Transcript - Interview: John Bedell of WHIO TV 7 Dayton, Ohio Interviews Joe Biden - December 14, 2021 | Factba.se

John Bedell

00:00:00 - 00:00:02 ()

If you don't mind, we'll get started here.

Joe Biden

00:00:02 - 00:00:03 ()

John Bedell

00:00:03 - 00:00:22 ()

Inflation, Mr. President, is Ohioans' chief concern, especially here in the Miami Valley. Our viewers feel it at the grocery store, at the gas pumps, paying their bills, and while they're doing their holiday shopping. Mr. President, people in the Miami Valley want to know what are you doing to bring down prices for them and their families and soon?

Joe Biden

00:00:22 - 00:00:51 ()

Well, first of all, for working people and middle-class people, it's a big hit. It is -- the inflation, at least for the time being, is real. I've done a couple of things. One, inflation is way up in terms of energy prices, particularly at the gas pump. And as -- what I did was, I was able to, under my authority, released 50 million barrels or five million barrels of oil from the petroleum reserve, which means putting more oil on the market, reducing the price of gasoline.

Joe Biden

00:00:51 - 00:01:18 ()

Now, it's down -- in your city of Dayton, below $2 a gallon now to $2.99, be $3 a gallon, $2.99. And it was -- the national average is $3.32, but you're in a situation now where gasoline prices are coming down. And I think, they'll come down some more, as a matter of fact, because I've worked with other countries to also release some of their reserves to reduce the price, number one.

Joe Biden

00:01:18 - 00:01:53 ()

Number two, with regard to the cost of food for every day -- now, that's another big area. People will walk in the grocery store, particularly meat, poultry, and the -- that's where the prices are up a lot, and there's a couple of things going on there. Number one, over -- as you well know, over the last several years, a lot of the big operators came in and bought out the small producers and bought out the small guys who were moving it from the farm onto your table.

Joe Biden

00:01:53 - 00:02:19 ()

And so, for example, Tyson, this last quarter, made I think, a little over a billion more in profit than before because they're able to raise prices. There are so few people to compete with. I'm urging the Congress to hold hearings as to the concentration of power in a few hands, controlling the food-processing side of the equation.

Joe Biden

00:02:19 - 00:02:40 ()

And in addition to that, my Build Back Better initiative is designed to really, in fact, look, what -- why is inflation hurt? Inflation hurts badly for the things you need, when the things you need if inflation and diamonds went up, it wasn't going to cost a lot of people in Miami Valley a whole lot of money.

Joe Biden

00:02:40 - 00:03:15 ()

But inflation and food going up, inflation and gasoline going up, inflation and energy going up makes a big difference. And so, one of the things to do also, a way to help these folks is to reduce the cost of living for them and everything from child care to insulin, to the drugs they need, the prescriptions they need, to taking care of the elderly, to Pell Grants, to be able to get people in the school, and all those things in my Build Back Better plan reduce the cost of living for average Americans significantly.

Joe Biden

00:03:15 - 00:03:32 ()

For example, there is a headline I'm told in your -- in one of the major papers in your city today saying that, this -- what people really cared about was the cost of child care and that 60 percent of the women who work part-time or didn't work at all will be back at work if they could afford child care.

Joe Biden

00:03:32 - 00:03:57 ()

Well, for example, in this provision of my legislation says, you're not going to have to pay more than seven percent of your income in child care. That will save women or parents who have young children, and they can't go to work because of that, will save them literally thousands of dollars a year. And so, there's a lot of things we're doing that are going to bring down the cost of living for people and how they manage their everyday lives.

John Bedell

00:03:57 - 00:04:07 ()

What do you say to people in the Dayton area, Mr. President, who have expressed concerns about whether trillions more in federal spending will help when you have inflation in a near 40-year high?

Joe Biden

00:04:07 - 00:04:28 ()

The way I say to them, this is not going to cost a single, solitary penny. We're not going to increase the deficit by one cent in the Build Back Better plan at all. And what we did in the same thing in terms of the whole effort to rebuild our infrastructure, we're paying for it. And the reason we're paying for it, we're starting to ask people to pay their fair share.

