard me say that I'm more optimistic about America today than I've ever been in my entire career. And that seems like a contradictory thing to say when so much wrongâis going wrong in the country.

I wasâI've met withâwith Xi Jinping face to face more than any other world leader has.

I've spent over 85 hours with him alone, 68 of which are in person. Back when I was Viceâwhen I was Vice President, it was clear he was going to become the President. Barack could not spend the time with him. And so I was theâI traveled 17,000 miles with him all across the world, including in China.

And we were on the Tibetan Plateau on one of our meetings, and he looked at me, and he said, "Can you define America for me?" And I said, "Yes, I can, in one word." And he looked at me. I said, "Possibilities." No, really.

Think about it. It's one of the reasons why a lot of other countries think we're the "ugly Americans." We think we can do anything.

There's never been anything we've set our mind to do as a country we haven't been able to eventuallyânever, never. And there's so much at stake right now.

You know, when I was deciding whether or not to run again for officeâand I had been out of office 4 years. I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania. They gave me a couple- million-dollar budget to hire personnel. I had people like Tony Blinken working for me.

[*At this point, there was a brief microphone malfunction.*] Is this still working? There you go.

And I wasn't going to run again. Myâmy son had just died. And what happened was: I wasâI was watching the television one night, and I saw theâwhat happened in Charlottesville, Virginia. And I saw, literally, people coming out of the woods carrying torchesâout of the fieldsâyou couldn't make this upâcarrying Nazi flags and singing the same venomous

antisemitic chants they sang in thirties in Germanyâand accompanied by White supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan.

And a young woman was killed, a bystander, and I spoke to her mom. And when the outgoingâthe existingâthe sitting President saidâ"What do you think, Mr. President, of what happened?" He said, "I think there were very fine people on both sides." "Very fine people on both sides."

And I thought to myself, "How can that possiblyâhow could you possibly say that? How could you possiblyâbe so encouraging to White supremacists and Nazi sympathizersâneo- Nazis?" And so I decided I was going to run.

But then I realized how ugly it would be. And so I wasn't sure I wanted to put my kids through that, because I knew what would happen.

And so we have a tradition in our family, for real. Any child can ask for a family meeting. And I'm serious; we've had, since I've been alive, nine family meetings total. And they're taken seriously. Any child can ask for a family meeting, because if I asked for one, it's important.

And my kids and my grandkids asked if we could have a family meeting. And my granddaughter, who was then a senior at Columbia Law School, myâanother granddaughter, who was a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, one was a juniorâa sophomore at Penn, and one was on her way there. And they asked for a meeting.

And my little grandson, who is now 18 years old, was, I guess, 9 years old or thereabouts.

And they said: "Pop, we know it's going to be ugly. We know." Being the son or daughter or granddaughter of a Senator, a Vice President, a President, and aâor attorney general or a decorated war veteran like my son was, isâtheyâthey're used toâeverybody thinks it's a great thing. But you get a lot of downside for that.

And so they made the case. Myâmy grandkids: "Daddy wants you to run. They know it'sâ and we know it's going to be tough."

My little grandson, who was, I guessâwell, how would he be then? He would have been probably 6 yearsâ7 years old. He took out his cell phone. He said: "We know, Pop. It's going to be terrible."

And he showed me a photograph on the internetâa photographâa photograph of me walking out of the church where my son just had a military service and aâout on the way to the graveyard with my hand on aâhand-draped [flag-draped; White House correction] casket with myâwhere my son was being escorted.

And I used to always hold my grandsonâmy son Beau. In church, I used toâwhen he would walkâunder his chin, I'd letâput my arm around him andâand hold him. So I had my little grandson Hunter, his son, standing next to me, and I did the same thing. And theâ [*inaudible*]âsaid, "Biden molests another child." And so he said, "We know it's going to be ugly, Pop."

And so I ran. And I ran for three reasons.

One, to restore the soul of this countryânot a joke, not a jokeâdecency, honor, being able to treat people with respect, not doing what we're doing.

Secondly was to rebuild the country from the middle out and the bottom up. Not thatâI wasn't big on trickle-down economics, because I thinkâI'm a capitalist. If you can make a million dollars or billion dollars, have at it. I really mean it. I support that. But everybodyâwhen

you only trickâwhen you think it's going to trickle down, not much trickled down on my dad's kitchen table.

So I've always been of a view that the way to build a country economically and reestablish our dynamism was to rebuild the middle class. And when you rebuild the middle class, the poor does very well and the wealthy still do very well.

And the third reason wasâ[*inaudible*]âunite the country. And you'll recall that's when the press justifiably said: "Joe Biden is out of touch. He used to be able to do that; he had a reputation to be able to pull Democrats and Republic together, but you can't do it anymore. That time has passed."

