Transcript - Speech: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Discuss Their Climate and Energy Team - December 19, 2020 | Factba.se

Joe Biden

00:00:00 - 00:00:27 ()

Good afternoon. I was a little late because I was explaining to these distinguished nominees that it seems inappropriate for me to ask them to come all the way to Wilmington, Delaware and then I'm not able to invite them to my home and show any hospitality. But hopefully we're gonna get through this -- this crisis sooner than later and we can get back to -- we'll get back to normal.

Joe Biden

00:00:27 - 00:00:52 ()

Let me begin by saying good afternoon. Today I'm pleased to announce the team that will lead my administration's ambitious plan to address the existential threat of our time, climate change. Excuse me. Like their fellow cabinet nominees and appointees, members of our environmental and energy team are brilliant, they're qualified, tested, and they are barrier busted.

Joe Biden

00:00:52 - 00:01:13 ()

Today the announcement we will make the su -- the sixth African American -- the sixth of African American members of our cabinet, which is a record. After today our cabinet won't just ha -- made one of or two precedent breaking appointments but 12 including today's long overdue appointment of the first Native American cabinet secretary.

Joe Biden

00:01:13 - 00:01:39 ()

And welcome, welcome, welcome. Thanks for being willing to do this. Already there are more people of color in our cabinet than any cabinet ever. More women than ever. The Biden Harris cabinet, it will be historic. The cabinet that looks like America, that taps into the best of America, that opens doors and includes the full range of talents we have in this nation.

Joe Biden

00:01:39 - 00:02:04 ()

And like the rest of the team, today's nominees are ready on day one which is essential because we literally have no time to waste. Just this year wildfires burned more than five million acres in California, Wa -- and Washington state. Across the west they are roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey literally burned to the ground.

Joe Biden

00:02:04 - 00:02:30 ()

Intense and powerful hurricanes, tropical storms pummeled Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, across the Gulf and along the east coast. Record floods, hurricane speed windstorms, and severe drought ravaged the Midwest. And more Americans see and feel the devastation in big cities, small towns, on coast lines and in farmlands.

Joe Biden

00:02:30 - 00:03:00 ()

In red states and in blue. Look, billions of dollars in damage, homes and memories washed away, small businesses closed for good, crops and farmlands destroyed for the next generation of family farmers, and just last year the Defense Department reported that climate change is a direct threat to more than two-thirds of our military operational critical installations in the world, particularly in the United States.

Joe Biden

00:03:00 - 00:03:24 ()

And this could well be a conservative estimate. And so many climate and health calamities are colliding all at once. It's not just the pandemic that keeps people inside, it's poor air quality. Multiple studies have shown air pollution is associated with the increased risk of death from COVID-19. Folks, we're in a crisis.

Joe Biden

00:03:24 - 00:03:49 ()

Just like we need to be a unified nation in response to COVID-19, we need a unified national response to climate change. We need to meet the moment with the urgency it demands, as you would during any national emergency. And from this crisis -- from these crises I should say -- we need to seize that opportunity to build back and build back better than we were before.

Joe Biden

00:03:49 - 00:04:10 ()

That's what this administration is going to do with the help of these fine people. You know when we think about climate change we think jobs. Good paying, union jobs. The key plank of our build back better economy and economic plan is building a moderate climate resistant infrastructure and a clean energy future.

Joe Biden

00:04:10 - 00:04:38 ()

We can put millions of Americans to work modernizing water, transportation, and energy infrastructure to withstand the impacts of extreme weather. When we think about renewable energy we see American manufacturers, American workers racing to lead the global market. We see farmers making agriculture first in the world to achieve net zero emissions and getting new sources of income in the process on the farm.

Joe Biden

00:04:38 - 00:05:06 ()

And we see small businesses and master electricians designing and installing innovative energy conserving buildings and homes. We're gonna reduce electric consumption and save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in energy costs. And we will challenge everyone -- everyone to step up. And we'll bring America back -- back into the Paris Agreement and put us back in the business of leading the world on climate change again.

Joe Biden

00:05:06 - 00:05:32 ()

The current administration reversed the Obama Biden fuel efficiency standards and picked big oil companies over American workers. Our administration will not only bring those standards back, we'll set new ambitious standards that our workers are ready to meet today. We see American workers building and installing over 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across this country.

Joe Biden

00:05:32 - 00:05:56 ()

We see American consumers switching to electrical vehicles through rebates and incentives. And not only that, the federal government owns and maintains an enormous fleet of vehicles. We're gonna harness the purchasing power of our federal government to make sure we're buying clean electric vehicles that are made and sourced by union workers right here in America.

