Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2023

June 29, 2023

The President. Governor, you should go home. [Laughter]

Governor Kathleen C. Hochul of New York. I love listening toâ[inaudible].

The President. This is what we call a busman's holiday for your Governor. [Laughter] And I want to thank you all very much. Blair, thank you. Andâand, Roger, you guys, and

Jon and Peter and Devenâyou know, you've been aâyou're the only reason I'm standing here, and that's not hyperbole.

These guys came along in twentyâtwo thousand andâin 2020, when we were running and we had hit the bottom. Things didn't look very well, as Roger I think pointed out to me just before South Carolina. [*Laughter*] And everything was looking bleak. And without even asking, you guys stepped up, and you saved me. You really did.

And Iâone thing I wanted to say publicly with the press here is, it wasn't just the contributions; it was your stature. The fact that men and women of your stature stood up and vouched for me, it mattered. I mean, Iâyou all are used to helping people. You're used to helping political people who you think make a difference.

But I think you underestimate how much your personal status in the community means. You give credibility. And so I want to thank you for that. Iâfrom the bottom my heart. And that's not hyperbole. I would not be standing here if you guys didn't volunteer. Without my even asking, you stepped up. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

And, Governor HochulâKathy, this is aâit's an honor to be with you. You've done a hell of a job. And being the Governor of New York is not an easy thing. But it's a big, beautiful State.

I think it's one of the mostâI think it's the single most underestimated State in the Nation. It has the most beautifulâparts of this State areâI mean, it's incredible. And that comes from a guy who married a woman from the Finger Lakes and Lake Skaneateles.

But the point is that you've done a great job. And I want toâI appreciateâand I know that we've tried to work on some things together. We've done a lot together. But also, we're in a situation where the good Governor of Florida and Texas have not been the best friends of New York for a long time, and we're trying like hell to continue to help.

By the way, the number crossing the border is down significantly, from close to 80,000 to 3,500. And we'reâI think we'reâwith the grace of God, the good will of neighbors, and the crick not risingâas my father would sayâwe're going to beâand by the way, you know, I have a lot of assets to this campaign, but none that are more consequential than Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Jeffrey, thank you. Jeffrey has beenâcome along, and he's a cochair of my campaign. And he comes fromâhe comes from the West Coast to these things. You know what I mean?

Anyway, Iâand I'm proud to call everyone hereâin here that's sponsoring this a friend.

And I mean it.

And look, you were with us when the thingsâwhen the pundits said we were counted out. And I want you to know, again, I'll never forget what you did for me. I would not be here without you. And I don't think thatâIâin our private conversations when I got here initially, I mean, just a couple hoursâan hour or so ago, is that this is a critical election, not because I'm running,

because what's at stake. There's so much at stake. And the alternative is a little bit scary. I'm not being facetious.

I mean, the lackâdid you ever think we'd be talking about banning books in America? Did you ever think we'd be talking about back in theâlike the days in theâin the last century, we were talking about cutting voting rights, about making sureâgerrymandering the districts in ways that wereâI mean, it justââ

And the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is becoming not just conservative, but almostâ it's like a throwback. It's like a throwback, some of the decisions they're making.

You know, did you ever think we'd be in a position, after 50 years of acknowledging the right of privacy in the Constitution, suggesting that thereâthere's no such thing as the right to privacy? Did you ever think we'd be having arguments about whether or not contraception was legitimateâcould be outlawed by States? I meanâI mean, it's like we're in a different world almost.

But I think thatâI have faith, because I really think the vast majority of the American people are decent, honorable, and good, and they just have to get the facts. They have to get the facts. And that's one of the things that you're lookingâI'm looking forward to you relying on me to be able to do.

And look, because we've got a story to tell and a record to run on, I think with a little bit of help, we can do well this time out. I think thatâyou know, yesterday I talked to Chicago about what the pressânotâIâand Iâit wasn't necessarily meant to be so complimentary, but Bidenomics, by theâyou know, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal, et cetera. And I'm not criticizing it. You know, they justâbut I come from a circumstance where I think that the best thing we can do for American growth, and we haveâwhen we win the mostâwhen we've been the most secure and powerful is when the middle class was able to participate. When we still had very wealthy people like all of you leading the way in many ways, but trickle-down economics never landed much on my dad's kitchen table.

