Refinitiv Newscasts - Joe Biden delivers first remarks since U.S. midterm elections 1

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10/11/2022 24:11

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Source: Reuters

Description: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers first remarks since American
midterm elections.
Short Link: https://refini.tv/3G2J9Za

Video Transcript:

>> [inaudible 00:04:11] There is rarely a moment when the President holds a
formal press conference, but this is a format that will give him ample
opportunity to really lay out the White House advisors. Well, equal parts of
indication in validation mitigation because they were able to buck those
historic trends. They were able to buck inflation the remaining four decades
highs. And while they have lost and will likely lose to House at this point,
they believe it underscores the reality that he's agenda is popular, that his
approach is popular. And while the President's legal ratings aren't exactly
sky high, they have still managed to buck those trends. Now, it is a tricky
balancing act right now, obviously the Senate and the House remain on call.
White House officials are keenly aware the House is likely to flip even though
it is closer than about anybody thought it would be, and it raises a very
critical question going forward. The President has made clear that he would
start to think through his decision about seeking re-election after the
midterm elections, we are now a day after the midterm elections. And he also
has to weigh the possibility of a Washington new shape or the House Republican
offers, no matter how small the majority dramatically changes what the
President can do and what the President will face over the next two years.
Those are all critical elements in the second President to delve into here. We
talked to White House officials, there is no denying that they are very
pleased with what they saw last night very closely watching how the races that
are still outstanding will play out, but certainly a better life that most
people expected, and White House officials feel very good about that in
advance of the President's remarks. [inaudible 00:06:37] >> Copy. Don't get
excited. It certainly did. We're glad to have the opportunity to ask some
questions. The big takeaway here at the White House is that officials think
that Democrats ran on the president's message, on his agenda, not away from
it. And that the president spoke to issues that are most important to the
American people, including abortion, and including clean energy, and that it
had some success. Now, it's fair to question that if only a little bit given
the president was a bit of an unwelcome visitor on the campaign trail in some
of those swing states. His approval numbers have been difficult. And then also
the strategy in the end was effectively putting Trump on the ballot once
again. This was a strategy that Democrats believed had worked before and could
work again, and it did by a lot of measures, granted that we don't know how
many of these races are going to shake out. It was not the blood bath that
people had been predicting as far as Democrat lawsuits go. So now some folks
are wondering, does the president use this moment to launch his own 2024 run?
We will also wait to hear more about what the president wants to do in the
second half of his term. Most of his closing midterm message focused on
painting a stark picture what a GOP controlled Congress would look like,
touting his own achievements. We did not hear a lot about what he hopes to
accomplish in second half of his term aside from codifying abortion rights,
which if Democrats don't maintain control of both chambers, looks to be very
much a question mark. We need to figure out how he plans to engage with
whoever the leader of the new Congress is if Republicans take over the House.
So we've got a little insight into what the next few days and weeks look like.
But we're hoping to get the president's view into what his plans are and how
he plans to work with this Congress now.  FOREIGN  >> [inaudible 00:24:04] Two
minutes. Let's start. I think you'll hear from President Biden relief and that
he and his advisers are feeling involved and they were as we laid out racing
for what could have been a red wave that had not happened. And so the
President and his advisors do that as a vindication of his policies and
frankly, it's closing message that's focused on issues of the economy eviction
and threats to democracy. Now some people question that strategy for the White
House believe it pays off. So I think you will hear President Biden talking
about that. And what comes next if in fact Republicans do need [inaudible
00:26:29] in the house [inaudible 00:26:29]. >> Good afternoon. >> Good
afternoon. >> Well, we had an election yesterday and it was a good day, I
think, for democracy. And I think it was a good day for America. Excuse me, I
have a little hoarse. Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with
their votes the American people have spoken and proven once again that
democracy is who we are. The states across the country saw record voter
turnout and the heart and soul of our democracy, the voters, the poll workers
and election officials, they did their job and they fulfill their duty. And
apparently without much interference at all, without any interference, it
looks like, and that's a testament, I think, to the American people. While we
don't know all the results yet, at least, I don t know them all yet, here's
what we do now. While the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red
wave, it didn't happen. And I know you were somewhat miffed by my abscess and
optimism but I felt good during the whole process. I thought we're going to do
fine while any seat loss is painful. Some good Democrats didn't win there last
night, Democrats had a strong name. We lost fewer seats in the House
Representatives than a Democratic president's first midterm election in the
last 40 years. And we had the best midterm for Governors since 1986. And
another thing that we know is that voters spoke clearly about their concerns,
about raising costs to the rising costs that they need to get inflation down.
