have to apply for asylum or whether they should permit them to come to the united states. something i think the two governments will have to continue to talk about to figure out. there may be procedures -- the latest biden administration approach where migrants from venezuela and nicaragua, haiti and cuba have to apply on an app and essentially register. they cannot just appear at the border. i think, as an effort to address that situation. on the other part, the point you make about sex traffickers moving in is the point i was trying to make earlier which is, once the traffic people or the merchandise gets to the united states, there are cartels and criminal groups in the united states that are moving them. i know something law-enforcement at the state, local and federal level are always looking at. clearly, they are not catching all of it. host: time for a couple more

calls >> we leave this now to take you live to philadelphia where president biden is getting ready to talk about his 2024 budget request. president biden: hello, philadelphia. now, before i get going -- hey, everybody. how are you? we're going to get action. hey. you know what? his mom's watching, tina. tina, i wish you were here. i could meet you. they say -- they speak a little bit of an accent. southern delaware talks like this. they say, you've done good with that boy. congratulations, mom. congratulations. thank you. [applause] please, have a seat. well, you know, i don't know

whether you know this or not, because of the previous president, jimmy wolf -- jimmy, the only reason i'm standing here is you guys -- not a joke -- when i was running with barack, we were having -- things were slowing up a bit. i asked for help. you guys got in a bus and got a bus and you're the reason i'm standing here -- i was vice president then and i am president because of you guys. [applause] again, you know, i told your son, he got good blood. my dad would say. but thank you, all, very, very much. it's great to be here with josh. josh shapiro, i predict he will be one of the best governors in the history of the state. where are you? [applause]

that's in large part because he married up. [laughter] and i want to thank congressman brendan boyle for the passport to get in his district. brendan, you have been a great friend. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] by the way, he now leads the democratic -- part of the budget committee. he's the guy that's going to determine whether or not my budget gets passed. but you know, while he couldn't be here, i want to thank jim kenny, who is a good friend, mayor of philadelphia. and two great senators. bobby casey and john fedderman, who will continue to lead the people of pennsylvania, i believe. john, if you can hear this, we're with you, pal. we're with you. [applause] everybody asks why i ever moved from scranton -- moved from scranton because we lived five

blocks from the caseys. you think i'm kidding. as long as his dad was around i would never be senator or governor of pennsylvania and along comes bobby. anyway, great, great family. great, great friends. folks, here's why i'm here today. for too long, working people have been breaking their nekz. the -- necks. the economy has left them behind. while those at the top get away with everything and get everything. one of the reasons why i ran for president -- and i mean this sincerely. you may remember i announced. there were three reasons i was running. one is to restore the soul of america. decency, honor to the system. two, to rebuild the backbone of the country. the middle class. when the middle class do well, the poor do well. and third is to unite the country. didn't think we could do that. but as we've seen all the talk about we never get any cooperation from the other team,

the last two years we passed some pretty big things with bipartisan support. you know, i ran to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up and not the top down and i know when i grew up, my dad's kitchen table, not a whole lot trickle down. trickle down economics in our kitchen table from my dad. i wanted to lay out my next economic plan. my budget -- my budget i'm sending to congress today -- if i could hold for just a second, i want to be clear and clear to the press as well. the fact is the speaker of the house has been -- he's a very conservative guy and has even more conservative group with him. but he and i met early on. he said, what are we going to do about the budget? and i said, let's make a deal. let's meet. i said i'm going to introduce my budget on the 9th of march. you introduce yours and we'll sit down and go line by line and we'll go through it, see what we can agree on. what we disagree on. and then fight it out in the

congress. i want to make it clear, i am ready to meet with the speaker anytime. tomorrow if he has his budget. lay it down. tell me what you want to do. i'll show you what i want to do. what we can agree on. what we can't agree on, we'll vote on. [applause] now -- i'm not going to lay out the entire budget. that would take the rest of the day. it's a detailed budget. but i want to give you the contours of what we're for and how it will -- how it's in stark contrast for what appears to be what the other team is for. my dad had an expression. someone would come up to my dad and say, let me tell you what i value, joe. and my dad would say, no, no. show me your budget. i'll tell you what you value. no. i'm serious. show me your budget, i will tell you what you value. well, folks, let me tell you what i value with the budget i'm releasing today. i value everyone having an even