Joe Biden

00:05:56 - 00:06:28 ()

Altogether this'll mean one million -- one million new jobs in the American auto industry. It will do another big thing: put us on the path of achieving a carbon pollution free electric sector by the year 2035 that no future president can turn back. Transforming the American electric sector to produce power without carbon pollution will be the greatest spur of -- to job creation and economic competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Joe Biden

00:06:28 - 00:06:48 ()

Not to mention the benefits to our health and our environment. But we need to get to work and we gotta get to work right away. We'll need scientists at national labs, land grant universities, historic black colleges and universities to innovate the technologies needed to generate, store, and transmit this clean energy.

Joe Biden

00:06:48 - 00:07:12 ()

We'll need engineers to design them, workers to manufacture them. We'll need iron workers and welders to install them. That's how we're gonna become the world's largest exporter of these technologies creating even more jobs. We know how to do this. The Obama-Biden administration reduced the auto industry and successfully rescued the automobile industry while reducing pollution.

Joe Biden

00:07:12 - 00:07:35 ()

And at the same time helped them retool. We made solar energy costs competitive with traditional energy, weatherized more than a million homes. The Recovery Act made record clean energy investments. $90 billion on everything from smart grid systems to clean energy manufacturing and we're gonna do it again.

Joe Biden

00:07:35 - 00:07:58 ()

But this time bigger, faster, and better than before. We're also gonna build $1.5 million new energy efficient homes and public housing units that will benefit our communities three times over by alleviating the affordable housing crisis, by increasing energy efficiency, and by reducing the racial wealth gap linked to home ownership.

Joe Biden

00:07:58 - 00:08:30 ()

We're gonna create more than a quarter million jobs right away to do things like working toward plugging the 3,200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells that the EPA says pose an ongoing threat to the health and safety of our communities. They're gonna be good paying union jobs doing that. We're gonna launch new modern day civilian climate corps to heal our public lands and make us less vulnerable to wildfires and floods.

Joe Biden

00:08:30 - 00:08:52 ()

And I believe that every American has a fundamental right to breath clean air and drink clean water. I know that we haven't fulfilled that right. No, we haven't fulfilled that right for a generation or more in places like Cancer Alley, Louisiana or right here in my state around route nine and the Delaware corridor.

Joe Biden

00:08:52 - 00:09:13 ()

Fulfilling this basic obligation to all Americans, especially low income white, black, brown, and Native American communities who too often don't have the clean air and clean water -- it's not gonna be easy but it's absolutely necessary. And we're committed to -- we're committed to facing climate change by delivering environmental justice.

Joe Biden

00:09:13 - 00:09:39 ()

These aren't pie in the sky dreams. These are concrete, actionable solutions and the team's gonna get it done. For the Secretary of Interior I nominate Congresswoman Deb Haaland. She's of the Pueblo people, only 35 generations in New Mexico. And she's from a military family. Her mom also Pueblo served in the United States Navy.

Joe Biden

00:09:39 - 00:10:16 ()

Her dad, a Norwegian American, a marine, now buried in Arlington. A single mom, she raised her child while running a small business. When times were tough they relied on food stamps. Congresswoman Haaland graduated from law school and then got involved in politics, public life. Two years ago she became one of the first Native American women to serve in the United States Congress.

Joe Biden

00:10:16 - 00:10:43 ()

She serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Natural Resources and chairs the subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands which I have an incredibly si -- sincere interest in. Where she learned -- she ma -- learned and she earned the respect of a broad coalition of people from tribal leaders to environmental groups to labor.

Joe Biden

00:10:43 - 00:11:08 ()

As the first Native American cabinet secretary in the history of the United States of America she'll be a true steward of our national parks, our natural resources, and all of our lands. The federal government has long broken promises to Native American tribes who've been on this land since time immemorial.

Joe Biden

00:11:08 - 00:11:47 ()

With her appointment, Congresswoman Haaland will help me strengthen the nation to nation relationship and I'm honored to accept and she's been willing when I called her to accept this critical role. Again, Deb, thank you for doing this. For Secretary of Energy I nominate Governor Jennifer Granholm. First woman -- where's Jennifer?

Joe Biden

00:11:47 - 00:12:30 ()

Back there. She's a great friend as well. First woman to ever serve as Governor of Michigan. In 2009 she faced the collapse of the defining industry of her state and our nation. But I saw first-hand how she responded. She bet on the auto workers. She bet on the promise of a clean energy future. Her leadership helped rescue the automobile industry of the United States of America.