But I was convinced it could still happen.

So the end result was, when I got elected, I hired people with me who shareâand by the way, my staff, including the campaign staff, didn't buy onto my reasons. I mean, they thought they were right, but they didn't think it was the way to run. The end result was, though, we were able to win.

And when we did, we put together a team on foreign policy and domestic policy, because I'm convincedâI'm convinced that we can, in fact, unite this country in a way that it hadn't been united in a long, long time. And one of the things that I hadâhad saidâ[*inaudible*]âwe thought that we would be able to pull people together in variousâboth in foreign policy and domestic policy.

Before I announcedâbefore I decided to run, I started to write another book. And this book wasn't about my son. This book was about what was changing the world, how technology has changed the world. And I started off on the first chapter talking about the printing press and Gutenberg, how it fundamentally changed relations among countries. And I was going to work it all the way through whereâwhat's happening now with AI and other things, which I don't know nearly as much about.

And so what happened was that I realized that I had to do something to demonstrate why we could be so good. And so one of the things we did in the foreign policyâI was convinced, and still am, that the world is changing so rapidly, we have a chance to do things we could never do before.

Think about this: If anybody told youâand my staff wasn't so sure, eitherâthat we'd be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq [Ukraine; White House correction] and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it's not likely. The one thing Putin counted on was being able to split NATO.

My staff has figured out I've spent 180 hoursâ180 hours in direct contact with my friends in Europe and NATO members in the EU. And aboveâof that, a lot of it was in person, but some of it was on Zoom.

And we've been able to hold the west togetherâhold it together. That's the one thing that Putin thought he could do is break it. And he still thinks he can break it. But guess what's happened? By holding the West together on everything from North Africa all the way to dealing with what's going on in Europe, we've changed the dynamic.

And the idea thatâfor example, IâI said I was going to go toâto Japan to meet with the Prime Minister, because he would beâhe would change his views. And I spent a lot of time with him. And he didn't need my convincing as much as he'd already decidedâfirst time Japan has increased their military budget significantly and got engaged in a European war, because he knew that if they didn't do that, it would send a green light about Taiwan and a number of other things. And he's gotten deeply involved.

I said something at a fundraiser earlier last week that was misleading. I didn't mean to be.

And that was thatâI said I convinced him to deal with South Korea. He told me he was going to work out something with South Korea, because of the World War II leftoverâand he did. And then I stronglyâhe asked me to strongly support it, which I did.

The idea that you haveâin the Far East, you haveâin the Pacific, you have Japan and South Korea working with United States, dealing with what's going on in Europe as well as the Taiwan Straits.

The idea we were able to put together a thing called the Quadâthat is Indiaâexcuse me, India, Japan, the United States, and Australiaâfundamentally changing security in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

A whole range of things that are happeningâa whole range of things that are happening around the world. And this is the first timeâyou think of thisânone of you canâIâeven if you're as old as I am, you can't think of a time when the world was moving so rapidly in determining what their alliances were and where they were.

You probably saw my new best friendâ[*laughter*]âtheâthe Prime Minister of a little country that's now the largest in the world, ChinaâI mean, excuse me, India. India is not looking for a permanent alliance, but they're looking for some hedge againstâin the region.

So my point is, the world is changing. And if you take a look at Africa and South Americaâ and Africa is going to have a billion peopleâone billion people by 2033. And they have very little ability to deal with changing the infrastructure and growing their economies. And so we convinced our Gâ7 partners that we all should be doingâwe're the ones that cause climate change. The west toâwe cut all our forest down. Weâand so what are we doing to do to help Africa?

They needâand by the way, China came in and said, "We'll give you money to build your roads as long as you use Chinese workers and as long as you pay us a lot of money to allow us to dock our ships." Well, guess what? That turned intoâinstead of Belt and Road, it turns into a noose and debt. And so it's all changing.

We've convinced our colleaguesâfor example, we're going to build a largestâthe west is going to build the largest solar facility in the world in Angola. We're going to move toâand we're going to haveâbuild the first transcontinental railroad across all of Africa. All of us are going to do that. Why? Some countries have the significant food resources. Some people have energy resources. There's no way they could share it even if they want to. None at all.

So my generic point is, the world is changing. In Latin America, the same way. Look what's happening in the Gulf. We're working like hell to deal with trying to generate support for democracy in the region.

And, for example, in Brazilâthe Brazil rainforest absorbs more carbon out of the air than every ounce of carbon emitted from the United States on a yearly basis. We've got to preserve it. It costs a lot of money to preserve, but guess what? All those folks want to go in. And they have farmers, and they want to clear cut, they want to plant crops, et cetera.