shot. not just labor. but small business owners, farmers, and so many other people that holds the country together that have basically been invisible. at the end of the month after working like the devil, they just have a little bit more breathing room, my dad would say. after you pay all your bills, sitting at the kitchen table writing out the last bill, if you have just a little bit of breathing room left. so my budget reflects what we can go to lift the burden on hardworking americans. and there's moral than one way -- more than one way to do that. that brings us to -- down to everyday costs. how much do things cost? we brought down inflation seven months in a row. we're going to whip it. but in the meantime, there are other ways to take where there's inflation in your budget. i won't embarrass him. i don't have permission. i just met a woman who has health care costs that are $600,000 a year.

$7,000 a month. well, guess what, how can you possibly deal with that? well, we just dealt with it, by the way. we just dealt with it. for example, prescription drugs. we pay more for prescription drugs in america than any other advanced nation on earth. let me say it again. in the united states of america, whatever prescription drug you're buying, you're paying more than any other nation on earth. an advanced nation. we're finally beginning to change that. i've been fighting that for over 30 years. because of a law that i worked on for decades and i just signed last year, we took big pharma on and we won. for the first time we won. [applause] the other team didn't think it was a good idea. none of them voted for it. they think big pharma should be able to make extraordinary profits, exorbitant profits at the expense of the american

people. that's not hyperbole. that's a fact. medicare finally has the power now to negotiate for lower drug prices. and by the way, they've been able to do that at the v.a. at the v.a. they're able to say, we're only going to pay x amount of dollars for this particular drug that the veteran needs. the only place it was exempt was medicare. they couldn't do it for medicare, but now they can. and it's going to lower prices for seniors. but here's the deal. not only, from, the woman i just mentioned, by the beginning of 2025, she'll not have to pay more than $2,000 a year total amount for drugs. [applause] $2,000. so folks -- folks, it's not just going to save people's lives and save people money so they don't have to go bankrupt to try to stay alive, it's going to save the government. it's going to reduce the

deficit. $160 billion. these guys keep saying, how are you going to cut the deficit? well, guess what, if your tax dollars don't have to go out paying all that exorbitant price for medicares to drug companies and it's rational, it's going to save $160 billion in tax dollars. [applause] millions of americans have diabetes. they need insulin, literally, to stay alive. how many people know somebody who needs insulin for their diabetes? raise their hand. well, they're paying somewhere between $400 and $700 now or were until last month. well, guess what, that insulin was invented 100 years ago -- yeah. literally, 100 years ago. ok. you know how much it cost to make that insulin?

$10. you know how much it cost to make it and package it? $13.50. and charging the kind of money they charge. well, guess what -- guess what, now we've lowered -- we've lowered the cost of insulin to the maximize of $35 a month. [applause] i was at a town meeting in northern virginia last year. a woman stood up. i was -- she was a little embarrassed to speak. she said, i have two daughters with diabetes. and i can't afford the insulin. and she talked like that. she said, and we have to split it sometimes. can you imagine looking at your son or daughter and knowing you don't have the money to pay for

the insulin to keep them alive and healthy? not a joke. talk about being deprived of your dignity. well, not anymore. seniors on medicare don't have to pay more than $35 a month. and guess what, i thought we should cut it for everybody at $35 a month. but my friends on the other team knocked it out. i didn't have the votes. i lost by a couple votes. well, guess what, capping the cost for everybody at $35, especially those 200,000 children with type 1 diabetes will -- [applause] well, here's what happened. eli lilly, one of the world's biggest drug companies just announced it's capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month. [applause] now, how are the rest of these folks going to charge more than that when you can go to eli

