- hace 2 horas
Categoría
🗞
NoticiasTranscripción
00:15Thank you all. Thank you so much, Ed. It's great to be here. It's great to have you in our
00:21nation's
00:22capital. I always say to everybody, this is a very big group. I can't see any of you because
00:26these spotlights are glaring bright. The person who runs these spotlights, Ed, must be a Democrat
00:30because I cannot see a single person in that crowd. But I'm told there's about 700 of you out
00:36there. And so I say to everybody, whether it's a small school group or 700 great firefighters from
00:42all across our country, that this is your nation's capital. This is your capital. Your tax dollars
00:48built these beautiful monuments and museums. And I know you've got a lot of work to do while you're
00:52here in Washington. But I hope each and every one of you gets to enjoy this beautiful city,
00:56especially as the weather turns really nice here in Washington, D.C. Now, the one bad thing about the
01:03weather is when it starts to get warm, you know, as a politician, we're gearing up for political
01:08campaign season. And I'm probably as sick of politics as you all are. So that's the one downside.
01:14But I hope you enjoy this beautiful spring weather and enjoy your nation's capital while you're here.
01:19We're thrilled to have you. And I just want to say thank you so much to Ed and to the
01:25entire team
01:26at the International Association of Firefighters. Ed Kelly has been a great advocate for you and for
01:32firefighters all across the United States of America. In fact, when we met backstage very briefly,
01:38we talked a little bit about some of the great legislative accomplishments of the Trump
01:42administration. We'll talk a bit about that here in a second. But then the second half of the
01:47conversation was Ed trying to shake me down even more. He was trying to think, what else can we
01:52get out of this administration? And I love that. I love a guy who fights for his people. I love
01:57a
01:57firefighter who knows he stands for and represents firefighters. And I hope all of you know that we're
02:03going to work with you over the next few years to continue to solve the problems that exist for our
02:08firefighting community. One of the things that a lot of you know about this administration and
02:14hopefully appreciate about this administration, but I'm going to make my pitch here, is that we
02:19have been unique among Republicans in that we haven't turned away organized labor. We have tried
02:26to find ways to work with organized labor. Not that we're always going to agree, but another great
02:31Bostonian, Sean O'Brien, the head of the Teamsters Union, we found ways to work together to serve working
02:37people. And there is no group of people that is harder working and more important for our community
02:43than our firefighters. And so thank you all for being here. And thank you for honoring me
02:48by inviting me to give you a few remarks today.
02:57Now, before I get into some of my other remarks, I want to just start on a slightly somber note
03:04here,
03:04because on a personal level, I was honored to be able to participate in the dignified transfer
03:11of six American soldiers who were killed overseas in this conflict with Iran. And I'd never done that
03:19before. And a lot of you served our nation in uniform. I know a number of our firefighters have
03:26all across our country. And I just want to say that if you are the praying type, and I certainly
03:31am,
03:31I hope you'll spare a prayer for the six souls that we lost, for the seventh soul who will be
03:36coming home tonight, and for all of their families. You all know better than almost any category of
03:41Americans what it means to put on a uniform and to sacrifice for our country. And so I hope you'll
03:47share a moment of prayer for our brothers in arms, for your brothers in arms who keep this country safe
03:53in their own way, just as you keep the country safe in your particular way.
03:59So to move on a little bit, let me just say that what we have tried to do in the
04:04Trump administration,
04:05what we have tried to accomplish is to make your lives easier, knowing, of course, that we're never
04:11going to be able to make your lives completely easy. You guys have some of the hardest jobs that
04:17exist anywhere in the United States of America. And you represent thousands and thousands of firefighters
04:23all across the United States of America, who make it possible for our communities to be safe,
04:29who make it possible for our communities to run smoothly, who make it possible for a kid to be
04:36able to call 911 if they have to, and know that a man or a woman who is professional, who
04:42is competent,
04:43and who is caring is going to show up when we need them. And that's the thing that I admire
04:48so much
04:49about all of you. You know, every country, every empire, every society in history made it possible
04:56for a rich person to get what they needed. But what makes the United States so unique is that whether
05:00you're rich or poor, you're black or white, when you need public services, when you need your police
05:06officers, when you need your firefighters, when you need those EMT specialists, we make it and we try hard
05:12to make it so that everybody who needs something in that critical moment has access to it.
