Of their events outdoors for the Convention Next month in jacksonville. Cases of coronavirus in the United States continue to climb. More than 3. 4 million infections have now been reported. Florida has emerged as the new epicenter in this country. Hospitals in the state are getting crushed, with at least 48 now reporting they have no empty icu beds, period. Moments ago at a roundtable with local leaders, the governor of florida touted his states increased testing, stating it was the reason there were so many new cases. Last week, we averaged in the state of florida 90,000 test results a day. That is way, way beyond what we were doing in march, april, and may. So part of the reason we have more positive tests is because were doing so much testing. And in moments, the Presumptive Democratic nominee will deliver a speech in delaware to lay out an economic Recovery Plan that is focused through the prism of clean infrastructure, clean energy and environmental justice. Im going to bring in now katy tur. Over to you. And chuck, as the former Vice President is in delaware, the current Vice President is in baton rouge, louisiana today. Earlier Vice President presence met with governor John Bell Edwards and senator john kennedy on their efforts in the state to combat covid19. Pences visit to louisiana comes as the state is experiencing a covid surge and is now requiring face coverings in businesses and other public areas. Joe biden is now coming out, though, in wilmington, delaware. This speech on the economy and the climate, let us listen in. Talk about infrastructure and jobs, but i have to start by speaking about what millions of americans know when they wake up every morning with worry, anxiety and fear. Were still a country in crisis. The pandemic has affected more than 3 million americans. It hasth 135,000 lives and climbing. And it shows no signs of slowing down. In just the last few days, 19 states, 19 states reported record cases, including florida which saw more than 15,000 new cases in a single day. Hospitalizations and deaths, two of the most concerning indicators of trumps failed response, are already unacceptably high and theoriy a rising. Its gotten bad enough that even donald trump decided to wear a mask in public. Im glad he made the shift. Mr. President , its not enough. We wont be able to turn the corner and get the American People back to work safely without president ial leadership. Mr. President , open everything now isnt a strategy for success. Its barely a slogan. Quit pushing the false choice between protecting our health and protecting our economy. All it does is endanger our recovery on both fronts. Mr. President , please listen to your Public Health experts instead of denigrating them. Do your job, mr. President , because if we cant deal with the Public Health crisis, we cant deal with the economic crisis or deal with almost 18 million americans who are out of work and incredible pain inflicted on Small Businesses and communities of color. We cant deal with the Climate Crisis if you cost us and cast us into an even darker and more permanent shadow that will loom over the country and the world for a long time. We wont be able to do what americans have always done, come back stronger than ever before with the grit, toughness, and resilience that characterizes who we are. Thats what i want to talk about today. Last week, i shared the outlines in my plan to build back better. A bold plan to build an economy of the future, not an economy of the past. And the first plank of that plan rejects the defeatist view that automation and globalization mean we cant ensure our future is made in america. Today, im here in wilmington to talk about a second plank. How we can create millions of high paying union jobs by building a modern infrastructure and clean energy future. These are the most critical investments we can make for the longterm health and vitality of both the American Economy and the physical health and safety of the American People. Even if we werent facing a pandemic and economic crisis, we should be making these investments any way. One in five miles of our highways are still in Poor Condition according to american engineers. Tens of thousands of bridges are in disrepair, and some on the verge of collapse, presenting a clear and present danger to peoples lives. Tens of millions of americans lack access to high speed broad band. To get our people to work and our kids at school safely, to get our kids to market swiftly, to Power Clean Energy revolution in this country, we need to modernize americas infrastructure. Despite this overwhelming need, this president and Republican Congress have simply failed to act. Theres no other way of saying it. To continue to break the promises theyve made to the American People, President Trump promised a big infrastructure bill when he ran in 2016. He promised it again in 2017. And then in 2018 and then in 2019. And now hes promising one again. Seems like every few weeks, when he needs a distraction from the charges of corruption of his staff or the conviction of high ranking members of his administration and political apparatus, the white house announce s its infrastructure week. How many times have you heard him say that . But hes they have delivered. Hes never even really tried. I know how to get it