distinguished guests, please welcome Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Good afternoon. It's good to see a few Minnesotans in the house here in
Superior. To the folks at Earth Rider, thank you. Thank you for hosting us.
Thanks for creating the jobs here. Thank for getting a place to gather with
community. To our Labor brothers and sisters who are here to build this
project, we're here to talk about thank you every day for building the middle
class. Thank you for bringing the dignity that comes with work and the
ability to make sure you can take care of your family. And for all of you, let's
give a really big Northland welcome to President Joe Biden today.
When President Biden comes to the Northland, he doesn't come to give a
divisive speech. He doesn't come to belittle people. He doesn't come to try
and divide the country. When President Biden comes to the North
country, he comes back to show that he adheres to his promises. He's coming back
today to show us a billion dollar investment in infrastructure that will
connect Minnesota, Wisconsin, the United States, and Canada. This is a
president that understands you hear him say it often. America is a country that
can do anything when we come together and put our minds to it. He talks about
building the middle class from the bottom up and the middle out. This bridge is
symbolic of what the president has done. Continue to try and connect us.
Continue to try and bring us back together while there's forces out there
trying to tell us we can't do this. We should fail. We should be against our
neighbor. This president comes and said, I absolutely reject that. This bridge
is going to connect Minnesota and Wisconsin, bringing Minnesotans and
Wisconsinites together, over beer apparently, which is always a good
thing. He's even bringing folks, Republicans and Democrats together with
this bridge. Hell, he even brought people who voted for it and voted against
it together on this bridge. But this is about what government should be doing.
This is what a leader looks like. This is about a generational investment in
infrastructure, moving America to the forefront, a clean energy economy, broadband
connected through the Infrastructure Act, highways, bridges, making sure our
families are safer and commerce can move. This is exciting stuff. You know what?
It's not making fun of people. It's not telling us what we can't do. It's
simply doing the work. So I want to thank each and every one of you for showing up
today. I want to thank you in advance for your patience as we rebuild this
bridge. You know how that goes? The cones will be out for a while. But we're
going to create thousands of jobs. And we're going to create a country and an
infrastructure that our children can be proud of. Previous generations invested.
It's our time. Investing in roads and bridges goes a hell of a lot further than
investing in tax cuts for the wealthy. And again, when President Biden shows up
with Union brothers and sisters, he walks picket lines. He doesn't cross them. And
this project is going to have project labor agreements built by Wisconsin and
Minnesota skilled craft women and men. And it's going to create those jobs that
allow them to live the life that they know they should in the Northland. So I
want to thank you all for being here. I want to just say how grateful we are that
people are focusing on the things that make a difference in people's lives. And
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wake up every single day making those are the
things that got done. So promises made two years ago. Promises kept today. Thank
you.
Distinguished guests, please welcome Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota.
It is great to be here to celebrate the tremendous victory for Minnesota and
Wisconsin federal funding for the Blotnik Bridge. You know, this is one of the
most important pieces of infrastructure in the entire Midwest. The port of Duluth
is the largest inland port in the world. And without the Blotnik Bridge, none of
this port works. 33,000 vehicles cross this bridge every day connecting people to
jobs and education and opportunities. And 950,000 trucks carry nearly four
billion dollars in domestic and international products. Our economy in this
part of the country depends on the Blotnik Bridge to deliver goods and
services and to keep our supply chains strong. Projects like this folks, they
take leadership. And I am here to tell you that this Blotnik Bridge funding
would not have happened but for the leadership of our incredible governors,
Governor Evers and Governor Walls. And this would not have happened without
Senator Klobuchar, Senator Baldwin, and President Joe Biden. You know, some leaders,
some leaders talk about infrastructure. They even declare infrastructure weeks,
but these leaders delivered. When President Biden took office and Democrats took
control of Congress, we knew we had a lot of work to do. You know, four years the
United States exported jobs and imported products. For years, infrastructure was
just an afterthought and our roads and bridges were crumbling and our drinking
water systems were deteriorating and people all over our states were
struggling to try to figure out how to connect to broadband. We needed a
completely different approach, one that would invest in America and grow the
middle class. And that is what we are doing. We passed once in a generation
of investments in our country's infrastructure. And that is what we are
celebrating today. We're rebuilding our roads and bridges and rail. We're getting
clean drinking water and high speed internet. And we are making sure that the
iron and steel and the construction materials are American made by Union
Labor. This is what this project is all about. This is what the President Biden's
infrastructure law is all about. This is about building the foundation for
communities that work. And so I am so glad to be here today with all of you to
thank you for your hard work because at the end of the day, this is about the
hardworking people and Duluth and Superior and the community around the
people that are driving the buses and mining the ore and working in the
hospitals and making this community work. So my gratitude is to all of you. We are
doing the work that we need to do. And I'm so grateful to be here to celebrate
this fantastic success. Thank you so much, everyone.
