Of cities conferen in washington, d. C. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the one, the only president of the United States, joe biden. President biden hello, hello. Thank you, mr. Mayor, though i didnt realize that guy is a p. H. D. Hes a pretty smart guy. [laughter] the president please have a seat if you have one. So great to see you all. The mayor mentioned i started ■q d thats when i learned early on you want something done, send it you dont have to pass go toals. Compete for the money. I only ran for the senat■e bel government is too hard. [laughter] the president you think im kidding, they know where you live and they think you can solve every problem even if you dont have the authority to do it and hold you accountable for everything. So god love you, my mother would say. Thank you all for being here and congratulations to the National League of cities. 100 years. Was a strong supporter but i wasnt at the first meeting. I wasnt. Eato god. [laughter] the president first came together in a college campus, cities and towns were growing fast and our economy was changing and pushed to transparency and reform and efficiency, a big push. And you helped one another deliver for folks ever since that time because i mean, look, think about it, all kidding aside, people come to you first in your communities andur door y neighbor safe . Will the bus be on time and will it run so i can get to work on my kid will have a good fortune of staying in the hometown and make a living. You do what matters. You do what matters for to say s about a lot more than a paycheck, its about your dignity and ability to look your kid in the eye and say everhing will be ok. They look to you first. Thats why i filled my administration with local officials, tomerez who you just heard and runs the show from the house. Pete buttigieg, and others. We know what you all do and what a measure o is and how many partisan points you score and is a basic thing where we got involved. Can you fix the problem . Can the problem . Were here we deliver historic results to the american people. When i ran it sounded silly and said i promise to be americans y voted for me or not and making progress in the red communities and blue communities and in fact there are more investments in blue communities than red communities. Its about politics in many peoples minds but its about investing in all■ of america so everyone has a fair shot. And leaving nobody behind. When i came into office the pandemic was raging and our community was reeling. Everybody was facing budget cuts and we turned things around. Three years ago today i signed the American Rescue plan. Instead of just helping a few cities we provided 350 billion for state and local governments for you to decide how it should be spent. Money went directly to every could decide how best to spend it without having to go through the statehouse or governor. We trusted you. That trust has been well placed because youve done a hell after job. use those funds to vaccinate your communities and keep essential Services Going and put cops on the beat and teachers in the classroom. You kept Small Businesses on th feet and families in their home. Then i proposed and signed the most significant investment of our nations infrastructure in a generation, 47,000 new projects announced so far across communities, modernizing america, bridges, airports, creating jobs now and jobs for the next decade. We went through, remember, we had infrastructure four years . Now we have infrastructure week for 10 years. Its going to be something every look, i stood where youre rebuilding, the bridge q in minnesota, a billion dollar operation, the spence bridge in kentucky and ohio. By the way, not only changing the economy for those communities and all up and down the country, but its doing something else, its jobs and is bringing communities back together. And working with many of you replacing every poisonous lead pe in america so every child can drink clean water. In january i was in North Carolina where we were investing 3 billion to connect the entire state with Speed Internet and by the end of the decade, and were doing it in all 50 states. Its critical for children to do their home work and Small Businesses be able to sell their product and folks to have access to telemedicine without driving to see their doctors when they live in the countryside. Also, weve already saved 23 million families 75 a bills. Congress needs to reauthorize that program now, by the way. I need your help. Were taking significant action to fight climate changed talkini wont get started on all that. I feel pretty passionate about it. Look, i visited many of your towns as we worked to rebuild and increase reliance and resilience which is the important part. We cant build back to what it was, we have to build back better for everything were doing, for real. The climate is already changing things. Resilience and extreme weather and revitalization of fence line communities smothered by the legacy of pollution. Were also promoting clean energy and industries, a future thats made in america. You know, there used to be a law that i didnt even realize it, i bet most didnt realize it, back in the 1930s when they were talking whether unions could exist, so forth, one law that got passed was any money sent to the president to spend onderal t for American Products and american workers. Well, heres what happened, a lot of folks, both parties didnt pay much attention to that. But not anymore. We build america and we buy american and we are american. Folks, thanks in part to the chips and science act, the United States is investing more money in research and development than ever before. During the pandemic, semi of your finger drove prices up from cell phones to automobiles. Instead of having to import semi conductors which america invented, i might add, private companies are now investing billions to build new Chip Companies here in america. Were creating tens of thousands of jobs, many paying over 100,000 a year and do not require a college degree. Folks, in all my