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Understanding 9/11tv President Biden Delivers Remarks on Safer America Plan CSPAN August 31, 2022 10:02am-10:52am EDT
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of giving into the -- >> can we get a big welcome home mr. president? [applause] [cheering] >> it is so wonderful to be here with all of you. i know you are thinking that the president is coming so what can we do to make this day special? at our recent pop-up student hall, we had coloring sheets for kids and we asked them the question, why do you love scranton? so many of them set the people. lovely people, people who help each other. this community has each other's back and we know that our president joe biden knows this. it is part of his dna and we see
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it in all of the incredible legislation he has put through. [applause] today, we are here to talk about the bipartisan safer communities act to give us resources in cities like scranton and wilkes-barre and this whole commonwealth to prevent violence and make our kids safer and help our schools be safer. the president knows how important this is because he is from here and he knows we have to have each other's backs as a community. it is an honor for us to be here today to welcome him home to celebrate this landmark legislation. i want to introduce someone i have worked with across the aisle since day one. luisa got here -- mayor george brown. [cheering]
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[applause] ♪ mayor brown: folks, have a seat. yes, we are here today and joe biden is here today. joe biden is here for us because he cares about wilkes-barre and all the residents in the state of pennsylvania.
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as mayor, on behalf of the residents of the city of wilkes-barre, i am honored to welcome president joe biden. i first met president joe biden in his hometown of scranton last october. i said, "mr. president, please come to wilkes-barre, we have a beautiful city". and guess what? he kept his promise and he is here today. [applause] i want to thank the members of the biden-harris administration for making this visit possible. i truly believe president biden's childhood in northeastern pennsylvania was the foundation for his history of leadership and rise to commander-in-chief. the citizens of northeastern pennsylvania are resilient and truly care about their neighbors , much like president joe biden. mr. biden has stood up for the american people throughout the
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implementation of the american rescue plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the inflation reduction act. these initiatives are investments that make our communities stronger, healthier, and safer. by implementing multiple programs through the american rescue plan funds, my administration was able to financially assist residents, businesses, and nonprofits most impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. with a focus on public safety, we were able to utilize the plan funds to enhance public safety for residents, businesses, and owners of businesses throughout the entire community. the american rescue plan funds have allowed our police to obtain updated equipment to serve and protect the city of wilkes-barre. we were able to purchase 10 new police cars and bicycles to our police could be on bicycles in
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the neighborhoods. we have also purchased other visibility and tell that we are going to be using. things like cameras that will be on body cameras that we have on all of our officers. also, we are going to be increasing the technology by purchasing a gunshot detection technology throughout the city of wilkes-barre. this is all done as a result of president biden's efforts. we welcome the president initiatives through the safer america plan. we will promote a safer community by ensuring our police department always has the most updated equipment and training. in closing, i am appreciative of president biden for visiting wilkes-barre today. even more so, the long-lasting benefits of the american rescue plan and the path towards a safer wilkes-barre through his
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safer america plan. now, it is my honor to introduce to you president joe biden. [cheering] ♪ pres. biden: mr. mayor, thank you. wait, wait. before you walk down, i want you to come up with me. where i come from, scranton is
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-- country. we were raised in the same neighborhood, not far from two of the best candy shops in the whole country. i just wanted to let -- they cannot deny me which is why i wanted them up here. by the way, this guy has more integrity in his little finger than most have in his whole body. that is why a love working with them. welcome home. [applause] and, like me, he married way up. [laughter] thank you very much. [applause] as my mother, jean finnegan biden would say, please excuse my back when i am speaking. i apologize. by the way, we would know one of the best things of being president of the u.s. is the
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marine band. they are the best in the world. stand up guys. they are the very, very, very best. [applause] they cannot only play but they know how to fight too. i love you. thank you for being here. thank you for being here. >> i love you. pres. biden: thank you very much. how are you baby? how old are you? >> nine. pres. biden: almost double figures. folks, it is great to be here. >> welcome home. pres. biden: thank you so much. there brown, thank you so much. we are almost in heaven, we are almost in scranton. being raised in scranton, you are going down the line --
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anyway, and what a leadership lineup you have here in pennsylvania. i want to thank you outstanding governor tom wolf. we have been friends a long time and use truly one of the best governors in the u.s. [applause] not a joke, and a standup guy. josh schapiro, the champion for the rule of law shore attorney general. [applause] going to make one helluva governor. i really mean this. either way, he could not be here today but we spoke. jeanette -- lieutenant governor john fetterman who i say has a powerful voice. i used to be in the old days a pretty good athlete. i tell you what, john fetterman is a helluva guy. a powerful voice for working people and he is going to make a great united states senator. [applause] [cheering]
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buddy casey is one of my closest friends and one of them great united states senators. where congressman matt cartwright is the real reason i am here. [applause] i am in cartwright country. he knows how to deliver for this district which is so close to my heart. i especially want to thank all the members of law enforcement who are here. many of them who are behind me. for always being there for us and we should always be there for them. by the way, also a group that you need badly is the firefighters. the firefighters have been with me my whole career. let me tell you something. there is no expression. god made man and that he made a few firefighters because you have to be crazy to be a firefighter. [laughter] by the way, please sit down.
