Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

June 29, 2023

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you very much. I'm not the essential man, but I represent the essential companyâcountry.

You know, remember Madeleine Albright talked about America being the essential country, theâAmerica having to lead the world? I spent a lot of my time in foreign policy as a Senator and then as Vice President. And she was more right than I thought she wasâthat, you know, when I walk into a room, it's not Joe Biden walking into a room. It's the United States of America walking into a room.

And it hasâno, I mean this sincerely. It surprised me how the rest of the world, in particular our alliesâand not even our alliesâlook at the United States. They look at it like: We're in the house.

By the way, I've got to tell you, I had lunch with Barack the other day. And I was kidding him; I said, "Every time I hear"âhe's helping out a lotâI said, "Every time I hear 'Hail to the Chief,' I turn around and look for you, wondering where the hell you are." [*Laughter*] No, you think I'm kidding. I'm not. Secret Service looks at me sometimes like: "That's you. Come on out." [*Laughter*]

But, folks, there'sâthere's so much at stake. And I want to start by sayingâit's not hyperboleâyou're the reason why I've been able to get anything done on climate. Not a joke. Not a joke. You've held the country together in ways that we were ready to walkââ

The first thing I did when I got elected was rejoin the Paris accord. First act we'veâwe took.

And the impact it had on other nations was like, "Whoa." Not "Joe Biden is back." "America's back in the deal."

But you all have invested so much of your fortune, so much of yourâof thisâof the foundation you have in making sure that everybody understands this is the existential threat to humanity. It is the existential threat. Not a joke. 1.5 degrees Celsius, 19â205. We're in trouble if we get itâI mean, we're in real trouble. It's not going to turn thisâfor example, I was telling a couple of you earlier in the rope lineâI'm sorry I spent so much time talking in the rope line, holding people up.

But you know, I was talking about how 2 years nowâit'll be 3 years this ChristmasâI was in Geneva trying to work out something with Putin, before he invaded Ukraine, on space-based weapons and trying to get a new negotiation going.

And he saidâand I said: "There's a lot we can work on. We can work on climate." He said, "We don't have a problem with"âhe essentially said, "We don't have a problem with climate in Russia." I said: "You've got eight time zones. The permafrost along theâalong the Arctic Circle is melting. More methane is coming out of there than anywhere in the world. And guess what? It's not going to refreeze. You've got a real problem."

The point is that just getting people to realize thatâwhat is at stake. And you've done it.

And you've done itâthe reason I'm standing here is in large part because of you all. Not a joke. I'm not being solicitous. I got a lot of help. I got a lot of help to get electedâa lot of people. But no group of people have been more engaged with me in terms of providing me the means and the judgment and the insight, like we were talking about what you're about to do.

I mean, itâthere's just enormous possibilities, and I'm optimistic. I'm genuinely optimistic.

I just want to tick off a few things, and then I'll go to questions, because I don't want to take too much time talking about things you may not be interested in.

You know, first of all, you know, Iâwhen I saidâwhen I ran, I said I wanted toâI was running for three reasons. One, to restore the soul of this country. By that, I mean the value system we had, the decency, honor. I mean, think of the way we talk aboutâto each other now. I mean, it's embarrassing, in front of our children and our grandchildren. Not "we"âthe public dialogue. The things that are said. I mean, the language used. It's justâit justâit's degrading.

And the rest of the world looks at us and goes, "Whoa, what's going on?"

The first meeting I had after I becameâelected President, I went toâthe Gâ7 was meeting inâoutside of London, along the coast. And I sat down. And with the press here, I'm not going to say who the people were. But I sat down with the other major leaders of NATO and Europe. And whenâI said, "America is back." And one of the leadingâCEOânot CEOsâPresidents of a country looked at me, and he said: "For how long? For how long?" Not a joke.

And I looked at him. And before I could answer, another leader from one of the major four countries in the world looked to me and said: "Mr. President, what would you say if tomorrow we picked up the London Times and you've read that there was a circumstance where a thousand people broke down the doors of the House of Commons, killed two bobbies, and went in and tried to stop the election of a Prime Minister? What would you think?" And it made me realize how profound what's happening here in the United States is to the rest of the world, how theâand whatâwhat would we think? What the hell would we think?

And so one of the things that I was able toâI don't want to say "I"âwe were able to do was up the ante on climate across the board from all theseâwith all these countries and increase the number of countries participating.

