and kirsten gillibrand. [applause] >> hello, everyone. west chester in the house. how about students of

westchester community college in the house? westchester. i'm so glad to be here once again. with some extraordinary individuals come up my partners and government, and you will be hearing from some that we are so proud is -- from someone that we are so proud is president of the united states, president joe biden who will be here in a couple of minutes. our senator, kiersten gillibrand has joined us: -- joined us, congressman jamaal bowman has joined us as well. we are also glad to have the majority leader of the new york state senate, and i believe we also have congressman mike lawler in the house. county executive george latimer is here.

mayor of white plains, tom roach is here. tom patterson howard is here. ryan sullivan, teacher at highlands middle school is here. and i wanted thank dr. melinda miles for hosting us here today. we also know that the majority leader of the united states senate, chuck schumer is working right now, working at with the future speaker of the house of representatives and that would be our very own from brooklyn as well, hakeem jeffries. they are working together. working with our president. working is the operative word. when you work together you work

together to do the job. and having encountered a lot of opposition from, guess who? yeah. republicans do not want us to work together. they do not want us to do what we are required to do and that's called, paying your bills. i'm sure a lot of you would like to run up some debt, you have to pay for your house, the electric bill, and all of these other things, that you could walk way from paying your bills after a couple of fights. that would be great, would not? we don't do that we are responsible we do what we have to do. new york is the bleeding heart of the u.s. economy. you mess around the debt ceiling , you are hurting new york and hitting us hard. at just the state in general, but think about who.

the students here at suny westchester who have their financial assistance unavailable to them. we are closer to recession and caused unemployment to go up. and also, it shakes the confidence in the rest of the world in the united states of america. and we do not need that at this time. we do not need friends to question our ability to govern. and it is republicans attempt, right to the edge, that affects the stock market and they don't care. they don't care they are going to play out there political games. i have a message for them, it doesn't work. in 2011, i was elected as a democrat in wanted the most republican districts in the state of new york. and clearly there are more

republicans in the district. how did i do that? i talked about pete -- issues that people care about regardless of their party, because if you have a great political strategy, here is how it will backfire. republican seniors do not want you to mess with medicare and social security. there's republican veterans that don't want you to mess with their benefits. republican students don't want you to mess with their student loans. there's republican business people in particular, who are not very excited about you playing around. so the messages, you might get the political strategy but i'm here to tell you it's going to backfire. of the people of this date, the democrats and republicans want you to go and do the job that you are elected to do. and that's exactly what president biden wants to do. let's get this done. what's the big deal?

this is what we are supposed to do. and so this is an attempt to focus attention and say, you have to do what we want you to do. but it's going to fail. it's going to be a cataclysmic failure because the longer this plays out, the more uncertainty, volatility and anxiety not just in the market, but of people's houses at their kitchen table, because they need to know with confidence that their government is going to work together. so that's what we are saying. roll up our sleeves, let us get it done it's not complicated there's no reason to play these games at this time. so here we go. my message is, stop playing games with the american people. stop playing games with the american economy. stop playing games with our farmers. stop playing games with our citizens. stop playing games with our

small businesses and just do your job. thank you, president biden for being our leader. thank you, very much. [applause] >> what's up, westchester county in the building. how are you all doing? it though great to be there, such an honor to be here with a colleague, pushing this very important common sense issue, before i get into my remarks i need to know, who is in the house and who could make the most noise in this auditorium. but art, who is in the house? -- lets it start, who is in the house? well. to my right, make some noise. to the center, let us make some noise. to the center make some noise. i don't know, i think the right got it.

listen. that's what i'm talking about. listen. unfortunately, in congress we have a republican party that is continuing to govern through fear mongering, continues to govern through misinformation and disinformation. they continue to govern through chaos, and in governing that way, you create a chaotic economy, and a chaotic country. and that is not what we need at this moment. we are just coming out of a global pandemic that we are struggling with still. we just came away from an insurrection nurtured and facilitated by the big lie that was pushed by the republican party. and now, in congress, we see the

same tactics in their governing. there is no way in hell we are going to default on our responsibility to pay our debt. [applause] because if we do, it will destroy the global economy. they are literally trying to hold the global economy hostage while they feign as if they are fiscally responsible. they are not. we raise the debt limit three times under president trump. and every time we have a republican president we leave with more debt than if you had a democratic president. these are facts. let me also say this, as we all know, our most precious resource our our children -- are our children. our most precious resource our