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i am sorry. thank you. look, when i ran for president, i said that i looked at the world the way i looked at a grown-up in scranton and that was not hyperbole. i meant that. what families wanted in scranton when i was growing up, my mom, my dad and my grandpa was basic as it was today. a decent job. opportunity to be treated with dignity. everybody, as my dad would say, is entitled to be treated with dignity. they want to be able to go to good schools, stay in safe neighborhoods, a decent place to live and a fair shot for their kids. a piece of mind, knowing where kids can go to school or the playground where the movies or a high school game and come home safely and not have to think about it. for too long, too many families have not had that piece of mind.
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they watch the news and they watch the news and the see kids being gunned down in schools and on the streets. almost every single night when you turn the news on, that is what you see. they see their neighbors lose their loved ones to drugs like fentanyl. they see hate, anger, and violence walking the streets of america. they just want to feel safe again. they want to feel a sense of security. that is what my current plan -- my crime plan is all about. i call it the safer america plan. congress voted for it. it is based on a simple notion that when it comes to public safety, the answer is not defund the police but fund the police. [applause] we expect them to do everything, we expected them to protect us,
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to be psychologists and be sociologists. we expect you to do everything. i am not joking. you realize more police officers are killed dealing with domestic violence than anything else. do you realize that? the point is we have so much of you, ask so much of you. i have not met a cop who likes a bad cop. there is bad in everything. there are lousy senators, lousy presidents, lousy doctors, lousy lawyers. i am serious. but i do not know any police officer that feels good about the fact that there may be a lousy cop. i am tired of not giving them the kind of help they need. folks, look. we are an -- we are in a situation where we need to give them additional resources if they need to get their job done. matt cartwright gets it.
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is the chair and controls the funding for public safety. he knows what it means investing in effective and accountable community police that builds public strength and strengthens public state. i am old enough to remember when cops use to walk the beat in wilmington and scranton because they knew everybody. they knew whose house to go knock on the door and say mom, your son just did. i am not being facetious. they knew the neighborhoods. as part of the american rescue plan that i signed into law last year, we set aside 350 billion dollars for state and local governments all across america and urged them to use this lecture governor did, to make communities safer. here in pennsylvania, governor wolf used $250 million of that money to reduce crime and violence across the state.
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[applause] and mayor brown just described how funding police helps communities in wilkes-barre. but every single republican member of congress, every single one in this state, every single one voted against the support for law enforcement. they talk about how much they love it but they voted against the funding, flat out. every republican in the house, every republican in the senate. every single one. i know we expect so much more law enforcement officers so we need to support them. that is why mike ryan plan to help communities recruit, hire, and -- mike ryan plan -- my crime plan to help communities recruit, hire and retain officers is necessary.
