Joseph Robinette Biden

“ Last point I’ll make on the infrastructure — and I apologize for spending more time on it, but — is that if you think about it, it’s the place where we will be able to significantly increase American productivity, at the same time providing really good jobs for people. But we can’t build back to what they used to be. We have to build — the environment has — global warming has already done significant damage. ”

“ But the fundamental problem is getting people some peace of mind so they can go to bed at night and not stare at the ceiling wondering whether they lost their health insurance, whether they’re going to lose a family member, whether they’re going to be in a position where they’re not going to be — they’re going to lose their home because they can’t pay their mortgage, or that millions of people are going to get thrown out of their homes because of the inability to — to pay their rent. ”

“ Did you hear them complain when they passed close to a $2 trillion Trump tax cut — 83 percent going to the top 1 percent? Did you hear them talk about that all? I love the fact that they’ve found this whole idea of concern about the federal budget. It’s kind of amazing.
When the federal budget is saving people’s lives, they don’t think it’s such a good idea. When the federal budget is feathering the nest of the wealthiest Americans — 90 of the Fortune 500 companies making billions of dollars not paying a cent in taxes ”

“ Nothing has changed. As many people came — 28 percent increase in children to the border in my administration; 31 percent in the last year of — in 2019, before the pandemic, in the Trump administration. It happens every single, solitary year: There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March. That happens every year.
In addition to that, there is a — and nobody — and, by the way, does anybody suggest that there was a 31 percent increase under Trump because he was a nice guy and he was doing good things at the border? ”

“ Look, I predict to you, your children or grandchildren are going to be doing their doctoral thesis on the issue of who succeeded: autocracy or democracy? Because that is what is at stake, not just with China.Look around the world. We’re in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution of enormous consequence. Will there be middle class? How will people adjust to these significant changes in science and technology and the environment? How will they do that? And are democracies equipped — because all the people get to speak — to compete? ”

“ And as long as you and your country continues to so blatantly violate human rights, we’re going to continue, in an unrelenting way, to call to the attention of the world and make it clear — make it clear what’s happening. ”

“ For example, of all the children who are coming across the border, over 70 percent are either 16 or 17 years old. We’re not talking about people ripping babies from mothers’ arms or little three-year-olds standing on the border. Less than — I think it’s one and a half percent fall in the category of the very young.
So what we’re doing is we’re providing for the space, again, to be able to get these kids out of the Border Patrol facilities, which no child — no one should be in any longer than 72 hours. ”

“ So I strongly support moving in that direction, in addition to having an open mind about dealing with certain things that are — are just elemental to the functioning of our democracy, like the right to vote — like the basic right to vote. ”

“ The families that are being allowed to stay, why they’re being allowed to stay.And in addition to that, when it comes to the filibuster, which is what Zeke was asking about, there’s — immigration is a big issue, of course, when it — related to the filibuster, but there’s also Republicans who are passing bill after bill, trying to restrict voting rights. Chuck Schumer is calling it an “existential threat” to democracy. Why not back a filibuster rule that at least gets around issues including voting rights or immigration? ”

“ You have serious — it’s not like somebody at a sitting hand-hewn table in Guatemala — I mean, in — in somewhere in Mexico or in Guadalupe, saying, “I got a great idea. Let’s sell everything we have. Give it to a coyote. Have him take our kids across the border and into a desert where they don’t speak the language. Won’t that be fun? Let’s go.” That’s not how it happens. People don’t want to leave.
When my great grandfather got on a coffin ship in the Irish Sea, expectation was: Was he going to live long enough on that ship to get to the United States of America? ”

“ China has an overall goal, and I don’t criticize them for the goal, but they have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch because the United States are going to continue to grow and expand. ”

“ It is clear, absolutely clear — and most of the scholars I dealt with at Penn agree with me around the country — that this is a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies.
If you notice, you don’t have Russia talking about communism anymore. It’s about an autocracy. Demand decisions made by a leader of a country — that’s what’s at stake here. We’ve got to prove democracy works. ”

“ When this hurricane occurred — two hurricanes — instead of us going down and helping in a major way, so that people would not have reason to want to leave in the first place because they didn’t have housing or water or sustenance, we did nothing. We’re going to do a lot in our administration. We’re going to be spending that 700-plus million dollars a year to change the life and circumstances of why people leave in the first place. ”

“ People get up every morning and just want to figure out how to put food on the table for their kids, to be able have a little bit of breathing room, being able to have — make sure that they go to bed not staring at the ceiling, like my dad, wondering whether — since he didn’t have health insurance, what happens if mom gets sick or he got sick. ”

“ Q How soon will journalists be able to have access to the facilities? We’ve obviously been allowed to be inside one, but we haven’t seen the facilities in which children are packed together to really give the American people a chance to see that. Will you commit to transparency on this issue, Mr. President? THE PRESIDENT: I will commit to transparency, and — as soon as I am in a position to be able to implement what we are doing right now.And one of the reasons I haven’t gone down — I have all my — my chief folks have gone down — is I don’t want to become the issue. ”

“ Before I take questions, I want to make — give you a progress report to the nation on where we stand 65 days into office here on vaccinations and a few other top priorities for the American people.
First, on vaccinations: On December 8th, I indicated that I hoped to get 100 million shots in people’s arms in my first 100 days. We met that goal last week by day 58 — 42 days ahead of schedule.
Now, today, I’m setting a second goal, and that is: We will, by my 100th day in office, have administered 200 million shots in people’s arms. That’s right: 200 million shots in 100 days. ”