So I'm trying to work with our allies around the world to provide them money not to do it.

Pay them not to do it to give them opportunities to generate industries and all that.

I could go on, but the point is, the world is changing. It's changing. And we have an opportunity to send it in the right direction. We really do. And I think that's why I'm so excited aboutâI know it's why I'm so excited about the prospects for the next 4 years and beyond, because we can change the dynamic of the world right now. It's within our power to have significantâif we can keep our allies together and grow them.

And so the second thing is on the economy. When I was a kid in the Senateâ[*laughter*]âI was 29 when I got elected. I had to wait 17 days to be sworn in.

But my point is that IâI sayâas I said at the outsetâand I'm going to make a speech on this in Chicago tomorrow: The Wall Street Journal andâwhat was the other major publication? The Journal and one other major conservative publication referred to my economic plan as "Bidenomics."

And they've been very actually complimentary about it, because I was convinced, as I said, that we had to become the leader in the world in infrastructure. How can you be the leading nation in the world and have a second rate infrastructure? We're ranked number 9, 10, or 11â whatever the hell it was. We used to be number one.

How in God's name could we be the leading country in the world when we have a circumstance where we don't haveâwe used to invest more in research and development than any nation in the world. And guess what? We used to have 2 percent of our GDP. Guess what? Now itâ[*inaudible*]âseven-tenths of 1 percent of our GDP. So we changed that. We changed that by the legislation we passed.

How can we be in a position whereâmy dad used to have an expression. He said, "Joey, inflation is a real problem." This is back when I was a kid. But it's notâthe real question for middle class families and poor families says is: Is there anything left in your paycheck? Do you have any breathing room left in the paycheck?

My dad literallyâmy word as a Bidenâmy dad used to say: "Joey, your job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, 'Honey, it's going to be okay' and mean it." I swear to God, that was my dad, for real. For real.

And soâand what happened? Well, we decided that we had to do something to give people a shot. And so what we did was, we changedâweâat the end of the day, inflationâwe brought it down 11 months in a row. I hope it continues, but think about it. Major, major banks andâand international finance organizations, they said, "The recession is coming next month." It's been coming for 11 months.

Well, guess what? I don't think it's going to come because we've never had as dynamic a growth in American historyâneverâeven including Roosevelt's time. We haveâwe've created

13.6 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobsâ800,000 manufacturing jobs.

If you go onâand so when you talk about what's happening in terms ofâas my dad says, "a little breathing room"âmore than one way to provide breathing room to deal with inflation.

We're bringing inflation down and, God willing, we'll continue.

But here's the deal. At the end of the month, if you'reâwhat are you worried about: the inflation going up as high as it's been or being able to pay your medical bills?

We payâwe pay the highest prescription drug prices of any nation in the worldâof any developed nation. The same company, making the same exact drug sold in Toronto or London or Paris or Bucharest is significantly cheaper. Why?

I was in Northern Virginia not long ago doing a town meeting, and a lovely woman stood up withâalmost tears. And she said, "I have two children with type 2 diabetes." She said: "Andâ and I need insulin. And I have a job, but my insurance won't cover that insulin. And I had to split it sometimes." Talk about depriving a family of their dignity. Knowing you had to split the insulin and one of your kids may die. I mean, talk about the impact on a family.

And so I decided thatâI've been fighting this for a long timeâover 20 yearsâit's about time that we were able to negotiate drug prices with the pharma companies.

For example, you know how much it costs to make that insulin? Tenât-e-nâdollars. Ten dollars is the actual cost. To package it, another $2. So now theyâthat insulin costs $35 instead of $400 per insulin shotâa month.

The point I'm making isâand by the way, I evenâoriginally when I wrote itâit passed the Senateâincluding everyone, not just the people on Medicare. Theyâmy friends on the Republican side knocked out the non-Medicare portion.

But the point is, I keepâand when we were doing that settlement on trying to figure out how to keep us from going bankrupt as a nation for the first time in American history. Well, I said, "Look"âthey said, "We're not going to do anything having to do with taxes."

And I said, "Well, let me tell you something." And they moved to eliminate this legislationâeliminate all the legislation we passed. And I said, "You know, it saves the country money." I said: "It saves the people who are onâneed this insulin about 350 bucks a month per insulin shot. But it also saves the country $168 billion less being paid out."

They looked to me. They said, "How can"âthat's what it does, by the way, because theâ your taxes are paying for that Medicare. And when you reduce the price of this whole project we haveâfor example, next year, we pick eight more drugs, and they negotiate the prices of those drugs. It's already in the law.