Joe Biden

00:12:30 - 00:13:01 ()

Helped save a million American jobs. And helped bring Detroit back. Governor Granholm is just like the state she's lead so efficiently and effectively for eight years: hardworking, resilient, and forward thinking. Someone not only capable of solving urgent problems but someone who sees the opportunities of the future and always, always with their eyes on the needs and aspirations of working people.

Joe Biden

00:13:01 - 00:13:35 ()

We've become friends over time. Together throughout her career she's worked with states, cities, business, and labor to promote clean energy future with new jobs, new industry, cleaner and more affordable energy. Now I am asking her to bring that vision and faith in America to the Department of Energy. Thank you for being willing to do it, Jennifer.

Joe Biden

00:13:35 - 00:14:25 ()

I appreciate it a bunch. For administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency I nominate Michael Regan. Michael is a proud son of North Carolina. He turned a passion for exploring the woods and waters and inter-coastal plain into a deep expre -- expertise in environmental science. He got his start at the EPA serving and with both Democrat and Republican administrations working in everything from reducing air pollution to improving energy efficiency.

Joe Biden

00:14:25 - 00:15:09 ()

He currently serves as secretary of North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality. When the Governor told me how wonderful he was I don't think he expected I was gonna try to steal him. But Governor, thank you very much for putting up with me. But the environmental quality he's brought to the people across the public and private and non-profit sectors to help build new clean energy economy, creating quality jobs and confronting climate change.

Joe Biden

00:15:09 - 00:16:00 ()

He lead the charge to clean up the Cape Fear River, contaminated for years by dangerous toxic chemicals. He created North Carolina's first board of its kind to address environmental justice inequality -- inequity. It helps lift up front line in -- fr -- front -- front line and fence line communities. They're those communities that live along the -- literally have fences separating them from the plants that are polluting -- chemical and other plants that are polluting.

Joe Biden

00:16:00 - 00:16:27 ()

Helps lift up those front line to fence line communities who've carried the burdens of industrial progress for much too long without sharing any of the benefits. Michael would be the second African American official and the first African American man to serve in this position. He shares my belief in forming a consensus and finding a common purpose.

Joe Biden

00:16:27 - 00:17:11 ()

He's a leader who will respect the EPA's place as the world's premier -- premier environmental protection agency and reassert that as the world premier agency that safeguards our entire planet, protects our lives, and strengthens our economy for all Americans. And to chair of the Council on Environmental Quality I nominate Brenda Ma -- Brenda Mallory, an accomplished public servant, brilliant environmental lawyer, daughter of a working class family who has dedicated her life to solving the most complex environmental challenges facing America.

Joe Biden

00:17:11 - 00:17:51 ()

She's served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, helping safeguard our public lands, helping -- helping communities manage the natural resources responsibilities. Chair of the C -- chairing -- of CEO -- Council of Economic Inequality -- I am asking her to coordinate our environmental efforts across the entire federal government to solve some of the most persistent environmental problems America faces today.

Joe Biden

00:17:51 - 00:18:30 ()

Brenda would be the first African American official to hold this critical position. We are fortunate that one of the most widely respected environmental leaders in the country accepted the call to serve again. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. To serve as the first ever national climate advisor -- by the way when we were in the back we were talking about the environment and I turned and said that this particular person's forgotten more about the environment than most people know.

Joe Biden

00:18:30 - 00:19:06 ()

I was really -- I wasn't sure she was gonna do it. But the first ever national climate advisor lead the newly former -- form -- to lead the newly formed White House Office of Domestic Policy. I'm appointing Gina McCarthy. Gina was the former EPA administrator. In this role she lead the office -- it -- it shows how serious I am to ask her to come back but it shows how committed she is to be willing to come back.

Joe Biden

00:19:06 - 00:20:19 ()

Gina's got more than 20 years of experience and she's a policy wonk and a people person. A problem solver and a coalition builder. As EPA administrator she was instrumental in carrying out the Obama Biden climate action plan, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, getting toxins out of the air we breathe, conserving critical water sources.

Joe Biden

00:20:19 - 00:20:45 ()

She lead our effort to help lower carbon emissions of existing power plants and power plants of the future. And by doing the necessary work here at home she helped us rally the world around the Paris Climate Accords. Today I'm asking her to take a singular focus on carrying out the ambitious climate agenda here at home in working with my special envoy, Former Secretary of State John Kerry who leads our climate effort around the world.

Joe Biden

00:20:45 - 00:21:10 ()

I'm grateful -- I'm grateful that she agreed to do it. I'm looking forward to working alongside her again. I used to drive her crazy when I was vice president always calling, asking all these questions. And she's thinking my God, what's he gonna do as president? [Laughter] But -- [Laughter] -- and to serve -- to serve as our national climate advisor I appoint Ali Zandi -- Zaidi -- excuse me.