our young people. so in their negotiations with president biden, they are literally trying to cut resources to our children. to our teachers. to our counselors. to an education system that is already dealing with a lack of resources and a mental health crises amongst our children. [applause] not only that, when my brother, mondaire jones, was with me in congress and we -- and we made the child tax credit a reality, republicans cut the child tax

credit which put 50% of children back into poverty. so they're ok with one in five children going to bed hungry. they're ok with our children not having sports, the arts, and the mental health resources they need in our schools. and they're ok with our children dying every day from gun violence because they won't do a damn thing about it. we need to ban on assault rifles. we need universal background checks. we need universal red flag laws. we need universal safe storage. we need to close the gun show loopholes. and we need to deal with the issue of gun trafficking that's killing black and brown babies every day. republicans don't give a damn about our children. and if you don't care about our children, you don't care about our country. so in 2024, let's vote them out of office and vote the right people into office to respond to the issues we all care about. thank you so much. [applause]

senator gillibrand: holy moly! jamaal bowman is in the house. [applause] well, this shows how much the people of westchester want to get something done. and we are so grateful that our president is here right now to stand up for our veterans, to stand up for our students, to stand up for our children, and to stand up for our families. [applause] so thank you. but to be honest, none of us really want to be here but speaker mccarthy has different plans for this country. speaker mccarthy wants to put the full faith and credit of the united states at risk. never before in our nation's history have we had a speaker who did not put the families of american first. never before have we had a speaker who's unwilling to do the right thing in the face of grave danger and threat to our country.

our congressman said it right, who is being put at risk here? everything we did over the last two years to help families recover from covid is going to be thrown out the window. all those veterans who we now have health care who were exposed to burn pits, thrown out the window. all of the resources that we put to gun violence to stop gun trafficking, and mental health, out the window. i see the moms are here. thank you, moms, for being here. [applause] we know what will happen if the full faith and credit of the american public and our ability to pay our debt is put at risk. in america, we pay our debts. we pay our bills. every family in westchester county, every family in new york state, they pay their bills. because that's what we do. but not speaker mccarthy. he doesn't want to pay his bills. he doesn't want to pay the bills

from the last presidential administration that president trump rang up. he doesn't want to pay the bills that will keep the lights on in our economy. if mccarthy has his way, do you know what's going to happen? the stock market will crash. are there any teachers in the house? are there any teachers in the house? are there any union members in the house? [cheers and applause] our union members, our teachers, our hardworking new yorkers, your retirement accounts will go down the drain. that is what is going to happen if we do not make good on our debt. he's putting the full faith and credit of the entire american economy at risk. here's some dollars for you. because this is where it really hits home. it would mean $4.9 billion less coming into our state of new york. do you know what we did in the last congress? president biden passed the biggest, most significant infrastructure bill in the history of america.

that bill -- [applause] that bill is paying for all of the investments we've been wanting to make a long time that governor hochul will make sure it's right. whether it's new roads or bridges or sewage systems. whether it's better mass transits or investing in our airports. whether it's investing in our ports or electric grid. these are the investments that new york needs. all of them are at risk. this will also threaten care for 200,000 veterans. our veterans, who put their lives on the line for this country, for our democracy, they deserve the health care that they have earned when they come home. that will be unfunded. for every older american in this room, this -- not paying our debt will take out our social security and our medicare. it will undermine the investments that we need to make in our older americans and our seniors. it will jeopardize the food assistance that is helping families that still haven't recovered from covid, whether it's for kids or veterans or

seniors or active duty service members. all of those food assistance dollars will be lost. and it will make college more expensive for every student in this room. how many students do we have here today? how many teachers do we have here today? [applause] so let's cut the crap, speaker mccarthy. pay the debt. make sure our full faith and credit is good. [applause]

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome mr. brian sullivan. mr. sullivan teaches seventh grade science at highlands middle school in white plains, new york. [applause] mr. sullivan: my name is brian sullivan and i am a proud seventh grade science teacher and member of the new york state united teachers. [applause] i'm joined today by my wife, amy, my four children, brendan, eleanor, shay, and layla. my mother and father, nancy and tom.

