Remarks by Vice President Harris at the 2024 Phoenix Awards Dinner

Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Washington, D.C.

8:50 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good evening, CBC.  (Applause.)

Can we please give it up for our president, Joe Biden?  (Applause.)

Oh, it’s good to be back.  Please have a seat, everyone.  Please have a seat. 

I have to — I have to say —

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)  (Applause.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.)  It is so good to be back.

And I — let me just say, about Joe Biden, I ha- — (applause).  (Laughs.)

Hello to all my Divine Nine brothers and sisters — (laughs) — and my sorors — (applause) — and to all my HBCU brothers and sisters.  (Applause.)

But let me just talk for a moment about Joe Biden.  I — it has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as his vice president.  And I’ll tell you, I have worked very closely with him.  Whether we are in the Oval Office or the Situation Room, Joe Biden is always fighting for the American people.  And I do know that history will show what we here all know: He has been one of the most transformative presidents in American history.  (Applause.)

And so, I thank you, Joe Biden, for everything you are and everything you have yet to do. 

And thank you, also, to all the leaders of CBC — Chair Steven Horsford, CBCF Chair Terri Sewell, and ALC Cochairs Troy Carter and Lucy McBath — for your years of service to CBC and to our nation.  (Applause.)

I also want to thank Hakeem Jeffries, who will be the next speaker of the House.  (Applause.)  Yes, he will.  And nobody knows how to quote Biggie better than Hakeem.  (Laughter.)

Assistant Leader Joe Neguse, thank you for your leadership.  (Applause.)

And I cannot go further without thanking the great, great Congressman Jim Clyburn.  (Applause.)

So, tonight, I must also speak the names of incredible leaders who were my friends, who were our friends, and with whom I had the honor of closely working over the years: Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson — (applause); Donald Payne Jr.; and Sheila Jackson Lee.  (Applause.)  And I know that their work will live on through ours.

And, finally, to all the members of the CBC, over the years, we have worked so closely together on so many important issues, from addressing the crisis of maternal mortality to expanding access to capital for small businesses to defending the sacred freedom to vote.  And I thank you, CBC, always, for that partnership and your leadership as a proud — I’m going to say — still a member of CBC.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

So, for more than half a century — everyone here knows — the Congressional Black Caucus has served as the conscience of the Congress and of our nation.  And as a proud former CBC member, I know firsthand: America relies on the leaders in this room not only for a conscience but for a vision. 

The CBC has always had a vision for the future of our nation.  A future where we can see what is possible unburdened by what has been.  A future where we fulfill the promise of America: a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice — not just for some but for all.  (Applause.)

And today, that vision, our vision, is under profound threat.  While we move and fight to move our nation forward toward a brighter future, Donald Trump and his extremist allies intend to take our nation backward.  They will give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations, cut Social Security and Medicare, and end the Affordable Care Act, which the CBC fought so hard to pass. 

But we are not going back.  (Applause.)  We are not going back.  No, we will chart a new way forward. 

We, together, have a vision of a future for our country where no person has to go broke just because they got sick.  We have a vision that understands, then, the importance of strengthening the Affordable Care Act. 

Remember they tried to name it “Obamacare” thinking people wouldn’t like it?  People love it.  (Applause.)  He wants to talk about “people love it.”  People love the ACA.  Even though the former president tried almost 60 times to get rid of it, it is intact, helping hundreds of millions of people in our country. 

We have a vision of our country where we understand that the access to health care should not be a privilege just of those who can afford it; it should be a right.  And that is why, together, we capped the cost of prescription drugs for our seniors and we’ll cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans.  (Applause.)

We actually have a plan for health care, not just “concepts of a plan.”  (Laughter and applause.)  “Concepts.” 

We have a vision of a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead.  And so, we will build, yes, what I call an opportunity economy, so every person has an opportunity to own a home, start a business, and build intergenerational wealth, including my plan to help create 25 million new small businesses in the next four years.  (Applause.)

Ours is a vision of a future where we protect our most fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to vote, which is why we will finally pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.  (Applause.) 

And we will continue to fight for the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do — (applause) — because we here know one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.  (Applause.)  And, CBC, when you pass a bill to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.  (Applause.)

So, to continue to realize our vision for the future of our nation, we have some hard work ahead of us, but I know we like hard work.  Hard work is good work.  Hard work is joyful work.  And generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom and for the future, and now the baton is in our hands. 

I truly believe that America is ready to turn the page on the politics of division and hate.  And to do it, our nation is counting on the leadership in this room. 

So, to everyone here, no matter what state or district you live in or represent, I thank you in advance for your work — the work you have done and will continue to do to register people to vote and to get folks to the polls. 

Each of us has a job to do.  And the bottom line is we know what we stand for, and that’s why we know what we fight for. 

And when the CBC fights —

AUDIENCE:  We win.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.  (Applause.)

I thank you. 

God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.

Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)

END                  9:00 P.M. EDT