Well, guess what? They're trying to eliminate it again in their new legislation. They wanted to make sure they made fundamental changes in Social Security and Medicareâeliminate a lot of it.

By the way, I never thought my third State of the Union Address would be negotiated on the floor of the United States Congress, but it worked. [*Laughter*] Remember when I saidâ [*applause*]âbecause I said, "They want to cut Social Security and Medicare." And they said: "Liar! Liar!" And I said, "Okay." I said, "Everybody who thinks you want to cut it, raise your hand." Silence. I said, "Everybody who is opposed cuttingâpromised not to cut it." No one raised their hand. I said, "Folks, you're on camera." [*Laughter*]

But all kidding aside, so when you reduce pricesâfor example, you all know about junk fees. The average American does. Now, you want to take your grandson or daughter to see your mom or dad andâif they're still aliveâor your mother or father to California to see them. And you have a child with you. Not until you get the ticket do you find out you paid about double for the ticket to have your child sit next to you.

Or, for exampleâI don't want to insult anybody who is a banker here; there's a lot of good bankers. But guess what? Overdraft feesâ155â$55 billion a year in overdraft fees.

There was one bankerâI'm not going to mention his name; he's probably a good guyâhe had a yacht called "Overdraft." [*Laughter*] As they say, "Google it." You'll see I'm telling you the truth. "Overdraft." Well, guess what? It sunk. [*Laughter*]

But my generic point is, these are the things that matter to ordinary peopleâto ordinary people. And they're big numbers for ordinary people. When they find out all these extra costs that are hidden costs.

And my staff thought I was crazy. I think it's fair to say my staff didn't think it was such a great idea. Well, guess what? It's off the charts because people don't like being played for suckers. Whether you're wealthy, you're middle class, or you're poor, you don't like being played for a sucker.

My generic point is, those hidden fees are part of what people think is wrong with the country generally. They think they're being taken advantage of across the board, and they're not. They're not. So if you pick the ones that are the most egregious and eliminate them, it makes a big difference, in my view, in terms of public confidence, which leads me toââ

You know, I made a speech when I ran last timeâand some of you were foolish enough to help me then, tooâin New York City, at IndependentâI mean in Philadelphia, at Independence Hall, on democracy being at stake. And I got roundly criticized by the press. "What the hell is he talking about that for? Who cares?" I mean, no one thinks thatânot everybody in the press, but a lot of criticism.

Well, guess what? Over 65 percent of the American people worry about democracy being at stake, for real. Think about it. How aboutâdid you ever think we'd be in a position where not only 55 years of *Roe *v. *Wade *would be overruled, but then you have two Justices saying: "And by the way, let's make it clear there is no right to privacy to who you marry. There's no right of privacy"âand it goes down the whole list of things. Contraception. And when I said they're going to go after that, what's happening now in many States across the Nation? Outlawing contraception.

So I'mâyou know, I happen to be a practicing Catholic. I'm not big on abortion. But guess what? *Roe *v. *Wade *got it right. *Roe *v. *Wade *cut in a place where the vast majority of religions have reached agreement. Historically, the first 3 months or thereabouts, in all major religions, was: That's between a woman and her doctor. The next 3 months is betweenâI mean, just a woman and her family. Next 3 months is between a woman and her doctor. The last 3 months have to be negotiated, because you can'tâunless you are in a position where your physical health is at stakeâyou can't do it.

And so, in addition to that, we found out that it used to be an accepted principle that rape and incest were exceptionsâwere exceptions to that rule. Look at the States that have changed the rules. Look at the States that have changed the rules. State legislatures. Did you ever think you'd see a day when you would not onlyâforget your position on abortionâbut were rape and incest were not even considered, number one? Couldn't be. And at the same time, we're in a situation where you wereâwe're banning books in schools, and not just anyânot just the schoolboard; anybody can come in and call for the banning of a book.

I mean, this the United States of America, for God's sake. The United States of America. And so there'sâand one last thing: The rise of anti-Semitism in America is out of whack.

Way out of whack. So I've set up a major Commission. I brought in all theâall the groups into

White House to focus on dealing withâdealing with anti-Semitism.

But it's not just anti-Semites. Look what's happening in terms of the way women wearing a headscarfâmost at-risk people in America. God love you, I'm so proud of you. No, noâwe know each other. But I mean it.

But thinkâthink about what's happening in the United States of America. Gun legislation. Gun legislation. I was the guy, along with Barbaraâexcuse meâthe Senator from California who's about to retire, who got the assault weapons ban passed. And you know what? It worked. It drastically reduced the number of mass murders across the country. And there was a mass murder in every poor neighborhood in America every single day. And it fundamentally changed it.