Joe Biden

00:21:10 - 00:21:29 ()

And Ali, you can call me Biden. If I mispronounced your last name I apologize. [Laughter] He served as a top -- top climate advisor to President Obama and me in the Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council. He helped draft and implement our climate action plan and secure the Paris Climate Agreement.

Joe Biden

00:21:29 - 00:21:56 ()

He's currently serves as New York Deputy Secretary of Energy and Environment and the state's chairman of Climate Policy and Finance. He's helping to create jobs, generating solar and wind power, jobs building electric charging stations, and a more modern grid with bold climate action grounded in science, economic, and public health.

Joe Biden

00:21:56 - 00:22:15 ()

And he's an imer -- he's an immigrant from Pakistan who grew up in the Rust Belt outside of Erie, Pennsylvania. I was from the better part of the state, north east and over -- Scranton and -- and Pittsburgh area -- you know. But all kidding aside, he knows -- he knows we can beat the climate crisis and we can do it with jobs.

Joe Biden

00:22:15 - 00:22:34 ()

He knows we can deliver environmental justice and revitalize communities as well too often overlooked and forgotten. And every day he'll walk into the White House knowing the world is looking for America to lead. I say to each one of you, thank you for answering the call and thank you to your families. We cannot do this without them, couldn't do it without you.

Joe Biden

00:22:34 - 00:23:00 ()

To the career civil servants at the agencies, I know ma -- many of you have felt forgotten for a long time. We look forward to working with you. To once again carrying out your department's mission and honor the integrity of the offices and the -- and the ag -- the organization you're involved with. And to the American people, yes the goals I've laid out are bold.

Joe Biden

00:23:00 - 00:23:55 ()

The challenge ahead are daunting. But I want you to know that we can do this. We must do this. And we will do this. We are America. There's nothing we can't do when we do it together. So I say again to all of you, God bless you all. May God protect our troops. And now I'm gonna turn this to the team starting with our next Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland.

Joe Biden

00:23:55 - 00:24:00 ()

Deb, the floor is yours once they clean off the -- there you go. Thank you.

Deb Haaland

00:24:00 - 00:24:28 ()

Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. I'm proud to stand here on the ancestral homelands of the Lenape Tribal Nation. The President-elect and Vice President-elect are committed to a diverse cabinet and I'm honored and humbled to accept their nomination for Secretary of the Interior. Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce.

Deb Haaland

00:24:28 - 00:24:54 ()

My life has not been easy. I struggled with homelessness, I relied on food stamps, and raised my child as a single mom. These struggles give me perspectives though, so that I can help people to succeed. My grandparents, who were taken away from their families as children and sent to boarding school in an effort to destroy their traditions and identities maintained our culture.

Deb Haaland

00:24:54 - 00:25:13 ()

This moment is profound when we consider the fact that a former Secretary of the Interior once proclaimed his goal to quote "civilize or exterminate" us. I'm a living testament to the failure of that horrific ideology. I also stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and all the people who have sacrificed so that I can be here.

Deb Haaland

00:25:13 - 00:25:40 ()

My dad was a U.S. Marine and no matter where we were stationed, he made sure we spent time outdoors. Time with my dad in the mountains or on the beach and time with my grandparents in the cornfield at Laguna taught me to respect the earth and to value our resources. I carry those values with me everywhere.

Deb Haaland

00:25:40 - 00:25:58 ()

I am a product of their resilience. As our country faces the impacts of climate change and environmental injustice, the Interior Department has a role to address these challenges. The President-elect's goals driven by justice and empowering communities who have shouldered the burdens of environmental negligence.

Deb Haaland

00:25:58 - 00:26:27 ()

And we will ensure that the decisions at Interior will once again be driven by science. We know that climate change can only be solved with participation of every department and of every community. Coming together in a common purpose this country can and will tackle this challenge. The President-elect and Vice President-elect know that issues under Interior's jurisdiction aren't simply about conservation.

Deb Haaland

00:26:27 - 00:26:49 ()

They're woven in with justice, good jobs, and closing the racial wealth and health gaps. This historic moment will not go by without the acknowledgement of the many people who have believed in me over the years and have the confidence in me for this position. I'll be fierce for all of us, for our planet, and all of our protected land.

Deb Haaland

00:26:49 - 00:26:56 ()

And I'm honored and ready to serve. Thank you again.