lilly and buy it for $35 a month? so folks are going to -- but folks, it's going to save a lot of lives. it's going to give back the dignity they have been deprived because they can't take care of their kid for something that's so basic and so important. but again, the maga republicans want to take away the law. one of the things they announced they want to do away with the inflation reduction idea. we have a difference in budget ideas, man. more than budget ideas. anyway. by the way, how many people, maybe even some of you, you know people who stared at the ceiling last night wondering, god forbid if i get pancreatic cancer, my wife against breast cancer, what will happen? how will we tell the bill? i am going to tell a story. my dad would be mad if you were alive. a split-level home. we had four kids and a grandpa.

and my head board was against in the room myself and my two brothers was against the wall my dad -- he was really restless. you could hear the bed. i asked my mom the next morning, what's wrong with dad? his company said no more health insurance. they weren't going to pay for it. well, guess what, a lot of people are lying in bed at night wondering what they're going to do. they're going to have to sell the house? what do they have to do if one of them gets really sick? well, thanks to the american rescue plan, which not one single republican voted for, i signed into law as soon as i got into office, millions of americans, millions more are enrolled in the affordable care act. saving an additional $800 a year for better coverage, better prices. my budget's going to make those savings permanent. they'll expire if i don't get them done again.

my maga republicans all voted to get rid of the affordable care act. they voted to get rid of it over 50 times since barack passed it. 50 times. well, it is -- i think it is shameful. folks, no one can deny we have a climate crisis. so we've seen more land, for example -- i've been in more helicopter rides these last two years, particularly from arizona all the way up to idaho, all the way on the west coast, more forests have burned to the ground than the entire state of maryland. entire size of the state of maryland. look what's happening. the colorado river has become a creek. you have all these environmental problems that are so profound, they're hard to deny. and people are seeing them now. along with extreme superstorms and droughts. that's why i took the most aggressive action ever in all of

history, in any country to take on the climate crisis by lowering your home energy bills, which maga republicans voted against. we got -- we've now got to a point where it's cheaper to generate electricity from wind and solar than it is from coal and/or fossil fuels. and i'm from scranton. ok. i am not against coal, per se. a lot of people made a living that way. but we're providing incentives for folks to make the transition so here's what we're doing. [applause] we're providing you with a tax credit -- tax credit and rebates if you buy new efficient -- energy efficient appliances. heat pumps. the new heat pumps. they can heat the whole damn house. no. i'm serious. not a joke. if you need a heater, you need to buy one of those heat pumps, you get a tax credit for doing it. and water heaters. tax credit to weatherize your homes with better windows and

doors. i gather together leaders from the american auto leaders, all the american manufacturers and -- it was two summers ago. and guess what, they all agreed. within the next month they came to me and said, we're going to go all electric. we are going to go all electric. and that's going to save billions of gallons of gasoline burning into the air. it's not only going to save the environment, it's being to help create really good-paying jobs. we're providing tax credits for folks who buy electric vehicles. encouraging them to do it. we're still going to need combustion engines and oil for the next 10 to 15 years. it's not all of a sudden going to go away. but all of this will lower energy costs for families on the average of $1,000 a year. and great good-paying union jobs. [applause]

jimmy, i told you i was going to be the most pro-union president in history. i kept my promise. i kept my promise. and by the way, when we're talking about -- we're talking about the -- creating jobs, my buddies at the i.b.w. had the strongest support this year. guess what, they'll install 500,000 charging stations all across america. and by the way, the things i'm proposing is not going to help everyone, it's going to generate economic wealth. that's not enough. my budget expands access to affordable childcare for millions of families and it's going to invest in paid family and medical leave which all of you fought like hell for so that the u.s. is no longer the only

