Transcript - Interview: Darci Strickland of WLTX News19 Columbia, S.C. Interviews Joe Biden - December 14, 2021 | Factba.se

Darci Strickland

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

Good afternoon, Mr. President. Thank you so much for joining us.

Joe Biden

00:00:03 - 00:00:06 ()

Happy to be with you. Thanks for having me.

Darci Strickland

00:00:06 - 00:00:18 ()

If you don't mind, I'd love to start with your visit to South Carolina State University on Friday and being the commencement speaker. You want to give us a hint as to what the class of 2021 will hear from you?

Joe Biden

00:00:18 - 00:00:39 ()

Well, they're going to hear about why it's so important that we have strong HBCUs across America. I was able to make sure we provided for eight -- or $5.8 billion in additional aid to HBCUs. Now one of the best HBCUs is Delaware State in Delaware, I got there. But I've also been to the HBCU, I'm going to be there on Friday.

Joe Biden

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

My good friend and one of our great leaders, Jim Clyburn, is receiving an award that day, and I've been asked to do the commencement speech and present him the award. And so, I'd almost walk to South Carolina to be able to do that for Jim. But -- so, I just -- we're going to be talking about what the opportunities are and why we have to do everything from making sure there's economic opportunity and also deal with voting rights, voting rights, voting rights.

Joe Biden

00:01:06 - 00:01:38 ()

That's how I got involved in politics. And for years, I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I was able to, my last time as a senator, as chairman, to get it extended for 25 years, and even got Strom Thurmond to vote to extend to 25 years. In the meantime, a Supreme Court case came along and said, "you don't need any more preclearance." The states that were -- historically were prejudiced against allowing or preventing African Americans to vote had to be pre-cleared to make sure they didn't come up with any other games.

Joe Biden

00:01:38 - 00:01:58 ()

Well, the John Lewis legislation that we're trying to pass would, in fact, change that, would say, "no, no, you got to -- need to go back to preclearance, you have to do that." And so, it's really important because you see what's happening in all over the country. They attempt to keep African Americans -- make it harder for them to vote, not easier to vote.

Darci Strickland

00:01:58 - 00:02:16 ()

When I spoke with Congressman Clyburn yesterday, he was very excited about the opportunity to march six decades after he graduated from South Carolina State University. And with that in mind, the chance to march, the chance to turn the tassel, he extended the invitation to you to be the commencement speaker.

Joe Biden

00:02:16 - 00:02:16 ()

Darci Strickland

00:02:16 - 00:02:19 ()

Can you tell us a little bit about that conversation?

Joe Biden

00:02:19 - 00:02:58 ()

Well, it was -- I just said was -- it didn't take long. I said yes because, first of all, he's one of the really great leaders in the country. I mean, for real. He's a man of enormous integrity, as was his wife, who, God rest her soul, was so deeply involved, and Jim has been a champion for all the things that matter, not just HBCUs and education, generally, but everything from making sure -- for example, Jim was the guy that enabled me to convince the -- to get legislation passed, saying that there is -- on the farm programs, how African American farmers have been left behind.

Joe Biden

00:02:58 - 00:03:18 ()

Well, we've changed that. Now, they're -- we're making up for that. And there's just a lot of things that Jim has been so, so much a leader because he has a real conscience. He has great integrity and a conscience, and he is not hesitant to make his views known, which I like a lot, too.

Darci Strickland

00:03:18 - 00:03:36 ()

Mr. President, we are just 11 days away from Christmas, and there are still concerns about supply chain issues across the nation. Do you feel comfortable speaking to parents and telling them that gifts are not going to be a problem for Santa on December 24th?

Joe Biden

00:03:36 - 00:04:12 ()

Well, they're not going to be. You're going to -- the problem is they're going to be available. This could cost you money or it's going to cost Santa some money. But all kidding aside, there are problems with the supply chain as it relates to food, relates to used cars, relates to oil. For example, I was able to release my authority, as president, 50 million barrels of oil from the oil reserve we call the SPR, we have, and convinced some other countries I've dealt with to release some of their oil as well to drive down the price of gasoline.

Joe Biden

00:04:12 - 00:04:40 ()

For example, now it's below $3 a gallon in Columbia for the first time in a while. We're driving it down all over the country, and food prices, particularly our poultry and beef and pork are up because there's a concentration of producers of the outfits that, in fact, take the pork and the beef, etc., and turn it into the food that gets on the shelf.

Joe Biden

00:04:40 - 00:05:02 ()

And there's a concentration that's -- to submit it, and it raises prices. For example, Tyson Foods made an extra over a billion dollars the last quarter when asked why they're able to raise prices because there are so few competitors. They are all the big guys. And so, I have legislation that I have an executive order I signed to go in and take a look at.