Joe Biden

00:26:56 - 00:26:56 ()

Jennifer Granholm

00:26:56 - 00:27:24 ()

Mr. President-elect, Madam Vice President-elect thank you for your confidence. I bring my gratitude and that of the loves of my life, my husband and best friend and partner Dan Mulhern, my glorious children and their equally magnificent spouses, Connor and Alexis, Cece and Damian, and Jack. My commitment to clean energy was forged in the fire.

Jennifer Granholm

00:27:24 - 00:27:50 ()

I was the Governor of Michigan as the Vi -- as the President-elect said, during the Great Recession when it struck and pushed our auto industry -- which is the lifeblood of Michigan -- to the brink of utter collapse. Workers were losing their jobs through no fault of their own, banks wouldn't lend, people were losing their houses.

Jennifer Granholm

00:27:50 - 00:28:30 ()

Our unemployment rate in Michigan was 15 percent. In Detroit it was 28 percent. But then, thankfully as now help was on the way. Joe Biden and the Obama administration worked with us to rescue the auto industry and the million jobs that are attached to it. They worked with us to retool and electrify Detroit for the future, of course, and to diversify Michigan's economy on the premise of this promising future in clean energy.

Jennifer Granholm

00:28:30 - 00:29:09 ()

So today, in the midst of another harrowing crisis clean energy remains among the most promising jobs and economic growth sector in the world. Over the next two decades, countries and companies are going to invest trillions -- trillions -- not just billions -- trillions in electric cars and batteries and wind turbines and solar panels and energy efficient appliances and energy efficient buildings.

Jennifer Granholm

00:29:09 - 00:29:28 ()

They're gonna upgrade their electric grids using smart technology. Millions of good paying jobs are gonna be created. Millions. But where? Where will those jobs be? Are they gonna be in China or in the other countries that are fighting tooth and nail to corner the market on this hopeful electric and clean energy future?

Jennifer Granholm

00:29:28 - 00:30:21 ()

Or are they -- those jobs gonna be here in America? The path to building back better starts with building and manufacturing and deploying those products here. Stamping them made in America and exporting them around the world. We can win those jobs for American workers with the right policy. We can. And I -- I know what those jobs will mean for both the planet and for those workers and families.

Jennifer Granholm

00:30:21 - 00:30:42 ()

I'm proud to have been a U.S. citizen now for 40 years but I arrived here as a Canadian immigrant at age four brought by parents seeking opportunity. My mom is a funny and fierce Irish Welsh Newfie born in Newfoundland which is a Canadian province off the east coast. A fishing province they call the rock.

Jennifer Granholm

00:30:42 - 00:31:05 ()

And like many women in her generation, she didn't go to college but she married a great man, my dad, who passed away earlier this year of a cerebral hemorrhage. My dad was born in rural Canada in a log cabin with no running water into extreme poverty. His father, my grandfather, emigrated to Canada when -- from Sweden -- during the Great Depression, again, seeking opportunity.

Jennifer Granholm

00:31:05 - 00:31:29 ()

But when my grandfather could not find a job to support his young family in desperation my grandfather shot himself, leaving my grandmother and three young children in dire poverty. My father was three years old when that happened. And when he was 11 my dad found work at a sawmill. And he never stopped working.

Jennifer Granholm

00:31:29 - 00:32:01 ()

He married my mom; they came to America for work. And despite not having a college degree my hardworking gentle father got the fair chance that he was looking for in America. He had started out at as a bank teller and he retired as head of the bank. And it's because of my family's journey and my experience in fighting for hardworking Michigan families that I have become obsessed -- obsessed with creating good paying jobs in America in a global economy.

Jennifer Granholm

00:32:01 - 00:32:29 ()

Obsessed with seizing the opportunities that a clean energy future will provide for American workers. So we can stand on the sidelines and let other countries beat us to these opportunities or we can get in the game. And I am so ready and honored, Coach, that you are putting me on the field with this amazing team to help create those jobs in every pocket of this country and especially in the hardest hit places and for the people who are still waiting on the fair chance that they need.

Jennifer Granholm

00:32:29 - 00:32:31 ()

Thank you for tapping me to work on their behalf.

Joe Biden

00:32:31 - 00:32:35 ()

Thanks Jennifer. Go get them.

Michael Regan

00:32:35 - 00:32:59 ()

Mr. President-elect, Madam Vice President-elect, thank you for this opportunity. Growing up as a child hunting and fishing with my father and grandfather in eastern North Carolina, I developed a deep love and respect for the outdoors and our natural resources. But I also experienced respiratory issues that required me to use an inhaler on days when pollutants and allergens were especially bad.