There's still a lot of people hurting they're very concerned. Ans is about
crime and public safety. They sent a clear, unmistakable message that they
want to preserve our democracy and protect the right to choose in this
country. And I especially want to thank the young people of this nation who
I'm told I haven't seen the numbers, voted historic numbers again. And just as
they did two years ago, they voted to continue addressing the climate crisis,
gun violence, their personal rights and freedoms, and a student debt relief.
Last night, I was pleased to call Maxwell Frost, the 25-year-old who got
elected, I guess the youngest man ever elected to the United States Congress.
And I told him that I was the second youngest person ever elected United
States Senator, 29. That I have no doubt he's off to an incredible start and
what I'm sure will be a long, distinguished career. And when he's president
and I say Joe Biden is out in the outer office I don't want to say Joe who?
But the voters were also clear that they are still frustrated. I get it. I
understand it's been a really tough few years this country for so many people.
Well, I came to office we inherited a nation with a pandemic raging and an
economy that was railing and we acted quickly and boldly to vaccinate the
country and to create a stable and sustained growth in our economy. Long-term
investment to rebuild America as itself, our roads, our bridges, our ports,
our airports, clean water systems, high-speed Internet. And we're just getting
started. The interesting thing is that this is all going to really come into
clear view for people in the months of January, February, March of next year
is just getting underway so I'm optimistic about how the public can even be
more abrasive or what we've done. Historic investments that are leading
companies to invest literally hundreds of billions of dollars combined to
build semiconductor factories and other advanced manufacturing here in
America, it's going to create tens of thousands of good paying jobs. And by
the way, a significant number of those jobs going to be jobs that pay on
average 120, $627,000 and you don't need a college degree to get those jobs.
>> We're dealing with global inflation as a result of the pandemic and Putin's
war in Ukraine, we're also handle it better than most other advanced nations
in the world. We're lowering gas prices, we're taking on powerful interests to
lower prescription drug costs and health insurance premiums and energy bills.
After 20 months of hard work, the pandemic no longer controls our lives, it's
still a concern but no longer controls our lives. Our economic policies
created a record 10 million new jobs since I came into office. Unemployment
rate is down from 6.4 when I was sworn to 3.7% near a 50-year low. And we've
done all this while lowering the federal deficit in the two years by $1.7
trillion. Let me say it again, $1.7 trillion. No administration has ever cut
the deficit that much. And reducing the federal deficit is one of the best
things we can do to lower inflation. But while we've made real progress as a
nation, and I know it's hard for folks to see that progress in their everyday
lives. And it's hard to see the results from actions that we took, we have to
implement what we've done. But I believe we took the right steps for the
country and for the American people. In fact, if you look at the polls,
overwhelming majority, I don't look them much anymore because I'm not quite
sure how to read them anymore. I hope you are uncertain as well. But
overwhelming majority of American people support the elements of my economic
agenda. From rebuilding Americans roads and bridges to lowering prescription
drug costs, historic investment and tackling the climate crisis, to making
sure that large corporations began to pay their fair share in taxes. I'm
confident these policies are working and that we're on the right path and we
need to stick with them. All of these initiatives take hold as they do, from
lead pipes being removed from schools and homes to new factories be build in
communities with a resurgence of American manufacturers that is already
created, by the way, 700,000 brand new manufacturing jobs. You've heard me say
it a nauseum. I don't know where it's written that says we can't be the
manufacturing capital of the world. We are now exporting product, not jobs
around the world. People across the country are going to see even more clearly
the positive effects on their day-to-day lives. But I still understand why
they're hurting right now, so many people are concerned. As I have throughout