And so we found ourselves in a situation where the excesses of that program, of that notion, were seen last time around: a $2 trillion tax cut and not a penny paid for; greater increase in the debt than anybody inâanybody. And you know, 40-percent increase. I mean, things that weâa tax system that isâI mean, it's just notâit's just not fair. It'sâI don't know many people who think it's fair.

And I'm not looking for 60- or 80-percent taxes for wealthy people. We're not going back there. But just everybody pay their fair share.

I'm a capitalist. If you can make a million dollars, a billion dollars, that's fine by me. Just participate. And you all do. You all do.

But you know, we haveâwe've gone fromâin America from having 750 billionaires 4 years ago toâto now a thousand, average tax rate 8 percent. That's less thanâthat's less than a cop pays, a firefighter, you know, someone running a childcare center.

And so one of the things that I've done is that I've decided that you've got toâthe best way to build a country isâand Bidenomics wasn't meant as necessarily a compliment at the timeâis to let people know what I believe. I think it's a different value set: that is to build this country from the middle out and the bottom up. The poor have a shot when that happens. The middle class does well. We all do well. And the wealthy don't get punished at all; they still do very well. And so I think that's what's starting thisâpeople are beginning to seeâto see that again.

And you know, yesterday, as I said, I talked in Chicago about making investments in America, educating and empowering our people, promoting competition.

You know, I met with some of you who are a part of the Business Roundtable. I met with the Business Roundtable, and Iâthey're asking me why I was talking so much aboutâabout education andâand funding of preschool and all that kind of thing. And I said, you know, when the formerâthe Governor of Illinoisâhis sister was Secretary of Commerce, Barack asked us to meetâand I think you may remember thisâwithâI think we met with either in Zoom or in person with 400âor 350âdon't hold me to the exact numberâover 350 CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies.

And we asked them, "What do you need most?" They said, "A better educated public, a better educated workforce." And I said, "You know, I come from the State of corporate America, more of you are incorporated in my State than every other State in the Union combined." And I said, "Back when I ran the first time and got elected as a 29-year-old kid in 1972 to the Senate, the DuPont company was the eighth largest corporation in America." It's no longer, but it was.

And I said, "When they'dâwhen they'd expand and buy a new enterprise, they'd educate theirâ they'd educate their workforce." I said: "You guys don't do that anymore. So why the hell are you taking me on when I'm trying to get a better educated public?" And it changed. People started supporting it.

But my generic point is that there isâthere'sâI think there's beginning to be a bit of a sea change. You know, the idea that we were able toâwhen I ran, I said I wanted toâI wanted to bring backârestore the soul of America. That wasn't hyperbole. It was to try to bring back a sense of decency and honor in the way we talk to one another, the way we conduct policy.

You know, theâI just came from a function in town here. And George Mitchell'sâI think it was his nieceâand George Mitchell wasâwas the Senate Majority Leader. And heâwhenâ anyway, he was very generous in the caucus in saying that Biden was able to get things done better than anybody else since Kennedy because I had relations with the other side of the aisle.

And I did. We used to argue like hell. John McCain and I would scream at each other, but we were like brothers. We'd make up at the end, and we worked together when we agreed on things. You remember these conversations.

And I saidâand they said: "Well, that was the old days. Biden doesn't realize that all's changed. You can't do that anymore."

So what I said was I wanted toâI wanted to bring back some bipartisanship. With your help, guess what? We passed more major legislation than anybodyâI'm told by Jon Meacham and othersâmore than any other President since Franklin Roosevelt, major pieces of legislation. And it was withâand about half of it was bipartisan. Bipartisan. Not a lotâbecause this is not your father's Republican Party. This is a different breed of cat. But there's still a lot of really honorable, decent Republican Senators and Congressmen. They're mildly intimidated by some of the

MAGA-right folks in the new Republican Party.