Distinguished guests, please welcome Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Thank you so much. It is wonderful to be here and welcome back President Biden
to Wisconsin and Minnesota. I love being in Superior. It has unrivaled views of
Duluth. I think you guys, yes, yes, that was like a little, you know. I think I'm
the one to make that joke because my mom grew up in Wisconsin. I still have all
my relatives on her side in Wisconsin. My dad grew up in northern Minnesota in
Eley and I have warned the President of the United States, it is not time to
talk about the NFL playoffs at this particular event. It is great to be here
with Governor Wallace and Evers and of course, Senator Smith and Baldwin, my
good friends, the mayor of Superior Payne and of course our new mayor of Duluth
Roger Reiner. As neighbors, I know we have some differences, but one thing
Minnesota and Wisconsin can agree on is funding the Blotnik Bridge in a big way.
It is critical to our region, to our state and to our country. Four billion, four
billion in goods moving across every single year, tens of thousands of cars
and when the President chose to visit here right after his highly lauded state
of the Union address two years ago, he called it one of the most important
bridges in the Midwest. And now, true to his word, less than two years later, he
comes back with the biggest infra grant in the history of America. Right here in
Wisconsin in Minnesota. So yes, this is a long time in coming, as you've probably
heard this bridge opened in 1961, the same year that a little-known folks
singer from northern Minnesota named Bob Dylan played his first major gig,
true story. Minnesotans know how important this is as do the people of
Wisconsin. In Minnesota, we remember the cracks in our infrastructure when that
35 W bridge collapsed and as I said that day, a bridge should not just fall
down in the middle of America. Working together, we got the funding to rebuild
that bridge and that's why after decades of trying to pass an infrastructure law
under President Biden's leadership, Congress came together across the aisle
and got that bill done. That is the bipartisan infrastructure law. As former
Congressman Jim Oberstar, who we all channel here today, he's looking down
loving this infrastructure big way, as he once said, there is no such thing as a
Democratic bridge or a Republican bridge. So we pass that bill and now we are here
to deliver to get this bridge done in the president's own words with regard
to another major milestone. The Affordable Care Act is a big,
effing deal. So this is a historic investment. Yes, in this bridge, but it
is also an investment in the economy for the future. This is an investment in our
roads. It is investment in this incredible port that we love so much and
it is going to build a bridge to the next century. I want to thank for the
president for investing in Minnesota and Wisconsin, for bringing us these
much-needed safety improvements. I want to thank him for the great union jobs that
this project is going to create. So let us build this bridge to an even better
Northland. Thanks everyone.
Distinguished guests, please welcome Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
Wow, so hello Superior. Let me start by saying we did it. Yay, this is so exciting.
We are finally on the road to replacing the Blotnik Bridge. It's hard to overstate
just how excited I am. You know, this is a rumful of people who really understand
the importance of this investment. Now, while we may talk a big game when we're
talking about Packers vs Vikings, you know, I've been proud to work with leaders on
both sides of the state line for years to make this a reality. Superior and
Duluth are more than just neighbors. They are the twin ports. The nickname of
this region represents the unique relationship between these two great
cities and the industries that connect them. When we talk about working together,
we often evoke building bridges figuratively. But today we're here to
talk both the metaphor and an actual bridge in the bipartisan infrastructure
law. I was proud to vote for this legislation because I knew it would make
a real difference. Yes, a real difference for Wisconsin families and
businesses and I'm proud to report that in just over two years it's doing just
that. This investment is creating good paying jobs, fixing our roads and
bridges, making sure clean water is coming out of the faucets and connecting
more Wisconsinites and Minnesotans with reliable high speed internet. And to do
it all, we are growing our made in America economy. I was especially proud to
have successfully fought to include strong by America rules so that as we
rebuild our infrastructure, we support U.S. workers and Wisconsin workers,
manufacturers and businesses. The bipartisan infrastructure law is not just
an investment in our infrastructure. It is also truly an investment in our
future. There's no better example of that investment than the Blotnik Bridge.