over 20 years ago, i came home to this community in valhalla where i was welcomed by former teachers and coaches and began working with young athletes. there i discovered my passion for engaging with children. i enrolled here at westchester community college. [applause] to begin accruing the credits necessary to be a science teacher. i could not have chosen a more fulfilling career. the entirety of which i have spent in the wonderfully diverse community of white plains. [applause] in white plains, the children have always been my why. they are why i love my work and i am inspired by them daily. i am humbled to be here representing the thousands of educators who provide knowledge,

joy, comfort, safety, and stability to so many children. that's why i'm concerned about harmful cuts in the recent house bill. cuts that would result in teachers losing their jobs and more students in every classroom. these cuts would make it harder for me and my colleagues to educate our students. forcing these harmful cuts through the threat of default won't help us train our future leaders. luckily, we have a president who is fighting for us, for teachers, for students. he knows our students are the future of our country, and being married to a fellow educator, he knows that better than most. it is my privilege to introduce to you our president of the united states of america, joe biden. [applause]

pres. biden: -- ♪ [applause] [cheers] ♪ pres. biden: hello, hello, hello. [feedback] i ask one question -- what position did you play? looks like he spends a lot of time in the gym. please, sit down, sit down, sit down. it's good to be back. good to be back. [applause] governor hochul, thank you for welcoming us to your state. and she's helping new york lead the way making things in america. i mean making things in america. not importing them. making them. sending products out, bringing jobs back.

and my friend, the majority leader, chuck shumer, can't be here today. i don't know what he's doing. he's just down there trying to settle a crisis. he's the best there is, man. i want to thank him for working so hard for the people of the state and for being such a great partner. [applause] nobody's been a greater fighter for women's rights in the congress than senator kirsten gillibrand. god, love her. i've been backing everything she's been doing for a long time. i'll tell you what, when she asks for something, just say yes. don't even start discussing it because you are just going to give in anyway. she's taken on the military and she's a game changer. and it's great to see representative jamaal bowman. life long educator. [applause] [laughter] champion of the next generation. and congressman mike lowell is here. he's on the other team. you know what, mike is the kind of guy that when i was in the congress, he was the kind of republican i was used to dealing

with. he's not one of these maga republicans, which i am going to talk a little bit. i don't want to get him in trouble by saying anything nice about him or negative about him. thanks for coming, mike. thanks for being here. this is the way we used to be all the time. [applause] i want to acknowledge all the state and local officials as well. the president belinda miles, thanks for hosting us. madam president, my wife teaches full time at a community college in northern virginia. and she's been teaching for a long time. she says two things. one, community college is the best kept secret in america. they are. and two, equally as important, any state that outeducates us, any country that outeducates us is going to outcompete us. it's a simple proposition. this is a really important moment. there is a big debate going on in this country about protecting

america's hard earned reputation as the most trusted, reliable nation in the world and how we fix the long term fiscal health of this nation. enormous implications for this economy and the world economy. that's not hyperbole. the world economy. it's important for the american people to know what's at stake. this is not just a theoretical debate going on in washington. the decisions we make will have real impact on real people's lives and that's what i'm here to talk about today. so let me tell you a story about what's going on. there's a very extreme wing in the republican party in the house of representatives referring to themselves now -- i've been calling them for a while -- but they refer to themselves as the maga republicans. they have taken control of the house, and they have a speaker who has his job because he yielded to the quote, maga element of the party. to the best of my knowledge, doing what no political party has done in our nation's history.

they're literally holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation's debt. a debt we already incurred. we've already incurred over the last couple hundred years unless we give in to the threats and demands of what they think we should be doing with the budget. this would be incredibly damaging. here's what the speaker has put forward for the republican proposal. he says he's going to take the funding -- how we fund government back to what the levels were in 2022 before the omnibus bill. and they exclude any cuts in defense. said we're going to go back to spending we spent in 2022, but we're not going to make any cuts in defense which we spent in 2023, calling for in 2023. you may remember in the state of the union i got our republican colleagues to agree somewhat spontaneously. [applause] [laughter] [applause]

to protect social security and medicare from any cuts. i said, now, let me get this straight. you're not going to cut medicare? that's right. you're on camera. they can see you. so far they're not cutting social security. so far. not only do they rule out any new revenue, they're still determined to make permanent the $2 trillion tax cuts which is due to expire, the trump tax cuts, without paying a penny of it. now, look, here's what that leaves us with. it's a basic sort of math. it leaves us with the requirement to cut 22% of everything else in the budget in order to meet the requirements they're demanding that we live with the 2022 budget numbers. the speaker and the republicans don't like that i point that out. but that's not my opinion. it's just basic math. and here's what it does. it makes huge cuts to important

