Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Event | Las Vegas, NV
Pearson Community Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
7:04 P.M. PST
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Nevada! (Applause.) Hello, hello, hello. What a great crowd.
Melvin, thank you for that introduction.
And thank you, Congressman Steven Horsford, a great friend and an incredible leader of the Congressional Black Caucus. Where is he? (Applause.) There is he. Well, you know, it’s been — he’s been a key player in all of the progress we’re making.
And so is Dana Titus. Where is Congresswoman Titus? There she is. (Applause.)
And Senator Jacky Rosen. (Applause.) There you are, Jacky. All right. (Laughs.) Okay, let’s be clear: We need to reelect Jacky. It’s critical. (Applause.)
And I’ll start with the simplest message: From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you. You all are the reason why I’m President of the United States of America. You’re the reason. (Applause.)
No, I’m — you’re the reason that Kamala Harris is a historic Vice President. (Applause.)
And you’re the reason that Donald Trump is a former President. (Applause.)
And you’re the reason — you’ll make Donald Trump a loser again. (Applause.)
In 2020, I ran because I thought everything this country stood for — everything we believed in, everything that made America “America” — was at risk. I think people thought that maybe I was being hyperbolic about that.
I’d say — they’d say, “Joe, what do you mean our democracy is at risk? What do you mean we’re in a battle for the soul of America?” Well, they may not have understood it, but the people understood it. They don’t say that anymore.
Just think back to the mess Donald Trump left this country in. The pandemic was raging. The economy was reeling. And look how far we’ve come because of you.
We vaccinated — (applause) — we vaccinated America to get through a pandemic. We created a record 15 million new jobs, getting this economy strong — more than any president has in four years. (Applause.)
And right here in Nevada, 285,000 new jobs. (Applause.)
And nationwide, Black small businesses are starting up at a faster rate of any time in 30 years. (Applause.) Latino small businesses are starting up as the fastest rate in over a decade.
We passed the American Rescue Plan, which put $1,400 into people’s pockets. (Applause.) And on top of that, they got a $300 check per child, per family, per month for hardworking families. (Applause.) Over 300,000 — there were 380,000 families in Nevada benefited until the — our friends on the other side wiped it out.
You know, nationwide, that’s thousands of dollars that people put in their pockets to be able to get real crisis — to get through a real crisis.
That cut Black child poverty in half. It cut — (applause) — it cut Latino child poverty by 43 percent. (Applause.) And it cut Indigenous child poverty by half as well. (Applause.)
Look, I know — we know we have a lot more to do. Not every- — not everyone is feeling the benefits of our investments in progress yet. But inflation is now lower in America than any other major economy in the world — in the world. (Applause.)
And in recent weeks, we’re seeing real evidence that the American consumers are feeling real confidence in the economy that we’re beginning to build.
A recent Washington Post headline said, and I quote, “Falling inflation and rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery” — “the world’s best recovery.” (Applause.) And we’re just getting started.
And let me tell you something else — who is noticing this: Donald Trump. (Laughter.) The — the strange things he says. He recently said, “When there’s a crash, I hope it’s in the next 12 months.” Isn’t that wonderful — the former president to root for a crash? It’s unbelievable. It’s un-America. How can anyone, especially a former president, wish for an economic crash that would devastate millions of Americans?
And, by the way, pause for a minute. How many times did you hear, when I first got elected President, my policy — we’re going to bring a recession next month? Every month. (Laughter.) None of them are saying it anymore. (Applause.) The mainstream economists.
Because of — I’m here because of you guys.
Here’s what it really means: Donald Trump knows the economy we built is strong and getting stronger. He knows that while it’s good for America, it’s bad for him politically.
Trump also said the one president he doesn’t want to be like was Herbert Hoover. Donald, I got bad news for you, pal. It’s too late. (Laughter.) You’re one of only two presidents in American history — you and Herbert Hoover — who left office with fewer jobs than when you took office. Herbert Hoover — yes. Donald “Herbert Hoover” Trump. (Laughter.)
Look, when I got elected — I’ve been working my whole career as a senator — long back with my old buddy Harry Reid and others — trying to get Big Pharma and the pharmaceutical companies to start to play at a new level. I’m going to have to beat them. They changed — they charge extraordinary prices, charging more for prescription drugs here in America than anywhere else in the entire world — made by the same drug company.
You have a prescription for anything, take it to a local drugstore. I promise you, if I put you on a plane and took you to Toronto or Paris or Berlin or anywhere in Europe, you can buy that same drug, that same prescription for somewhere between 40 to 60 percent less. We said we’d beat them, and we did. (Applause.)