my career, I'm going to continue to work across the aisle to deliver for the
American people, and it's not always easy, but we did it the first term. Now
be surprised a lot of people though we signed over a 210 bi-partisan laws,
since I become president and we're revitalizing american manufacturing, gun
safety, we did it together. And dozens of laws positively impacting on our
veterans. Let me say this, regardless of what the final tally of these
elections show and there's still some counting going on. I'm prepared to work
in my republican colleagues. The American people have made clear, I think,
that they expect republicans to be prepared to work with me as well. In the
area of foreign policy, I hope we'll continue this bipartisan approach of
confronting Russia's aggression in Ukraine. When I returned from the G20
meetings and Indonesia with other world leaders, I'm going to invite the
leaders of both political parties, as I've done in the past and my foreign
trips to the White House to discuss how we can work together for the remainder
of this year and into the next Congress to advance the economic and national
security priorities of the United States, and I'm open to any good ideas. I
want to be very clear. I'm not going to support any Republican proposal that's
going to make inflation worse, for example, the voters don't want to pay
higher prescription costs for drugs. We've cut that now we're going to kick
into gear the next calendar year. And I'm not going to walk away from your
story commitments we just made to take on the climate crisis. They're not
compromisimal issues to me and I won't let it happen. The voters don't want
more tax cuts for the super wealthy and biggest corporations, and I'm going to
continue to focus on cost cutting for working and middle-class families and
building the economy from the bottom-up and the middle out. I know you're
tired of hearing me say that, but I genuinely mean it. That's what makes
America grow, the wealthy do very well when the middle-class is doing well.
And the poor have a way up and while continuing to bring down the federal
deficit. Now as we look at tax cuts, we should be looking at tax cuts for
working people and middle-class people, not the very wealthy, they're fine.
Look, if you can go out and be a multi-millionaire, that's great, just pay
your fair share. That's all, just pay your fair share. It's like those 55
corporations in 2000s that made $40 billion and didn't pay a penny in federal
taxes. It's not right, everybody has an obligation. So now they have to pay a
staggering 15% you all pay more than that for new taxes. So I'm going to keep
my commitment that no one earning less than $400,000 a year and that's a lot
of money where I come from, are going to see their federal taxes go up. And I
want to be very clear, under no circumstances will I support the proposal put
forward by Senators Johnson and the Senate down in Florida to cut or make
fundamental changes in Social Security, Medicare. That's not on the table. I
will not do that. I will veto any attempt to pass a national ban on abortion.
But I'm ready to compromise with Republicans where it makes sense in many
other issues. I'll always put the needs and interests of the American people
first. So let me close with this on this election season, the American people
made it clear. They don't want every day going forward to be a constant
political battle, there's too much of that going on. There's too much that we
have to do. The future of America is too promising. Too promising to be
trapped in an endless political warfare. And I really mean it, you've heard me
say it time and again for the last 20 months or so, I am so optimistic about
the prospects for America. We need to be looking to the future not fixated on
the past. And that future is bright as can be, we're the only nation in the
world that's come out of every crisis stronger than we went into the crisis.
And that's a fact, literally mean that, we've come out stronger than we've
gone in. And I've never been more optimistic about America's future than I'm
today. Particularly because of all those young people I talked about 18-30,
they're showing up, they're the best educated generation in American history,
they're the least prejudiced generation in American history, the most engaged
generation in American history and the most involved. >> Look, after a long
campaign season, I still believe that always have. This is a great nation and
we are a great people, and it's never been a good bet to bet against America.