programs for millions of working and middle class americans. programs they count on. according to estimates, the republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing medicaid, including 2.3 million people here in new york state and 78,000 people here in westchester county. it's devastating. it's not right. the republican plan would cut federal law enforcement officers. 30,000, including 11,000 f.b.i. agents, 2,000 border agents, d.e.a. agents and so on. they'd cut in order to meet the requirements. they'd have to cut that many law enforcement officers. it risks shutting down 375 air traffic control towers, including five right here in new york state like westchester county airport because we don't have enough personnel. and i've long believed that we have many obligations in the nation but the only -- you heard me say this before.

i apologize for repeating it. but we only have true sacred obligation. we have many. one sacred obligation. and that's to equip those that we send to war, to take care of them and their families when they come home. that's a sacred obligation. [applause] and that's why i was so proud to sign the bipartisan pact act that takes care of millions of veterans that were exposed to toxic materials, take care of their families as well. my son went to iraq for a year. was one of the healthiest guys in our outfit. came back with cancer. -- came back with stage four ne-yo blas, -- blas stoma. you saw what happened when the trade towers went down. what happened to all those firemen. exposed to toxic chemicals. under the republican bill today, they would cut 30 million veterans' health care visits.

the way they do that, that's including two million health care visits for those in new york state because there's not enough personnel. there's not enough personnel. the difference between the 2022 budget, which they want to get back to and the 2023 budget is i increase the funding for the veterans administration by $22 billion. [applause] and the reason i did it -- and the reason i did it and probably some of you know of these folks, the number of, you know, more veterans are committing suicide than are being killed in battle. and so they pick up the phone and they call the v.a. in their area, i need help. well, come in in six weeks. well, we ended that. we ended that. now they want to go back to the levels where we cut those folks that now provide that kind of help.

this amounts to $22 billion in -- cuts in veterans health care. they dispute this. nowhere in their proposal are there exclusive protection for veterans. it's unusual language we use with presidents these days. they say i'm lying when i say that. well, the truth is, why do so many veterans' groups, why have they spoken out against the republican proposal? they're not all democrats. they know what's going to happen. folks, that's a game republicans are playing. anytime you single out the impact of their overall cuts, they tell you, no, no. it's not true. but they're wrong. they want to protect something. they would have written it down and say we're protecting it. you can't cut this program. you can't cut it. so you can see it. here's another example. under the republican plan, nationwide 100,000 teachers and support staff would lose their jobs at the very time we're

attempting to overcome the incredible deficiencies that's occurred as a consequence what happened with the pandemic. so many kids, the average student is a year and a half behind. we don't need fewer teachers. who we need more teachers. and by the way -- [applause] i am nothing solicitous. and i'm proposing when we finish this job, i am proposing that for example, if we start instead of headstart which they want to cut 21,000 headstart spots in the state alone, we should be -- all the studies show if we sent, no matter what the background of a child, if we sent that child to a school at age 3, learning reading, writing, arithmetic, age 3 and 4 and 5, we end up increasing by 56% a chance

they'll graduate from high school and go beyond high school. [applause] but look, community college. by the way, this is one beautiful community college. what a -- no. it really is. [applause] and the consequences here would be severe. here in new york it would cut the maximum pell grant that millions of students use to get to community college by nearly $1,000. it would eliminate pell grants entirely for 5,000 new york students. here's another devastating consequence i want you to know about. moody's, not a democrat outlet. a respected wall street analytical firm size the , republican plan would cost the country 780,000 jobs. yesterday, i brought congressional leaders at the white house to make sure america doesn't default on its debt and for the first time in our history. and by the way, i know the speaker keeps saying, 93 days

ago i said to biden i want to talk to him and i said fine. i said, you put down your budget. i'll put down mine. i laid mine down in detail on the 9th of march. he didn't put down his so called budget -- i don't know what you'd call it. his connecting the two items. he didn't do that until five days after he did it i invited him to the white house. so folks, look, let's be clear. the debt we're talking about is accumulated over 200 years. the last administration alone, the last guy who served in this office for four years increased the total national debt by 40% in just four years. over the last decade, the trumpet tax cut to the wealthy

