Transcript - Remarks: Joe Biden Speaks at a Political Event in Monaca, PA - November 2, 2020 | Factba.se

Joe Biden

00:00:00 - 00:00:30 (30 sec)

You all must be freezing. As my mother -- grandma would say, God love you. Thanks for being here. You know, the one thing I've always been able to count on my whole career, unions. I know how to say union -- how to work amongst unions. Hey, folks, it's good to be back in Beaver County. The fact is that we've been in this a situation for a while here that -- and Greg, thank you for the introduction.

Joe Biden

00:00:30 - 00:00:56 (26 sec)

I do appreciate it. You know, one of the things about the ironworkers is that I think you're crazy. Do you know what I mean? I remember ironworkers endorsed me early on when I first ran for the Senate as a kid, a guy named Tommy Shrank . And I use to walk in the Union Hall the time and say anybody who is crazy enough to walk up 60 stories on a beam and shoot a rivet has to be nuts.

Joe Biden

00:00:56 - 00:01:15 (19 sec)

And thank God you are. You're like where I grew up. You became -- you joined a trade and became a cop, became a firefighter, or a priest. I wasn't competent being anyone of them, so look what happened to me. Folks, look -- Connor, thank you for that -- for the -- being here and thank you for all you've done.

Joe Biden

00:01:15 - 00:01:35 (20 sec)

Ladies and gentlemen, you know this is about more than just a -- just an election assignment. There's an awful lot, an awful lot at stake. And of course, you're going to send Connor back. That's all right. I'm used to babies. Babies are allowed to cry and anybody's allowed to cry if they want. Anybody's allowed to make noise too.

Joe Biden

00:01:35 - 00:01:57 (21 sec)

And you -- Oh. Well, look, I wanted to come by and just say thank you personally. Thank you, very, very much for what you've done. As that old -- the mayor is here, they tell me. I don't know where the mayor is. Where is the mayor? There you are. Hey, Mr. Mayor, thank you, pal. Being mayor is a real job.

Joe Biden

00:01:57 - 00:02:23 (26 sec)

They know where you live. And -- and Terry and Robbie, I want to thank you and everybody all across Beaver County. Folks, look, the fact is that, from the very beginning my career, I've found myself in a situation where I relied on -- on labor. And I hope I've demonstrated that labor can rely on you. You know, we're in the home stretch now.

Joe Biden

00:02:23 - 00:02:45 (22 sec)

We're in the home stretch. And as my coach used to say in high school and college, it's go time. It's go time. Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow we're going to send Connor back to Congress. We're going to hear what labor has to say. We're going to win Pennsylvania -- And we're going to show the world what America stands for.

Joe Biden

00:02:45 - 00:03:03 (18 sec)

Folks, as I said, I wanted to come by and thank you personally for canvassing, and thank the mayor and everyone else that I've just mentioned to you. The fact is that there's a lot at stake in this election. We are really at one of those inflection points. This is going to be more than just who governs the next four years.

Joe Biden

00:03:03 - 00:03:23 (20 sec)

What happens -- what happens now, what happens tomorrow is going to determine what this country looks like for a couple generations. And that's not a joke. I really genuinely believe that. There is so damn much at stake. And, you know, as we get this home stretch, you find yourself going home. At least I find myself going home.

Joe Biden

00:03:23 - 00:03:44 (21 sec)

This is like home. I'm from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I grew up in Claymont, Delaware. And it used to be a steel town that had steelworkers, use to have 5,800 steelworkers in the town, all gone, all gone now. We gotta get it back. We're not going to get it back in Claymont, but we can get it back here in the United States.

Joe Biden

00:03:44 - 00:04:03 (19 sec)

And folks, the fact is that, as I said, we're heading to a home stretch. We know the stakes have never been higher. We know they've never been higher. My dad used to have an expression. He'd say, Joey, when -- he lost his job in Scranton when coal died when I was a kid. And we moved down to Claymont, Delaware.