Andâbut I couldn't get it passed for more than 10 years. And we have to reauthorize it. And the Bush administration came along andâboth Bushes are decent people, but they succumbed to theirâto the gun lobby.

You know, they're the only major industry in America you cannot sue. It'sâ[*inaudible*]â law is the gun industry, gun manufacturing. Well, imagine if that had been the case with tobacco. How many thousand more people would be dead if we couldn't sue the tobacco companies?

And so I think we've got to change two changes. One, we have to once against assault weapon, which I'm going to get done come by hell or high water. And twoâtwo, we have to change the lawâ[*inaudible*]. It doesn't mean that everything happens is their fault. But I found out, when I was up inâ[*inaudible*]âup in Connecticutâthe fact is that, as I'm toldâI can't swear to this; I haven't verified it yetâis that one of the reasons we'reâthe gun manufacturers are so committed to the ARâ15 is because it's the biggest moneymaker they have, and they sell more than any other weapon. The single biggest moneymaker they have.

And you know who they sell it to? They sell it to young people. They talk about: "This is your manhood. This is what you"âI mean, what's going on?

And the fact we don't have background checks that are universal, that you'reâcan walk in at 16, 17, 18 years old and buy a pistol in many States? Open carryâthat's a real good idea. That's a real good idea.

My wife is a full-time school professor. They want schoolteachers to be able to be armed, as if that's going toânow, my wife might be able to shoot you.

But noâbut all kidding aside, think about it. Think about what the hell we're doing. And think about the number ofâI won't go through the detail withâ[*inaudible*]âthe number of mass murders that have occurred. The number. It'sâI mean, it's at a historic high. We can stop it.

So there's two things we need to do. We have to outlaw assault weapons, and we have to outlaw magazines that can hold more than nine bullets. That's even too much. But I don't think I've beenâby the way, in Delaware, we have a high rate of gun ownership because there's a lot of duck hunters, for real. That's why so manyâmostly shotguns.

But at any rate, I was going through trying to sell the assault weapons ban when I wasâthe first time around as a Senator. So I'm walking through the Delawareâthe Delaware-Maryland area has an awful lot of swamp area, all through theâand I always kid Steny Hoyer and say, "The best part of Maryland is in Delaware." [*Laughter*]

But all kidding asideâbut all kidding aside, I'm walking through and Iâin Delaware. As the Congresswoman can tell you, it's hand to hand, they expect you toâfor example, Pete du Pont was a very competent Governor and wanted to run against me for the Senate. They did a survey. "Have you ever met Pete du Pont?" Seventy-one percent of the people said yesâor sixty-one.

Seventy-four said they'd met me, and they said, "Have you ever met them more than once?" Fifty- eight percent said me. And 29 or 30 percent. I mean, no other State in America isâit's all hand- to-hand combat in Delaware. [*Laughter*]

And so, anyway, I was walking through, and this guy said, "You're going to take my damn gun from me, Biden?" He was fishing. And I said, "What"âI said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You going to take my gun away." And I said, "No, no, I'm just going to take your ARâ15 away if you have one." He said, "Why are you doing that?" I said, "How many deer wear Kevlar vests out there?" [*Laughter*] And he looked at me. No, I swear to God, true story.

Not only, I said, "Well, what do you need something can shoot up to 200 rounds? Remember what happened in Colorado? Remember what happened?" And he said, "I don't." And I said, "Well, if you do, you're a hell of a lousy shot." And he said, "Damn"âI won't say exactly what he said, but "Damn, boy, you made a point."

Because they're trying to make it seem like we're trying to take everybody's gun away. Not true. But we have to have some rational basis for gun ownership.

The last thing I think I'd like to mention to you is education. You know, my wife has an expression. And my wife neverâshe never talked to a group of more than the size of her school ever. And now she's out talking to 8-, 10,000 people sometimes, because she's so committed.

And my point is this: She has an expression. She said, "Any country that outeducates us will outcompete us." Any country that outeducates us will outcompete us."

And what's really even hurt education more is the pandemic. It's had a profound impact on the mental health of our children but also the loss of 6 monthsâthe loss of 3 months in school is equivalent to losing a year and a half of education. All this data shows this is real.

And so I think we have to invest more in education. Rather than just having daycare centers, I think we should have pre-K at 3 years old.

What happens isâall the studies have shown in the last 10 years, from Stanford to Harvard to Pennâall the major universitiesâUniversity of Virginia, et ceteraâhave done studies that show that no matter what home you come from, what background, if you start off learning reading, writing, arithmetic, and some version of that when you're 3 years old, you have a 57- percent better chance of going through all 12 years and on to maybe an apprenticeship or community college. That's significant. That is significant.