organizations. the trumpet tax cut skewed to the wealthy organizations. for $2 trillion. i made it clear, america is not a dead beat nation. we pay our bills. and i was pleased but not surprised by leader mcconnell who said after meeting in the white house and he went to the press he said, the united states is not going to default. it never has and it never will. we shouldn't even be talking about it. folks, republicans in congress need to understand this. in fact, under the previous president, this is not the -- republicans voted to avoid default three times. this is not the father's republican party, though. here's what's happening if maga republicans get their way. america defaults, higher credit cards, car loans, payments for social security, medicare, our troops, veterans could all be halted or delayed. according again to moody's, eight million americans would lose their jobs, including 400,000 new yorkers alone. our economy would fall into recession and our international

reputation would be damaged in the extreme. we shouldn't be having this -- talking about this situation. as you know, i do an awful lot of foreign policy. my stint as a senator for all those years and then as vice president. i traveled the world i met with over 88 heads of states so far. they look at me, are you guys serious? i'm serious. because if we default on your debt the whole world is in trouble. this is a manufactured crisis. no question about america's ability to pay its bills. america's the strongest economy in the world. we should be cutting spending and lowering the deficit without a needless crisis. in a responsible way. i believe in cut spending and the deficit. in my first two years in office i'm the only president in history that's lowered the deficit in those two years by a record $1.7 trillion.

and the budget i proposed in march would cut it $3 trillion in the decade ahead. my budget cuts $$30 billion in wasteful spending to gas companies. they earn $200 billion last year. do they need a $30 billion subsidy? look, it cuts wasteful spending for big pharma. we pay more for our prescription drugs than any nation in the world. any advanced nation in the world. you can get the exact same drug if you fly to paris or london or to germany. anywhere you travel. canada. and you pay here, you pay a lot more. big pharma, we cut that spending by $200 billion by expanding the medicare's power to negotiate prescription drug prices.

making prescription drug companies pay rebates when they raise prices faster than inflation. we have already cut by $160 billion in savings, the bill we passed last year. three parts to it. one part didn't kick in until january 1. we said the price of insulin and other -- insulin would be reduced to $35 -- how many do you know someone with type 1 or type 2 diabetes? [applause] you know, you know need -- they need insulin to keep themselves alive or children alive or in good health. guess what? the price of insulin went from $400, $600 a month down to $35 a month. [applause] to those on medicare. here's the deal.

it's not made it reasonable for people to stay healthy. but it saved the government $160 billion. they are paying less out. the other cuts coming up because of what we did with regard to being able to negotiate with medicare it's estimated we are going to save another $200 billion. for example, any of you know someone who is on medicare and also on a cancer drug? guess what? they are paying right now sometimes $12,000, $14,000 a year for a cancer drug. beginning this next january the most any senior will have to pay is $3500 for all of their drugs. beginning in 2025, in 2025 they pay no more than $2,000 for all their drugs. [applause] by the way, that saves the

government another $200 billion. because you are not paying all the drugs. and they come at a reasonable price. my budget also cuts tax loopholes. i don't have anything against wall street or hedge funds executives. pay your taxes, man. i'm serious. hedge fund executives pay a lower tax rate than the middle class worker who works for them. no one earning less than $400,000 will see a single penny increase in taxes under me. not a single penny. they haven't yet, they won't. if you are making more than 400. start to pay your fair share. we are making the biggest corporation begin to pay their fair share. i'm not talking about 70% tax rates.

for example pay something. , let me ask you this. does anyone think we have a fair tax system in america? i'm being deadly earnest. i'm not being a wise guy. in 2020 you got tired of hearing me say this, pointed out there were 50 major corporations, 55 of the fortune 500 companies that pay zero in federal income tax after having made $40 billion in profits. $40 billion. -- we instituted and got passed a corporate minimum tax of 15%. [applause] guess what? you all are paying more than that. just 15%. it paid for everything we did. i proposed a billionaire minimum tax. it went from $760 the number was to 1,000 billionaires in america. that's great. if you want to be a billionaire. i'm not one of these guys who say you shouldn't be able to do that. if you are a multimillionaire,

not trying to say that can't happen. at least pay something. the average tax paid by the thousand billionaires in america, the average tax paid is 8%. e-i-g-h-t. a present -- 8%. no billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a schoolteacher or firefighter. [applause] there is nothing radical about this. that's why my budget also fully funds the internal revenue service. it's interesting, republicans have been consistent for the last 10 years cutting the number of i.r.s. agents. i wonder why. so we now have legislation that passed that's -- in our budget that says we are going to beef up the number of i.r.s. agents