done. In 2009, president obama and i inherited an economy in free fall and we prevented another great depression. We enacted the largest infrastructure plan since president eisenhowers interstate highway system. Not only creating good paying jobs but improving the safety and security of people on our roads. We made the largest investment in clean energy in history of the United States of america, 90 billion. And it put us on a path toward a thriving, clean energy economy. Powering new Economic Growth and reducing energy costs. Here we are now with an economy in crisis, but with an Incredible Opportunity. Not just to build back to where we were before, but better, stronger, more resilient and more prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. And theres no more consequen consequential challenge that we must meet in the next decade than the onrushing Climate Crisis. Left unchecked, it is literally an existential threat to the health of our planet and to our very survival. Thats not up for dispute, mr. President. When donald trump thinks about Climate Change, the only word he can muster is hoax. When i think about Climate Change, the word i think of is jobs. Good paying, union jobs that will put americans to work, making the air cleaner for our k kids to breathe, restoring our crumbling bridges and roads and ports. Making it faster, cleaner and cheaper to transport American Made goods across the country and around the world. Jobs, jobs to build and install a network of 500,000 charging stations along our existing and new highways we build across this country. Which will not only help america, and the american Automobile Industry lead the world in manufacturing with electric vehicles, it will also save americans billions of dollars over time in the cost of gasoline for their vehicles. Jobs that lay the lines for the second Great Railroad revolution, which will not only slash pollution, but will slash commute times and open up investment in areas connected to metropolitan centers for the first time. When President Trump thinks about renewable energy, he sees windmills somehow causing cancer. When i think about these wind mills, i see american manufacturing, American Workers racing to dominate the global market. I see the steel needed for those wind mill platforms, towers and ladders that can be made with small manufacturers like the mcgregor industries. I was up in scranton last week. I see the union train certified men and women who will manufacture and install it all. I see the ports that will come back to life, the long shoreman, the ship builders, the communities they support. When President Trump talks about improving efficiency, my retro fitting Lighting Systems with l. E. D. Bulbs, remember what he said . He said he doesnt like l. E. D. Because the lights no good. I always look orange. The lights no good, i always look orange. When i think about energy retro fitting for lighting, i see an incredible project like one right here in the chase center. I see Small Businesses like preferred electric that design and install Award WinningEnergy Conservation measures, reduced consuch shup of electricity and save businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs per year. I see master electricians and Union Workers who through Union Apprenticeships who start off good wages and quality benefits that only grow froms e win, win, win for this country. Creating jobs, Cutting Energy costs, protecting our climate. Thats why today im releasing my plan to mobilize millions of jobs by building sustainable infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy future. My first four years, were going to give 4 million buildings across this country the same Energy Makeover that you get here at chase, at chase center. Its going to create at least 1 million jobs in construction, engineering and manufacturing in order to get it done. Its going to make places, the places where we work, we live, we learn healthier, improving Indoor Air Quality and water quality. Its going to save tens of billions of dollars in energy cost over time. Thats all real. Were not just focusing on commercial spaces, though. Were going to give direct support to help families do the same thing for their homes. Were going to offer cash rebates and lowcost financing to upgrade energy inefficient appliances and windows, improvements that will cut their Monthly Energy bills and over time save them thousands of dollars a year. Were going to make a major investment to build 1. 5 million new Energy Efficient homes and Public Housing that will benefit from communities, all the communities, three times over by aleaveuating the Affordable Housing crisis, by increasing Energy Efficiency and reducing the racial wealth gap linked to home ownership. Last week, i talked about using the power of the federal government to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing. Thats what well do with the american Automobile Industry. The United States owns and maintains an enormous fleet of vehicles. Were going to convert these government can fleets to electric vehicles. Made and sourced right here in the United States of america. With the government providing the demand and the grants to retool factories that are struggling to compete. The u. S. Auto industry and its deep bench of suppliers