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[applause] when it comes to fighting crime, we know it works. officers on the street who know the neighborhood, not a joke, who know the families they are protecting, get the training they need to be able to do their jobs well, who worked to earn the communities trust. as we hire more police officers, there should be more training, more help, and more accountability. without public trust, law enforcement cannot do its job serving and protecting all the communities. if i could interject for a moment, my deceased son bo was the attorney general of the state of delaware. he used to go down to the east side, a place called the bucket, with the highest crime rate in the country. you can always tell where the best basketball place is in the
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state and the city. it is where everybody shows that. he would go down and hang out and sit on a bench with my grandson who is now 17 years old. the police used to be in the car, the local city police. he would walk up in on the window and sake out of the car and meet these will. let them see you, let them know you and know who you are. remember what happened to community policing? you went from having enough cops on the street to cities doing well and deciding they do not need more police officers. so they reduced the police forces, so you did not have two cops and every vehicle but one cop in every vehicle. i did not blame one cop for not getting out in certain neighborhoods. what happens is it used to be -- i can remember when my son was attorney general, he would go around to tougher neighborhoods and ensure that every single cop gave his cell phone number to
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the local liquor store owner and local church and local grocery store and local hamburger joint. so if there was a problem, they would pick up the phone and call. because what do people not want to do in certain neighborhoods. do not want to be identified as turning so-and-so in. i remember being in wilmington in a two-story apartment building and going up to see a woman, she has passed away by will not mention her name now. i stood in the rotunda, the part that stuck out around the building, and she said joey, i know. i know what is going on, they planned it downstairs. i can hear them but i am afraid to tell anybody. the gang. so i got a phone number for the local cops. she called and they promised not to identify her because they knew there would be retribution the crime rate began to drop for real. not a joke.
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you have to know people. have to know when you have to be able to trust the police. pete -- the police have to be able to trust the community. we slipped away from that. we have a helluva lot lower amount of cops than when we wrote the initial crime bill. i am not making a case for bad cops. there are some really lousy cops. there are really lousy doctors and lawyers. i mean that. but as i say too often, public trust is frayed and broken and this undermines public safety. families across the country have to ask, why in this nation -- for example, so many black americans wake up knowing they can lose their lives just by living their lives. if you come from neighborhoods like i come from down in delaware, if you have a 16 or 17-year-old son, and they get
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their driver's license, you say if you get stopped, put your hands on the wheel do not do anything. i am being serious. i am being serious. here's the point. simply jogging, sleeping in their homes. whether they made headlines or not, there are a lot of lost souls. increased trust makes policing more effective and strengthens public self the -- public safety. the communities that want this more than any other community are the tough, poor communities. black, white, immigrants. they need the help, they want to help. without that, victims do not call for help. witnesses do not step forward. crimes go unsolved injustice is not served. i took executive action, which i am allowed to do as president. all kidding aside, to make some
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of these reforms for federal officers. i cannot do it it for state officers. the federal officer is allowed to use a chokehold. they cannot use restrictive no-knock warrants. the trades at a national database for officers who have misbehaved so they cannot hide. my plan will try to hold state and local officers to the same standards. my plan addresses the opioid academic. -- epidemic. attorney general shapira can tell you more about that but you never want to know. he has been such a strong leader on this. there are going to impose tougher penalties for deadly fentanyl trafficking. this is a key part of the unity agenda i am announcing and that i announced in my state of the unit address.
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we can do this. we have to do this. you can make america safer. i plan will also take commonsense actions and reduce gun violence and violence over all. this is progress that we made this summer when i signed into law the bipartisan safer communities act. the most significant gun lobby passed in 30 years. [applause] [cheering] we beat the nra. [applause] we took them on and we beat them straight up. you have no idea how intimidated they are to elected officials. the vast majority of republicans in congress could not even stand up and vote for it because they are afraid of the nra. it is not unusual that democrats and republicans or independents
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get intimidated by various groups. lawmakers support it, teachers supported it, victims -- families of victims the good of -- families of victims of gun violence supported it. guess what? we took on the nra and we are going to take them on again. he won and we will win again. [cheering] we are not stopping here. i am determined to ban assault weapons in this country. determined. i did this once before and i will do it again. [applause] for many of you at home, i want to be clear, this is not about taking away anyone's guns. we should be treating responsible gun -- gun owners as examples of how every gun owner
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should behave. i have two shotguns at home. i am not opposed to guns and i support the second amendment. but the second amendment has one of the most conservative justices in history. justice scalia wrote like most rights, the rights granted by the second amendment not unlimited. right now, you cannot go out and buy an automatic weapon. you cannot go out and buy a cannon. for those right wing american to say it is all about keeping america as independent and safe, if you want to fight against a country, you need an f-15 and something more than a gun. i am not joking. think about this. think about the rationale that is used to provide this and who are they shooting at? are shooting at these guys behind me.