major economy in the world that doesn't have paid leave. folks, my budget also invests in elder care and home care. how many -- how many of you are like what i went through with my mom and my dad as they got older. they wanted to stay in their own home. it was cheaper to stay in their own home than to have to sell everything and have everything -- to go live in a home. well, fortunately, i lived close enough and they could move in with me. but my point is, it's cheaper if we provide for -- provide for the ability for them to stay in their homes. it's not only right -- the right thing to do, but it's cheaper on the taxpayer. all the things are going to help folks generate economic growth and help take care of their families. when people talk about things people think this is an overwhelming burden on the taxpayer. it's going to save money for the

taxpayer. no, it really does. save money for the taxpayers. and generate growth. that's how the economy goes. that's how i was able to create 12 million new jobs in two years. [applause] more than any president in american history that has created in four years. we've done more in two years that no president has done in four years because of you. the point is, it's good for everybody. we're not hurting anybody. my budget also restores the child tax credit. you know, when that was in place during the pandemic, guess what, child poverty was cut in half. the lowest level in all of american history. and guess what, mom is able to go to work. mom is able to go out and make a living. folks, we can reduce child poverty, increase child opportunity. again, it's going to help millions of parents go to work knowing their children are taken care of. and yet, only a few of my

republican friends support it. you know, my wife, jill, who's a philly girl -- [applause] if i didn't root like hell for every philadelphia team i would be sleeping alone. [laughter] oh, you think i'm kidding. jimmy knows. no. anyway. she's in class today teaching. she has an expression she uses. for real. she says, any country that outeducates us will outcompete us. let me say it again. any country that outeducates us will outcompete us. for decades, we were the -- not only -- we were the only country in the world -- we led the world economically. we're the only economy in the world that was moving that fast because we had the best educated public in the world. we started before any other country -- higher education, was more sophisticated, and a lot of private institutions. but we -- everybody in america at the turn of the 19th, 20th

century said they could go to school for free was a game changer. the rest of the world has caught up. we all know 12 years is not enough to succeed in the second half of the -- second quarter of the 21st century. seriously. 12 years is not enough. if we want america to have the best educated workforce, we need to invest in preschool. not -- i'm not talking about daycare. i'm talking about school. [applause] all the studies have recently shown -- this is real. think about it now. that you know, you learn -- you hear all these stories, if you come from a broken home where mom or dad has a drug addiction or there's a real problem or you don't have books in the house, etc., by the time the kid gets to first grade they will hear a million fewer words spoken. not different words. just spoken. they're not included. well, guess what, studies of

children that go to preschool, that go three, four, five, six years -- 3, 4, 5 years old, go to school, not daycare, they increase by nearly 50% the likelihood that they'll finish high school and go on to earn a two or four-year degree no matter what their background is. because guess what, their brain's still developing. they're still developing. they're exposed to the other things kids are exposed to. they grow. many families struggle to afford college. some of you may have used them, pell grants, for families earning less than $60,000 a year. they can get a pell grant to go to college, help them pay for college. the last two years, we increased pell grants by $900. my budget increases by another $820. used to be if you went to the university of pennsylvania -- i mean, penn state or university of delaware i went, state school, the state paid a significant portion of tuition. they're not anymore.

they're not paying it anymore. they're paying some but not much. because they've cut paying for it. well, guess what, try paying for college. even at a state institution where you can commute. it's expensive as well, especially if you have a couple kids in the family making less than $60,000 a year. so it matters a lot. it matters a lot. the more we educate people the better chance they have. doesn't mean everybody's educated is going to succeed but a significantly better opportunity. and the world's getting a hell of a lot more complicated and a hell of a lot more complicated. so i've increased my budget. we increased now, as i said, we're making a -- we're paying another $820 to help people from families with low income. let's connect students careers and opportunities starting in high school. we should provide for two years of community college. by the way, in school, when you're in -- sophomore, junior in high school, you should be

able to take credits that allow you to qualify for college credit in a state university or at a community college. people are beginning to do that around the country. some of the best training in america occurs there. let's offer every american a path to a good career whether they go to college or not. like the path you started here. first apprenticeship program in the nation in which students can graduate as a full-time journeyman with an associate's degree here. [applause] in the past two years, we've created, as i said, 12 million jobs, more than two years than any president's done in four years. i don't have to tell union workers here that includes 800,000 manufacturing jobs in two years. [applause] two years. we've also seen more people start -- apply to start small