And by the way, I met with the Business Roundtable. And when I wasâright when I was Vice President, the Secretary of Commerce was the sister of the Governor of California, a really brilliant woman. And we interviewed, by phone mostly, overâI think it wasâdon't hold me to the exactâ540 or 549 or -50 CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies and asked what's theirâwhat's their major concern they have. You know what they say, the majority? A better educated workforce. And I said, "Well, you're not helping much."

And I pointed out that in the State of Delaware, which used to, when I started running, be called the "State of DuPont"âa very important family in the State. But the company was the eighth largest companyâcorporation in the world at the time; it's now number 81 or something like that.

But I said the DuPont company, when they buy a new enterpriseâwhich they were doing not infrequentlyâthey would educate that enterprise. They would educate those people. And I saidâand I'd ask on the phone. I'dâ[*inaudible*]âI said: "You don't have to answer me, but do you educate your new employees? Do you educate them?" Virtually nobody does anymore.

And I said, "So why are you opposing my effort to have a better educated public?" And it was silence on the phone most the time. And they changed their mind, the vast majority, because of the data that's coming in and what we can do.

And so I guess what I'm saying is, I think part of what we have to do is try to get away from the basic labelsâthat "Biden is a liberal" or "Biden is a right-winger," or "Biden is whatever he is"âand talk about the factsânot just Biden, but otherâother of my colleagues, in both the House and the Senate and in other positions.

And I think we can get there. I really think we can get there because I thinkâand I spoke with a couple of folks today, a couple of columnists, and I've spoken to some of the press. The idea thatâthe idea that they think they're going to increase their standing by going right back at what I was able to brush offâhaving them move away from, in terms of eliminating all the programs I've mentioned plus others, including Social Security and Medicare they're changing again, after promising they wouldn't, and agreeing in the agreement that we had relative to the debt ceiling.

And by the way, all the stuff that I've doneâwe've doneâguess how much we'veâhow much it's raised the debt. We've cut the debt $1.7 trillion. More than any President ever has.

And so we have a good story to tell, but we got to tell it. And I was asked by the press someâI forget who asked me todayâthat: "Why are you just starting this extensive drive now?" Well, the reason we're starting now is because no one knew what the hell we passed. No one knewâthey knew we passed it. They thought the idea was good.

[*An airplane flew overhead.*]

That's Trump. He always flies over. [*Laughter*] I'm teasing. That's a bad joke. Bad joke.

But all kidding aside, think about it. WeâI had to spend the firstâeverybody told me I couldn't pass any of this stuff. We got it all. We got more major legislation passed than anybody since Roosevelt. I mean, for real. Fundamental changes in economic and foreign policyânot because of meâbecause I have great staff, and I got a lot of support.

But here's the second point. The second point is the reason I'm pushing it so hard now is, people know generically what's happened, and they think it's importantâand overwhelming support for everything we passed by the publicâbut they don't know what it means in their own home, in their own neighborhoods.

So, for example, if you ever take Amtrak to New York from here, well, guess what? You go through a tunnel that wasâhadn't had anything done to it since 1907. I'm probably the only non- AmtrakâI've traveled 1,200,000 miles on Amtrak, for real. Because Iâafter my wife and daughter were killed, I didn't plan on staying. I started to commute.

And I had the dubious distinction of being listed as the poorest man in Congress for 38 yearsâ36 years. I didn't think I was poor. I hadâI had a good Senate salary. I thought I was fine. But I was the poorest guy, literally.

And so I could not afford a house in Washington and in Wilmington, and I sold my houseâI have a nice house in Wilmington. If I sold it, I'd be gone. If you leave Wilmingtonâif you leave Delaware, you might as well forget it. Okay?

So one day we're getting on a train, and theâand theâwhen I was Vice President, and the Secret Service never liked me riding the train because it's more dangerous. You canâyou know, they have 99 chance of doing something bad.

And so I'm getting on the train to go home and see my mom, who was living with me, who was dying. And I get in the train, and the guyâI won't mention his name because I mentioned it last time, and he was so proud Iâbut I didn't mention others, so I won't mention this time. And this guy walks up to meâI've known from a time I wasâstarted riding the train. He goes, "Joey, baby!" And grabs my cheek. And I thought Secret Service was going to shoot him. [*Laughter*] I said, "No"âI'm serious. Am I joking about how theyâmy friends in Amtrak?

I had picnics in my house for all the Amtrak conductors, because they were so damn good to me all the years. No, I really mean it.