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i went to every major school shooting around the country since i was chairman of the judiciary committee, all the way through vice president and president. over 48,000 people died from gunshot wounds in 2021 in the united states of america. over 26,000 by suicide. when guns are the number one killer of children in america, number won -- number one. where children die from guns than active-duty police and active-duty -- more children die from guns than active-duty police and active-duty military in the u.s. combined. we have to act. we have to act for those families in buffalo, uvalde,
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newtown, el paso, parked in, charlston, las vegas. i have been to every one of those sites. i sat down with the parents and met with all the families who lost someone. i've seen the looks on their faces. think about this. think about the devastation that has occurred. we have to act for all those kids gun down in our street every single day that never make the news. there is a mass shooting every day in this country in the streets of america. you have to ask if our kids can learn to read in school instead of learning to duck and cover. [applause] letter really. schools all across america, kids are showing up -- [applause] the psychological damage done to our kids, not just covid-19. on top of that, a child going to
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school and seeing this on television. we are living in a country awash with weapons of war. weapons that were not designed to hunt but designed to take on an enemy. for god's sake, what is the rationale for these weapons outside of a war zone? they inflict severe damage. when i was recently in uvalde, i almost hesitate to say this with some kids in here. you know what some parents had to do? they had to supply dna because the ar-15 just rips the body apart. they could not identify -- could not identify the body. a 20-year-old kid can walk in and buy one?
Check
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dna, to say that is my baby! what is the matter with us? i am not joking. think about it. what are we doing? by the way, how many -- my dad used to love to hunt when we lived in scranton. how and your
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able to physically identifying a child because they were literally blown apart. we equip our servicemembers with the most lethal weapons on earth to protect all of us, to protect americans, but we require them to receive significant training, extensive background checks, mental health assessments. they have to learn how to lock up and store their weapons responsibly or they get kicked out, but we let any stranger, an 18-year-old or 20-year-old walk in and by an -- buy an ar-15. that is why in 1994i took on the nra and passed the assault rifle band. for 10 years, mass shootings were down. 10 years and arose as i passed that legislation in 1994 as a senator.
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but in 2004, republicans let that ban expire. what happened? mass shootings in america tripled. tripled. it is time to ban these. it is time to ban these weapons. we did before. we can do it again. folks. [applause] it is time to hold every elected official's feet to the fire and ask them, are you for banning assault rifles or no? ask them. if the answer is no, vote against them. [applause] look. i am prouder that after seven
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years, we finally had the senate confirm the atf for fighting. for seven years the other team would not let us appoint anyone to that job, incredibly important job to help local law enforcement, federal law enforcement identify the ballistics, a whole range of things. for seven years. we finally got it passed this timeout, barely. seven years because they did not want anybody in that job. my plan gives the bureau the funding to hire more agents, to stop gun trafficking. by the way, there are states that don't allow you to purchase certain weapons in the state. just across the state line and buy it next-door and bring it across the state line. you know what the mexicans -- mexico is having problems. you know what their biggest complaint is?
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gun trafficking across the southern border into mexico. there are certain gun dealers that are basically -- not gun dealers. they are wholesalers, providing the weapons to anybody who has the money. folks, look. we can help local law enforcement. we can solve more gun crimes if we have someone heading up, which we finally do, this organization that designed to track this kind of behavior. finally, my plan invests in crime prevention programs that help keep young people from getting in trouble in the first place. under my plan, they can provide summer and afterschool jobs, more access to mental health and drug counseling, more social workers and housing to keep them off the street.