Whether it's families taking a road trip, commuters heading to work or goods
traveling to the port of Duluth Superior, tens of thousands of vehicles rely on
safe passage over the Blotnik Bridge every single day. But the Blotnik Bridge
has served the twin ports for more than six decades and the wear and tear is
putting safety and our economic future of this region in jeopardy. Two years ago,
President Biden visited Superior to talk about the promise of the bipartisan
infrastructure law for communities just like ours. Since that day, I have been a
little relentless in making the case for this needed investment. President Biden
has heard from me, Secretary Buttigieg has gotten, he's on speed dial now by the
way, and we've done letters, press conferences, texts, you name it. We've all
been busy at work for this. And today, the President is back. Today, the
President is back because together, we have delivered for Wisconsin and for
Minnesota.
Replacing the Blotnik Bridge will not only improve safety and protect our
economic future, but it will put Wisconsinites and Minnesotans to work,
creating jobs, supporting local businesses across the Northland. I am
proud to have done my part to bring home this once in a generation investment for
Wisconsin. Thank you to President Biden for visiting us today to celebrate this
down payment on our state and our region's future. Just like the partnership that's
gotten us to this moment, I am confident that here in the Twin Ports, we're
creating something that is built to last. Thank you.
Distinguished guests, please welcome Wisconsin Governor Toni Evers.
Good afternoon folks, it is afternoon, right? I think, anyway, it's great to be
here. And, you know, I am the last speaker before the big guy comes out. And so, the
bad news is everything I was going to say has been said. And the good news is
everything I was going to say has been said. So, I'm going to narrow it down very
quickly for you. I have to thank our neighbors, our folks from Minnesota, that
we compete in everything. This one, we work together, got this bridge, it's got
union people working on it, who can be better? And Governor Walz brought 400
million dollars to the table. Thank you for that. Minnesota DOT took a leadership
on this and the folks that work at the DOT in Minnesota are absolutely great
state employees. And of course, we have Senators Colobuch Ira and Smith and all
the good who they work to get them federal money here. That's first. Second
one, from our side, from the people of Wisconsin, we got 400 million dollars
also. And we have the one and only great Senator Baldwin here. And she brought
7.5 million dollars to the table using omnibus money before this
happened. And Craig Thompson, I know you're here someplace, Craig. Craig's head
ahead of our DOT, extraordinary group of state employees there and the work
that they've done. So, thank you. But all these things, all these things that we're
doing right now, I can tell you that without Biden infrastructure bill,
Biden being the president of the United States, Biden being the most pro-union
president they've ever seen. Without Joe Biden, frankly, this wouldn't happen.
This would not have happened without Biden. And Joe Biden, thank you so much for the
work you do for all the country. But this bridge is a huge issue for the state
of Wisconsin. It's a huge issue for the state of Minnesota. And we could not
have done it without you. You know, I had my state of the state speech the other
night. And I had a chance to talk about all sorts of stuff. But growing our
workforce is critically important in our state. And I think it's critically
important any place in the country. And this is a perfect example of that. We're
investing a billion plus dollars. But at the same time, we're all investing in our
future because of the workers that are going to be on that site. The workers that
are going to be, you know, it's going to be something that the people of Wisconsin,
the workers in Wisconsin will never forget. So this is a historic moment. And I'm so
glad I was able to shorten my speech to tell you that. Thank you. Take care, folks.
Thank you.
Distinguished guests, please welcome owner of Earth Rider Brewery, Tim Nelson.