“ What did Trump do? He eliminated that funding. He didn’t use it. He didn’t do it. And in addition to that, what he did — he dismantled all the elements that exist to deal with what had been a problem and — and has been — continued to be a problem for a long time. He, in fact, shut down the — the number of beds available. He did not fund HHS to get people to get the children out of those — those Border Patrol facilities where they should not be and not supposed to be more than a few days — a little while. ”

“ She’s a great partner. Q And do you believe you’ll be running against former President Trump? THE PRESIDENT: Oh, come on. I don’t even think about — I don’t — I have no idea. I have no idea if there will be a Republican Party. Do you? I know you don’t have to answer my question, but, I mean, you know, do you?I mean, look, this is — the way I view things — I’ve become a great respecter of fate in my life. I set a goal that’s in front of me to get things done for the people I care most about, which are hardworking, decent American people who are getting — really having it stuck to them. ”

“ If you take a look at the number of people who are coming, the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border and crossing are being sent back — are being sent back. Thousands — tens of thousands of people who are — who are over 18 years of age and single — people, one at a time coming, have been sent back, sent home. ”

“ How many schools in America we’re sending our kids to don’t have adequate ventilation? How many homes, buildings, office complexes are wasting billions of barrels of oil over time because they can’t hold in the heat or the air conditioning because it leaks through the windows that are so porous and the connections? ”

“ We can make it better. We can change the lives of so many people.
And the other thing I want to point out to you and I hope you point out: I realize it’s much more heart wrenching — and it is — to deal with a five- and six- and seven-year-old. But you went down there, and you saw: The vast majority of these children — 70 percent — are 16 years old, 17 years old, and mostly males. Doesn’t make it — that doesn’t make it good, bad, or indifferent. But the idea that we have tens of thousands of kids in these God-awful facilities that are, really, little babies crying all night — and there’s some ”

“ We have somewhere, in terms of infrastructure — we have — we rank 13th globally in infrastructure. China is investing three times more in infrastructure than the United States is.
Bridges: More than one third of our bridges — 231,000 of them — need repairs. Some are physical safety risks or preservation work. One in five miles of our highways and major roads are in poor condition. That’s 186,000 miles of highway. Aviation: 20 percent of all flights — 20 percent of all flights weren’t on time, resulting in 1.5 million hours lost in production. ”

“ I think my Republican colleagues are going to have to determine whether or not we want to work together, or they decide that the way in which they want to proceed is to — is to just decide to divide the country, continue the politics of division. ”

“ The vast majority of people under the age of 18 coming to United States come with a telephone number on a wristband or come with a telephone number in their pocket in the United States — a mother, a father, a close relative, a grandmom or a grandpop. ”

“ I think we’re going to see that change. They should all be going back, all be going back. The only people we’re not going to let sitting there on the other side of the Rio Grande by themselves with no help are children. ”

“ And the third thing, and the thing that I admire about dealing with Xi is he understands — he makes no pretense about not understanding what I’m saying any more than I do him — I pointed out to him: No leader can be sustained in his position or her position unless they represent the values of the country. ”

“ So, from my perspective, you know, it’s a — to me, it’s about just, you know, getting out there, putting one foot in front of the other and just trying to make things better for people — just hardworking people. ”

“ There’s so much we can do. Look at all of the schools in America. Most of you live in the Washington area now. But in your hometowns — I don’t know where you’re all from — how many schools where the kids can’t drink the water out of the fountain? ”

“ Instead, the perception of you that got you elected — as a moral, decent man — is the reason why a lot of immigrants are coming to this country and entrusting you with unaccompanied minors.How do you resolve that tension? ”

“ We’re going to be moving, within the next — within the next week, over 100,000 — I mean, 1,000 people out of the Border Patrol into safe, secure beds and facilities. We’re going to significantly ramp up. ”

“ Everything from how we work — we’re working with a group of 20 members of the Senate right now and House on how we reestablish our ability to make computer chips and how we get ahead of the game, how we can work together. ”

“ Now, thanks to the enormous amount of work done by our administration, educators, parents, local, state education officials and leaders — a recent Department of Education Department survey shows that nearly half of the K-through-8 schools are open now full time, five days a week, for in-person learning. ”

“ And some of you have been around long enough to know that used to be a great Republican goal and initiative. I still think the majority of the American people don’t like the fact that we are now ranked, what, 85th in the world in infrastructure. ”

“ You just listed the reasons that people are coming, talking about in-country problems, saying that it happens every year; you blamed the last administration. Sir, I just got back last night from a reporting trip to the border where I met nine-year-old, Yossell, who walked here from Honduras by himself, along with another little boy. He had that phone number on him — THE PRESIDENT: Astounding. Q — and we were able to call his family. His mother says that she sent her son to this country because she believes that you are not deporting unaccompanied minors like her son. ”

“ Well, the judgment has to be made whether or not — and in this young man’s case, he has a mom at home; there’s an overwhelming reason why he’d be put in a plane and flown back to his mom. Q Final follow, sir. You mentioned circumstances that must be horrific. The Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, Texas — I was there — is at 1,556 percent capacity — THE PRESIDENT: Yep. Q — right now, with mostly unaccompanied minors. There are kids that are sleeping on floors. ”