There's nothing beyond our capacity. If we work together, we just need to
remember who the **** we are. We're the United States of America. There's
nothing beyond our capacity. And I'm pretty well convinced that we're going to
be able to get a lot done. Now I've been given a list of 10 people that I'm
supposed to call on and you're all supposed to ask me one question, but I'm
sure you'll ask me more. And so let me start off with a list I've been given.
Zig Miller, associated press. How come we never hold you guys to the same
standards, you hold us to it. But anyway, go ahead, I'm teasing. >> You
mentioned that Americans are frustrated and in fact, 75% of voters state of
countries heading into the wrong direction despite the results of last night.
What are the next two years do you intend to do differently to change people's
opinion of the direction of the country, particularly as you contemplate a run
for president in 2024. >> Nothing, because they are just finding out what
we're doing. The more they know about what we're doing, the more support there
is. Do you know anybody who wants us to get rid of the change we made on
prescription drug prices and raise prices again, do you know anybody, who
wants us to walk away from building those roads and bridges and the Internet
and so on. I don't know. I think that the problem is the major piece of
legislation we passed and some of the bi-partisan takes time to be recognized.
For example, you got over $1 trillion worth of infrastructure money, but not
that many spaces putting the ground, it's taking time. For example, I was on
the phone congratulating a Californian recently, and then someone up in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, the congressmen who got elected, he said, can you help
us make sure we're able to have high-speed rail service from Scranton to New
York City. I said, yeah, we can. First of all, it'll make it a lot easier to
take a lot of vehicles off the road. And we have more money in the pot now
already out there. We voted for than the entire money we spent an Amtrak to
begin with. And it's the same way for example I talked about through the
campaign that we're going to limit the cost of insulin for seniors to $235 a
month instead of 400 a month. Well, doesn't take effect until next year. So
there's a lot of things that are just starting to kick in. And the same way
with what we've done in terms of the environmental stuff. It takes time to get
it moving. So I'm not going to change. A matter of fact, there's some things I
wanted to change and add to for example we've had passed the most bi-partisan,
we passed the most extensive gun legislation and anti-rational gun policy in
30 years, but we didn't abandon assault weapons. I'm going to ban assault
weapons. I'm going to try like the devil. So I'm not going to change the
direction. I said, I ran for three reasons. I'm going to continue to stay
where I'm at. I know I fully understand the legitimate concern that what I'm
saying is wrong. One is that I said we're going to restore the soul of the
country began to treat each other with decency, honor, and integrity. And it
started to happen. The conversations are becoming more normal, becoming more.
How can I say it? Decent. Second thing I said was I want to build a country
from the middle out of bottom-up and that way everybody does fine. I'm tired
of trickle-down. Not a whole lot trickles down when it trickled down to
hardworking folks. The third thing I know is still very hard. I would do
everything in my power to see, to reunite the country. It's hard to sustain
yourself as a leading democracy in the world if we can't generate some unity.
So I'm not going to change anything in any fundamental way. >> Just on a
different topic, Mr. President. Russia today claim that it had evacuated the
croissant region and a croissant city. Do you believe that this is potentially
an inflection point in that conflict, and do you believe that you Ukraine now
has the leverage it needs to begin peace negotiations with Moscow? >> First of
all, I found an issue and they waited until after the election to make that
judgment, which we knew for some time that ever going to be doing. And then
seven, this is a fact that they have some real problems, the Russian military.
Number 1. Number 2, whether or not that leads to, at a minimum, it will lead
to time for everyone to recalibrate their positions over the winners period,
and it remains to be seen whether or not there'll be a judgement made as to
whether or not Ukraine is prepared to compromise with Russia. I'm going to be
going into the G20. I'm told that President Putin is not likely to be there,
but other world leaders are going to be there in Indonesia. And we're going to
have an opportunity to see what the next steps may be. Nancy CBS, Nancy
Cortes. >> Thank you Mr. President and I have afew question saving them up.