Insulin — $35 a month for insulin for seniors on [with] diabetes instead of $400 a month or more. (Applause.)
We’re also capping the cost of prescription drugs at $2,000 a year for seniors, even for expensive drugs like cancer drugs that cost $10-, $12-, $15,000 year.
Because of the progress we’re making so far, 143,000 Nevadans will begin to save an average of $434 a year on prescription drugs. (Applause.)
And, folks, I promise you, I’m just getting started. (Applause.)
Our actions not only save patients thousands of dollars, they save taxpayers billions of dollars. You know, Medicare pays for these drugs that go out through — over- — being overcharged. Guess what it’s saving the tax- — the American taxpayer — what we’ve done so far? One hundred and sixty billion dollars that taxpayers don’t have to pay to Medicare to give them these (inaudible). (Applause.)
Republicans say they’re concerned about the deficit. Give me a break. (Laughter.) Give me a break. We’ve tried to make it $35 a month for everyone, not just seniors, but Republicans blocked us.
And with your vote in 2024, we’re going to make it happen for everyone in America, not just seniors. (Applause.) I promise you.
And that will reduce the deficit by even more.
Look, I promised we’d help eliminate the accumulated student debt. That —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: There you go. Yes! (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: — that millions of Americans carried during the economic pandemic and beyond.
The Supreme Court of the United States blocked me, but they didn’t stop me. (Applause.) I found another way to help more than 3,700,000 people with $130 billion of relief and cou- –and counting.
There were several existing programs that the bureaucracy wasn’t pushing, including one of th- — it’s called Public Servants — like teachers, firefighters. Public Servants. (Applause.) So, I fixed the program to deliver relief for public servants — teachers, nurses, firefighters, social workers, and so on. (Applause.)
And guess what? Some of you are getting notices right now. You’re going to get another student cut. And this time, you’re going to not have any doubt about who sent it to you. It’s going to have my name on it: Biden. (Applause.) No, I mean it, because we got another $25 billion a year.
And guess what? It’s — not only is it a good thing to do, it drows [sic] the economy — it grows the economy. It’s not costing people. Guess what? When you’re able to eliminate that — how many of you have had your student debt eliminated? (Applause.)
Well, some of you had student debt eliminated for over $100,000.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: That’s right! Right here!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, guess what? It changes everything. You were able to go out and buy your first home. You were able to go out and buy your first automobile maybe. You were able to go out and see to it that you have an opportunity to get up — to build that business you wanted.
And I kept my promise as well to appoint the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court. (Applause.) Her name is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and, by the way, she’s smarter than the rest of these guys. (Laughter.)
And, by the way, I’ve appointed more Black women to the federal courts of appeals than every other president in American history combined — combined. (Applause.)
All told, with the help of the senator from the state of Illinois, I’ve gotten 175 federal judges confirmed. Two thirds of them are women, and two thirds are people of color. (Applause.)
Hold a second there. I also said — when I got elected, I made a promise: I was going to have an American administration that looked like America. I have more women in my Cabinet than men. I have more African Americans on it. (Applause.) I have more people in the backgrounds that are similar.
And, by the way, I make no apologize — no apologies for being the most pro-union president in American history. (Applause.)
Let me say one more thing. I also said that — I asked the Treasury Department to do a study with wa- — raising the wages of union members, which I’ve been able to — I fought like hell to have happen, and it’s happening. And unions are more popular now than they’ve been in a generation. I said, “What was — what’s the effect of that?” It raises everybody’s wages. Everything raises, because guess what? When you’re making more money for the job you’re doing, you’re the best workers in — we have the — we have the best workers in Amer- — in the world.
Look, remember those little computer chips that we were — we invented those suckers — about the size of the end of a fingertip? Guess what? You need 300 of them — 3 — to build an automobile. You needed them for cell phones. You need them for all kinds of things. And we had lost that market. We had lost that market completely.
So, I got in a plane, and I flew to South Korea. And they said, “What the hell are you doing in Kouth [South] Korea?” Well, they are a major manufacturer of chips. I sat down with their president and with Samsung. I said, “Come and invest in America.” Because guess what? We now have $50 billion coming to America — investing in. (Applause.)
And they’re building these facilities. They built what they call “fabs” — factories. They’re great big — look like gigantic football fields underneath a — a roof.
Guess what? Know what the average salary in those is? And you don’t need a college degree. A hundred and twelve thousand dollars a year. (Applause.) And they’re coming all over America.
And thanks to what we call the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — it’s a fancy way of saying we’re building a hell of a lot — I’ve signed — that I signed, there are over 40,000 projects underway.