Matter of fact, I have aâI don't want to get her in troubleâbut a granddaughter working on this full timeâworking for one of the major institutions, traveling the world dealing with the Gâ 7âthese meetings on climate.

And there is an awakening. Let me put it this way: Since I got elected President, I've been in more helicopter rides with Governors from around the countryâfrom Arizona, New Mexico, up to Washington State, to Idaho, all the way into Montana and down intoâand moreâmore timber has burned to the ground because of climate change, because of theâof the winds and the storms knocking down high-tension wires and many other things, than makes up the entire square feet of the State of Maryland. That's how much has burned to the groundâto the ground.

And so, you know, all of a sudden, when you look out here and you can barely see a building across the lakeâyou know, sometimes it's going toâpeople are beginning toâthere's no longer a debate, "Is there global warming?" "Is there global warming?"

There's a selfishness saying, "I don'tânotwithstanding global warming, we still want to pollute."

I mean, take a look at Texas. Texas has the highest percentageâI think it still doesâof wind and solar. I think it mayâI won'tâI won'tâI don't want to misstate, but a significant percentage of their energy is produced by wind and solar. But guess what? The Governor is trying to cut it back because the oil industry doesn't like it.

I meanâanyway. So I want to just quickly list the things we've been working on and then talk about whatever you want to talk about.

First of all, when I ran, I said we canâyou know, we can get bipartisan things done. The press understandably said: "You used to be able to do that, Joe. You were known for that."

George Mitchell's friend is here. And George mayâhe gave me an award when I was a Senator, saying I got more done because I could have relations across the aisle with people and get things done. But they were the good old days. That's gone.

Yet we were able to get some bipartisan things done. Not with a big number, but just enough Republicans to join us. Some, we had to do it all ourselves.

But as I said, in addition to rejoining the Paris climate treaty, we passed the Inflation Reform [Reduction; White House correction] Act, the largest investment in the history of the world: $369 billion for climateâ$369 billion. And remember they got mad I didn't get $500 billion?

Well, it cuts pollution by 1 billion tons, cuts emissions by 50 percent by 2030, andâand tax credits for EVs, solar, wind, and batteries, heat pumps, hydrogen. A lot of newâand there's a lot of research going on. A lot of you are funding the research. There are so many possibilities we have.

We passed the infrastructure law with 500,000 EV chargers. And they're going toâ500,000.

They canâand guess what? It's going to create aâwe're capping 100,000 wells in the United Statesâ100,000.

Remember all the heat about what was going on in West Virginia andâand southâwestâ Western Pennsylvania? Well, these same guys who dug those wellsâguess what?âthey're getting paid to cap them. And it's working.

And we're rebuilding. And we're putting a new environmental plant where that old steel plant used to be inâin Wharton, West Virginia.

Fuel economy rules. We cut emissions in half by 30âby 2032.

Brought unionsâenvirosâand enviros together. Did you ever think that would happen?

But I know some of you got worried about me afterâwhenâabout 2 months, when I hadn't announced my environmental stuff. You're calling, "Joe, what the hell is going on?" I said, "I'm meeting with the union guys." Becauseâno, I'm serious, because I was convinced that if they knew what was coming, their future lay with the environmental issues. That's how itâand by the way, the IBEW was the first one to stand up when I said: "Hey, look, what are you doing?

You'reâyou're going to be out of work. You're notâyou're going to have trouble."

But guess what? And we alsoâa couple of you were down on the South Lawn when I had all the automobile manufacturers together.

I remember the General Motors chairman hadâwas suing the State of California for having a higher standard than the Federal standards, saying that was unconstitutional and you couldn't have a higher standard. Well, guess what? A week and a half later, I got a call. She said: "I'm dropping the suit in California, and I'm going to go all electric. All electric."

And we startedâand everybody started that route. And it worked. It's beginning to work. I mean, it's not finished yet by a long shot. But the point is, it's working. It's moving. And guess what? They all of a sudden figured out that's going to create all these jobs for them.

And by the way, these EV stations are going to beâtheseâyou know, all across America. Electric vehiclesâthey're going toâthey're going to put in 500,000 of these across the country. So you can get in your car, your electric vehicle, and go, just like an old gas station.

And thatâand it's generating thousands of jobs. It will generate thousands more jobs in those communities. When you have aâwhen youâwhen they were building gas stations

originally, no one wanted one in their neighborhood because they had thousand-gallon tanks inâ back in the twenties and thirties.

