Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2024

February 21, 2024

Thank you. Well, John and Ann and the boss hereâ[*laughter*]âshe's got the questions. I don't know what she's going to ask me.

First of all, thank you for doing this. You know, the truth of the matter is, I wouldn't be standing here were it not for all of you. And we would not have passed theâI do think we passed some really significant legislationâwere it not for the Speaker, Nancy.

A lot of you heard me say this before. I'm not saying it just because I'm standing in front of you. She is the best Speaker of the House, I think, there's ever been. If you have her on your side, you won. [*Laughter*] Thank God I was mostly on her sideâ[*inaudible*]. [*Laughter*]

Look, Iâwe're going to have a little bit ofâwe're going to have a discussion later on, and I'm going to answer some questionsâor attempt to answer some questions.

Andâbut you know, I think what you enabled us to get passed, in your leadershipâI mean, the thing I think you all underestimate: It's not just your intellectual leadershipâand I mean this sincerelyâthe influence you have on your compatriots, the influence you have on your peers, the influence you have is consequential.

People who didn't even think there was a climate problem, youâbecause of you, thought it was. You led. They responded. And it's just a gigantic difference.

And you know, we can do a lot more. We have to do a lot more. I don't think we're anywhere near finished. But I think we're on the right track.

And I'll just be very blunt with you. You know, I'm optimistic, because for the first time in this effortâand by the way, I apologize for digressing, but I was involved in dealing with the climate issue starting way back when my parents lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And my grandpop, who was aâthe newspaper guy on the business side. He was aâand we lived in this house on North Washington Avenue. And they were all coal fired.

And he used to talk about how he didn't like me going down to shovel coal into the furnace because he thought it was a problem. I mean, this is in Scranton.

And then when we movedâwhen coal died in Scranton, the business sort of shriveled up.

And there's a bad joke: Everyone's from Scranton; no one is in Scranton.

And we ended up moving where my dad had been raised until he was a junior in high school, in Wilmington, Delaware. We moved to a little town called Claymont, Delaware. And Claymont, Delaware, is right in thatâyou know thatâthat half circle that goes up, at the top of Delaware, into Pennsylvania and down to the Delaware River.

And right across the line there is more oil refineries than anywhere, including in Houston, Texas. And for the longest time, untilâI guess it was probablyâdon't hold me to the exact datesâbut sometime in the late eighties, Delaware thoughtâwasâhad the worst environment of any State in the Union in terms of the environment because all the wind was south and east.

And so these refineriesâand I lived in thisâwe livedâand the school I went to, Archmere Academy, which is right on the line there, is literally a quarter mile from the Pennsylvania border in a place called, like, Marcus Hook and those places.

And you know, growing up, the vast majority of us ended up with asthma. I mean, for real. I have asthma. Iâand most of my friends. It was one of theâthere weren't fences, but it was like the fence-line community.

And so I remember, we'd get up in the morningâwhen we moved down there, there was a thing called the Philadelphia Pike. And the Philadelphia Pike preceded Iâ95 on the East Coast. And the Philadelphia Pike was from Wilmington to Philadelphia, through this part of Southernâ Southeastern Pennsylvania.

And weâwhen we moved down, I went to a little Catholic school that was only about, I guess, probably a half a mile from where we moved toâa apartment complex we moved into. It was easy enough to walk, but I was in third grade, and my daughterâmy sister was in first grade. And so Mom used to drive us to school, to the parking lot, and then leave.

But every time the first frost would come, when it would come, we'd turn on the windshield wipers, and you'd get an oil slick. Not a joke. An oil slick. And so we became aware of the issue of pollution really starkly early on.

Well, there's still tens of thousands of people in America who get up and have a figurative or literal oil slick on their windows getting up. And we were talking on the way out here, Nancy and I, and that is thatâyou know, this isâwe're doing this for our kids and our grandkids.

This is the lastâand there's a existential threat: It is climate. We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict. But the existential threat to humanity is climate.

And so, you know, we've ended up being able to work together. But it's because you all have been so steadfast and influential and you put your money where your mouth is, that old saying goes. You've rallied people. You've convinced people. You've made other people aware of what's happening.

I notice the one thingâbig thing that's changed isâas Jeffrey knowsâso weâhe's hanging out with me a lot, and I'm hanging with him a lotâwe're in a situation where, you know, we don't have to convince people anymore there's climate change. The last 3 years have been a real example. I don't hear anybody saying it doesn't exist anymore.

I've flown over this country in a helicopter more oftenâmore forest fires and timber burned to the ground than comprises the entire State of Maryland. That's how much has burned to the ground. We're talking about making sure that we haveâweâa billion trees get planted, to absorb.