He said: "I just read in the paper: You traveled 1 million 100 thousand"âor I think it was 1,100,000 milesâ"on Air Force planes." We have to list everyâthey keep a record of every time we're in an Air Force plane. And he said, "Big effing deal, Joey." [*Laughter*]

And I saidâI said, "Ange, what's the problem?" He said, "Joey, we just had a retirement dinner up in Newark." He said, "And we checkedâwe checked it out. You've traveled 1,200,000 miles." [*Laughter*] I said, "How'd you get that, Ange?" He said: "Well, we figured it out. You were in session about 117 days year-end average, times that by 36 years, then times the time as vice president. You've traveled over 1,200,000. I don't want to hear any more of this!" [*Laughter*]

Well, everybody thinks every time I mention Amtrak I'mâyou knowâbut we got $45 billion more for Amtrakâ[*applause*]âbecause here's the deal: If you want to have an impact on the environment, get vehicles off the road.

And guess what? All the data showsânot a jokeâif somebody can go from point A to point B on a railroad and get there quicker than they can in their car, theyâthey don't drive their car.

They don't drive their car.

And so, for example, the Baltimore tunnel, it's going to cost a billion dollars to fix it. Had nothing been done to it since 1906, I think it was.

I'm probably the only non-Amtrak guy that's ever walked through that tunnel. For real.

Walkedâlight bulbs hanging from theâyou know, likeâlike in aâcords in a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, flooding going on when it rains real hard. It's under the bay. Not floodingâwipe out the track. But trains have to go through there, if my memory is correct now, at 30 miles an hour. And some of them aren't stopping in Baltimore; they're going through.

Well, guess what? We're fixing it for safety reasons, but in addition to that, you're going to be able to go through that tunnel at 100 miles an hour, fundamentally saving time. Same with New York. It's a lot of money. It's overâgoing to beâcost a billion dollars out of theâout of the fund we have forâfor infrastructure.

But guess what? It's creating thousands of good-paying jobs, generating economic growth in downtown Baltimore.

And I said when I passed this legislation, I was going to be a President for all people, whether they voted for me or not.

Well, guess what? A guy I'm friendly with, we get on well, is the Senatorâhe's smart as hellâthe Senator from Kentucky, Mitch Landrieu. They've been trying to fix that bridge foreverââ

[*The audio was briefly distorted.*]

ââwalls going to collapse. And you see the bridge collapses that are going on? Okay. And guess what it cost to rebuild that bridge: close to $1 billion.

More rail traffic and more truck traffic goes over that bridge than almost any bridge in the country, and it connects an entire economic system going all the way down to Florida. Well, we're going to build it. We're going to build it. Again, it's going to be a boom for Kentucky and Missouri, but that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

And so I guess my point is this: The reason we're doing what we're doing now is letting people know exactly what's happening, what's going to happen.

We had an event yesterdayâand I'll end with this. We're replacing every single, solitary lead pipe in America. Hear me? Children areâfewer children are going to die and have mental illness. Every single lead pipe to the houseâto the houseâit costs them money. And we're going to make sure they haveâthose lead pipes are fixed.

In addition to that, we announced yesterday we're spending billions of dollars for high-speed internet that's cheap. And it's going to fundamentally change what happens in communities.

In many communities, you can't evenâhow many people you'veâyou've heard that work for you said, "I had to stop at McDonald's with my kid to do their homework so I could pick up the internet"? I'm being deadly earnest.

How many farmers without access to internet know when the best time to sell their cattle is or their crop? They have to rely on the big conglomerates.

So it's going to fundamentally change how we think of ourselves. And it's going to up the ability of ordinary families to have access to more information and grow.

So the only point I'm making is, there is a lot we're doing. And we still cut the deficit by $1.7 billion, doing every one of these things. And I think if the Republicanâand by the way, this is not your father's Republican Party. A lot of really good Republicans I've worked with. I've had seven of themâthe press heard me say thisâindividuallyâwell, in one case, two came to me, but in the other case, one at a timeâI promised I'd never say their names, and I'll go to my grave without mentioning itâsaying, "Joe, I agree with you"âI give my wordâ"I agree with you, Joe. But if Iâif I join you, they'll primary, and I'm going to lose my election. I'll lose my election." Not a statement of courage, but a statement of reality.

So we've got to change all of this. And I think we're in the process of doing it, because I only have faith in the American people.

You know, I'm always quoting Irish poets on the floor of the Senate, and they always kid me about it, and they thought I was doing it because I'm Irish. It's not the reason. They're the best poets in the world. [*Laughter*]

And there's a guy named Seamus Heaney. I've become friends with his wife. HeâI just knew him vaguely. And he wrote a poem called "The Cure at Troy." And the line in the poem goesâhe said: "All is changed, changed utterly. A terrible beauty has been born." All has changed, internationally and nationally. And we canâI am more optimistic about our ability to control everything from the environment to all the things we're talking about and put them in a better place than before.