will step up, expanding capacity so that the United States, not china, leads the world in clean vehicle production. Were going to make it easier for American Consumers to switch to electric vehicles, as well. Not only by building 500,000 in to swap older fuel efficient vehicles for a new clean made in america vehicles. Saving hundreds of billions of barrels millions of barrels of oil on an annual basis. This will mean 1 million new good paying jobs in the Automobile Industry. The supply chain and associated infrastructure needed to get it done. We also know that transforming the American Electrical sector can produce power without producing Carbon Pollution, and electrifying an increased share of our economy will be the greatest spurring of job creation and economic competitive in the 21st century. Thats why were going achieve a Carbon Pollution free electric sector by the year 2035. We need to get to work on it right away. Well need the scientists at the national labs, land grant universities, hbcus to improve and innovate technologies needed to generate, store, and transmit this clean energy. We need engineers to design them. The workers to manufacture them. We need iron workers and welders to install them. Well become the Worlds Largest exporter of these technologies to create even more jobs. We know how to do this. Our administration rescued the Auto Industry and helped them retool. Made solar energy the same cost as traditional energy. Weatherized more than a million homes. And well do it again, but this time bigger and faster and smarter. As we do this work, we need to be mindful of the historical wrongs and the damage that American Industries have done in the 20th century inflicting the environmental harm and the poor environmental communities, so often black and brown and native american communities. Polluted air, polluted water, toxins draining down from communities that bear the Environmental Health burdens but share none of the profits. Growing up, breathing that in every day, its poison. Its partly why theres such incredible rates of childhood asthma in black and brown communities. Black americans are almost three times more likely to die of asthma related causes than white americans. Cancer alley in st. James perish in louisiana. Thats the cancer causing clusters along route 9 right here in delaware. Thats why today im also releasing the state of the environment justice policies to build on my existing plan. This is an area of Incredible Opportunity for Economic Growth, for our country. But we have to make sure that the first people who benefit from this are the people who are most hurt by it historically in the last century, by the structural disparities that exist. Im setting a goal to make sure that these front line and fence line communities, whether in rural places or center cities, receive 40 of the benefit from the investments were making in housing, in pollution reduction, workforce development, in transportation, across the board. Were also going to create jobs for people by cleaning up the environmental hazards that have now been abandoned. You saw the front page of the times two days ago. All these places that are going bankrupt except for the benefit thats going millions and millions going to the ceos. More than 250,000 jobs doing things like plugging abandoned oil and gas excels that exist across the country, posing daily threats to the health and safety of our communities. Were going to hold accountable those corporations that benefit from decades of subsidies, then leaving the wells to leak and walked away from their responsibilities. Pollutants continue to spew. Greenhouse gases flowing into the air and into the water. Were not only going to repeal those subsidies, but go after the golden parachutes the ceos gave themselves before declaring bankruptcy, to make sure workers receive the benefits and retirement they were promised. Lets create new markets for our family farmers and ranchers. A new modern day civilian climate corps to heal our public lands, to make us less vulnerable to wildfires and floods. Look, these arent pie in the sky dreams. These are actionable policies that we can get to work on right away. We can live up to our responsibilities, meet the challenges of a world at risk oh of a climate catastrophe, build more climate resilient communities, put millions of skilled workers on the job, and make life safer and better for the American People all at once and benefit the world at n the process. The alternative, continue to ignore the facts, deny reality, focused only on technologies in the last century, instead of inventing the technology that will define this century. Its just plain unamerican not to. This is all the President Trump and republicans offer, backward looking policies that will harm the environment, make communities less healthy, hold back economic promise, while other countries race ahead. Its the mindset. It doesnt have any faith for the American People to compete, innovate, and to win. Its never been a good bet to bet against the American People. And when you do, it will exact a deadly cost. I know better. I know you do, as well. I know what the American People are capable of. I know what American Workers can accomplish when given the room to run. I know that Climate Change is a challenge that is g