Michael Regan

00:32:59 - 00:33:25 ()

I've always been curious about the connections between our environment and our health, how the world around us contributes to or detracts from our enjoyment of life. So after completing my education in environmental science, there was one place in particular that I wanted to work: the EPA. When I started that first summer internship I never imagined that one day I would be nominated to lead an agency as its administrator.

Michael Regan

00:33:25 - 00:33:45 ()

So this opportunity, well it's a dream come true. Since the start of my career my goals have been the same: to safeguard our natural resources, to improve the quality of our air and our water, to protect our families and our communities, and to help them seize the opportunities of a cleaner, healthier world.

Michael Regan

00:33:45 - 00:34:44 ()

Now I'm honored to pursue those goals alongside leaders who understand what's at stake. When President-elect Biden called out the plight of the fence line communities during the campaign he made it clear that we would no longer just deal with the issues up to the fence line of these facilities but that we would actually see the people on the other side of those fence lines.

Michael Regan

00:34:44 - 00:35:13 ()

He's already backed up that commitment by assembling a team that reflects America, and I'm proud to join the Vice President-elect as a fellow HBCU graduate in this administration. Together this team will ensure that environmental justice and human impacts are top of mind as we tackle these tough issues.

Michael Regan

00:35:13 - 00:35:54 ()

After nearly a decade at the EPA I know firsthand the remarkable dedication and talent of those career staff. And as a state official I understand how actions from EPA can help or hurt local efforts. We're going to ensure that EPA is once again a strong partner for the states, not a roadblock. We will be driven by our convictions that every person in our great country has the right to clean air, clean water, and a healthier life no matter how much money they have in their pockets, the color of their skin, or the community that they live in.

Michael Regan

00:35:54 - 00:36:20 ()

We will move with a sense of urgency on climate change, protecting our drinking water, and enact an environmental justice framework that empowers people in all communities. But we also know that these challenges can't be solved by regulation alone. And we also know that environmental protection and equ -- economic prosperity, well they're not mutually exclusive.

Michael Regan

00:36:20 - 00:36:40 ()

They go hand in hand. We need an all hands on deck approach from industry to individuals, finding common ground to build back better for workers, for our communities, for our economy, and yes, for our planet. And that's what we'll pursue together. I look forward to continuing this work on behalf of the American people.

Michael Regan

00:36:40 - 00:36:42 ()

Brenda Mallory

00:36:42 - 00:37:10 ()

Good afternoon. Mr. President-elect, Madam President-elect -- Ma -- Madam Vice President-elect I am honored and humbled by the trust you've placed in me and I look forward to getting to work with this incredible team. I'm especially grateful for the chance to return to public service at a time when agency personnel are looking for optimism and so many communities are struggling under the weight of persistent interwoven crises.

Brenda Mallory

00:37:10 - 00:37:34 ()

I know firsthand the challenges that every day people face when one unexpected illness or expense can upend the economic stability of a family. I grew up in the working class community of Waterbury, Connecticut, a town not so different from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I know the faces of the marginalized and I appreciate the challenges of urban pollution.

Brenda Mallory

00:37:34 - 00:37:59 ()

While -- while the words climate change and environmental injustice were not part of the vernacular back then, the evidence of their impacts was all around. In that setting, there was plenty of opportunity to work to make a difference in people's lives. For my parents and particularly my father, dedication to tackling community challenges was vitally important.

Brenda Mallory

00:37:59 - 00:38:54 ()

Service in all its forms was essential. They taught me to be a problem solver, to recognize that each of us is blessed with different talents and we are all called to bring those gifts to bear in whatever -- wherever we are to work with anyone and everyone to make things better in communities that -- that we share.

Brenda Mallory

00:38:54 - 00:39:13 ()

This has been the driving force and the guiding principle of my journey. I earned a high school scholarship that changed the course of my life. I became the first person in my family to go to college. I attended law school. And at each stage I was aware of how different the world I came from was from the one I was entering.

Brenda Mallory

00:39:13 - 00:39:33 ()

I didn't set out to specialize in environmental issues, but once I started I was always mindful of the practical implications of the decisions. As a staffer at the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights I learned that environmental protection and ensuring the health and wellbeing of all communities had to be reconciled.

Brenda Mallory

00:39:33 - 00:39:52 ()

It is essential that we deploy smart and human pol -- humane policy to help communities pull themselves back from the edge and improve the health, security, and prosperity of their -- of -- of all people. The Build Back Better Plan is poised to breathe new life into the Council on Environmental Quality.