to thoroughly look at the taxes that billionaires in america. according to the congressional budget office, a bipartisan office, they estimate that just that alone would raise another $200 billion a year. larry summers, who is not what you call a whacko liberal out there, right? former president of harvard -- [laughter] my kids who went to penn would disagree, but that's ok. i went to a great school, i went to a state school, the university of delaware. [applause] but all kidding aside, estimates it will raise another $400 billion a year. a year. and they still wouldn't be paying very much tax relative to their income to begin with. my budget also has some of the strongest anti-fraud proposals ever. you may remember when we had that -- the legislation to help deal with the pandemic. what trump used to keep doing was cutting the number of inspectors general to sign out whether or not money is not being wasted.

guess what, turns out there was about -- several billions of dollars that were being wasted. people were getting money they didn't need or deserve. and they were playing the system. i think that we should have inspectors general again looking at what we are spending and whether it's going where it's supposed to go. it calls for an unprecedented effort to combat identity fraud by tripling anti-fraud strike forces to prosecute pandemic fraudsters and seize back stolen funds. billions of dollars in stolen funds we haven't gotten back yet. the inspector general's were the watchdogs for taxpayer dollars, it's estimated for every $1 we spend in firing these folks, it's going to save $10. this debate is about fundamental choices. would you rather continue subsidy of $30 billion for oil. would you rather cut big pharma

.or cut health care for americans? these are real world choices. that's what's at stake. literally. i ran for president to see to it that ordinary folks got an even shake. i was raised in family that was -- we weren't poor. typical middle class family. we lived in a three bedroom split level home in a housing development, nice area. when they were developing suburbia with four kids and a grand pop living with us. i look back on it and wonder how thin those walls were for my mom and dad. at any rate. the truth of the matter is my dad did fine. when he retired, he managed a automobile dealership. he was probably making equivalent of $20,000 a year. which would be like 60, 70, i

don't know what it would be. but my point is that i -- i always thought the middle class folks were getting the short end of things. i think the trickle-down economy -- not much ever trickled down at my dad's table. that i can recall. and so when i ran my whole career as a senator was about making sure middle class folks get an even shot. that's why i believe we should grow the economy from the middle out, bottom up, not the top down. the wealthy still do very well. [applause] if the middle class does well, the poor have a ladder up and the wealthy still do very well. that's fine. we all do well. we made enormous progress. look what we have done so far. over the past two years we created a record 12.7 million new jobs. [applause] more than ever in that period of time. including 800,000 manufacturing jobs. unemployment is at 3.4%, the lowest in 50 years.

black unemployment is at one of its lowest levels. hispanic unemployment, across the board. in part our policies and pace for annual inflation has been coming down for 10 months in a row. we still have more to do. we are in a position to invest in america and all of america. the way we do that is buy american products. hire american workers. i get to spend a lot of money the congress passes. if i have $60 billion to spend and have to put new decks on aircraft carriers. don't outsource the work. there was a law back in the 30's that said buy american. they have to use american products. they have to go out and make sure that they hire american workers. for a long time the democrat and republican administrations was cheaper to go get the cheap labor overseas and bring back the expensive product. no more.

not on my watch. not on my watch. [applause] instead of importing cheaper labor we are exporting product and buying american workers the opportunity to make a living. signed the american rescue plan which sent $27 million to this community college to keep students enrolled. [applause] and keep this school afloat. help vaccinate our nation. got immediate relief for folks who needed it the most and got our economy back on track. it didn't have a single solitary republican vote. then i signed the bipartisan infrastructure law which had some republicans voting for it. to build the roads, the best roads, bridges, airports, water system, high speed internet. get rid of all those pipes that are polluting water, etc. how can we be the most prosperous economy in the world without the greatest infrastructure in the world? we used to be ranked number one in the world in infrastructure. you know what we rank now? 13, 13.

next week is the infrastructure week. remember four years the last guy we had infrastructure week every week? under my predecessor production week became a punch line. on my watch we are making infrastructure a decade, a headline. we have already announced over 25,000 projects. 4005 hundred towns across america into westchester county. there are projects for better water, wastewater, sewer systems, repairing dams, and doing so much more. i signed the chips and science act which i felt strongly about. [applause] to bring back key parts of our supply chain. back to america. remember when we had real trouble, when automobiles, detroit said they had to stop making them. they take 3,000 chips. guess what? they were all being made in asia. when the pandemic hit they shut down.