Joe Biden

00:04:03 - 00:04:21 (18 sec)

He took us home to my grandpop's house. And he made what I call the longest walk a mom or dad has to make, up a short flight of stairs to the kid's bedroom to say, honey, I'm sorry, you can't go back to that school. You can't play in that Little League club anymore. Dad lost his job. We're going to have to move.

Joe Biden

00:04:21 - 00:04:38 (17 sec)

We can't stay where we are. And he made that walk, took us home to my grandpop's house in Scranton. And what happened was he said I'm going down to Delaware. There's jobs down there. I'll come home every weekend, probably take me a year to get one. I can bring everybody down. And so, that's exactly what happened.

Joe Biden

00:04:38 - 00:04:59 (21 sec)

From that point on, when my dad would talk about a job, he'd say, "Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in the community. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, it's going to be okay." Not many people are saying that these days.

Joe Biden

00:04:59 - 00:05:20 (21 sec)

Too many people are worried. I've never forgotten growing up in a hard-working family in Scranton, I never -- the lesson that Donald Trump has never learned because he can only see the world from Park Avenue. He can't see what a family like yours and mine have gone through, so he refuses to do the work to get this virus under control.

Joe Biden

00:05:20 - 00:05:42 (22 sec)

He refused to the work to get our schools and our small businesses the resources they needed to stay open, firefighters, teachers, cops, a whole lot of hard-working folks. He refused to bring Congress together. They passed the money, but he refused to bring them together to provide for their families, the working families because he thinks Wall Street built this country.

Joe Biden

00:05:42 - 00:06:04 (23 sec)

But I got news for him. You already know it. Wall Street didn't build America. The middle-class did, and unions built the middle class. Unions built the middle class. That's a fact. That is a natural fact. Look, I see the world from Scranton. I see the world from working-class towns all around the state.

Joe Biden

00:06:04 - 00:06:23 (19 sec)

That's why the build back better plan that I'm going to do is we're going to -- for the first time in a long time, we're going to start rewarding work, not wealth. We're not going to raise taxes on anybody making less than $400,000 a year. But if you make more than that, guess what? You're going to start paying your fair share.

Joe Biden

00:06:23 - 00:06:54 (31 sec)

You're going to start stepping up. I'm going to ask the big corporations, the wealthy, to step up. You know, 90 of the Fortune 500 companies -- trying to railroad you guys, 90 of them didn't pay a penny in taxes. We're going to invest the money that we collect in working people, creating millions of good paying union jobs, $2 trillion to build a more resilient infrastructure, roads, bridges, water systems, a whole lot more -- done by certified labor.

Joe Biden

00:06:54 - 00:07:24 (30 sec)

And by the way, no matter how many Trump tries to lie about it, I will not ban fracking, never said I would. But I'm going to in Trump's incentives to send jobs overseas. We have a trade strategy right now where you get 10 percent cut in your tax if you send a job overseas. We're going to reverse it. You bring a job home, you get 10 percent.

Joe Biden

00:07:24 - 00:07:54 (30 sec)

And I want to promise you one thing. You know, the president has control of $600 billion handing out contracts for construction for everything from building aircraft carriers to public housing. Well, here's the promise I met making to you. Not one single contract will be let to a contractor who doesn't have products that are all made in America, every -- that's a guarantee to -- everyone.

Joe Biden

00:07:54 - 00:08:16 (22 sec)

We're allowed to do that now but we've never done it. It's about time we stepped up and made sure people are -- by the way, one other thing I want to mention to you, Donald Trump talks about himself as a tough guy. I grew up with guys like him in Scranton, around in Scranton. They thought because they had more money than us they could look down their nose at us.

Joe Biden

00:08:16 - 00:08:42 (26 sec)

They thought that because they came from well-known families they somehow are better. Well, let me tell you something. He talks about how tough he is, how hard-working is, how he's done so much. Well, the things that have bothered me most in this campaign, and I have to tell you, the way he talked about our veterans as being losers, losers.