Brenda Mallory

00:39:52 - 00:40:19 ()

CEQ will work with a broad range of partners on a broad range of issues, tackle the full breadth of climate change, preserve the natural treasures of our nation, center environmental justice, and help more communities overcome legacy environmental impacts. I am grateful to the President-elect and Vice President-elect for elevating this work and lifting up the communities where it will make the most difference.

Brenda Mallory

00:40:19 - 00:40:22 ()

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Joe Biden

00:40:22 - 00:40:22 ()

Gina McCarthy

00:40:22 - 00:40:44 ()

Mr. President-elect, Madam Vice President-elect, thank you so much for this opportunity to serve and to work beside and with this incredibly talented team. You know -- the issues I've been taking on in this role are very personal to me and they have been for as long as I can remember. As keen listeners you would already have guessed that I grew up in and around the city of Boston.

Gina McCarthy

00:40:44 - 00:41:03 ()

My dad was a teacher in the Boston school system for more than 40 years and my mom waitressed at local donut shops. You know -- looking back I guess we were a lower middle class family but we didn't know it. Instead of va -- expensive vacations my sisters and I did our adventuring in our own backyards, playing in the woods -- oops -- I'll take that off -- playing in the woods and around ponds in our hometown.

Gina McCarthy

00:41:03 - 00:41:22 ()

A beach day for my family was a swim in Boston Harbor. And at that point in time it meant coming out of the water with oil and other things stuck to our skin so we'd have to dry and clean ourselves all at the same time. Well that was back in the '60s before the first Earth Day. But we managed. And Boston Harbor today is terrific.

Gina McCarthy

00:41:22 - 00:41:42 ()

But all I can think of is back when I was in grammar school and the nuns used to jump up and say, "Run, close the windows in your classrooms!" Because when -- when the rubber factory across the street started to spew chemical stenches into the air it would come wafting into our classroom. And that smell kept us from recess more days than I or my teacher ever cared to remember.

Gina McCarthy

00:41:42 - 00:42:08 ()

So I figured out early that there was just an -- an intrinsic connection between our environment and our health. And that understanding drew me into a very long career of public service which I will never regret and always cherish. And I did it because I was trying to help families and communities just like mine and those who are facing certainly much steeper and more insidious legacies of environmental harm, so they could overcome the challenges that were holding them back.

Gina McCarthy

00:42:08 - 00:42:27 ()

Environmental protection is part of my moral fiber. It's what I live for. And I'm proud of the progress that we've made across the United States, and I'm proud of the work that I did for many years at local and state governments as well as at EPA to make sure our air and water works -- were cleaner. To make communities safer and more livable and begin to confront the crisis of climate change.

Gina McCarthy

00:42:27 - 00:42:48 ()

And I'm here today because climate change is not only a threat to the planet. It is a threat to our health and our wellbeing. It's a threat to people everywhere and the precious natural resources that we depend on. Defeating this threat is the fight of our lifetimes. And our success will require the engagement of every community, every sector in our nation, and every country in the world.

Gina McCarthy

00:42:48 - 00:43:10 ()

But the opportunities to act on climate change right now fill me with incredible optimism, with hope, with energy, and excitement. We not only have the responsibility to meet this moment together, we have the capacity to meet this moment together. The President-elect has put together the strongest climate plan ever raised to this level of leadership.

Gina McCarthy

00:43:10 - 00:43:38 ()

It rises to the incredible moment of opportunity we have to build back better for our health, for jobs, and for communities that have been systematically disadvantaged for years. It will be my incredible honor to help turn this plan into promises kept by marshalling every part of our government, working directly with communities, and harnessing the force of science and the values of environmental justice to build a better future for my two very soon to be three little grandchildren and for generations of Americans to come.

Gina McCarthy

00:43:38 - 00:44:20 ()

So thank you for this opportunity to help put Americans back to work in innovative, good paying clean energy jobs, to improve the health of our communities, and to help clear the path for people in every hometown in America to live brighter, cleaner, and more vibrant lives. Thank you.

Ali Zaidi

00:44:20 - 00:44:59 ()

Thank you President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris. I am deeply honored to answer your call to serve this nation that I love especially at this moment of consequence. For our planet and for the people who live here, the peril of the climate crisis is already evident. But we can also see the promise in the jobs, casting and machining, installing and rewiring, pouring new foundations, and building new industries.

Ali Zaidi

00:44:59 - 00:45:47 ()

And in the possibility of repairing communities hurt, places where pollution has been heavy and opportunity has never quite reached. Mr. President-elect and Madam Vice President-elect, you campaigned on delivering that promise by mounting a response equal to the existential threat that we face. Not only by listening to the science but also by invigorating the economy, revving up manufacturing and innovation, spurring good paying union jobs, and advancing justice long overdue.