05:19Everybody deserves public safety, not just rich people. Every person deserves to know that if,
05:25God forbid, their house catches on fire, there's going to be somebody with water there to put it out,
05:30not just the powerful. And what I admire about this spirit of public service that exists in this
05:35community is that every single one of you put on a uniform, the people that you serve put on a
05:40uniform
05:41and make it possible for kids like me, kids who didn't grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth,
05:46to have access to that critical public safety and that security in their neighborhoods.
05:52Now, a lot of you, you know, I came and spoke in Boston a couple of years ago. And so
05:57what I say
05:58may come, well, you may have heard me say it in Boston, but I'm going to repeat it for those
06:03of
06:03you who didn't hear me say it in Boston, which is that, you know, a couple of times I was
06:07one of
06:07those scared little kids who had to call the firefighters who had to call the EMTs. You know,
06:12my own mother struggled with opioid addiction for a very large chunk of my life. And I remember when
06:18she was having a particularly dark moment and she was, she needed some help. I needed some help.
06:22Our family needed some help. I picked up the phone. I called 911 and a number of brave, professional,
06:31compassionate firefighters from Middletown, Ohio showed up and they calmed my mom down and they made
06:36it possible for us to go on with the rest of our day. They made a kid who was scared
06:40to death
06:42feel like he had an ally in this world. I will never forget that. I will never forget also when
06:48we had to call 911. It wasn't a firefighter. It was an EMT who came and took my mom to
06:53the hospital
06:54because she had had a very terrible overdose. And I remember holding her hand, hoping to God
06:59that she would be okay, that she would wake up. We know a lot of our people have not woken
07:04up when they
07:04have those opioid overdoses, but by the grace of God, my mom did wake up. And by the way,
07:10she's now been clean and sober for north of 11 years. We celebrated her 10 year sobriety. Thank you.
07:23We celebrate, celebrated her 10 years of sobriety in the West wing of the White House. What an
07:29incredible testament to the American dream that a woman I thought would never live to meet my children
07:34is now the best grandmother to those children that they could ever ask for. And we celebrated
07:39that sobriety in the people's White House. But that moment, that the many moments of second chances
07:46that we've gotten with my mom, and I love you, mom, if you're watching this, she probably is. She
07:50watches everything. I don't know why, but she does. But mom, we would not have gotten that second chance
07:57were it not for the firefighters all across our country, for the EMT specialists all across our
08:02country, who make it possible for second chances again and again and again. What you guys do is not
08:11easy. And as you all know, it doesn't always pay as well as it should. But it does give people,
08:19millions of Americans all across this nation, a sense that somebody is looking out for them.
08:25And that's one of the reasons why I love what you do, why I'm so honored to be here, is
08:30because
08:30you are the glue that holds so many of American communities together. You know, I talked a little
08:36bit about the folks that we lost in Iran, and we're so thankful for their service and so hopeful
08:42that nobody else comes home having lost their life. But I think there's a brotherhood, a sisterhood
08:49between the military, the police officers, and the firefighters, because you are the three categories
08:55of people who put on a uniform and put your lives at risk for your communities. You've got different
09:00jobs. You have different roles to play. But I think it's an amazing testament to our country. Maybe the
09:07single most important resource that we have as a United States of America is that every single one of
09:15you is willing to sacrifice your life. Hopefully you never will. But every single one of you is willing
09:21to sacrifice your life for this great country and for the people that you serve in your communities.
09:26I just want you to know, from the President of the United States, but from everybody, I think I can
09:32say comfortably, even in partisan and difficult times, that I represent the whole country when I say
09:39to all of our members of the International Association of Firefighters, we are thankful to you,
09:45we are proud of you, we love you, and we're going to do everything that we can to support you.
09:59Now let me talk just a little bit about what it means to really support you. Because I think it's
10:05important. It's of course important that the Vice President stand up here and say how grateful he is,
10:10and I certainly am. I'm grateful to each and every one of you and the people you serve. But it's
10:14not just
10:15about words, it's about action. And that's one of the things I'm proudest about this administration
10:19is that we have actually backed up the pride and the support and the gratitude that we have
10:25for all of you with very meaningful action. You heard Ed talk a little bit about the Social Security
10:31Fairness Act. Well, one of the reasons why that happened is because the President of the United
10:36States, and I believe it was even before the inauguration, the President of the United States
10:41made sure that Congressional Republicans stayed on top of that legislation and we worked to get it
10:48done. That happened because of presidential leadership.
10:57Do you think Joe Biden was making those phone calls, ladies and gentlemen? I just got to say,
11:00I don't think so. Sorry. I got a little partisan there. But we owe it to Americans who suffered through
11:07exposure to toxic chemicals, especially the first responders who seek to protect others from harm.