Wow, kids. Well, that's exciting. That's exciting. Welcome, Earth Riders. I am Tim
Nelson, founder and owner of manager of Earth Rider Brewery. And it's great to be
here. We're on the Duluth Superior Harbor at the base of the Blatnik Bridge. I'm a
fourth generation twin ports resident. I deeply understand the importance of the
bridge. It connects Duluth Superior community physically, financially and
spiritually, I think. My great grandparents immigrated from Scandinavia to
Superior in the 1800s. Great grandpa, Nikolai Nelson built a bakery about two
blocks south of here. And my grandma remembered having to roll across the bay
when she was a teenager. So I founded Earth Rider Brewery at the nexus of the
twin ports in Superior, Wisconsin's north end neighborhood for a reason. Our
brewing draws inspiration from Lake Superior and the people working on the
ships, trains, trucks, and grain elevators right in our backyard. Many of
our staff suppliers and customers live and work on either side of the St. Louis
River Bay, so we commute daily across the high bridge. Simply put, the bridge is
critical to my business. The rebuilding of the bridge will be critical to my
business's growth and the growth of the local economy. That matters to the people
here. It matters to our future. I'm grateful to our elected federal and state
officials, President Biden, and for the bipartisan infrastructure law, and that's
going to rebuild the Blatnik. It's a big deal. It's a huge deal for us. So please
join me in welcoming the President of the United States, Joe Biden.
Thank you. You have a seat, take it. Hello, Wisconsin. Across the bay. Hello,
Minnesota. Tim, thank you for the introduction. I got to meet his twins and
his wife, and no wonder he's here. I tell you what, they're going to keep him here.
Look, I'm honored to be with the two best governors in America in the United
States of America today. The governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, Tony stand out. And
also the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz. And thanks to the outstanding senators,
Tammy Ball when it was constant. And Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith from the
state of Minnesota. If I have all three of them on my side, I don't worry about
anything. And two great mayors. Mayor Payne of Superior, Wisconsin. Stand up,
guys. Folks, I'm here today to talk about something that doesn't get enough
attention. The progress we're making to invest in America and American workers,
American products, to invest in America. That's what we're doing. Bringing work
opportunity in hope to the people of communities all across this country. Just
last week, we saw the biggest jump in 30 years and how positive consumers are
feeling about the economy. Things are finally beginning sinking. We passed a
lot of really good legislation. We knew it was going to take time for it to begin
to take hold. But it's taken hold now and turned the economy around. We also
just learned that America filed 16 million new business applications since I
become president. That's a record. When someone files for new business, it's an
example of hope. Something they believe in. They believe that they can get
something done and a consequence. You know, intense business right here is that
active hope as well started a while ago. And just today, we learned the economy of
the United States grew by 3.1 percent last year. I don't want to bore you all
the detail, but you know, the experts from the time I got elected were insisting
that the recession was just around the corner. Every month it was going to be
a recession. Well, you know, we've got really strong growth. Let's see, here's
this one's morning's headlines in the Wall Street Journal and other papers.
Quote, U.S. shatters expectations. Second headline, U.S. economy boomed in 2023.
Third, U.S. economy grew as a shocking pace. I love that shocking pace. But my
favorites from the Wall Street Journal, quote, what recession growth ended
accelerating in 2023? Folks hear it. By the way, the economic growth is stronger
than we had during the Trump administration. My predecessor recently said he was
actually hoping for the economy to crash, his quote, hoping for the economy to crash.
Can you believe it? Well, he said he's hoping because he hope has happened soon
while I'm still president. That's what he's hoping for. Well, thanks to the
American people, America now is the strongest growth, the lowest inflation
rate of any major economy in the world. It's because of you. We obviously had more
work to do, but we're making real progress, building an economy from the
middle out in the bottom up and not the top down. I was raised in the household
where we had three bedrooms. It was a nice home. Three bedrooms split level home
and a new development of 40 homes in suburbia with four kids and a grandpop
with us. But the trickle down economics didn't trickle down much in my dad's
kitchen table because when we work from the middle out in the bottom up, the
poor have a shot, the middle class does really well, and the wealthy still do
well. But everybody gets a shot. We all do well. You know, as a secretary of
treasury, Janet Yellen, said today, and I quote, the story of the middle class is
not separate from the state of the economy. It's at the heart of it. You
know what I'm saying? I mean, workers across industries and occupations from
firefighters and nurses to factory workers. That's the middle class. At least
that's where I come from. That's what it's all about. So I'm here to announce more
progress that shows that we can get big things done in America. We start
believing in ourselves again. We start investing in America again. Folks, look,
our infrastructure used to be the best in the world, the greatest and best in
the world. But over a period of time, we stopped investing in America. We stopped
it. We stopped investing in ourselves. And we slipped. We're now ranked the
13th best infrastructure in the world. The United States of America, number 13
in the world. How in God's name can we have the strongest economy in the world?