businesses than ever before. not just unions. small businesses. people -- more people. what's someone making an application start a small business, it's about hope. it's about hope. the last several decades, corporate america spent -- things began to change. i come from the corporate state of the world, delaware. literally more corporations are incorporated in the state of delaware than in every other state in the united states combined. it used to be when i was in high school, when i first got started, those corporations had some greater social responsibility. they paid higher taxes. they actually saw to it that people -- they trained their employees. they don't train them anymore. i met with -- when i was vice president, i met with the secretary of commerce and we met with 300 -- don't hold me to the exact number -- 347, 346

c.e.o.'s. guess what their request is, a better educated public. back then they used to train their new workers. they would educate them how to do it. they don't do it anymore. the other thing started happening three, four decades ago. american companies started to ship jobs overseas. why? cheaper labor. they go where they can find the cheapest labor in asia, africa, wherever it was. and they bring home product made. well, guess what, we're going to export product and bring jobs home. that's what this is about. i'm not joking. where is it written -- where is it written that america can't lead the world again in manufacturing? never underestimate what america can do. we can do anything we set our minds to. and we know -- [applause] we know that. we have the world's leading

economy. we have the world's best roads, bridges, ports, arments. if we -- airports. when we were back leading the world, we used to have the best infrastructure on earth. but the world caught up. you know where we rank in terms of quality infrastructure in the world? number 13. 13. that's why i signed the bipartisan -- this was bipartisan. republicans joined us. the bipartisan infrastructure law. the most significant instrument and investment to modernize our infrastructure in nearly 70 years since the eisenhower -- [applause] we and you are going to spend -- we're going to spend $1.2 trillion over 10 years to rebuild the infrastructure in this country. how can you lead the world if you have second-rate ports, highways, drinking water, etc.? instead of infrastructure week, which was -- became a punch line

with the last congress. remember last year was going to be infrastructure week. well, we got infrastructure decade. [applause] and a modern infrastructure will not only make us more economically competitive, it's going to create more benefits, save money for the country and families. we're going to replace every lead pipe in the united states of america so children can drink water. 400,000 schools, six million -- we're going to make sure that they're not drinking poison. for real. every american. [applause] and create thousands and thousands of jobs. we're delivering high-speed internet to every home in america so no parent has to drive to the mcdonald's parking lot to help do their homework for their kid because they can't get on the internet. every single person will be able to do that. [applause] but here's the deal.

i've been criticized for this next piece. probably criticized a lot before that, too. for this next piece -- the deal is when we do these projects, we're going to buy american. [applause] and here's the deal, back in 1932 we passed a law that's consistent with international trade that when you give a president money, they -- when they pass legislation and say, mr. president, go build a new aircraft carrier deck, they said you should buy america. you should do american products and american workers. nobody paid a lot of attention to that. if it's 40% it's ok and so on. well, guess what, i made sure it's a minimum of 60%. and we're going for 100%. and we're creating a whole hell of a lot of jobs.

[applause] and it's not to hurt any other country. it's not. but think about it. you know, i wonder how many people knew -- talked about, quote, the supply chain before the pandemic. everybody knows what the supply chain is now. well, guess what, the reason why we stopped making cars for a while, they became so expensive, we lost the supply chain for computer chips. because we didn't make -- we invented it in america. we miniaturized them. we made them better. and guess what, they went all overseas. in southeast asia, other places. so when they got a -- when the pandemic hit them and they had to close down, we had no access to computer chips. can't make an american automobile without those chips. you can't make a refrigerator without those. you can't make a cell phone without those chips and so on. and i've spoken with our -- my