But the point is, we got a lot done. Andâfor example, the end result was that we're makingâby empowering and educating our people, promoting competition. It's working. Thirteen million jobs created. We inherited a mess. Inflation less than half of what it was just a year ago; $490 billion foreignâ$490 billion in private investment in the economy in the United States of America.

Remember the talk was, at the time, "Biden is trying to establish industrial policy"? We did a survey. Don't ask me how many folks they askedâmy staff. But went out and asked and said, "Are you more or less inclined to make major investments in the economy if the Government is investing?" And it was like 80 percent more. And guess what? It's working.

That's why I went out and did the CHIPSâyou know, when Iâwe worked on the legislation relating to semiconductors. We invented those suckers, man. Smaller than the end of my little fingertip. We were sophisticated. We're the ones that did it. And guess what? We used to have 40 percent of the market. Now we have less than 10 percent of the market.

And so I went around saying there was a way to come to the United States and invest: $300 billion that's beginning to be invested right nowâSyracuse, New York, up in Poughkeepsie and those areaânot Poughkeepsie.

Audience member. In both.

The President. Both.

Audience member. [Inaudible]âand IBM.

The President. And, I mean, they're investing a great deal. You know, Iâthe first major initiative was Intel, outside of Cleveland, Ohio. A thousand acres that are being developed. I started callingâwell, Iâit was spontaneous. Iâmaybe people thought I had a plan. I said it's the "field of dreams." These guys are building two fabsâtwo factoriesâthat are bigger than football fields, each of them; going to applyâemploy 5,000 people. And guess what? Seven thousand people building them on prevailing wage. A lot of growth in the region just for that. But those folks, the vast majority of those jobs are more than 1,000â100,000 bucks a year, up to 130 grand a year. And you don't need a college degree.

All of a sudden, those blue-collar workers realize, "Son of a gun." And think ofâyou guys invest in education in your communities. How manyâhow many high schools have shop anymore? How many high schools have anything where people know whether they want to work with their hands? It's not happening.

But now, across America, we're going to be rebuilding factories. And by the way, through the heartland of America a lot of this is happening.

By the way, there was aâyou know, when we did theâthe IRA, theâwe're talking about having the internet connected to your home. Well, guess what? In suburban and rural areas, it doesn't happen.

Well, theâthe former football coach from Alabama, who was a better coach than he's a Senator, in my viewâ[*laughter*]âannouncedâhe said, "Isn't it wonderful"âand the press will remember the number; I don'tâ"a billion 400 million dollars or two billion dollars coming toâ coming into Alabama, and we're going to have the best Internet system in the world." Going on and on. He voted against it. So I'm going to be down there for the groundbreaking. [*Laughter*]

You know, or we have a major, major, major environmental project going up in the gentlelady from Georgia's district. She'sâshe voted against everything, wants to impeach me. But she said this is greatest thing that happened to her area, inâI think it's Decatur; I'm not sure exactly what town.

But my generic point is that this makes a big difference. And it's giving people an opportunity. Look, you know, in the old days, how many blue-collar white guys didn't vote Democrat? Well, nobody, because weâin my view, we didn't seem to take them seriously anymore. Weâyou know, it was like, you know, what are we talking about?

Well, it's changing. And it's changing because of the business community. The business community is changing, as well.

And so I guess what I'm saying is that we're in a situation where there's so much more we can do. We have to finish the job, because a lot of peopleâthey support everything we've done, when they poll on it, but they don't know who did it. They don't know how it got done. And

there's a reason I haven't beenâthe press is asking me, legitimately, why am I now just going around the country. Because they're just kicking in now, theyâjust so they could see what's happening.

For example, the Hudsonâgoing under the Hudsonâthe tunnel, Amtrak through theâ under the Hudson. Well, guess what? That's a billion-dollar project. It's going to generate a lot of work, a lot of income. And guess what? You're going to have trains going through there at 110 miles an hour instead of having to stop. It's fundamentally a gigantic change andâhow can you be the strongest nation in the world economically and have a second rate infrastructure, ranked, I think, number 13 in the world? How can that happen? It's not possible.