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when they get out of the jail, they get to five dollars for the bus -- they get $25 for the bus ticket and end up under the same bridge they did before. [applause] this will help prevent crime, getting young people to pick up paychecks instead of a pistol. at the same time, we need to help people getting out of prison successfully and reenter society so they don't get in trouble again. if you served your time, you should not be deprived of being able to get a pell grant to go to school. you should not be able to -- you should be able to get a degree. what is the best thing you can do? make them productive. they should get access to good jobs where they can earn a decent living. all these steps will prevent crime, not increase it. let me close with this. a safer america requires all of us to uphold the rule of
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law, not the rule of any one party or any one person. let's be clear. you hear some of my friends on the other team talking about political violence and how it is necessary. think about this now. did any of you think you would ever be in an election where we talk about it is appropriate to use force, political violence in america? it is never appropriate. never. period. never, never, never. no one should be encouraged to use political violence. none whatsoever. now look, you know, if we are in a situation where to this day the maggot republicans in congress defend the mob that stormed the capital on january 6. defend them. you also saw it. i don't care how frustrated you are. what i showed up, one of the
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things i learned as president even though i had been vice president for eight years and done a great deal of foreign for the administration, i showed up at a meeting of the major democracies called the g7 and i sat down. it was in england. i sat down for this three day conference and said america is back. an macron, the president of france, turned to me and said, for how long? for how long? a discussion with schmidt and all of them. for how long? one of them said to me, imagine, joe, if you turned on the television in washington, d.c., and saw a mob of 1000 people storming down the hallways of the parliament, breaking down the doors, trying to overturn an outcome of election, and killing several police officers in the meantime. imagine. imagine what you would think.
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think about what the world saw. not what we saw. what the world saw. did you ever think the united states, that would happen? what i find even more incredible is there is a sense of it. the cops assaulted, spewed with flagpoles, sprayed with mace stomped on, dragged, brutalized. police lost their lives as a result of that day. police lost their lives. one of the officers said it was worse than anything he had experienced in war in iraq. so let me say this to my maga republican friends in congress. don't tell me you support law enforcement if you won't condemn what happened on the sixth. don't tell me. [applause]
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can't do it. for god sake, whose side are you one? whose side are you on? look. you are on the side of the mob or the side of the police. you cannot be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection. you cannot be a party of law and order and call the people who attacked the police on january 6 patriots. you can't do it. what are we teaching our children? it is just that simple. now it is sickening to see the new attacks on the fbi. threatening life of law enforcement agents and their families for simply carrying out of the law and doing their job.
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look. i want to say this as clear as i can. there is no place in this country, no place for endangering the lives of law enforcement. no place. none. never. period. i am opposed to defunding the police. i am also opposed to defunding the fbi. look. there is no greater responsibility for government than ensuring the safety of our people. every parent should be able to know when their kid leaves home to go to school or just walk the street they will come home safely. we can do this. we have to do this. we just need to remember who we are. we are the united states of america. [applause]
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and we are -- and when we are united, there is not a single thing we can't not do. not a single thing. i mean it. so, folks, let's remember who in god's name we are. i really mean it. what our values are. what we believe. we the people, that is how our constitution starts. the declaration, we the people. it is who we are. and by the way, no one expects politics to be pattycake. sometimes it is meet as hell, but the idea you turn on a television and see senior senators and congressmen saying, if such and such happens, there will be blood in the street. where the hell are we? well, that is all i'm looking for. and folks, do me a favor.
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presumptuous of me to say that. but think about doing me a favor. please, please elect the attorney general of the senate. [applause] elect that big old boy to be governor. [applause] and by the way, there are a lot of really, and i mean this, remember what used to be the criticism of biden when i was running? biden is too bipartisan. biden has too many republican friends. a lot of years in the senate, we got a lot of work done. we respected each other. we disagreed on principle and
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had lunch with each other. not a joke. what in gods name has happened to that in the united states of america? so folks, let's bring it back. we can do this. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] ♪
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will deliver a speech in philadelphia on democracy ahead of the midterm elections. watch that primetime speech live on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> homework can be hard, but squatting in a diner for internetwork is even harder. that is why we are providing lower income students access to affordable internet so homework can just be homework. cox connect to compete. >> cox, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> here is what's coming up live on the c-span network. at 12:00 p.m. eastern,
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representative scott peters discusses the impact of climate change on national security. that conversation will be hosted by the american security project. live at 1:00 p.m., chief of space operations general john raymond talks about innovation in the nation's newest military branch, the u.s. space force. at 2:45 p.m. eastern, the atlantic council holds a discussion on how allies around the world can best support ukraine as russia continues its aggression in that country. you can watch all of these events live on our free mobile video app c-span now. >> former soviet president mikhail gorbachev has died at age 91. he was the last leader of the soviet union and was awarded a nobel peace prize for helping end the cold war. he sat down with c-span in 1996 to talk about his life and political career. brian:
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