Joe Biden

00:08:42 - 00:09:09 (26 sec)

What this guy all about? What's the -- who is he? He doesn't understand what's going on. Folks, my son was the attorney general of Delaware. He gave up the seat to go fight in Iraq for a year. He won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal. He came home and he died of cancer. But he came home, and guess what?

Joe Biden

00:09:09 - 00:09:38 (29 sec)

He was no loser. Trump's a loser. And all of you who've served, all of you have served, I really mean it. Think about it. Think about it. Is it any wonder why? This is the first president that I'm aware of, the six top generals who worked for him, six four-star admirals and generals, they'll left saying he didn't -- he wasn't worthy of being the commander-in-chief.

Joe Biden

00:09:38 - 00:10:13 (35 sec)

They quit, McRaven, McChrystal, Special Forces. These are the guys who did a lot commanding. They both endorsed me and they came along, 22 four stars stepped up and endorsed me, saying because they knew I'd have their back as commander-in-chief. This guy doesn't get it. I really mean it. Many of you served.

Joe Biden

00:10:13 - 00:10:48 (35 sec)

It took physical courage to do it. He doesn't get it. Folks, we owe -- we owe the military. One percent, 1 percent of the Americans are protecting the other 99 percent of us. We owe them big. Look, we can only get this done though -- we can only get this done in Pennsylvania with Pennsylvania's vote. We've got to make sure everyone returns their ballot or votes tomorrow.

Joe Biden

00:10:48 - 00:11:15 (27 sec)

Make sure everyone -- everyone you know -- does the same. It's time to rebuild the backbone of this country, the middle class and this time, bring everybody along, everybody. It's time to unite this country. There's an amazing thing about this moment in our history. On the one hand, we're facing the biggest threats to who we are, what we believe in our lifetimes.

Joe Biden

00:11:15 - 00:11:45 (30 sec)

But, on the other hand, our future's never been more promising. I've said many times, I'm more optimistic about America's future today than when I got elected as a 29 year old kid to the Senate. Here's why. We're in a better position than any nation in the world to lead the 21st century. Our workers are three times productive as workers around the world.

Joe Biden

00:11:45 - 00:12:06 (21 sec)

We have the biggest economy in the world, the strongest military in the history of the world. We have the most innovative entrepreneurs. We're virtually energy independent. And, we have more great research universities than the rest of the world combined. No other nation can touch us. No other nation can lead us.

Joe Biden

00:12:06 - 00:12:33 (27 sec)

We can lead by the power of our example, not just the example of our power. The only thing that can tear America apart is America itself and that's exactly what Donald Trump's been trying to do from the very beginning: divide America, pitting Americans against one another, rural versus urban, based on race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, our religion.

Joe Biden

00:12:33 - 00:13:04 (31 sec)

That's wrong. That's not who we are. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. But, we're about honor, integrity, dignity. This is the United States of America. We've got to let them show who we are. We choose. We choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division. We choose science over fiction. And, yeah, we choose truth over lies, constant lies.

Joe Biden

00:13:04 - 00:13:28 (24 sec)

So, folks, it's time to stand up, take back this democracy. We can do this. We're so much better than we've been. We can be who we are at our best, not blue states and red states but the United States of America. So let's take it back, and I promise you, I promise you, my concluding comment my dad used to say "the only way to deal with power is with power." The only way we can deal with corporate greed in America is union power.

Joe Biden

00:13:28 - 00:13:48 (19 sec)

That's a fact, you are the only ones who keep the barbarians on the other side of the gate man. You are the only ones. So folks, I promise you. The Fair Labor Standards Act passed way back in Roosevelts' day, didn't say we were allowed to have unions, it said the government should promote unions. I promise you, I will be the most pro-union president you have ever seen.

Joe Biden

00:13:48 - 00:13:57 (9 sec)

I guarantee you a seat at the table. God love you all and thank you, thank you, thank you. Let's get this vote out. May God protect our troops. Thank you.