11:13We owe it to you to actually look after you and to take care of you. In that vein, one
11:19of the first
11:20pieces of legislation I ever worked on was the Railway Safety Act. And I'll never forget your support
11:27in making that act a possibility. We actually got it, by the way, into the most recent transportation
11:32package. I'm sure Ed and all of you will use your very able lobbying persuasion tactics to make sure
11:38that that legislation actually becomes law. Because here's the thing. When I met the firefighters who
11:44dealt with that terrible train derailment in East Palestine, one of the things that I picked up is,
11:49you know, they weren't angry. They weren't mad. That was their job. They went into a very dangerous
11:56situation because that was their job and that's what they expect to do. But they were worried about one
12:01thing. What might happen with all these toxic chemicals that were in the air? Would they have
12:07long-term problems? Would they suffer some consequences? And one of the things that Secretary
12:11Kennedy and I worked on is making sure that we are studying the long-term effects of toxic chemical
12:17exposure in East Palestine. We appropriated millions of dollars. And trust me, when I was a senator,
12:23I worked to get that money from the last administration just to understand the effects of toxic chemical
12:29exposure over time. And we didn't have that until this administration came along and Secretary
12:37Kennedy made it a priority. Because we want you all to know if, God forbid, you run into harm's way,
12:44what are the consequences going to be to you over the long haul? And importantly, what are the kinds
12:50of medical treatments that you're going to need if you're in that situation to make sure that the
12:55sacrifice that you make in the line of duty doesn't become more than it has to be? Those are the
13:00kinds
13:01of tangible steps that we are trying to take. Now, we know that President Kelly and President Trump,
13:07we all have our own presidents, my friends. He was a huge proponent, and I'm glad for this, of the
13:14Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act. Now, that was critically important legislation that you all know
13:19President Trump signed into law just a few months ago. Now, as Ed can tell you, this law extends
13:26legal benefits for firefighters and first responders who pass away from cancers caused by exposure in the
13:33line of duty. Now, when a firefighter, when one of you becomes ill or, God forbid, loses your life
13:40because of cancer that was developed in the line of duty, their families are entitled to federal
13:48benefits that they earned. Now, I say they already earned them because we owe it to Americans who
14:02suffered through exposure to toxic chemicals, especially the first responders who go into harm's
14:08way to protect others from harm. That is what this administration is all about, making sure that
14:17the Social Security system treats you fairly, making sure that you get the benefits or, if God forbid,
14:23you pass away, your families get the benefits that you deserve, making sure that we take care of the
14:29people who take care of us. That is the legacy of the Trump administration when it comes to our
14:34firefighters, and that is a legacy that we're going to keep on building on over the next three years of
14:39President Trump's leadership.
14:48Now, I want to close with a very simple point. This is an administration that is fighting first and
14:53foremost for working men and women. I talked about that a little bit at the beginning. We're especially
14:59fighting for working men and women who serve the public interest, and that's what all of you do.
15:05You know, when I was a little kid, I wanted to be a United States Marine. Some kids want to
15:11be
15:11doctors. Other kids want to be teachers. Some want to be astronauts, but as you know, a lot of kids,
15:18a lot of little kids all across our country, they want to be firefighters. That's a great testament to the
15:24work that you do every single day. I guess my point here is that every kid in our country has
15:30dreams,
15:30dreams, and those dreams come in many shapes and sizes. And what I want most of all is for your
15:38service and your sacrifice to be rewarded by all of us living in a country where you don't have to
15:45be
15:45rich or lucky to obtain the American dream. You just got to have a little grit, a little determination,
15:51and a lot of hard work. I want all of us, your kids and mine, to live in safe neighborhoods.
15:56I want us to send our kids to good schools. I want our families to not have to live paycheck
16:02to
16:02paycheck. And that's why our administration is fighting for all the policies that we've been
16:08fighting for, from the low crime to reversing the inflation of the Biden years, because we want
16:14every single person in our community to be able to live a good life. What is the work of all
16:19of you,
16:20of our firefighters and our EMTs, if it's not to ensure that every kid has an opportunity to live
16:27in safety and security? You do your part every single day, and I'm proud of you for it. But that
16:33means that we've got to honor your service by doing our part here in Washington, D.C.
16:47So let me just say that all of you deserve to live in this great country, and all of us
16:54in this administration are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you as we rebuild the United States
17:00of America. I want you to be proud in your country, because I know that your country and your
17:07president are very, very proud of you, and we're grateful to you. Thanks for thanks. Thanks, everybody.
17:13And God bless you.
Comentarios