We don't have the strongest and best infrastructure in the world. It's not
possible. So we're determined to turn that around. We were determined to turn
that on a big way. And that's exactly what we're doing. Two years ago, I came in
Wisconsin. This is almost this very spot to talk about the historic bipartisan
infrastructure law that I signed with the support of your elected officials. The
most sweeping investment to rebuild America and American history. You've
already invested $6.1 billion in Wisconsin so far. 5.7 billion, 5.7
billion in Minnesota. Two years later, I came back to the black dude bridge. I
was here two years ago. The last time I was here, I came with Tammy. And we're
now back this time because we knew this bridge needed a lot of work. Tammy
didn't let me forget that either. You know that bridge opened in 1961 and a
connects Minnesota, Wisconsin, you know, better than anyone in the world. And I
over the Lewis Bay. It's a vital link of our nation's economy. Every year, 950,000
trucks use the bridge to carry 3.4 billion tons of goods all the way across
America and into Canada. Folks, every day, 33,000 vehicles cross that bridge. The
flow of people is so critical to small businesses that rely on it, get
customers, employers, goods, businesses. It's critical. And local businesses like
this brewery at the base of the bridge. Think what Tim just told us. Tim's
family's been here for four generations. His great grandparents moved here from
Scandinavia to build a bakery just four blocks from here. And as Tim just said,
the bridge is critical to his business, his workers, his customers, to the
entire local economy. And it's like that in other parts of the country as well.
This bridge is also critical to the largest port on the Great Lakes serving
critical industries like forestry, agriculture, clean energy, supporting so
many communities. I mean, it really is consequential. But you also know this
bridge is in badly corroded condition. It's unsafe for trucks to carry oversize
overweight loads causing drivers, monthly detours, increasing costs and delays.
It's outdated and designed. Tight curves have led to higher than average car
accident rates, traffic congestion. For decades, people talked about replacing this
bridge, but it never got done until today.
I mean, I'm not proud to announce one billion dollars from the bipartisan
infrastructure, all will be used to build this new bridge. A new bridge will
increase capacity for large trucks and oversized loads. A new bridge with a
modern design, wider shoulders, smoother on an off-brand. A new bridge with a
shared path for pedestrians and cyclists. And I want to credit your
governors. And I mean, it's the ceiling. The state legislature are coming up with
the matching money to invest in this bridge. Otherwise, it wouldn't have gotten
done with their own funding. This investment is going to make a huge
difference. Less traffic, fewer car accidents, faster commutes to your jobs
and schools, and a quicker response time. Some fire trucks and first responders
went every minute counts. Goods are going to get shipped quicker and commerce
will flow more freely instead of having to detour for up to 10 miles. Here's
what else it means. It means that 10,000 new construction jobs, you need jobs.
We're investing in America in jobs for American workers built with American
products. And that's going to help your congressional delegation, especially
Senator Tammy Baldwin. We're making sure that that iron, that steel, that
construction material to build this bridge is made in America. This funding is part
of a larger $5 billion investment led by the Department of Transportation for 37
major projects across America, including bridges, highways, ports, airports. To
date, 40,000 infrastructure problems and projects have been announced all
across America. And with the support of these great governors and congressional
delegation, we're doing other big things. For example, we're making sure every
American, including all of you here, have access to affordable high-speed
internet.
I want to thank Amy for her leadership in this issue. She's an
incredible member. High-speed internet is essential to today's economy. It says
essential electricity was when Franklin Roosevelt was president. Not a joke. That's
why nearly a century ago, Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification
Act. I know this sounds like it doesn't matter, but it matters a great deal. He
signed it to bring electricity to nearly every home and farm in America,
because it became essential, an essential part of the economic growth of the
country, an essential way to access the modern life. And so is high-speed internet
today. In Wisconsin and Minnesota, we're investing $2.5 billion, $2.5 billion in high-speed
internet. And we're going to say more than 600,000 families in these two states,
up to $30 a month in internet bills. The household I came from, that matters.