And so we're making the kind of investments you all have been supportive of. And when we were really, really economically moving, it was working. Again, 13 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs.

And you know what that's doing, with all the other investments we're talking about? We also have reduced the budget forâby helping people. Medicareâand I hope none of you are in pharma, but if you are, you're going to be mad at me.

I've been fighting pharma since I was a Senator in my second term. Only outfit in the world we can't negotiate with, up to now.

Weâpharma, we were able to negotiate the price of drugs and medicine andâfor theâfrom theâfrom theâdealing with theâthe military costs that we have and what the military pays.

Well, we can't do it for anything else.

Well, look, you know, we talk aboutâwe have to deal with inflation still. And I know you guys and women know a great deal about the economy. I get it. But I've been hearing since I got elected, "Within the next month, there's going to be a recession." I've been hearing that all along. Pray to Godââ

[*At this point, the President knocked on the podium.*]

ââit continues to be wrong, because we have such a strong base.

You know, theyâthey reassessed the growth of the GDP the first quarter: 2 percentâ2 percent. I go down the list in all the things that has economically changed. And theâand we'reâ and I knowâand I have to admit it bothers me when we talk about the way to get inflation under control is fire people, have fewer employees. We've got to figure out a way.

Any rate, the point I'm making is that the guy who inventedâI mean, how many of you know somebody who needs insulin forâfor theirâfor what they're dealing with in terms of the need to be able to continue to live. And so, you know, how many of you know peopleâanyway, I won't get into it all.

But the bottom line is, the guy who inventedâinvented insulin said he didn't patent it because he wanted it available for everybodyâavailable for everybody. Do you know how much it costs to make? Ten bucksât-e-nât-e-n dollars. Package it, it's $13.

If I'm going to have you have to deal with that issue andâas a family, and you want to purchase the insulin because you have children and need it or whatever, itâyou have to pay about 400 bucks a month.

Now, pharma is notâthey're not bad guys. But guess what? Whatever drug you need, if it's made here in the United States by a major pharmaceutical company and sold in New York State, you can buy it cheaper in Toronto, Paris. You canâLondon, Madrid, all around the world, significantly cheaper.

And that's stopping on my watch. That's stopping. So we got something passed that now Medicare can negotiate drug prices.

And as I wasâwhen I wasâthis is going sound self-servingâbut when we were able to work out the threat of closing down the GovernmentâI mean, of reneging on our debtâwe worked it out. They wanted to eliminateâthe other team wanted to eliminate everything we passed. Not a joke. Every major initiative, they wanted to eliminate.

And the most interesting conversation I had with the Speaker and others was I said, "Well, you got to count how we deal with reducing the debt." I'm the only President that's ever reduced the debt in 2 years $1.7 trillionâ$1.7 trillionâand still did all these programs.

You know why? Well, you know, the Fortune 500âor 55 companies who were paid 40â they made $40 billion, didn't pay a penny. We said, "You've got to pay a minimum tax of 15 percent." Guess what? It paid for it all. People started paying their way.

And so I said, "You realize how much we're going save the Governmentânot just peopleâ the Government and the deficit by the passage of this legislation on insulin: $168 billion deficit reduction." That's what it is.

So I guess what I'm trying to say here is that when you talk about that, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, dealing with the bipartisan gun safetyâwe passed the gunâ we've got more to do as a Government. I talk about it all the time. We passed the most extensive gun safety law in 30 years.

I'm the guy who, back when I was a Senator, along with Dianne Feinstein, outlawed assault weapons. We got that done and a number ofâof bullets could be in a carbineâthat you could have in yourâbe able to be fired.