european friends, the heads of state to make clear to them, we're not trying to deny them anything. but here's what we're going to do. we're going to be at the beginning of the supply chain, not the end of the supply chain. [applause] so folks -- so all the construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects can be made in america. lumber, glass, drywall, fiber-optic cables. american roads, bridges, highways, they're going to be made with american products. in addition to that, we need to get back to leading the world in inventing and innovation. we used to support -- we used to spend -- we used to spend 2% of our entire gpt gross domestic product on innovation and science. we now do .7%. i proposed -- what i propose was the thing called the chips and science act, to make her america

leads -- to make sure that america leads the world in innovation, especially the semi conductors. it's those chips the size of my fingertip that powers everyday lives, automobiles, refrigerators, artificial intelligence, so on. we made them faster, smaller, more powerful. we used to provide 40% of them to the world. now today we're down to 10%. today's automobile needs 3,000 of those chips. american automakers couldn't make enough cars because there weren't enough chips available to them. that's why the price of cars skyrocketed and they shut down assembly lines. so we did everything from refrigerators to cell phones. we can never let that happen again. since i've been president, we've already seen companies commit from around the world, from south korea to -- in the united states, companies committed $300 billion to build chip factories

all across america. $300 billion. [applause] from new york to ohio to arizona. in ohio, outside of columbus, i've referred to as the field of dreams. intel came to me and said they wanted to invest. they're going to invest $20 billion. it's already started. to build two chip fabs, factories, it will create 12,000 jobs. 7,000 of them are going to be construction jobs. and the rest are going to be jobs working in those factories. you know what will happen working in those factories, you don't need a college degree to work in those factories. the average salary will be $130,000 a year. so folks -- [applause] but my budget is more than about chips. it's about science as well. like i said, we used to do 2% of our gross domestic product, we'd

do in research. today, it's now less -- we're getting closer to 1%. it's less than 1%. we shrank number one in the world -- we used to rank number one in the world in research and development. you know where we are now? number nine. china was number eight a decade ago. guess what, they're now number two. number two. this new law, my budget will deliver funding to help us lead the world again. my budget also invests in critical issues that matter to families. increasing the supply of affordable housing, lower rental costs and make it easier to buy a home. all of which will generate economic growth and prosperity. i said to my -- i bought a small home and i worked on. i said, guess what, that's how every middle-class family came to be. why? you build equity in that home. and after two years, five years, 10 years, you may have $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 in equity.

you can borrow against it to send a kid to school. you can borrow against it to do a lot of things. and so folks, look, maga republicans are calling for defunding the police departments. and defunding the f.b.i. now. that's a good one. i like that one. well, guess what, refuse to provide funding to keep communities safe and secure. you talk about crime. well, it's outrageous. my budget invests in public safety. it includes funding for more training, more support for law enforcement. at a time when they are expected to play many roles. we expect our cops to be social workers. we expect them to be psychologists, mental health counselors. you know, more cops are killed responding to domestic violence calls than anything else. did you know that? well, folks, i don't want to defund them. they need more help. we don't expect a cop to be everything from a psychologist

to a counselor. these departments need more investment in this kind of help. and we're going to fund proven strategies for accountable and effective community policing so cops and -- know the communities they serve. and the communities know them. we got to get cops back on the street. back in the street into communities they know. where they know the people. where they stop in and they know the guy that owns the liquor school. they know the preacher that runs the local school -- the local ministry. they know the person that runs the local grocery store. when we did that in the biden crime bill, crime just plummeted. because they know folks. i remember i was in wilmington, my son used to be the attorney general of the state of delaware and he used to have folks go knock on the door. there was a lady that called that lived on 4th street, an area that's kind of tough.

she was -- had rented one of those old victorian homes. had outcropping on the corner. and she could hear the gangs below getting ready to do what they were going to do. but she's scared to death to call anybody. if they found out it was her they would be back. so my son made sure cops gave phone numbers to those in the neighborhood with a commitment they would never gave information. crime dropped. you could say, they're outside. they're talking about, this is what we're going to do. cops need help. there are some bad cops, by the way. what we did -- my justice department just did in louisville, kentucky, was long overdue to put those suckers in jail. [applause] and by the way, how many cops you know like bad cops?