Guess what? What happens when you build a gas station? You end up building a drugstore. You end up building a hotdog stand. I mean, it generates economic growth. And a lot ofâand a lot of communities have been left behind big time andâbecause of whatâshipping jobs overseas andâanyway.

So the third thing isâthe last thing is that solar panel manufacturing is up eight times.

Youâa lot of you funded it. Solar energy and wind energy is nowânow cheaperâcheaperâ cheaper than fossil fuels. Cheaper toânoâand by the way, no one is going to bid on a coal-fired plant again. You know why? It's notâit makes no sense. Economically makes no sense anymore.

The biggest problem we hadâand I need your help on this continuallyâis when I went up inâI guess it was Rhode Islandâclosing down the largest coal-fired plant in the country.

Because what we found out wasâand with the help of a lot of my staffâand they are good staff and environmentally conscious and smartâis that weâwhen Barack and I came up with the economic plan onâon the environment and energy and electric and dealing with wind and solar, we thought we could transmit it on the high power lines.

Well, not in my neighborhood. Even people that lived in your neighborhood didn't like it, and whether it was inâout in theâsound or wherever it was, becauseâand Trump didn't like it because it killedâit "caused cancer."

[*At this point, the President made the sign of the cross.*]

[*Laughter*] But all kidding aside, think about it. Think about what has happened since then. We figured out that if you close down those plants, you don't take down high-tension wires, you put the windâyou connect the wind or the solar to that facility.

Soâand now what you'reâa lot of you are helping doing: If we put these wires underground, it makes aâit costs six times as much, but it also is environmentally a hell of a lot more sound. Costs more. We're trying to figure out how to fund that as well.

But the point is, we're making significant progress. And theâand the EV sales are three timesâup three times. And we've conservedâI announced when I got electedâand I'll stop with thisâthat my goal was to conserve 30 percent of all the land and all the waters within the jurisdiction of the United States of America and to do that by 2035âexcuse meâby 2030.

So far, we're on our way. Now, we've got more to do in Alaska, and I need your help there. But we'veâ25 million acres is now in conservation in Alaska. Spirit Mountain, 500,000 acresâ 500,000 acres. The Pacific Islands, I'm going toâwe're going to make sure that 770,000 square miles around Hawaii, off limits. Cut back on drilling in many places.

But the generic point is: There's a lot going on, and a lot going on in hydrogen. A lot going on in other alternatives. And it's because of you guys. And I'm not being solicitous. It really genuinely is.

You think itâI know you don't like to think about this way, but think if you all dropped out.

Where the hell would we be? Not a joke.

You're funding the private enterprises you do in terms of environment, as well as making sure that you not only elect somebody like me, who cares about the environment, but a Congressâa Congressâa Congress. I need the Congress. I need the Senate. And we're going to do it. We're going to win back the House with your help. And we're going toâit's going to be hard to keep it in the Senate, but we're going to do that as well.

So I'm going on too much. I apologize. But there's an enormousâenormousâenormousâ and the one reason why I am so optimistic is because of the people between the ages of 17 and

30. They get it. They understand. They are the impetusâthe political impetus: the kids, the young people, the young voters.

I go into a grade school or high school; what do they want to talk about? The environment.

They get it. They get it.

So there's a lotâa lotâwe can do, and I'm optimistic we're going to continue to do it with your help.

I'm going to hush up, as my mother would say, and take any questions you have.

NOTE: The President spoke at 5:30 p.m. at the residence of Elizabeth "Lise" Strickler and Mark T. Gallogly. In his remarks, he referred to former Presidents Barack Obama and President Donald J. Trump; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; Gov. Gregory W. Abbott of Texas; former Sen. George J. Mitchell; and Mary T. Barra, chairman and chief executive officer, General Motors Co. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Campaign reception in New York City. Locations: New York City.

Names: Abbott, Gregory W.; Barra, Mary T.; Mitchell, George J.; Obama, Barack; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Trump, Donald J.

Subjects: 2021 civil unrest and violence at U.S. Capitol; Bipartisanship; Carbon emissions, reduction efforts; Climate change; Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, improvement efforts; Fuel efficiency standards, strengthening efforts; Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Inflation; Infrastructure improvements; Job creation and growth; Land and maritime conservation efforts; Natural disasters, climate change impacts; New York, Democratic Party event; New York, President's visit; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Orphan oil and gas wells, capping efforts; Paris Agreement on climate change; Renewable energy sources and technologies; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Solar and wind energy, promotion efforts; Texas, Governor; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300583.