Joe Biden

00:05:02 - 00:05:21 ()

They should hold hearings on whether or not the concentration essentially violation of antitrust. The concentration is too much raising the price artificially for people. In addition to that, there's a lot of other things that cause prices to go up having to do with COVID because we import an awful lot of things from around the world.

Joe Biden

00:05:21 - 00:05:41 ()

For example, there are two ports -- seaports in California, in Southern California, where 40 percent of all the product that comes in the United States goes through those ports. Well, when you have people shutting down factories that have precursor materials for them in Southeast Asia, then the prices go up.

Joe Biden

00:05:41 - 00:06:11 ()

And in addition to that, when the ports are only open for five days a week instead of seven days a week, 24 hours a day, you have these containers piling up on the docks and not getting to the market. So, I met with everyone from Walmart and all the big distributors, as well as FedEx, to make sure that we can get those products, those big container ships -- the containers off the ships, on the dock, and off the docks, into the stores, in the warehouses.

Joe Biden

00:06:11 - 00:06:22 ()

And that's one of the other reasons why there's enough product now. We still have to do more, but there's significantly more product out there for people to be able to go out and buy their Christmas gifts.

Darci Strickland

00:06:22 - 00:06:47 ()

As families plan to gather over the holidays, a lot of people are still very concerned about the omicron variant. And sadly, it does not appear that the vaccination rates are what medical experts were hoping they would be at this point. What do you say to folks watching today who haven't been vaccinated and may not see the reason or the importance of doing it?

Joe Biden

00:06:47 - 00:07:15 ()

Well, you know, you hear a lot from my home state as well as yours and other states saying, "Well, I have my freedom. I have a right to not get vaccinated." I think of it in terms of patriotism. You're out there and you're not vaccinated. This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, of the unvaccinated. You have, in South Carolina, 55.5 percent of all the people fully vaccinated and nationwide 65 percent.

Joe Biden

00:07:15 - 00:07:38 ()

But that those who aren't vaccinated are the ones that continue to spread the diseases. And so, we should think of it in a patriotic duty. Whether you're working in a supermarket to make sure you have been vaccinated so you're not spreading anything to anyone else or you're not likely to get the virus, whatever -- and delta still is the worst -- is the biggest problem.

Joe Biden

00:07:38 - 00:08:00 ()

And you know, what's happening is we have, otherwise, the rest of the economy is beginning to really grow. Unemployment rate in your state in October was below four percent, 3.9 percent, nationally it's 4.2 percent, going down. Our gross domestic product is growing, etc. And so, the only thing that's going to stop us is vaccinations.

Joe Biden

00:08:00 - 00:08:25 ()

And here's the deal, they're free, they're available, you can walk into your local drugstore and get them, you can move and your -- some churches are providing it, there's a whole range of areas where you can get a free vaccination. And if you haven't gotten your booster shot, if your last vaccination and fully vaccinated, quote, unquote and was six months ago, get your booster shot.

Joe Biden

00:08:25 - 00:08:52 ()

It's overwhelming protection, overwhelming protection and so it just seems to me that if you have a -- and what we've been able to do, we now have vaccines for everyone, five years and older, five years old and older. And so, it's really a game changer, a game changer. And I don't understand why people are unwilling to, other than this, because it's almost become a political issue.

Joe Biden

00:08:52 - 00:09:20 ()

Like, if you're a conservative Republican, you're not for it. That's not fair because a lot of Republicans do get vaccinated. But this idea that I'm not going to be told what to do. Well, you know, it seems to me that, you know, if you have any serious problem that is communicable, you should at least be tested before you walk into somebody else's home or you walk into the church or sit next to your -- in the pew on Sunday next to somebody.

Joe Biden

00:09:20 - 00:09:48 ()

You should be cognizant of their health, their safety, their response, their health. And so, I just think that it's just not very responsible. It's not, you know, again, I get told, " Biden, you're trying to take away my right". Why don't you think about being patriotic? Patriotic, help the rest of the country because the people who are spreading the disease are basically unvaccinated.

Joe Biden

00:09:48 - 00:09:50 ()

We got to take care of it.

Darci Strickland

00:09:50 - 00:09:56 ()

You managed to get some agreement on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. What does that mean to South Carolinians?

Joe Biden

00:09:56 - 00:10:22 ()

Well, it's going to mean a lot. For example, everything from, you know, a lot of your state does not have broadband and, you know, and a lot of moms and dads have had to be on -- be able to get the internet so their kid can do their homework. How many times you drive by a fast-food restaurant and see people sitting on the cars, not ordering food, but getting access to broadband, so their kid can -- this is the United States of America.

Joe Biden

00:10:22 - 00:10:41 ()

Why in God's name do you have to go to a fast-food restaurant to be able to work off of their broadband? So, it provides broadband. It also is going to do something I'm fairly familiar with South Carolina, not unlike Delaware, a lot of shoreline. We have a lot of problems with lead pipes. We have a lot of problem with water that is contaminated.