Joe Biden

00:04:28 - 00:04:48 ()

I'm a capitalist. I think we should be able to go out, make $1 million or $1 billion, but at least pay your fair share. You got 52 corporations in the Fortune 500 companies who didn't pay a single, solitary cent in tax the last two years. And guess what? They made $40 billion. It's not fair. Just pay your fair share.

Joe Biden

00:04:48 - 00:05:04 ()

So, if we had people who were -- we have corporation paying a minimum tax of 15 percent and all the things we're talking about, it's all paid for and nobody making less than $400,000 a year will pay one single penny more for anything in taxes.

John Bedell

00:05:04 - 00:05:19 ()

Today, Mr. President, marks one year since the first doses of COVID vaccines arrived here in Ohio. Your vaccine mandates have suffered some setbacks in court recently. Federal judges have halted three of those COVID vaccine mandates. Are you going to back down or are you going to continue to fight those in court?

Joe Biden

00:05:19 - 00:05:39 ()

I'm going to continue to fight those in court. Look, we have a -- when I came to office, there are only two million people who have been vaccinated. Since then, we have over 200 million people who have gotten at least one dose. And I believe the number is about 156,000 -- over 150 million, I should say, who in fact, have had -- or fully vaccinated.

Joe Biden

00:05:39 - 00:06:01 ()

So, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, the unvaccinated, not the vaccinated, the unvaccinated, that's the problem. And so, everybody talks about freedom and not to have a shot or have a test. Well, guess what? And so, how about patriotism? How about making sure that you're vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anybody else?

Joe Biden

00:06:01 - 00:06:20 ()

What about that? What's the big deal? What's the big deal of having to take a test once a week to know you can show up to work and you're not causing other people to get sick or your children at home? And what we've done now, is we've now provided for vaccines available for people five years and up, five years and up.

Joe Biden

00:06:20 - 00:06:41 ()

And in addition to that, we now have -- Pfizer has a new -- it's not been approved yet, but it looks very promising, a new pill which should be taken in three days of contracting COVID you reduce by, I think it's so far, 89 percent likelihood to be hospitalized and die. And so, there's a lot of progress being made, a lot of progress.

Joe Biden

00:06:41 - 00:07:00 ()

Like I said, when I came in, there were only two million people who have been vaccinated. I got enough vaccine for the entire country and part of the rest of the world. And it's not that we don't -- and it's free. You can show -- you can just go -- right now, you can go to your local drugstore, walk in, and get a shot.

Joe Biden

00:07:00 - 00:07:08 ()

And by the way, if you haven't gotten your booster yet, get the booster. There's overwhelming evidence that it protects you and protects you in an extreme way.

John Bedell

00:07:08 - 00:07:24 ()

Mr. President, my last question. The National Defense Authorization Act, it has a massive impact here in the Miami Valley because of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, it's here in the Dayton area. As written, it includes tens of millions for Wright-Patt, including provisions for the Air Force Research Labs, and [ph] NASEC, among others.

John Bedell

00:07:24 - 00:07:33 ()

It still has to pass the Senate, although I know they did agree to the text of the version the House passed last week. If and when it passes the Senate, will you sign that by the end of the year?

Joe Biden

00:07:33 - 00:07:57 ()

Not only sign it, I wrote it. This is submitted by me and the Defense Department, so I not only -- I hope they pass it. And by the way, we have to begin to focus on the change in defense needs. We have to invest in research and development and supercomputers. The ability to deal with things that we haven't dealt with before because we are -- the world's changing.

Joe Biden

00:07:57 - 00:08:03 ()

It's changing in a significant way. We're the finest military in the history of the world, we have to keep it that way.

John Bedell

00:08:03 - 00:08:07 ()

Mr. President, that's all the questions I have, unless there's something you want to mention that I did not ask that you think is important?

Joe Biden

00:08:07 - 00:08:11 ()

No. No, John. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me.

John Bedell

00:08:11 - 00:08:14 ()

Thank you for taking the time for us, Mr. President. I appreciate it.

Joe Biden

00:08:14 - 00:08:15 ()

John Bedell

00:08:15 - 00:08:16 ()