First of all, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said last night that it is
clear we are going to take the house back. Do you think he's probably right
about that? >> Well, based on what we know as of today, we've lost very few
seats for certain. We still have a possibility of keeping the house, but it's
going to be close. And for example in Nevada, we won all three of those seats
contested seats. I went out for each and I spoke with these for each of those
folks. But we wanted them all. I didn't know that last night. So it's a moving
target right now, but it's going to be very close. >> Can you describe your
relationship with Mr. McCarthy? How often do you speak to him? What do you
think of him? >> I think he's Republican leader and I haven't had much
occasion to talk to him, but I will be talking to him. I think I'm talking to
him later today. >> When it comes to your legislative agenda, when you were
Vice-President, your legislative agenda basically ran into a brick wall two
years in when Republicans took control of the house, and that lasted for the
rest of the Obama presidency. Is there any way for you to prevent that same
fate from happening this time around if Republicans take control of the house?
>> Yes. Because it's going to be much closer if they take control. Look, the
predictions were, and again, I'm not being critical of anybody made the
prediction that I got it. This supposed to be a red wave. You guys, you were
talking about us losing 30-50 seats and this is going to. That's not going to
happen. And so there's always enough people on the other team, whether it's
Democratic, Republican, that the opposite party can make an appeal to, and
maybe pick them off to get the help. And so it remains to be seen. But look, I
doubt whether or not for example all the talk I'd asked are not expected to
answer with a rhetorical question. Do you think that Senator Johnson is going
to move to cut Medicare and Social Security. And have you done is how many
Republican are going to vote for it? So it depends. >> My final question.
Republicans have made it clear that if they do take control of the house that
they want to launch a raft of investigations on day one into your handling of
Afghanistan, the border, they wanted to look into some of your cabinet
officials, they want to investigate you, they may even want to investigate
your son. What's your message to Republicans who are considering investigating
your family, and particularly your son hunters business dealings? >> Lots of
luck in your senior year as my coach used to say. Look, I think the American
public wants to move on and get things done for them. And I heard that there
was reported whether it's accurate or not, I'm not sure, but it's reported
many times that Republicans were saying, and the former president said how
many times you're going to impeach Biden, impeachment proceedings against
Biden. I think the American people will look at all of that for what it is.
It's almost comedy. But look, I can't control what they're going to do, all I
can do is continue to try to make life better for American people. Phil
Mattingly, CNN. >> Thank you Mr. President. I have 37 questions. Sir, at a
fundraiser last month you said," The rest of the world is looking at the
selection, both the good guys and the bad guys." You noted you're going to see
in a couple of days come face-to-face with many of those leaders, the same
moment that your predecessor is considering launching his re-election effort.
How should those world leaders, both good guys and bad guys, view this moment
both for America and for your presidency? >> Well, first of all, world leaders
know we're doing better than anybody else in the world is a practical matter.