i don't know many. not a joke. we're going to provide 100,000 more community police officers nationwide and invest in tens of thousands more school nurses and school counselors and mental health help. and going to save communities billions of dollars over time. every community needs, especially in the wake of this pandemic. let's be clear about another key point in my budget. i guarantee you i will protect social security and medicare without any change. guarantee. [applause] i won't allow it to be gutted or eliminated, as maga republicans threaten to do. maga republicans pose no answer. my budget won't cut benefits or sunset programs like some of my maga republican friends want to do. they will secure medicare

through 2050 and beyond ensuring that the vital program keeps going strong for generations without cutting a single penny in benefits. [applause] and by the way, did y'all happen to see any of the state of the union address? well, yeah, those folks -- standing up saying liar, liar, biden's a liar. that gentlelady from the state of georgia. [booing] i didn't say it for that reason. here's the deal. they say lie. i said, let me ask you, how many of you out there commit you won't cut medicare and social security and they all stood up and raised their hand and said we won't do it. guess what, they're all on camera. [laughter] i'm counting on them keeping their word. but just in case they don't, i'm around. anyway. now, my budget is going to give working people a fighting chance. it's going to create good-paying jobs. and we can pay for these jobs by

reducing the deficit. two ways. like, for example, cutting $160 billion in medicare expenses is one. but we also have to ask the wealthiest and biggest corporations to begin to pay their fair share. and -- [applause] and cutting subsidies for special interests. and by the way, in my first two years in office, these first two years, i brought down the deficit of a record $1.7 trillion. more than any president has in american history. while doing all the rest of this stuff. down. and the budget i'm introducing today is going to reduce the deficit by nearly $10 billion -- $3 trillion over 10 years. another big disagreement with my maga republicans -- by the way, this ain't your father's republican party. there's a lot of really good

republicans. there really are. but they're afraid to step out of line because they get primaried. and they'll lose elections. maga republicans, you know, they -- they don't want things that particularly are going to help working families like health care, education, public safety. raise costs on folks. look, maga republicans refuse to raise a single penny in new taxes on wealthy people. you don't have to if you feel self-conscious about it. raise your hand if you think our present federal tax system is fair, raise your hand. no. i'm not joking. people making $400,000 a year don't think it's fair. you know, we found that in the year 2020 when i got elected, 55 major corporations of the fortune 500 companies paid zero in federal income tax on $40

billion in profit. so i insisted on a horrible thing to burden on them. i introduced legislation making sure that they had to pay a minimum of 15%. 15% to corporations. just 15%. that's less than any of you pay. [applause] well, guess what, we did those things to grow the economy, create jobs, give working class folks a fighting chance. that paid for everything and still allowed to reduce the deficit. just begin to pay their fair share. that's why i'm fighting for another proposal. when i got elected, there was -- don't hold me to the exact number because it varies. around 650 billionaires in america. now there's over 1,000. you know what the average tax they pay, federal tax? 3%.

t-h-r-e-e, 3%. no billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter or any of you in this room. so my plan is to make sure that corporations begin to pay their fair share. it used to be 35%. we cut it down to 21%. i think we should be paying 28%. that's going to be a real fight. we should be paying more than 21%. let me -- under my plan, and i made a commitment when i plan and i have never broken it and never will. no one making less than $400,000 will see a penny in federal taxes go why do i do $400,000? i did it to make the case that i'm not going after remotely ordinary folks, because they are paying their share. we are going to save billions of dollars ongoing after criminals

who commit fraud. a lot of people are saying to me that they don't like the idea that i'm prepared to forgive up to $20,000 if you get a pell grant or $10,000 for anybody who has a student loan during the recession. well, guess what? we pay the so-called p.p.p. program. we paid $900 billion. don't hold me to that number, but well over 9, for anybody who had a tough time with their business during the pandemic, so they could pay employees. but, guess what? i was running for office at the time but you remember it, that i had a big fight with the former president and maybe future

