Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Redford, MI

Redford Fire Department Station 1
Redford, Michigan

2:03 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hi.  (Applause.) 

Oh, good afternoon, everybody.  Good afternoon.  Good afternoon.  It is my great honor to be with everybody this afternoon.

Matt, I want to thank you for your leadership and for all that you do for so many.

You know, everyone here, you all have chosen to live a life of service in the most extraordinary way.  And I’m so thankful to all of you — to Matt, for your leadership — and everybody here. 

And it is so good to be in the house of labor.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)  Thank you all.  Thank you all. 

And, you know, yours is a profession that is more than a profession.  It really is about a calling. 

You know, my — I was just telling Matt — my brother-in-law just retired as a firefighter in California.  So, for me, this is personal and it is professional.  I know what you guys do, and I know your character.  I know your families.  I know what it means for the whole community for you all to take on the lives that you have decided to live, and I’m so thankful to you.

You guys work long shifts with unpredictable hours in some of the most dangerous conditions.  You do so on behalf of people you’ve never met.  Sometimes, those people will never know your name, but because of what you do with such sincerity and the highest level of skill and professionalism, their lives are forever better.  And they always know and have the comfort of going to sleep at night knowing that should any tragedy come their way that you guys are out there and would be there.

It’s an extraordinary thing you do, and it’s a great gift that you have that you give.  And so, I am so thankful to you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

And, of course, I am thankful for the union that supports you and your right to all that you deserve in terms of the wages and the benefits that you so rightly have earned.  (Applause.)

And I also want to thank the other brothers and sisters from labor who are here from UAW — (applause); IBE- — IBEW; LIUNA.  Where are your orange T-shirts?  I know you’re here somewhere.  I thank you all, all of you. 

So, look, just yesterday, we saw another example of the power of collective bargaining — right? — when the longshoremen and the U.S. Maritime Alliance came together, ended a strike, and reached an agreement on a record wage.  Right?  (Applause.)  They did good.  They did good. 

And I say, everywhere I go, look, collective bargaining benefits everybody.  And you know the — the term — and I’m looking at our young leaders who are here.  I’m so glad you guys are here.  (Applause.)  So, collective bargaining, it’s really — it’s just a basic logical point. 

So, here’s what it means.  It means that in any negotiation, you want the outcome to be fair.  Right?  We all want fairness, right?  Everybody wants fairness — or should. 

So, here’s the thing about collective bargaining.  If you want the outcome to be fair, you got to realize, if you’re requiring the one worker to negotiate against the big entity, do we really think that the outcome is going to be fair?  Probably not.  But if you let the workers together, as the collective, then negotiate against the big entity, it’s more likely that the outcome will be fair.  

That’s the basic point of collective bargaining.  That’s the basic point of why we want our unions to be able to do their work on behalf of workers every day, because we know when union wages go up, everyone’s wages go up.  (Applause.)  Yeah. 

And when union workplaces are safer, all workplaces are safer.  (Applause.) 

And the bottom line is: When unions are strong, America is strong.  (Applause.)  And our unions have always fought to make our nation, then, more equal, more fair, and more free. 

And in this election, in 32 days, everything we have fought for is on the line. 

This election is about two very different visions for our nation: one that is focused on the past, and ours that is focused on the future. 

We fight for a future where we protect the fundamental freedom to organize.  We fight for a future where workers, all workers, are treated with dignity and respect; a future where we tap into the ambition and the aspirations of the American people and build what I call an “opportunity economy” so that every American has an opportunity to buy a home, start a business, build wealth — intergenerational wealth for their family. 

Over the last three and a half years, our nation has seen historic small-business creation as an example of that focus. 

In Michigan alone, we have seen more than 500,000 new small-business applications.  And when I am president, I plan to build on that progress and that success, including by raising the start-up deduction — tax deduction for small businesses from $5,000 for — to $50,000 to help more entrepreneurs start a small business. 

I’ll tell you guys, my sister and I were raised by our mother, who worked very hard, and we lived on an apartment above a daycare center.  And it was run by and owned by the woman that we called our second mother, who lived two houses down.  She was a small-business owner, and her name was Ms. Shelton. 

And I grew up as a child knowing about who our small businesses are, right?  They’re leaders in the community.  They’re civic leaders.  They hire locally.  They train.  And so, that’s one of the reasons I’m focused on small businesses as part of how we lift up the middle class in America’s economy.

We need to also build more housing in America.  Housing is too expensive. 

My mother saved up for years, until I was a teenager, when she was able to buy our first home. 

And right now, we have a serious housing shortage in America, and that’s part of what is driving up costs.  And so, we are going to cut red tape, we’re going to work with the private sector, and we’ll build 3 million new homes by the end of my first term — (applause) — including — including providing first-time homebuyers with a $25,000 down payment assistance so they can just get their foot literally in the door to be able to invest in the American dream — (applause) — which not everyone has access to these days.

We need to lower the cost of living, because, look, our economy, while we’re making good progress — just this morning, in fact, we got a solid jobs report: over 250,000 jobs created last month, unemployment fell.  And just a few weeks ago, the Federal Reserve cut down interest rates, which is going to be great for a lot of folks.  But there’s still more work we need to do. 

Prices for everyday things like groceries are still too high.  You know it, and I know it.