Ali Zaidi

00:45:47 - 00:46:20 ()

Leading by the example of America at its best. When my parents moved from Pakistan to Pennsylvania they brought two little kids and a few suitcases of dreams. Dreams their kids are living today. Danesh, my brother, a doctor on the front lines of the COVID crisis and me, moving to the front lines of the fight against climate change.

Ali Zaidi

00:46:20 - 00:46:57 ()

To be healthy, to have purpose, to be able to give back. That is how our parents taught us to define the American dream. I am so grateful to be serving alongside the team you have assembled. Grateful for Gina McCarthy, my guide and my good friend, for the incredible and inspiring leaders on this stage and for those with whom we'll partner all across your administration.

Ali Zaidi

00:46:57 - 00:47:38 ()

This has been a trying year for all Americans, marked by so much loss. But throughout you, sir, have been there for us. And when the pandemic hit closer to home you were there for me. Mr. President-elect, that is who you are: a person of faith and family, of decency and goodness. Your leadership gives me hope.

Ali Zaidi

00:47:38 - 00:48:01 ()

My students, scientists imagining and inventing, they give me hope. Young organizers mobilizing and advocating, they give me hope. And together I know we will meet this moment. Thank you, and God bless you.

Kamala Harris

00:48:01 - 00:48:54 ()

Good afternoon. A few months ago as wildfires raged across the west I traveled home to California. What I saw in that trip and so many others in recent years was heartbreaking. Charred playgrounds, homes and neighborhoods in ashes, fire fighters battling fires while their own homes burn to the ground. My brother-in-law's actually a fire fighter in California as well.

Kamala Harris

00:48:54 - 00:49:20 ()

Some of the most toxic air anywhere in the world. Two years ago in 2018 when I visited communities like Paradise, California that had been devastated by wildfires, that year's fire season was considered the worst in California's history. This fire season was even worse. The worst in California's history and America's history.

Kamala Harris

00:49:20 - 00:49:44 ()

And of course, fires are only one symptom of our growing climate crisis. In recent years, families across the Midwest have experienced historic flooding while families all along our coast have endured some of the most active hurricane seasons on record. They only name a storm if it's particularly dangerous.

Kamala Harris

00:49:44 - 00:50:19 ()

This year we had more named storms than ever before. Our climate crisis is not a partisan issue. And it is not a hoax. It is an existential threat to all of us, particularly poor communities and communities of color who bear the greatest risks from polluted air, polluted water, and a failing infrastructure.

Kamala Harris

00:50:19 - 00:50:42 ()

Many years ago -- 15 years ago when I was district attorney in San Francisco I created the first Environmental Justice Unit in the city and it was one of the first in our country. Because I believed then as I do now everyone has a right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. And of course, so does our President-elect Biden.

Kamala Harris

00:50:42 - 00:51:15 ()

Part of the reason I was so proud to join Joe Biden as his running mate was because he was proposing one of the most ambitious climate plans in history. A plan to secure carbon pollution free electricity by 2035. A plan to achieve net zero emissions no later than 2050. A plan to invest in a clean energy future and create millions of good paying union jobs along the way.

Kamala Harris

00:51:15 - 00:51:51 ()

And the team that President-elect Biden and I are announcing today will help make that plan a reality. These are some of our country's most seasoned public servants and climate experts. They have experience mastering the most effective ways to get things done when it comes to climate change. They recognize the importance of bringing together the private sector and organized labor together with government to meet these challenges and to confront this crisis head on with our allies and partners around the world.

Kamala Harris

00:51:51 - 00:52:19 ()

And they are compassionate leaders who understand that ultimately addressing climate change is about building safer communities and healthier communities and thriving communities for all Americans. These public servants reflect the very best of America and they are the team we need to meet this urgent challenge.

Kamala Harris

00:52:19 - 00:52:40 ()

In his 2015 Encyclical, the Holy Father Pope Francis wrote quote, "Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home." Starting on January 20th we will work to heed those words and come together here in our country and around the world to build and protect our common home for generations to come.

Kamala Harris

00:52:40 - 00:52:44 ()

Thank you, Mr. President-elect, for this day. Thank you.

Joe Biden

00:52:44 - 00:52:46 ()

Thank you all very much.

Question

00:52:46 - 00:52:48 ()

Mr. President-elect [Inaudible] --

Question

00:52:48 - 00:52:53 ()

-- Mr. President-elect would you support a special council to handle the Hunter Biden investigation?

Question

00:52:53 - 00:52:54 ()