I reallyâI honest to God believe it. And I knowâand the one thing I can say: I've been around longer than anybody. I don't brag about that very often. But all kidding aside, I think we can do great things. I really do. I really do.

And so, with your help, I hope to be able to do that. And you're helpingâby the way, the money raised here is significant. You're helping a great deal. I want to thank our host and all of you. And many of you, it's a second or third time. You've got to blame yourself now, not me. [*Laughter*]

But youâbut you knowâanyway, thank you, thank you, thank you. [*Music began to play.*]

White House aide. We have closed the roadsâ[inaudible].

The President. Last thing. If I don't leave, we lose thousands of votes. You think I'm joking?

We set a time when we comeâwe have to give the local officials a time we are going to be leaving on the road. Since I've become President, a lot different thanâI had lunch with Barack today, who was helping me. It wasâand he was remarking how much heâI have 80-something vehicles that follow me. [*Laughter*]

And I used to think we hadâwe had traffic problems on the highway. I don't know what the hell is the matter. We have no problems. [*Laughter*] None at all. But we also make a hell of a lot of people mad if we don't get going, because they'reâthey block the roads beginning now.

So thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you, Mr. Ambassador.

NOTE: The President spoke at 7:07 p.m. at the residence of Sandy and Stewart Bainum. In his remarks, he referred to Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, her sister Marla Blunt-Carter, father Theodore Blunt, and mother Alice LaTrelle; President Xi Jinping of China; former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump; Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken; Susan Bro, mother of

Heather D. Heyer, who was killed during the vehicular attack in Charlottesville, VA, on August 12, 2017; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan; Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India; Midlothian, VA, resident Shannon Davis and her sons Joshua and Jackson; Sen. Dianne Feinstein; Rep. Steny H. Hoyer; former Secretary of Commerce Penny S. Pritzker and her brother, Gov. Jay R. "J.B." Pritzker of Illinois; Sen. A. Mitchell McConnell; and Marie Heaney, wife of Irish poet Seamus Heaney. He also referred to his granddaughters Naomi K. Biden Neal and Finnegan, Maisy, and Natalie Biden. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on June 28. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Campaign reception in Chevy Chase, MD. Locations: Chevy Chase, MD.

Names: Bainum, Sandy; Bainum, Stewart; Biden Neal, Naomi K.; Biden, Ashley; Biden, Finnegan J.; Biden, Jill T.; Biden, Natalie P.; Biden, R. Hunter; Biden, R. Hunter, II; Biden, Roberta M. "Maisy"; Blinken, Antony J.; Blunt Rochester, Lisa; Blunt, Theodore; Blunt-Carter, Marla; Bro, Susan; Bush, George W.; Davis, Jackson; Davis, Joshua; Davis, Shannon; Feinstein, Dianne; Heaney, Marie; Hoyer, Steny H.; Kishida, Fumio; LaTrelle, Alice; McConnell, A. Mitchell; Modi, Narendra; Obama, Barack; Pritzker, Jay R."J.B."; Pritzker, Penny S.; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Trump, Donald J.; Xi Jinping.

Subjects: Abortion; Africa, economic growth and development; Anti-Semitism; Apprenticeship programs and job training; Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies; Broadband and wireless technologies; Carbon emissions, reduction efforts; China, President; Climate change; Community colleges; Contraception and family planning; COVIDâ19 pandemic; Criminal background check procedures, strengthening efforts; Early childhood education; Economic improvement; Education, global competitiveness; Federal deficit and debt; Firearm rights; Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Gun control efforts; Gun violence, prevention efforts; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Illinois, Governor; India, Prime Minister; Indo-Pacific, economic and security cooperation; Inflation; Infrastructure development, international assistance for developing countries; Infrastructure improvements; Insulin cost controls; Japan, Prime Minister; Japan, relations with South Korea; Job creation and growth; Junk fees imposed on consumers, prevention efforts; Lead service lines, replacement efforts; Maryland, Democratic Party event; Maryland, President's visit; Medicare and Medicaid programs; Mental health programs and services; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Quadrilateral Security Dialogue; Rail infrastructure, improvement efforts; Religious freedom; Research and development; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Secretary of State; Social Security program; Solar and wind energy, promotion efforts; South China Sea, maritime boundary disputes; South Korea, relations with Japan; U.S. diplomatic efforts, expansion; U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Virginia, 2017 civil unrest and violence in Charlottesville.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300578.