00:00 >> The President: Hey, folks, how are you?
00:01 >> The Press: Good. How are you?
00:03 >> The President: Good. Good news today.
00:04 This morning, we learned the economy created
00:08 336,000 jobs in September alone.
00:11 That means, since I've taken office,
00:14 we've created 13.9 million new jobs.
00:18 You heard me say it before,
00:20 and I'm going to keep saying it. My dad had an expression.
00:22 He said, "Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck.
00:25 It's about your dignity. It's about respect.
00:28 It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say,
00:30 'Honey, it's going to be okay,' and mean it."
00:32 Well, 336,000 more Americans, if they have children,
00:36 can say that to their children and mean it.
00:39 The unemployment rate has stayed below 4 percent
00:42 for 20 months in a row --
00:43 the longest stretch in 50 years.
00:46 We've achieved a 70-year low in unemployment rate for women,
00:50 record lows in unemployment for African Americans
00:54 and Hispanic workers and people with disabilities.
00:57 Folks who have been left behind in previous recoveries
01:00 have been left behind for too long.
01:02 We have the highest share of working-age Americans
01:05 in the workforce in 20 years.
01:07 And it's no accident that, despite economics,
01:10 we're growing the economy from the middle out,
01:13 the bottom up, not the top down.
01:15 And inflation is coming down at the same time.
01:18 It's down 60 percent since last summer.
01:20 Core inflation was just 2.2 percent
01:24 over the past three months.
01:27 Now we have the lowest inflation
01:28 of any major economy in the world.
01:30 Today, we're celebrating National Manufacturing Day.
01:34 We didn't name it that; it was already
01:36 National Manufacturing Day. But it seems appropriate.
01:38 I can think of no better way to mark the occasion
01:41 than to thank the 13 million Americans
01:44 who are manufa- --
01:46 in manufacturing jobs as we speak.
01:47 They're restoring our pride, making things in America.
01:52 And today, I want to highlight that,
01:54 of those 13 million manufacturing jobs,
01:57 815,000 of those jobs were created since I took office --
02:02 twice as many as the previous administration.
02:05 And a report -- we learned earlier this week
02:08 that spending on construction for new factories being built
02:12 to generate more economic growth and jobs
02:15 hit an all-time high last month.
02:18 Folks, by economics is about investing in America
02:23 and investing in American workers.
02:24 And businesses are investing more in manufacturing
02:27 than ever before and bringing the supply chains home.
02:31 Before the pandemic, "supply chains" was a phrase
02:34 most people didn't even associate with,
02:36 didn't think much about.
02:38 And -- but today, after a few delays
02:42 in availability of parts and products
02:44 everyone has known about, they know why it's so important.
02:48 My economic plan is bringing supply chains home
02:52 and investing in industries of the future
02:54 so we can make things in America again with American workers.
02:58 We're creating good jobs in communities
03:01 all across the country, including in places
03:03 that have been left behind for the last --
03:06 in some cases, 20 years, because the factories
03:09 they used to work at for years and years shut down,
03:12 leaving them with no options, no jobs in that community --
03:16 all over the Midwest and all over the Northeast.
03:20 And under Bidenomics, you won't have to leave home
03:22 now to get a good job.
03:24 I don't know how many times I heard out on the road
03:26 people saying -- my kid came up to me,
03:29 got a decent education in the state,
03:30 came up to me and said, "Mom, I got to leave.
03:32 No jobs. No jobs."
03:34 Well, you're going to be able to find a good job close to home
03:38 more and more all across America.
03:39 We're also making sure the jobs we're creating
03:43 offer workers a free and fair right,
03:45 if they choose, to join a union -- to form a union.
03:49 Bidenomics is leading the surge in unionized workers
03:52 exercising their collective bargaining rights.
03:55 For example, our clean school bus program,
03:59 under the bipartisan infrastructure law,
04:02 is replacing dirty diesel buses with clean electric buses
04:05 so children getting on and off those buses
04:08 can breathe clean air, not diesel fuel.
04:10 We're encouraging the companies building those buses
04:13 to allow their employees to unionize
04:15 if the employees choose. And it's working.
04:19 We saw in Georgia when blue -- workers at Bluebird,
04:23 the electric school bus manufacturing company
04:25 that's receiving federal funds, voted to unionize
04:28 because that was their choice.
04:30 The Treasury Department laid out recently,
04:32 in a major report,
04:34 that unions and collective bargaining
04:37 are good for the economy overall.
04:39 They help raise wages not only for the workers in that factory,
04:42 but for everyone, whether or not they're a union --
04:45 whether or not you belong to a union.
04:47 And they also increase -- excuse me --
04:51 they also increase corporate growth.