Notwithstanding the difficulties we have, our economy is growing. You saw the
last report, we're still growing at 2.6%, we're creating jobs, we're still
want a solid position and there's not many other countries in the world are in
that position. And I promise you from the telephone calls I still have and
from the meetings I have and heads of state to look into the United States and
saying, how you doing, what are you doing, what can we do together? So I think
that the vast majority of my colleagues, at least those colleagues who are
NATO members, European Union, Japan, South Korea, et cetera, I think they're
looking to cooperate and wanting to know how we can help one another. What was
the other question? I'm sorry. >> So I think the one way I would follow up on
that is you noted that you felt like there was a shift in terms of people
being willing to show more decency in this moment, you've often talked about
breaking the fever or a transition from this moment that we faced over the
last several years. Do you feel like the election is what represents that? Do
you feel like the fever has broken? >> Well, I don't think we're going to
break the fever for the super mega Republicans, but I think they're a minority
of the Republican Party. I think the vast majority of the members of the
Republican Party, we disagree strongly on issues, but they're decent honorable
people, we have differences of agreement on issues. But I worked with a lot of
these folks in the Senate and the House for a long time and they're honest and
they're straightforward, they're different than mine, but they're decent
folks. And so I think that the rest of the world, and a lot of you have
covered other parts of the world and you know, the rest of the world look in
the United States. The best way to say this is to is to repeat what you've
heard me say before. The first G7 meeting for public, that's the seven largest
democracies when I right after we got elected in February, after I got sworn
in in January and I sat down at a roundtable with the six other world leaders
from the European Union and Canada, et cetera and said America is back. And
what I'm trying to mean and said for how long? It was a deadly honest question
, for how long? And I looked at them and then another one went on to say and
I'm not going to name them, went on to say, what would you say Joe, if in fact
we went to bed tonight here in England, woke up the next morning and found out
that thousand people had stormed the Parliament of Great Britain, gone down
the hall, broken down the doors, two cops ended up dying, number of people
injured, and they tried to stop the confirmation of an election, it's not the
same situation obviously as we have. And he said, what would you think? And I
asked rhetorical question, what would you all think? You're thinking was
really in trouble? Do you think democracy was on the edge if that happened in
Great Britain? And so that's the way people were looking at us. Like, when is
this going to stop? Nothing like this has happened since the civil war, I
don't want to exaggerate, but literally nothing like this has happened since
the civil war. And so what I find is that they want to know is United States
stable, are we the same democracy we've always been? Because look, the rest of
the world looks to us. I don't mean that we're always like we're always right,
but if the United States tomorrow were to ''withdraw from the world'' a lot of
things would change around the world, a whole lot with change. And so they're
very concerned that we are still the open democracy we've been and that we
have rules and the institutions matter. And that's the context in which I
think that they're looking at, are we back to a place where we are going to
accept decisions made by the court, by the Congress, by the government, et
cetera. >> The entire genesis of that, this type of conversation is tied to
your predecessor who is about to launch another campaign. So how do you
reassure them if that is the reason for their questioning that the former
president will not return, that his political movement which is still very
strong, will not again take power in the United States. >> Well, we just have
to demonstrate that he will not take power. If he does run, I'm making sure he
under legitimate efforts of our Constitution, does not become the next
president again. >> Steve Reuters, I'm sorry, Steve Home. >> Thank you, sir.
How do you interpret last night's results in terms of deciding whether you
want to seek another term? Is it now more likely that you will run and what's
going to be your timeline for consideration? >> Well, first of all, Jill and
I, by the way, it's my wife Jill, who's held lot more proper than diamond
Democratic Party too, but anyway, all kidding aside. Our intention is to run
again, that's been our intention regardless of what the outcome of this
election was. And the fact that the Democratic Party outperform anything
anyone expected and did better than any of your presidency says John Kennedy,
is one that gives everybody like, sigh of relief that the mega Republicans are
not taking over the government again, et cetera. And so my judgment of running
when I announce, if my intention is that I've run run again, but I'm a great
respecter of fate, and this is ultimately a family decision, I think everybody
wants me to run, but we're going to have discussions about it. And I don't
feel any hurry one way or another to attend to make that judgment, what today,
tomorrow or whenever no matter what my predecessor does. >> Early next year or
what are your thinking? >> My guess is, I hope Jill and I get a little time to
actually sneak away for a week around between Christmas and Thanksgiving and
my guess is to be early next year, we make that judgment, but my plan to do it
now. Karen Travers of ABC Radio. >> Thank you, Mr. President. WNBA start,
Brittany Greiner today was moved to a Russian penal colony to serve out her
nine-year sentence, do you have an update right now on her condition? What do
you know about that? And does this mark a new phase in negotiations with the
Russians to secure her release? Can the US now fully engaged in talks on a
prisoner swap? >> Well, we've been engaging on a regular basis, I've been
spending a fair amount of time with her wife about what's going on with her
and my hope is that now that the election is over, that Mr. Putin will be able
to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously about prisoner
exchange. That is my intention. My intention is to get her home and we've had
a number of discussions so far and I'm hopeful that now that our election is
over, there's a willingness to negotiate more specifically with us. Thank you.