Those $30 a month bills will add up when you're living on a fixed salary. We're
also investing $1.1 billion in your state to provide clean water and replace
pores and spread plants. Every lead pipe is going to be taken out. To turn on your
thoughts and then drink clean water without getting sick. You know, a recent
study shows that reducing lead exposure for children has the same effect on a
student's test scores as reducing the size of a class they're in from 22 to 15.
One-tenth the cost it is. It matters. It affects the ability of the brain to
function. That's why we're going to eliminate every single lead pipe in
America, and I promise you that. We got the money to do it now.
And that's on top of another billion dollars to clean up the Great Lakes with
provide drinking water for 20 million people. 20 million people. And by the way,
it used to make beer, brewed here. It is used to make the brewed beer, and it's
fine. Ooh, earth writer, thanks for the Great Lakes. I wonder why this is going to happen.
What we're doing in Wisconsin, Minnesota, is just one piece of a much bigger story.
Look, 14 million new jobs since I became president. 169 new jobs in Wisconsin. 200,000 in Minnesota.
Nearly 800,000 new manufacturing jobs nationwide. Good paying job. An
employment has been lowest and below 4 percent for the longest stretch in 50 years.
And it's even lower in Wisconsin than in Minnesota where it stands at 3.3 and 2.9 percent, respectively.
That's our economic plan. Invest in American. Invest in American product. Build in America.
That's what we call bi-denomics. My professor, well, I won't get into my professor.
Well, look, my predecessor, though, he chose a different course, trickled down economics,
cut taxes for the very wealthy and big corporations, increasing the deficit significantly. That's
exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened. And the fact is, well, I won't get into it,
but I don't want to get going. He stripped good paying jobs and shipped them overseas. Why cheaper
labor rather than pay you a fair wage, ship it overseas, lower wage costs, and then import the
product to nine Americans' jobs. He shrank public investment in infrastructure and education.
And then the process and the processing hollowed out communities, closing factories, leaving too
many Americans behind. Look, I grew up in neighborhoods in many, many of you did in regions where
you had that factory that maybe not only employed 600 people or 800 people, but it was a heartbeat
of the community. And all of a sudden, one day, a corporation owner decided it was cheaper to send
that factory overseas because the labor was cheaper. So we closed the factory, sent it overseas,
imported the product from overseas, paid more money for it, and they didn't have to pay as much
of a labor. That's what happened. That's how we happened to hollow out American labor for real.
Not a joke. You know, anyway, he talked about infrastructure every week for four years. He's
going to increase the infrastructure week. Well, we have infrastructure every year. He didn't get,
on my watch, instead of infrastructure week, America's having an infrastructure decade.
We were rebuilding factories and jobs were coming back to America. For example,
you know, when we did a little computer chip that everybody needs for everything from your
watch to your automobile, well, guess what? We invented them. We made them more sophisticated.
We used to have 40 percent of the market. And all of a sudden, we have nothing.
You know that. And so, what I got in a plane and went to South Korea. My staff went,
what the hell I was doing. I talked to the prime, the leader of South Korea said,
you have a thing called Samsung. You make a lot of these computer chips come to America.
Well, not only they, but a total of 50 billion dollars to come to America, building factories
in America, in America. To replace the South out of Columbus, Ohio, they call the field of dreams.
They're building two of these fabs they call factories. They're like gigantic football
fields. And guess what? They hire a whole hell of a lot of people. Not only in building the
facility, but working there. You know what the average salary is? 110,000 bucks a year. And you
don't need a college degree to have the job. The Midwest is coming back. And these senators
right in front of you here, they delivered it. Amy delivered it. Tammy delivered it.
Tina delivered it. I mean, it's a ceiling.
And you, the American people, supported it. Now, I work with some republics who get the bipartisan
law done. And it got done. But I'm sorry to say the vast majority voted against it. But you know
what? That's okay. Because we're building projects everywhere, no matter whether they vote it for
or not. I promise to be a president for all Americans, whether you vote it for me or didn't vote.
