00:00Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:19Good afternoon, everyone.
00:20Please have a seat.
00:21Good afternoon.
00:22Good afternoon.
00:23I want to, let me thank Representative Chu before she leaves the stage entirely.
00:31I want to thank you, Judy.
00:33She talked about when I was in her district, and many of us have worked with her over the
00:38years.
00:39She's an extraordinary leader, and a powerful leader, a compassionate leader, and extraordinarily
00:46effective.
00:47And I've seen her in the halls of Congress when the camera's on and when the cameras
00:51are off, and she's always fighting for the people.
00:54So, Judy, thank you for that beautiful introduction.
00:56Can we please applaud Judy Chu?
01:03And greetings to all of the members of the United States Congress who are here, and the
01:07members of KPAC.
01:08As Judy said, I am a former, and very proud former member of KPAC, and I know the leaders
01:15who are a part of that incredible organization are a force for progress always in our country.
01:22And to all of the other leaders who are assembled here, I thank you.
01:26In 2020, it was the leaders here who helped to energize, organize, and mobilize.
01:34It is you who helped elect Joe Biden to become President of the United States, and me to
01:41become Vice President of the United States.
01:50And in 2024, we are counting on your leadership once again.
01:56President Biden and I know this is a community that is a force, and must always be recognized,
02:05and must always be recognized for the leadership that has provided for so much progress throughout
02:14the history of our country.
02:16And your work is essential to our victory in November.
02:20In fact, earlier this week, I was in Las Vegas to launch the AANHPI voters for Biden-Harris.
02:29And I will tell you, folks are fired up and ready to fight.
02:34Today, we are 115 days out from the election.
02:39And while many of us have been involved with these elections every four years and nearly
02:44every time, we say this is the one, well, this here is the one.
02:50This is the one.
02:52The most existential, consequential, and important election of our lifetime.
03:00And we always knew this election would be tough.
03:03And the past few days have been a reminder that running for President of the United States
03:08is never easy, nor should it be.
03:11But one thing we know about our President Joe Biden, he is a fighter.
03:18And he is the first to say, when you get knocked down, you get right back up.
03:25So we will continue to fight.
03:31We will continue to organize.
03:34And in November, we will win.
03:38We will win.
03:42Fundamentally, this election will come down to this.
03:49President Biden and I fight for the American people.
03:54Donald Trump does not.
03:56I have discussed a few examples of our fight with some of the leaders here today.
04:00It's an ongoing discussion we've been having.
04:03Let's start, for example, with the issue of affordable health care.
04:07When he was in the White House, Donald Trump tried more than 60 times to end the Affordable
04:13Care Act.
04:14More than 60 times.
04:16And give insurance companies then back the power to deny people with preexisting conditions.
04:23Remember what that was like?
04:25Remember before our successful fight to pass the Affordable Care Act?
04:30What that meant for people with preexisting conditions, children with asthma, women who
04:37survived breast cancer, grandparents with diabetes?
04:42We cannot forget what that was like and the fact that he is trying to roll us backward.
04:50President Biden and I, on the other hand, have defended the Affordable Care Act and
04:54made it stronger.
04:56Because we believe health care should be a right and not just a privilege for those who
05:00can afford it.
05:08And today, more AANHPI Americans have health insurance than ever before.
05:16We also took on Big Pharma and lowered the cost of prescription drugs.
05:21And we capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors to the benefit of
05:26more than 2 million AANHPI seniors.
05:35We are also finally making it so that medical debt, medical debt which is most often the
05:43result of a medical emergency, you don't plan for that, that medical debt can no longer
05:49be used against your credit score.
05:52This is going to have a direct impact on so many people, a credit score being the determining
05:59factor on whether you can get a small business loan, a car loan, or even a lease for an apartment.
06:06To create opportunity, President Biden and I have also addressed many long-standing inequities,
06:14including inequities like the lasting effect of so-called urban renewal projects, including
06:22right here in Philadelphia, the Vine Street Expressway.
06:28Decades ago, that expressway was built to cut right through Chinatown.
06:34It displaced families and devastated neighborhoods, and it continues to cut off residents of Chinatown
06:42from jobs and opportunities in other communities.