we were in trouble. folks, these are the small computer chips the size of the end of your little finger. nearly everything in our lives cell phones, automobiles, refrigerators, most sophisticated weapons systems. america invented these chips. we invented them. we made them better. over time we went from producing up to 40% of the world's chips to producing only 10%. despite leading the world in research and design. now we are turning that around. the private sector -- i went around the world and i convinced people they had to invest building chip factories here. they called them fabs. guess what? we have a commitment for investments of $470 billion in american, by american companies home and abroad for manufacturing clean energy. like macron and syracuse investing $100 billion over the next 20 years to build

semiconductors thanks to the hard work of chuck schumer. and governor holcomb. i.b.m. in poughkeepsie, $20 billion over the next computer chip. putting america back in the game and creating thousands of good-paying jobs. many of these jobs -- first of all the construction takes a lot of jobs. they don't require four-year degrees. you know what the average pay will be? close to $100,000. you don't need a college degree. that's progress. i know folks are still struggling with inflation. the way i think about it is the way my dad used to talk about around the kitchen table for real. he said how much of the monthly bills at the end of the month you have enough to pay for all your bills and have a little breathing room left. that's why i wrote and signed the inflation reduction act. americans pay more in prescription drugs than any advanced country on earth. we are fighting for years to allow medicare to negotiate

those lower drug prices. we finally beat big pharma. we did it without a single republican vote. i'll have a profound impact and save lives, it's already happening. as i mentioned earlier it will reduce the deficit by $160 billion just this year. and how many -- diabetes, one in 10 americans. millions need insulin to stay alive. insulin has been around for 100 years. cost 10 bucks to make it. 10. package it. total $12. they are paying hundreds of dollars making record profits? we capped it at 35 bucks as i said and we'll make sure, make sure it's capped at 35 for everyone. not just those on social security. [applause] guess what? it saves the taxpayer money. the federal government doesn't have to write a check for 400 bucks, it writes a check for 35 bucks.

look, the inflation reduction act makes the biggest investment in fighting climate change anywhere in the history of the world. [applause] creating tens of thousands of jobs is a giant step towards saving the planet. tax credit for consumers to weatherize their homes. many of you have done it. purchased efficient windows, doors, appliances. can save an average of 1,000 bucks a year. tax credits for states and businesses that employ renewable energy. not a single republican voted for it. this law. now they want to get away-- get rid of it all. why would they want to repeal a law that's creating american jobs and lower costs for american families? well, when we ever heard of a republican opposing tax credits for businesses? that's what they are doing this time. take a look at the "new york times" yesterday what they wrote. i think it was the front page. texas now has become one of the leading states in the nation in

renewable energy. the number of wind farms they have. solar farms. hydrogen. now the republicans want to get rid of this law and these tax credits. why do you think that is? because the fossil fuel industry wants to get rid of them. that's why. even though we are creating jobs. taking on climate change. they don't want it. because it's so, so much more costly to go the other route. they said it costs too much. the truth is it's too successful. here's the real truth. big oil doesn't want it. the republicans are carrying their water. that's what this is all about. let me close with this. we made so much progress, but there is so much more to do. we are on the cusp of a major change. creating jobs again. american manufacturing is booming again. where is it written america can't lead the world in manufacturing? we are lowering the deficit.

towns that had been left behind are coming alive again. bringing back a sense of pride. all those chip tabs i talked about bill be all over america. they are not just going to be in the northeast and the west coast. they are all through -- you know people who come from the -- people like for example in scranton where i came from. where i was born and raised. where other states across the country, where all of a sudden the factories that employed 600, 700 people for years shut down and went abroad. not only did they lose the jobs, they lost their sense of pride. they lost their sense of belonging. how many folks do you have know folks in the midwest who had their kids come up and say, mom, dad, i got a good education but i got to leave. there is no jobs here. no reason to stay. we are bringing jobs back all across america.

this is no time to put all this at risk. to threaten a recession. to put at risk millions. undermine america's standing in the world. republican threats are dangerous and make no sense. folks, we have to keep going and finish the job. i have long said it's never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against america. never. [applause] i can honestly say as i stand here today, i have never been more optimistic about america's future than i am this very day. yesterday remember who in god's name we are. we are the united states of america. there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we work together. god bless you all. may god protect our troops. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. we got to fight, we are going to