We have more work to do. For example, does anyone think that the tax code in America is fair? Raise
your hand if you think the tax code is fair. In 2020, 55 of the Fortune 500 Company corporations
paid zero in taxes. Zero in taxes. You may have heard me harp on this for a while. Federal taxes
on $40 billion in profit, they paid zero cents. But not anymore. What I was able to do is provide
for funding all these programs by signing a, getting past the tax of just 15%. You pay more than that.
Just getting up to 15%. 15% tax on these 50 corporations making $40 billion. And guess what?
There's a consequence we could pay for so many of these investments from making it all across
America without the deficit going. And we still brought the deficit down by $7 billion. Look,
we have to do more. One of the other things that I want to mention. You know, I've been,
I'll say this politely. For my entire career, I have been going after the pharmaceutical corporations.
Pharmaceutical corporations in America are the best in the world. They make the best product.
But whatever prescription you may be taking now, if I take that prescription for you,
I'm going to fly to Toronto, Canada, London, England, any Brazil, anywhere in the world,
I will get that prescription by the same company filled for anywhere from one third to one half
the cost. We could charge more than any other country in the world, not a joke. And you pay
for it, not only in your prescription, but you pay for it because Medicare pays for a great deal of
this. So I've been pushing to let Medicare negotiate and save it for me.
With the help of your Senate and Congress congressional delegation, I finally won.
And guess what? Any of you, I'm not asking you to raise your hand, but you know anybody who has
a problem with diabetes, needs insulin? Well, it used to be the average cost that insulin
on a monthly basis of close to $400. Now they cannot charge more than $35.
And by the way, they're still making 350% profit across 10 bucks to make it,
10 bucks to make it. And the guy who invented it didn't even want to patent on it because he
thought it should be available to everyone. I can take it down the list and begin it in 2025.
Guess what else happens? Anybody, if you know how parents or grandparents are taking a cancer
drug, they may be paying anywhere from $6,000 to $13,000 a month for that drug. They can't do it.
And guess what? No one's going to have no seniors going to have to pay no matter how many drugs
they have to take more than $2,000 a month period. Period, period, period. And they're still going
to make money. They're still going to make money. And folks, I was told that that's an awful
thing to do, man. It's a terrible thing to do. Guess what? Not only. It's a saving the individual
money. It means you as taxpayers are paying billions of dollars less per month because you
don't have to spend that money in Medicaid. You don't have to spend that money in Medicaid
because it's a fair price. Look, we now have, before the recession, before the pandemic,
we had about 700 billionaires in America. There are 1,000 billionaires now. You know what their
average tax rate is? 8%. Raise your hand if you want to trade your tax rate now for 8%.
No, I'm not joking. I'm being deadly earnest. It sounds like I'm making this up. 8% what they pay.
That's why I proposed the billionaire minimum tax of 25%. That's not even the top rate.
If billionaires and big corporations pay it even close to their fair share,
because strength and social security in Medicare bring down the cost of child care, elder care,
working class, middle class people would all be better off. And it wouldn't cost a penny because
they're making $40 billion to be committed. And it's just basic fairness.
You know, it's the right thing to do and we can get this done and I'll be damned. In the last
year of this administration, I'm going to get it done. How many clothes are this? I'm going on
too long, I probably got a little tied up here. This bridge is important, but the story we're
writing is much bigger than that. When you see the shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky,
the people hard at work in these projects, I hope you feel there's a renewed sense of pride,
pride in your community, pride in what we can do, pride in America, pride knowing we can get big
things done still together in America. We're the only country in the world that's come out of every
crisis we've gotten into stronger than we went in. Not a joke, the only country in the world.
For God's sake, this is the United States of America, the United States of America.
And the real heroes in this whole story, the American people are starting to speak up.
American workers, American people doing the work to bring communities back to the country
in ways that are there was before in the future. That's what America does.
That's why I've been never more optimistic about the future. You just remember who in
God's name are. We're the United States of America. There's nothing, nothing beyond our capacity
when we do it together. Let's start working together for God's sake. God bless you all.
God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.
God bless you.