Who the hell needs 100 rounds in aâin a weapon? Who ever needs 25 rounds? When I was selling this as a Senator, we have bigâwe have a lot of gun ownership in

Delaware because of the Eastern Shore, a lot of duck hunting, a lot ofâand I'mâI used to walk through in hip boots talking to people who were in there to make the case. And I'm in there and the guy is fishing, and he said: "You're taking my damn gun, Joe. What are you doing now?" And I saidâI said: "Let me tell you: How many deer you know are wearing a Kevlar vest?" [*Laughter*] "And if you need more than eight rounds to kill a bear, man, you're in trouble. You're a lousy shot." [*Laughter*] And he looked at me, and he said, "Son of a bitch, you make a good point." [*Laughter*]

But we could only get it done for 10 years then, but we've got to get back again. We have to eliminate assault weapons and limit the rounds. Too many people are dyingâand not just these celebrated cases you see. Every day in neighborhoods in this city, every day in neighborhoods across America, there's a mass shooting. Every day. And we can change it.

In terms of additional things, weâyou know, weâwell, I'm going toâI've gone on too long. I apologize.

The idea that we have taken 50 years of Supreme Court decisions based on theoriesâand this is including the Federalist Society and othersâ50 years, *Roe *v. *Wade*. Since when is it decided there was no right of privacy in the Constitution? This Court overruled 55 years of precedent, saying, "There is no right." It's the old far-right position that unless it's mentioned in the Constitution, it doesn't exist.

And guess what that put it in jeopardy? Did you ever think we'd be having debate of whether contraception was available, legal, can be sold over the counter? I mean, theâwe're the United States of America. Did you think that would happen? Well, guess what? If you leave it to the

States to make a decision, and it's no longer a constitutional right, but the States decide these things, what happens?

And that's whyâI'm going to get myself in trouble here, butâand I'll end with this: That's why you've got to help Kathy elect a Democratic Senate hereâI mean, excuse me, a Democratic House of Representatives. We can win back five seats here, and I need it badly. I need you to help them. And you can help run some of her houseâher senateâher houseâher State legislative senate and house seats.

But look, you know, it'sâI guess what I want to say is that there is a lot we have to do. And one of the things we can do is deal with the issue of whatâletting people know that what's happened and what's changing their circumstances is because of things we've done. And they don't know that part yet. And that's a big thing where you're being able to help me fund this next 16 months, to let people know what and why these things are happening.

I'm talking too much. I'm going to hush up and take your questions. So thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 7:33 p.m. at the Pool Lounge. In his remarks, he referred to Blair

W. Effron, cofounder and partner, Centerview Partners LLC; Roger C. Altman, founder and senior chairman, Evercore Inc.; Jonathan Gray, president and chief operating officer, Blackstone Inc.; Peter R. Orszag, chief executive officer of financial advisory, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC; Deven Parekh, managing director, Insight Partners; Gov. Ronald D. DeSantis of Florida; Gov. Gregory W. Abbott of Texas; Jeffrey Katzenberg, former chief executive officer, cofounder, and director, DreamWorks Animation LLC; Gov. Jay R. "J.B." Pritzker of Illinois and his sister, former Secretary of Commerce Penny S. Pritzker; former President Barack Obama; Jon Meacham, canon historian, Washington National Cathedral; Sen. Thomas H. Tuberville; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene; and Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin O. McCarthy. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on June 30. 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: Effron, Blair W.; Abbott, Gregory W.; Altman, Roger C.; DeSantis, Ronald D.; Feinstein, Dianne; Gray, Jonathan; Greene, Marjorie Taylor; Hochul, Kathleen C.; Katzenberg, Jeffrey; McCarthy, Kevin O.; Meacham, Jon; Mitchell, George J.; Obama, Barack; Orszag, Peter R.; Parekh, Deven; Pritzker, Jay R. "J.B."; Pritzker, Penny S.; Tuberville, Thomas H.

Subjects: 2024 Presidential election; Bipartisanship; Broadband and wireless technologies; Corporate tax rates; Early childhood education; Economic improvement; Federal deficit and debt; Florida, Governor ; Gun control efforts; Gun violence, prevention efforts; Illinois, Governor; Inflation; Infrastructure improvements; Insulin cost controls; Job creation and growth; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; Medicare and Medicaid programs; New York, Democratic Party event; New York, Governor; New York, President's visit; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Rail infrastructure, improvement efforts; Semiconductor manufacturing; Speaker of the House of Representatives; Tax Code reform; Tax relief; Texas, Governor; U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.

DCPD Number: DCPD202300586.