Remember, the last president — he kept talking about “Infrastructure Week”? He had “Infrastructure Week” for four years and didn’t do a damn thing. (Laughter.) No, but I’m serious.
But guess what? We’re doing a heck of a lot in the state of Nevada. (Applause.) I just approved $3 billion for the nation’s first high-speed rail line. (Applause.) Three billion dollars. It’s going to take you from here to Las Vegas — well, from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in two hours by train instead of four hours by car. (Applause.) At 186 miles an hour, it will also reduce carbon emissions. It will take 3 million vehicles off the road, helping the air quality.
And it’s going to create 35,000 jobs during construction, 10,000 union jobs — building trades: carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, laborers, and more. (Applause.) Jobs now and jobs beyond.
And generating significant economic growth from Nevada to California, and that includes transforming California with another high-speed rail line coming down from the south, going through central part of the state. Guess what? There’s o- — they’re going to — that’s train is going to go 220 miles an hour.
Things are changing, folks. We have to get with the rest of the world. We have to — we’re the best — we’re the most innovative country in the world. What the hell have we been doing? No, I’m serious. Think about it.
And look, just like Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act back in the ‘30s — he provided electricity for every home and farm because it was necessary. Electricity was the new need and rural areas and poor folks couldn’t afford it, so he signed the Rural Electrification Act.
Well, we’re bringing high-speed Internet everywhere in America — (applause) — because Internet today is just as essential doing business as electricity was then.
So far, that includes nearly 270,000 households across Nevada that are paying less than $30 a month now for Internet, instead of two to three times that amount, so children can do their homework, businesses are able to thrive, farmers and ranchers can know when the best time to sell their product is.
And, by the way, we’re ripping out every poisonous lead pipe in America so every child — (applause) — not a joke — so every child can turn on a faucet and drink clear water without worrying about brain damage.
And guess what? It’s creating thousands of good union jobs. (Applause.)
And the one state I don’t have to talk about gun violence in is here. I’ve been hearing the tragic times that occurred here in this state.
We passed the most significant gun safety law in decades, but I want to make clear to you: I will not stop until I once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. (Applause.) There’s no rationale for it. None, none, none. (Applause.)
I mean it. I did it once when I was a senator, and I will do it again. (Applause.)
Look, we’re saving the planet with the most significant investments in climate change ever — ever, anywhere, anytime, in the whole entire history of the world. And that includes, just in your state, an investment of $12 billion in clean energy provisions that en- — (applause) — so you’ll be a national leader in — in electric vehicles, batteries, and more, creating tens of thousands of jobs and generating significant economic growth.
I signed into law a thing called the PACT Act — one of the most significant laws helping veterans exposed to toxic materials, and their families. It matters, and there’s so much more we’re doing that we can do with these folks.
I’ve been saying for a long time —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Joe! Joe! Joe!
THE PRESIDENT: — and I think it’s — well, thank you.
AUDIENCE: Joe! Joe! Joe!
THE PRESIDENT: Folks —
AUDIENCE: Joe! Joe! Joe!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
I’ve been saying for a long time, America has many obligations but only one sacred obligation: to equip those we send into harm’s way and to care for them and their families when they come home. It’s a sacred obligation. (Applause.)
So, when I introduced this legislation, well, a lot of my Republican colleagues weren’t sure they wanted to vote for it. But guess what? I also included, from my generation, Agent Orange. How many people in the Vietnam generation had Agent Orange come down upon their heads but they couldn’t prove without a doubt that whatever their ailment was was because of the Agent Orange?
Well, guess what? What it should have been is what it is now, and the same way with burn pits. The burn pits out there where they burn — these pits are a size of a football field, 10 feet deep, 40 yards wide, and almost 100 yards long. And guess what? They burn everything in there, from jet fuel to body to — everything, all contaminated waste.
And it generates — just like you saw what happened to those 9/11 firefighters. They all came out with cancer, many of them, because of the — the smoke they were inhaling. Well, the same thing happened.
Matter of fact, I had a son who was the Attorney General of the State of Delaware — and he should be here, not me. And guess what? He volunteered — he was Attorney General, and he gave up his — active Attorney General, and he said, “I’m going with my National Guard unit,” because they were going to go to Iraq. And he spent a year there.
I was in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan over 19 times. And his hooch where he slept was only about 200 yards, maybe a little — may- — maybe more, maybe 400 yards from where he slept, breathing in that air for a year. He came home with stage four glioblastoma, a brain cancer that there’s no cure for. And he died — and he died.