06:46So to address this inequity, President Biden and I have invested nearly $160 million to
06:53build parks, bike paths, and walking paths over the Vine Street Expressway, which will
07:00make the neighborhood more beautiful, more walkable, more bikeable, and most importantly,
07:15make it easier for the residents of that community to get to work, to get to school, to get to
07:21church.
07:22We are doing the same kind of work that we are doing here in places from Detroit to Atlanta
07:29to Birmingham, dealing with long-standing inequities.
07:34Whereas the former president incites hate, we are working to combat hate.
07:44With the support of KPAC, as Judy mentioned, we passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, making
07:52it easier for members of the AANHPI community to report acts of hate.
08:01And while I will not repeat the vile, vile language that Trump has used, I will say someone
08:13who vilifies immigrants, who promotes xenophobia, who stokes hate, and who incites fear should
08:24never again have the chance to stand behind a microphone and never again have the chance
08:32to stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America.
08:43There is so much at stake in this moment.
08:53And last week, we were again reminded of that fact.
08:59And we will have those four more years.
09:22And we will have those four more years.
09:28And of course, we respect everyone's right to voice their concerns.
09:34I am speaking right now, however, and I'm going to continue with the topic at hand.
09:45So last week, we are fighting for a democracy and democratic values, which includes the
10:03right of everyone to speak.
10:06And I will then, we are going to have four more years also.
10:14So listen, there is so much at stake in this moment.
10:19And last week, we were again reminded of that fact.
10:23Let us please take note, when the Supreme Court recently basically told this individual
10:30who has been convicted of fraud, that going forward, he will be immune for activity we
10:37know he is prepared to engage in if he gets back into the White House.
10:43Later, Donald Trump openly vowed, if reelected, that he will be a dictator on day one.
10:50That he will weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies.
10:55That he will round up peaceful protesters and throw them out of our country.
11:01And even, quote, terminate the United States Constitution.
11:06While not on our watch, President Biden and I will always fight to protect our Constitution.
11:21And Trump's advisors have created a 900-page blueprint of their agenda for a second term.
11:29They call it Project 2025.
11:33And it includes a plan.
11:36It includes a plan to cut Social Security.
11:41To repeal our $35 cap on insulin.
11:45To eliminate the Department of Education and end programs like Head Start.
11:52And if Donald Trump wins a second term, he will continue his full-on assault on reproductive
11:58freedom.
11:59Remember, then-President Donald Trump handpicked three members of the United States Supreme
12:06Court because he intended for them to undo the protections of Roe v. Wade.
12:11And as he intended, they did.
12:15Now, over 20 states have an abortion ban.
12:19A Trump abortion ban.
12:22Today in America, one in three women of reproductive age lives in a state with a Trump abortion
12:30ban.
12:32Many with no exception even for rape and incest.
12:36And Trump says he is, quote, proudly the person responsible for overturning Roe.
12:42We all know one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree.
12:49The government should not be telling her what to do with her body.
13:02And make no mistake, if he gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban to outlaw
13:10abortion in every single state.
13:14But we are not going to let that happen.
13:17We have worked.
13:19We have all, together, worked too hard and fought too long to see our daughters grow
13:28up in a world with fewer rights than our mothers.
13:36We trust women.
13:40And when Congress passes a law that restores the reproductive freedoms of Roe, our President
13:46Joe Biden will sign it.
13:51Yes.
13:54So ultimately, in this election, we each face a question.
14:00What kind of country do we want to live in?
14:04And here's the beauty of this moment.
14:07We have the power to answer that question, each one of us.
14:13And the question being, do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule
14:20of law, or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
14:29We each have the power to answer this question.
14:34If the Supreme Court says the laws do not apply to Donald Trump, if extremists in Congress
14:43continue to bow down to him, if people like Mike Pence are not around to stand up to him,
14:52our last line of defense is the ballot box, your vote, your voice.
15:02So today, I ask the leaders here, are you ready to make your voices heard?
15:09Do we believe in freedom?
15:12Do we believe in opportunity?
15:16Do we believe in the promise of America?
15:19And are we ready to fight for it?
15:24And when we fight, we win.
15:27God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
15:30Thank you all.
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