Joe Biden

00:10:41 - 00:10:59 ()

This is going to replace all those pipes. All the money's in there to make sure that you're going to able to replace all those pipes so you can be certain of the 400,000 schools out there where a kid turns on the faucet or goes to the water fountain, what he or she is drinking is pure water. They're not going to get sick.

Joe Biden

00:10:59 - 00:11:18 ()

In addition to that, you have to, along your coastline, when you have the flooding that's occurred, you can't build back to what it was before if -- and so, let's say the flood comes in, and it is two feet above the road level and washes it out, you got to build three feet above because it's not going to get better.

Joe Biden

00:11:18 - 00:11:35 ()

The environment's not going to get a lot better, but it can get a lot worse. So, you got to build back better. And then you have a lot of bridges that need repair in South Carolina. You have a whole lot of things that have to be done. And guess what? It's going to create millions of jobs nationwide, thousands of jobs in South Carolina.

Joe Biden

00:11:35 - 00:11:57 ()

And these aren't jobs paying $7 an hour. These are jobs paying the prevailing wage, 40 bucks an hour or more, being -- with health care coverage. And it's to allow people to live a -- and my dad used to say, he is a high school graduate. And daddy said, "Joey, all I'm looking for is a little bit of breathing room." It's a little bit of breathing room.

Joe Biden

00:11:57 - 00:12:20 ()

For example, you know, right now, if you're a mom or a dad, you have one of those hundreds of thousands of children who have type 1 diabetes, guess what? Your insulin for that child, not going into a coma or, God forbid, dying, costs somewhere around -- between $400 and $1,000 a month, depending on how much you need to take.

Joe Biden

00:12:20 - 00:12:42 ()

Well, the proposal I have in the new legislation says nobody pays more than $35 for the monthly -- and by the way, it cost the drug companies $10 to make this. Nothing's changed since then. Why in God's name is costing all this money? And a lot of it has to do with allowing people to reclaim their dignity.

Joe Biden

00:12:42 - 00:13:04 ()

I can't imagine being a dad or mom, knowing my kid needs this and have no -- I have no insurance and no way to afford it. It just -- not only is your child's health in jeopardy but you're stripped of your dignity. And we can do this without raising taxes on anybody making less than $400,000 a year. I don't know.

Joe Biden

00:13:04 - 00:13:07 ()

It just frustrates me, as you can tell. I'm sorry. Go on, but --

Darci Strickland

00:13:07 - 00:13:19 ()

No. No need to apologize, Mr. President. And as we wrap up this afternoon, the final question. As we look forward to your visit to South Carolina on Friday, what do you say --

Joe Biden

00:13:19 - 00:13:20 ()

Good. Look forward to meeting you.

Darci Strickland

00:13:20 - 00:13:29 ()

To folks who may not be supporters of Joe Biden? Why is your visit important for South Carolina as a whole and not just South Carolina State University Bulldogs?

Joe Biden

00:13:29 - 00:13:58 ()

Well, look, I -- I'm in the -- I got involved in public life because of civil rights and civil liberties issues. And coming from a state that is a good state but has a lot of problems, I think that -- I'm not sure Joe Biden's visit is important, except to the extent that I think we got to come together.

Joe Biden

00:13:58 - 00:14:23 ()

I don't think we can continue to be red and blue. I really mean it. I think, look, we're a purple nation. This is not about -- I mean, we're all Americans. And I think if we sort of -- and I know I got criticized heavily when I was running for the presidency and getting the nomination, even in South Carolina, which I did very well, and thanks to Jim and others.

Joe Biden

00:14:23 - 00:14:43 ()

But the whole notion that I said I'm running for three reasons. One, to restore the soul of the country, a sense of decency and honor, treat each other with respect. Don't talk to each other like we're talking to each other. Secondly, to build the backbone of this country back up, and that's the middle-class and working-class folks.

Joe Biden

00:14:43 - 00:15:06 ()

You know, Wall Street -- I'm not anti-Wall Street, but Wall Street didn't build America. Hard-working middle-class people built America, and unions built the middle class. And thirdly, I said, which I really got clobbered by everybody for saying, but I still believe in, we have to unify the country. Democracies cannot function long unless you can reach a consensus.

Joe Biden

00:15:06 - 00:15:24 ()

And compromise is not a dirty word. And so, we got to get back to that talking to one another, getting engaged like we did before. I just did -- Bob Dole in his deathbed asked me to do his eulogy. Bob Dole was our leading Republican. But guess what? We disagreed on a number of things, but we were friends.

Joe Biden

00:15:24 - 00:15:33 ()

We didn't -- we treated each other with respect. We got to get back to that. Democracies are in jeopardy if we don't start working together.

Darci Strickland

00:15:33 - 00:15:36 ()

Mr. President, thank you so much, and we'll see you on Friday.

Joe Biden

00:15:36 - 00:15:37 ()

Thank you very much.