policies, weve attracted 650 billion in private sector investments from Companies Bringing jobs back to america and back to the communities they belong. For the both parties sent jobs overseas because the labor was cheaper and could afford the project. Now were sending the product overseas ande jobs back here. Look, folks, in thousands of cities and towns, were seeing a great comeback story. Nearly 15 million new jobs created so far. Thats a record. Wage is rising and inflation is down. Individuals have filed to start 16 million new businesses since. Each application to do that is a act of hope. Along the way, we reduce the federal deficit, i might add. It hasnt gone down under us. We codified tready and another trillion in the next decade and is my goal to cut by 3 trillion by making the wealthy and big corporations pay just pay your fair share, man. Not [applause] if you pay 25 , wed have 500 billion more over the next 10ite child care, to do all the things we need to do. But theres more to do. Look, for example, i know the■n cost of hous for families nationwide. Inflation keeps coming down, Mortgage Rates are going to continue to come down as well. But im not waiting. For those seeking to buy thor a little more space, i propose a tax cut that will provide 400 a month for the next two because every family [applause] every family deserves a place to call home and a place to your American Dream come true. Look, million of representers also are out there in renters are al o there in trouble. Were cracking down on landlords who price fix those rents. Landlords should be competing to give theolks the best deal. Not conspiring to charge them higher rent. [applause] we alsouilders can get federal financing which is helping to construct a record 1. 7 million newHousing Units nationwide new Housing Units nationwide. Use] and the federal budget that im releasing today has a plan for two million more affordable homes, including housing and Innovation Fund to help communities like yours build housing, renovate housing and convert empty Office Spaces and hotels into housing. Housing for renters, for owners, middle class families and folks, folks struggling just to get by. Look, we realize many of you are dealing with homeless encampments in your cities and towns. Were providing 8 billion to allow you to provideove unhousee streets. Get them into homes. [applause] the bottom line is we have to build, build, build. Thats how we bring housing costs down for good. At the same time americans deserve the freedom to be safe from crime and americas safer today than when i took office. Starting with the American Rescue plan, i made the biggest used it well. Public safety you, all of you, have done a tremendous job in your communities, putting those resources to work. Using money to hire■a more officers, community police, expanding violence intervention folks, we dont always hear about it but todays Violent Crime rates are down nationwide in almost every cat tkpwoeufrplt one of the lowest levels in over 50 years. Theres more to do. Were making american progress. Serious progress. Look, theres another piece of unfinished business, the border. The federal border, we keep talking about. In november my team began serious negotiations with a Bipartisan Group of senators led by a very serious as democrats. The result was a compromised bill, toughest Border Security reform this country has ever bie 1 rbgs 500 new 1500 new Border Security agencies and officers, 100 more Immigration Judges to help tackle backlog of two million cases that are just waiting to be heard. 4300 more asylum officers anday new policies so they can resolve cases in six months instead of six years. 100 more hightech drug deteion ches significantly increase our ability to stop fentanyl from being smuggled into america. [cheers and applause] by the way, no one questions those would save lives. Bring order to the border. It has the funds that many of our cities it would also give me new Emergency Authority temporarily to shut down the border when immigrants are overwhelming it and regaining control of the border. The Border Petroleum union endorsed Border Patrol union ened given an opportunity the house and senate would have the votes to pass it if they would bring it to the floor and vote on it. [applause] folks, we have to end the games. We have to deal. This deal is about a win for america. Your cities and towns. You all face issues every s day. It matters to you, your community, tell your members in congress to show up, show a little spine and pass the bipartisan Border Securityill. [applause] ive already long. Let me close with this. Last week i delivered my state the Union Address where i said [cheers and applause] where i stated what i believe to be the empirical truth. The state of the union is strong. And getting stronger. Thats what i see. As i travel the travel the country, folks often tell me how back in 2020 they were down, had lost their business, theyd lost their faith in the system. Work weve done together got them back on their feet. Creating new jobs, new businesses, new cycle of hope. Got a lo terms of and by the way, Public Confidence in the economy is coming back. So when you see shovels in the ground, people going tope you fu feel it with a sense of pride. Pride in your hometown, pride making a in america. Pride in knowing we can get big things done when we Work Together. [applause] folks, as i said, ive been around a few days. [laughter] but ive never been more optimistic about our future. I mean that sincerely. We just have to remember who in gods name we are. Were the United States of america, for gods sake. Theres nothing, nothing beyond our capacity, i mean nothing beyond Work Together like you all do. So lets Work Together. God bless you all, may god protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you. [c applause] really, thank you. Youve been great. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for itsl;■n caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2024] host this is the washington journal for march 12. The senate and house will hear