president, any way -- all kidding aside. here's the deal. what happened was the folks are going after me -- by the way, 90% of all of debt forgiveness for student loans will go to, 90% will go to families making under $75,000 a year. 90%. but here's the deal. the p.p.p. program forgave a lot more. but the big fight going on was, what happened was, our good friend, the former president decided that all the inspectors general, the guys that watch everything, i did a major program under barack obama and asked me to deal with the

deficit reduction plan. and guess what? i had these inspectors checked. he fired them all. i said he shouldn't do that. guess what? we are finding out there are billions of dollars stolen. our justice department is going after that. we are doubling those who stole money to keep small businesses during the pandemic and triple our strike force. double the statute of limitation and crack could youdown on identity fraud who stole billions of dollars. and for every dollar we put into fighting fraud, taxpayers get back $10. 10 times as much. my budget cuts gets rid of special tax breaks for oil companies who made $200 billion

in profits last year in the midst of a worldwide recession. $200 billion. and folks, and made a lot of progress with the republican help as well. sadly, from what i'm saying, house of representatives are suggesting the cooperation may have come to an end. and that's why i talk about the maga republicans. this is not your father's republican party. maga republicans are threatening to default on the national debt. it took 200 years to accumulate that debt. not recent debt, but all the debt, interest on the debt, over 200 years. and by the way, president trump when he was president, in four years, he increased the national debt by 25%, just in four years. remember that multibillion tax

break. raise your hand if you dot any? no, i'm serious. folks, 200 years accumulated, 25%. i met with the new speaker of the house and how he should proceed without jeopardizing the full faith and credit of the united states of america. we have never renighed and if i don't cut social security, they are going to go back on the debt. every single major institution conservative and liberal said it will cause a massive recession and put us in the hole for a long, long time. well, folks, instead of making threats about default to be catastrophic, let's take that take off the table. let's have a conversation about how to reduce the deficit. i laid out the bulk of my

budget. republicans in congress should do the same thing and sit down and see if we disagree. we did the math and what they have put forward so far, and i'm happy to be proven wrong, my plan in reducing the deficit based on what we know about their plan, it's going to explode the deficit by more than $3 trillion. if i'm wrong, show me. i want to cut taxes. they want to cut taxes for the wealthy and large corporations and take away negotiating lower drug prices and we cut the deficit, $160 billion just by doing that. if they want to cut the deficit, but their plan would explode the deficit, how are they going to make the math work? what are they going to cut?

as i said in the state of the union, you have seen the back and forth of the maga republicans and they say they are not going to cut social security and medicare. but what about medicaid, what about the affordable care act, what about veterans' benefits, what about law enforcement, what about aid to rural communities, what about support four military? how do they make these numbers add up? if maga republicans try to repeal the affordable care act, social security, medicare and medicaid, i'm not going to let them. folks, we haven't talked about my budget or national security or foreign intelligence. my budget makes robust investments in military and defense. let's see what the maga republicans propose and let's be clear where i stand.

i'm not allowed to cut the needs of the intelligence community or the military to help keep us safe. we are the greatest fighting tosser and won't let the republicans to cut the benefits to our veterans, servicemembers and their families. so going on too long. let me say this one more time, maga republicans have threatened default for the first time in history and risk america's health and security and it's dangerous. my budget is about investing in america including places and people. maybe economic upheaval, too many people have been left behind. not any more. i promise you, i see you. we've got work to do and made a

lot of progress in the first two years and families across the country are breathing a little easier, but we have further to go. and i can honestly say i have never been optimistic about america's future. and i mean that sincerely. i have been around for a few years, like 400. folks, we just have to remember who we are. we are the united states of america! there's nothing, nothing beyond our capacity -- i mean it -- nothing beyond our capacity. so god bless you all. and may god protect our troops. thank you. thank you. thank you! ♪

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