Interview: Enrique Acevedo of Univision Interviews Joe Biden in Phoenix - March 20, 2024

"You know, the road back to the White House goes through El Barrio, especially in places like Nevada and here in Arizona. What's at stake for Latino voters in this election?" 1

"I think everything is at stake. First of all, it's how they're viewed by the president of the United States who -- let's look at the way Trump talks about Latinos, talks about them as Mexicans, rapists, and criminals, murderers. He talks about how -- I mean, just -- look: there's not a fundamental difference in the value set between Irish Catholic neighbors I grew up with and Latinos." 2

"It's about faith. It's about family. It's about togetherness. It's about having each other's back. And -- and he doesn't share any of those notions." 3

"Sir, you chose this company today to deliver a message on the economy. I've heard you talk about economic growth, job creation. What do you say to the families -- not just Latino families, but families across the country that don't feel that economic growth, that job creation reflected in their paychecks, in their pockets?" 4

"Well, it's not yet, but guess what? There are 15 million jobs that we've created so far, more than any president has in the time period -- where 4.5 million are Latinos, 4.5 million more than any other time, number one. Number two, well, also, it's about changing what happens at the kitchen table. For example, you know, uh, we talk about trickle-down economy." 5

"You know, as long as the wealthy do well, it'll trickle down to the rest of us. Well, nothing ever trickled down to my dad's kitchen table, okay. But guess what? When you have to pay $35 for an overdraft or a check and, but guess what -- I changed it to $8. If in fact you're in a situation where you are -- you're gonna have a junk fee, that is, you're you're in a situation, your credit card is overdraft --" 6

"Uh huh." 7

"-- instead of paying 30, 40, 50 bucks, you have to pay $3. The point is the thing that affect people's -- my dad used to say, Joey, a job's about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about your ability to have something left at the end of the month, so the family can make it. Well, this -- these junk fees cost hundreds of bucks for people, and we're eliminating them." 8

"You also talked about lowering the cost of insulin, which is a --" 9

"Oh, that's a --" 10

"-- a crucial issue for Latinos, given the high prevalence there is of dia --" 11

"By the way, it's gigantic. It's gigantic. I've been fighting Big pharma, the pharmaceutical companies, since I was a senator. Finally beat them, without any Republican help, I might add. And, the way we did that was we said, look -- for example, insulin. Know how much it cost to make that insulin? $10. T-e-n. 10." 12

"That's the production cost." 13

"Production cost. Packaging and everything? 12 bucks. Okay." 14

"Huh." 15

"The guy who -- the guy who had the patent, he wouldn't put a patent on it. He wanted everybody to have access to it. Charged an average of $400 [Inaudible]. What's going on here? So now they can not charge more than $35 a month, because why? I said, for the first time, Medicare can do exactly what -- and Social Security, and all -- all these other ages you can do what the -- the Veterans Administration does." 16

"We say: we'll buy your product, but only at this price. Well, guess what? It's 35 bucks each, not 400 bucks for insulin. And guess what? Even companies who aren't covered are now saying, we're only going to sell for 35. It's change of people's lives. Look, you know, one of the things is going on here, all kidding aside, is the way we denigrate people, the way we talk about people, the way we talk about even -- even making fun of my being an Irish Catholic, I can't -- I mean, what the hell is this?" 17

"It's never been like this. Never been. It's gonna stop." 18