The idea that he’d have to prove it was because of that is bizarre. And guess what? Now anyone that’s exposed to these burn pits, anyone who can demonstrate they were there, if they come down with the disease, it’s covered. And if they — (applause).
And one other thing it means. It means if they passed away, their children are entitled to the education benefits and the other benefits they would have been if he’d been alive and come home — they’d been alive and come home. So, folks, look, the same way, as I said, with Agent Orange.
Now, imagine the nightmare if Donald Trump is reelected.
No —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, no, no. By the way, this is the guy who, when he was in France and he was — they asked him to go to this — a American cemetery in France from World War Two where Americans were buried. And you know what he said? He said those folks buried in that cemetery were “suckers” and “losers.” “Suckers” and “losers,” the guy said.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not kidding. By the way, that’s bey- — I’m glad I wasn’t there. (Laughter.) No, no, I’m serious. I shouldn’t say that. But I’m glad I wasn’t there.
To call my son and your sons and daughters who gave their lives for this country “suckers” and “losers.” That’s how this guy thinks. Who the hell does he think he is?
After a recent deadly shooting in Perry, O- — Iowa where two kids [people] were killed — a sixth-grader and a school principal — what did Trump say? It wasn’t long ago. He said, they’ve got to “get over it.” They’ve got to “get over it.”
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We don’t get over it!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re not going to get over it. We’re going to stop it. (Applause.)
And now Trump, from the beginning — and, by the way, you all know there’s no climate problems, right? (Laughter.) I mean, think — think about it. Think about it. All kidding aside, think about it. This guy is denying we have a problem with climate. This guy is saying — and his MAGA Republican friends want to repeal the historic climate legislation I got passed.
And get this, 100,000 Nevadans will get healthcare this year through the Affordable Care Act — (applause) — and access to affordable premiums.
But after trying and failing more than 60 times, Trump and his MAGA Republican friends are promising to get rid of the Affordable [Care] Act again if they get elected.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: And, by the way, it’s the only reason why people all over this country have the protections for preexisting conditions — (applause) — and they’ll take it away. I don’t know what they’re thinking. I don’t know what they’re thinking. I really mean it.
And seniors here in Nevada and all across America should know this: Trump and his MAGA friends are determined to take away the $35-a-month insulin, as well as the $2,000 cap on prescription drugs.
How many of you believe the tax system is fair? Raise your hand. (Laughter.) And even those of you who are doing well.
We’ve made progress making sure the biggest corporations pay their fair share by paying a minimum 15 percent — just 15 percent. That paid for all the programs I’m talking about so far. And we did that and we still cut the deficit $7 billion.
But guess what? Trump passed, last time out, a $2 trillion tax cut overwhelmingly benefitting the very wealthy and big corporations that expanded the federal debt significantly.
And now, instead of protecting Social Security and Medicare like I am, Trump and his MAGA friends want to give another billion-dollar ta- — multibillion-dollar tax cut to the super wealthy and the biggest corporations.
Look, I’m not anti-wealth. I’m not anti-corporation. I come from the corporate state of the world. (Laughter.) Seriously. More corporations are incorporated in my state, as you know, Gov, than every other state in the nation combined. But they got to pay their fair share. (Applause.) I’m serious. Think about it.
Look, folks, we — before the pandemic, there were 750 — -48 maybe — roughly 750 billionaires in America. Now there are a thousand. You know what their average tax rate they pay — the federal tax rate? 8.2 percent. Anybody wouldn’t trade that — for that tax rate?
Well, let me tell you something. If, in fact, they paid their fair share, over the next 10 years, it’d be 40- — $400 billion in new income coming in. We could take care of all these problems. We could have daycare for all kids. We could increase economic growth even more, et cetera.
But Trump and his MAGA friends are determined to take away that opportunity. But I’m going to — if you reelect me — I tell you what, man — hang on, taxes. And I promise, not anybody making less than 400 grand would have one penny in federal taxes raised. I kept that promise in the beginning. I haven’t make — and I will not make — I will not break it again. (Applause.)
But, look, Trump and his MAGA friends are determined to take away your fundamental freedoms. Your voting rights are under attack: where you can register, how you can register, when you have to register, whether there’s mail-in ballot, all the stuff they want to do to change the law.
And now, Trump is bragging about having overturned another basic freedom: Roe v. Wade.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: No, seri- — he’s on television, and he’s out saying, “I did this because it’s the Supreme Court that I appointed.” God love him.
Well, Roe v. Wade has taken away a woman’s right to choose. And, by the way, now they’re planning a national ban on the right to choose. They made it clear. If MAGA Republicans try to pass a national ban on the right to choose, I will veto it. (Applause.)