And so, we have a plan to lower costs on everything from health care to groceries, including what I’ve done in my career as attorney general, which is we got to take on corporate price gouging. 

We got to take on what we need to do to understand that if you want to grow the middle class, we need more middle-class tax cuts.  And the tax cut that is part of my plan will give a tax cut to 100 million Americans. 

We need to expand Child Tax Credit, and I will do that to expand it to $6,000 so that for the first year of a child’s life, their parents have the resources that they need to be able to buy a crib or a car seat, and in that very critical stage of their child’s development, just be able to do more than get by but be able to get ahead. 

And I say all this to say, I will always put the middle class and working families first.  I come from the middle class, and I will never forget where I come from.  I will never forget where I come from.  (Applause.)

And we know we cannot have a strong middle class without American manufacturing. 

Over the last three and a half years, we brought manufacturing back to America.  We created 730,000 manufacturing jobs and announced the opening of more than 20 new auto plants in the United States.  And we did it by investing in American industry and American workers.

And I want to make sure that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.  (Applause.)

So, under my plan, we will invest in the industries that built America, like steel, iron, and the great American auto industry — (applause) — yeah — so we can ensure that the next generation of breakthroughs, from advanced batteries to electric vehicles, are not only invented but built right here in America by American union workers.  (Applause.)

So, the election is in 32 days, and Americans have a big choice to make.  And I think it’s very important, then, to point out Donald Trump has a very different approach than mine. 

And let’s be real about who Donald Trump is.  Let’s be real.  This is a time for real talk. 

He was handed $400 million on a silver platter and filed for bankruptcy six times.  This is a man who has only ever fought for himself.  This is a man who has been a union buster his entire career, who has called union leaders, quote, “Dues Sucking” people.  And as president, he did not lift a finger to save the pensions of millions of American workers. 

We did.  We did.  (Applause.)

This is a man who sold promise after promise to American workers but never delivered, who said he supports so-called right-to-work laws “100 percent.”  Those are his words. 

He who joked and laughed about firing striking workers.  You remember that? 

AUDIENCE:  Yes.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Who rolled back labor standards and made it easier for companies that break labor laws to get federal contracts. 

And Donald Trump is a man who tried to cut funding for our first responders, including SAFER grants for firefighters. 

So, brothers and sisters, as we stand here in a house of labor, we will not be fooled.  We will not be gaslighted.  Donald Trump’s track record is a disaster for working people, and he’s trying to gaslight people all over our country.  But we know the facts and we know the truth: He is an existential threat to America’s labor movement.  Just look at his track record to know. 

He said he was the only one who could bring back America’s manufacturing jobs — Michigan knows what I’m about to say — then America lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs when he was president, including tens of thousands of jobs in Michigan.  And those losses started before the pandemic, so we’re clear, making Donald Trump one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history.  (Applause.)

And recall his record — his track record for the auto industry.  He promised workers in Warren that the auto industry would, quote, “not lose one plant” during his presidency.  Then American automakers announced the closure of six auto plants when he was president, including General Motors in Warren and Stellantis in Detroit.  Thousands of Michigan autoworkers lost their jobs. 

And now he is making the same empty promises to the people of Michigan that he did before, hoping you will forget how he let you down.  But we know, if he wins again, it will be more of the same. 

Everything he intends to do is spelled out in Project 2025.  If reelected, he intends to launch a full-on attack on unions and the freedom to organize.  He will ban public-sector unions, roll back workplace safety protections, and appoint a union buster to run the Department of Labor.

And on top of that, Donald Trump will give billionaires and the biggest corporations massive tax cuts like he did last time. 

He will cut Social Security and Medicare and impose what I call a Trump sales tax, a 20 percent tax on everyday goods and necessities, which will cost — the economists have said — which will cost the average American over $4,000 a year more. 

And if that weren’t enough, he intends to end the Affordable Care Act.  And even after he tried to repeal it time and time again when he was president, he still has no plan to replace it. 

Did you guys see the debate?  (Laughter and applause.)  “Concepts of a plan.”  He has “concepts of a plan.”  (Laughter.)  Come on. 

And, you know, I’ve said many times he is an unserious human — (laughter) — but the consequence of him is quite serious, because think about that: “concepts of a plan.” 

So, he’s going to threaten the health care and health coverage of 45 million people in America based on a concept — think about that — to take us back to when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions.  You remember what that was like?

So, look, I’m here to say, and I think we all know: It’s time to turn the page.  It’s time to turn the page.  (Applause.)  We’re not going back. 

America is ready to chart a new way forward, because we are not going back. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  No, we’re not.  We’re not going back.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  No, we’re not.

And so, it all comes down to this.  We are here together because we know what is at stake.  And we are here together — and I’m looking at the young leaders — because we love our country.  We love our country.  (Applause.)  Yes, we do.  We love our country.

And I do believe it is the highest form of patriotism to then fight for the ideals of our country and to fight to realize the promise of America. 

We have 32 days to get this done, and we know this is going to be a very tight race until the very end.  And we are the underdog, so we have some hard work ahead of us.  But I know who’s here.  We like hard work.  Hard work is good work.  Hard work is good work.  (Applause.)

And we know what we stand for, so we know what to fight for.  We stand for opportunity, we stand for dignity, and we stand for the future.

And so, we know when we fight —

AUDIENCE:  We win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win. 

God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

Thank you all.  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END                 2:20 P.M. EDT