04:55 And today's job report is just another example
04:59 of what it looks like when we focus on building an economy
05:02 from the middle out and the bottom up,
05:03 not the top down,
05:05 while bringing deficits down at the same time.
05:07 You know, just this summer, I signed a strong bipartisan law
05:12 where I shook hands with a former Speaker.
05:15 And we passed in the House and the Senate as well
05:18 to cut spending by $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
05:22 Unfortunately, last weekend, Republican House members
05:26 decided they were going to put that progress in jeopardy.
05:29 Instead of honoring that commitment they made,
05:31 they once again brought us to the brink of a government
05:34 shutdown, creating unnecessary instability and risk
05:37 in order to secure more extreme cuts in programs
05:40 that help working Americans and seniors --
05:43 cuts that would have hurt everyone from --
05:45 hurt U.S. manufacturing,
05:47 that would have stymied the pay of military people --
05:50 a whole range of things.
05:51 They tried cutting funding by 30 percent for small businesses,
05:56 which are growing under our administration;
05:58 for local manufacturers; for manufacturing extension
06:02 partnership program that --
06:03 that helps small- and medium-sized manufacturers
06:06 attract and train workers and grow their businesses.
06:09 But we stopped them.
06:11 Quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of Republicans
06:14 in the House saying they want to cut the deficit
06:17 when all they really want to do is, once again,
06:18 cut taxes for the very wealthy and big corporations,
06:22 which will only add to the deficit.
06:23 When I was able to cut the federal debt by $1.7 trillion
06:26 over that first two and a -- two years --
06:29 well, remember what we were talking about --
06:31 those 50 corporations that made $40 billion
06:33 from our paying a penny in taxes.
06:35 Well, guess what we made them pay -- 30 percent --
06:39 15 percent in taxes -- 15 percent.
06:42 Nowhere near what they should pay.
06:44 And guess what? We were able to pay for everything,
06:47 and we ended up with an actual surplus.
06:49 You know, it's not about --
06:52 it's not what the economy needs right now --
06:55 more tax cuts for the wealthy.
06:57 I've said it before and I'll say it again.
07:00 We've cut the deficit by over $1 trillion
07:02 since we've taken office.
07:04 The laws that I sign will cut it by another $1 trillion
07:06 over the next 10 years.
07:08 And my budget would cut it by another $2.5 trillion
07:11 over 10 years. Here's the deal.
07:13 The federal debt went up by 50 percent under my predecessor,
07:17 in part because he passed a $2 trillion tax cut
07:21 overwhelmingly skewed
07:23 to the very wealthy and large corporations.
07:25 I believe we should be reducing the deficit
07:28 by making sure that the wealthy and large corporations
07:31 can just pay their fair share.
07:33 I'm not asking them to pay 90 percent;
07:35 just pay their fair share.
07:37 By cutting wasteful spending on special interests like big oil --
07:40 all the money they made and paid so little in taxes.
07:43 Big pharma -- same thing.
07:45 You know, we just gave the American public a real gift
07:50 in terms of -- not gift, but fairness --
07:53 in terms of what they have to pay for insulin
07:55 and what they're going to have to pay for other things.
07:56 Well, guess what? That also cut the federal debt.
07:59 Cut the federal debt.
08:02 For example, over 1,000 billionaires in this country --
08:05 and I know you're going to hear me say this
08:07 until I'm able to change it --
08:09 you know what their average rate of pay --
08:10 the federal tax rate is? Eight percent. Eight percent.
08:15 I think you should be able to be a trillionaire,
08:18 a billionaire, a zillionaire if you want,
08:19 but pay your taxes, for God's sake.
08:21 Pay some fair -- and, remember,
08:24 some of them approaching a fair tax.
08:26 That's less than a teacher or a firefighter
08:28 or a cop pays in their taxes.
08:31 That's wrong. Look, House Republicans
08:34 should put us back in a --
08:35 shouldn't put us back in a crisis mode again.
08:38 We have only 40 days for Congress to get back to work --
08:41 and I'm in the same House of Republicans --
08:43 we're on recess now -- to fund the government,
08:46 avoid a shutdown, and protect the tremendous gains
08:50 American workers have made over the past two and a half years.
08:53 Shutdown would mean troops don't get paid,
08:56 air traffic controllers wouldn't get paid.
08:58 There'd be all kinds of problems at airports.
09:00 Loans of small business would be delayed.
09:02 I'm closing some of them.
09:04 It's time to stop fooling around.
09:06 House Republicans, it's time for you to do your job,
09:09 continue our progress, growing the economy,
09:11 investing in America, investing in the American people.
09:15 So let's get to work for the American people.
09:17 They're waiting and they're watching.
09:20 We've got to get to work. Thank you all very much.
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