And, by the way, Kamala is doing an incredible job going around the country making this case.
And here’s the deal, folks. Here’s the deal. The idea, if, in fact, you do what I hope you will do — we’ll get more registered people — more people who are registered to vote between the — now and the general election, elect all the Democratic congressmen and senators all across the country, give me a Senate and a House, I’m going to bring back Roe v. Wade. (Applause.)
And, by the way, I love how Trump is now saying, “Biden is for abortion on demand.” Not true. That’s not what Roe v. Wade said. It said there are three trimesters and how it worked.
Let me close with this. Look, Trump and his MAGA friends are dividing us, not uniting us; dragging us back to the past, not leading us to the future; refusing to accept the results of legitimate elections; and seeking, as Trump says, to “terminate” — his words — “terminate” elements of the U.S. Constitution. And you’re telling me he doesn’t — democracy is not at risk?
Embracing political violence — never since the Civil War has any president engaged in or said political violence was ever appropriate — political violence in America. Calling January 6th insurrections — you know what he calls them? “Patriots.”
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, no, I — no, I’m — I’m se- — I mean, think about this. People have pled guilty.
You know, right — right after I was elected, I went to what they call a G7 meeting, all the NATO leaders. And it was in — it was in the south of England. And I sat down and I said, “America is back.”
And Mitterrand [Macron], from Germany — I mean, from France looked at me and said — said, “You know, what — why — how long you back for?” (Laughter.) And I looked at him, and the — and the Chancellor of Germany said, “What would you say, Mr. President, if you picked up the paper tomorrow in the London Times, and London Times said, ‘A thousand people break through the House of Commons, break down the doors, two Bobbies are killed in order to stop the election of the Prime Minister.’ What would you say?”
And I never thought about it from that perspective. What would we say that happened in another democracy around the world? Well, the whole world watched — the whole world watched. And what’s going on?
Well, guess what? It’s not going happen. He’s not — you know what’s going to happen if he loses — he’s going to lose.
You know, this guy has an interesting vocabulary. He calls immigrants “vermin” who “poison the blood” of the na- —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s hard to make this up. And he says they threaten our very democracy.
He said — folks, we must make clear where we stand. Well, we have to make sure we stand for the truth and will defeat the lies. We must make it clear that in America, just like all of you do in Nevada, we still believe in honesty, decency, dignity, respect. (Applause.)
Folks —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You better win, Joe!
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Get ‘em, Joe!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’re right —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Joe!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s the reason I’m running, because we have to win.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you!
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. I give you my word. We have to. It’s not much of a choice here.
Look, we’re the most unique nation in the history of the world. I’ll end with this. And that sounds like hyperbole, like America is beating their chest, but we are.
We’re the only nation in the world built on an idea. Every other nation is built based on ethnicity, religion, or other common traits. The only i- — thing we’re built on is that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their Creator,” et cetera. We’ve never fully lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it before. We’ve never — we leave nobody behind in America. We believe everyone deserves a fair shot — just a fair shot.
My dad used to say — and he’d say at the dinner table — my dad was a well-read guy who didn’t get to go to college because of the war. And — but he’d come home before he went back to close the business he was manager of. And we’d have a conversation and, incidentally, eat.
And he’d look and he’d say, many times, “Joey, remember, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community. It’s about being able to look your child in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay.’” He meant it.
We don’t give hate any safe harbor in America. We believe in America. We know what the stakes are. We must keep the White House and keep the Senate by reelecting Jacky Rosen. (Applause.)
And, folks, we have to win. We have to win back the House of Representatives, and win it up and down the ticket — (applause) — and state and locally.
And that’s why we have to get more people to register to vote after this primary — to do that — to do that in the — in the primary. Anybody wondering, tell them — where they vote — go to IWillVote.com. And here in Nevada — here in Nevada, you’ll know — you’ll be given exactly where you vote.
We have to must- — we have to organize, mobilize, vote. When we do that, we’ll be able to look back and say something few generations have ever been able to say. When American democracy was at risk, like it is now, you all saved it. (Applause.) I mean it.
We just have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. (Applause.) And there is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity when we act together. We’re the only nation in the world that’s come out of every crisis stronger than we went in. And that’s what we’re going to do again. (Applause.)
May God bless you all. And may God protect our troops.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. (Applause.)
Every time — every time I’d walk out of my Grandpop Finnegan’s house up in Scranton, he’d yell, “Joey, keep the faith.” And my grandma — “No, Joey, spread it.” Let’s go spread the faith, guys. (Applause.)
7:37 P.M. PST