>> If I can, your press secretary had said that the US government has
continued to follow up on that significant offer, but also had proposed
alternative potential ways forward with the Russians. Can you tell us what
those alternative ways forward are and how Russia has responded to those? >>
Yes, I can, but I won't. I can't. I mean, it would not be a wise thing to do
in order to see if they would move forward. But I'm telling you I am
determined to get her home and get her home safely along with others, I might
add. April Ryan of the Great House. >> Excuse me. I beg your pardon. >> Thank
you, sir. >> I got it right last time we did this. >> Yes, you did. Mr.
President, I have a couple of questions on several issues, one of the Supreme
Court, as you know, the Supreme Court has before it, the issue of college
admissions and affirmative action. What can and are you planning in case of a
rollback that is expected, there are legal analysts that say that there will
be drastic implications their tentacles from this and they even say that this
can impact the decision from Brown v. Board. >> You know, first of all, I
asked her Justice Department to defend the present policy before the Supreme
Court. And like a lot of pundits, I'm not prepared to believe that the Supreme
Court is going to overrule the previously existing decision. That's far from
certain, and I don't believe that. So number 1, what I did to try to change it
as object to it before the Supreme Court of the United States, our
administration. Number 2, there are a number of things that we can and must do
to make it. And by the way, this is a case involving an Asian-American in
terms of getting into school and whether there's affirmative action makes
sense at all from the standpoint of those are arguing against it. But the fact
is that we're also in a circumstance where there's a lot that we can do in the
meantime to make sure that there's an access to good education across the
board, and that is by doing things that relate to starting education at age
three, formal schooling at age three, which increases not daycare but school.
All of the studies over 10 years show that that increases the prospect of
someone making it through 12 years without any difficulty, no matter what the
background they come from, by 56%, and I also think that we should be making
sure that we have the ability to provide for two years of education beyond
that, whether it's apprenticeships or community colleges. We also are in a
situation where I think that, for example, I want to make sure a lot of it has
to do with finances as well, then we make sure that we have help for people
who come from modest means to be able to get to school. The cost of college
education has increased fourfold and it used to be that a Pell Grant would
cover something like 70% of the college tuition, now it covers significantly
less than that. So I want to increase the Pell grants as well. But let's see
what the Supreme Court decides, and I'm hopeful and our team and the lawyers
argued for us are not nearly as certain as the people you've quoted as saying
that's going to be overruled. >> Next question, Sir. >> The issue is
inflation. The grill and KFF conducted a study of black voters that said
inflation was the number 1 issue that we sought in this midterm election. What
can you promise concretely in these next two years that will help turn the
pocketbook for the better in the midst of staving off a recession? >> Well, a
number of things. First of all, unblock unemployment is almost cut in half
under my administration just since I began. More black businesses have opened
up small businesses than ever before. We're now in a situation where we're
providing through the Small Business Administration down payments for people
buying homes because most people accumulate wealth in the value of their home.
Most middle-class families like mine, my dad bought a home, didn't have it.