And we'reâbut because of you, everything is changing. Because of you, even agricultural productâagricultural ideas are changing.

We got a great Secretary of Agriculture, who, when we were runningâ[*inaudible*]âwas a former Governor of Iowaâtalked about how agriculture can be a major player in dealing with absorbing climate.

We've worked like the devil to make sure we're working in terms of the Amazon. The Amazon consumes more CO2 out of the atmosphere than we burn inâas much as we burn every day.

So there's a lot of things we can doâa whole lot of things we can do and must do more of. But the point, I guess, I want to make is thatâI know I don't look it; I'm only 40. Butâ

[*laughter*]âforgive me, Lord. But you know, I've been around a long time. But I've never quite seen a crowd like this MAGA Republican crowd. They seem to have very little, sort of, a moral compass on what is important to people.

And so what you're doing in helping us hereâand it's not me. I mean, it's not like you've got to like me. What you're doing here, though, is we've got to prevent this other guy from being elected President.

He's made it absolutely clear: Everything you've done, everything we've done, he's against. So my plea is not only to make sure we keep the White House so he can't undo much of what was done, but we've got to win the House and Senate. We've got to pick up the House and win more seats in the Senate to get theâwhat we have to get done. And so, you know, the MAGA Republicans want to undo this all.

And by the way, Nancy and I have worked with Republicans for a long time. A lot of Republicans, I've disagreed with, but they've been decent women and men. They've had aâat least they'd had aâhow can I say it? An American moral center with what they were about. But there doesn'tâthat seems to be lost.

You listen to some of the things theâthis fellow has been saying, like he's comparing himself to Navalny and saying that heâbecause our country has become a communist country because it's persecuting him, just like Navalny was persecuted. I don't know where the hell this comes from. [*Laughter*]

No, I thinkâI mean, thinkâif I stood hereâif I stood here 10, 15 years ago and said any of this, you'd all think Iâshould be committed.

[*At this point, the President walked away from the podium*.]

No, I mean, think about it. Thatâit's just astounding. It astounds me the things that are being

said.

This guy has been helping me bringâthis guy right hereâ[*inaudible*]âagainst the wallâ

he's not a portraitâ[*inaudible*]. [*Laughter*] But we've been going all over the country together. And it just isâit's just bizarre, the things that are being said. [*Inaudible*]âbe done.

So what you all are doing isâit's not only saving theâthe environment, you're actually saving humanity. And what you've done and youâand all the kids you'veâencouraged nearbyâ my daughterâI have a daughterâI do have a daughter, but I haveâI have five granddaughters.

And by the way, they're crazy about me. [*Laughter*] Every single day, I talk to them all and/or text with all of them, every single day.

My number-two granddaughter is named Finnegan Biden. And she works for Bloomberg, and she works in the environmental side. She's the one that represents usâthem in all the meetings all around the world. And you know, the number of young people who haveâ [*inaudible*]âwhat's happening, again, because of all of you.

I'm talking too much. I know we're supposed to get to questions.

But the bottom line is, I can't tell you how much not I owe youâand I doâbut the country owes you. Because without this organization, without you guysânot a jokeâwe wouldn't be where we are. And we've got a long way to go. I'm not saying it's all over. But I think we've made enormous progress.

But I've gotâmy mother, if she wouldâif my mother were here, she would be saying, "Hush up, Joey. Hush up." [*Laughter*]

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:56 p.m. at the residence of John and Ann Doerr. In his remarks, he referred to Rep. Nancy Pelosi; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; Jeffrey Katzenberg, former chief executive officer, cofounder, and director, DreamWorks Animation LLC, in his has capacity as a national cochair of the President's reelection campaign; and former

President Donald J. Trump. He also referred to his sister Valerie Biden Owens; and his granddaughters Finnegan J., Natalie P., and Roberta M. "Maisy" Biden, Naomi K. Biden Neal, and Navy Joan Roberts. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on February 22. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Campaign reception in San Francisco, CA. Locations: San Francisco, CA.

Names: Biden Neal, Naomi K.; Biden, Ashley B.; Biden, Finnegan J.; Biden, Natalie P.; Biden, Roberta M. "Maisy"; Doerr, Ann; Doerr, John; Katzenberg, Jeffrey; Owens, Valerie Biden; Pelosi, Nancy; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Roberts, Navy Joan; Trump, Donald J.; Vilsack, Thomas J.

Subjects: California, Democratic Party event; California, President's visit; Climate change; Forests, wetlands, and grasslands, conservation efforts; Natural disasters, climate change impacts; Russia, human rights issues; Russia, President; Secretary of Agriculture.

DCPD Number: DCPD202400118.