Just scraped together to get a home. By the time he was able to retire, he had
built up equity in a home. That's how most people do that. And so what I can't
do as I can't guarantee that we're going to be able to get rid of inflation,
but I do think we can. We've already brought down the price of gasoline about
$1.20 a gallon across the board. And I think that the oil companies are really
doing the nation of real disservice. Six of them made over $100 billion in the
last quarter in profit. In the past, if they had done the two things that they
have done before. One, invest in more refineries and producing more product
and or passing on the rebase of the gas stations. They sell their oil at a
cheaper rate than they are selling it now not taking advantage. And that
lowers the price of the total gallon of gas because that gets passed on. So
there's a whole lot of things we can do that are difficult to do, but we're
going to continue to push to do them. And the other thing is that one of the
things that makes a gigantic difference is what are the costs that exist in
the average family, in the average black community? One, prescription drug
costs. Well, we're driving those down precipitously beginning next year. And
I'll bet you know, a lot of people in African-American and Caucasian community
that need to take insulin for diabetes. Well, we're going to reduce that cost
and they can pay more than $35 for the insulin instead of average of $400. And
I can go down the list of the things that my dad used to say it a different
way. At the end of the month, the things you have to pay for from your
mortgage to food on the table, to gasoline, and the automobile. Do you have
enough money to do it? And when it's done, do you have anything leftover and
medical bills are a big piece of that? Particularly in the African-American
community and poorer communities, they need help. And so we've driven down all
of those costs and we've already passed the legislation to do that. It's just
taking effect. So there's a lot of things we can do to affect the things that
people need on a monthly basis to reduce their inflation, their cost of
living. But I am optimistic because we continue to grow and at a rational
pace, we're not anywhere near a recession right now in terms of the growth.
But I think we can have what most economists call a soft landing. I'm
convinced that we're going to be able to gradually bring down prices so that
they in fact end up with us not having to move into recession to be able to
get control of inflation. >> Mr. President last question on humanity.
Everybody else got some. Well, you come. >> Go ahead. >> Last question on
humanity. Sir, you can't legislate and you can't executive order out the issue
of empathy or the lack thereof in the midst of this rhetoric, this heated
political rhetoric, What's next? >> Part of what I think leadership requires,
and I hope I meet the standard, is letting people know you understand their
problem. Again, my dad used to have an express. He said, I don't expect the
government to solve my problems, but I expect them least know what they are,
understand them. And like a lot of you, we've been very fortunate as a family,
but we've also been through a lot of fairly tough times. And I've had the
great advantage of having a family to get through them. My first wife and
daughter were killed when a tractor trailer broadsided them and killed my
first wife and killed my daughter. And my two boys were expected to die. It
took the jaws of life three hours to get them out there on top of their dead
mother and dead sister. I understand what that pain is like. And when Jill and
I lost Beau after a year in Iraq when in the Bronze Star, pick his service
medal, a major in the United States military came home a stage for
glioblastoma because he lived between 2-500 yards from a burn pit this 10 feet
deep and big as a football field, burning every toxic waste you could find. I
think that we understand what it's like to lose family members, mothers,
fathers. All of you have you been through that thing? We've been fortunate
though. We've had each other. We've had strong families, Jill sisters, my
brothers, my sister. And so what we can do to deal with that empathy is make
sure there's help available. Make sure there's people who are there to help.
Whether they are a psychologist or whether they are medical doctors or whether
they're social workers. Be there to help, to help just hold the hand. And for
example we can do an awful lot for a lot of families. The families you're
talking about if we reinstate this child tax credit, it cut child poverty by
40%. When I was in place, I couldn't get it passed the second time around. So
there's a lot we can do. The empathy is not just talking about it. It's
communicating to people you genuinely understand. And I hope a lot of people
don't understand because I don't want people having to know the pain. But the
second piece of that is let them know that you are there to help. And one of
the things I've talked with Vivek Murthy about and a lot of you have written
about it and you've written it well about it, is the need for mental health
care in America. When we got elected, there were something like, I don't know,
2,3,5 million people who have gotten their COVID shots. Well, in the meantime,
I got over 220 million people, all three shots. But in the meantime, what
happened? We lost over 1 million dead. >> A million dead. I read one study
that for those million people, they had nine people who were each one month
average nine people close to them, a relative or someone they're married to a
child or someone close. The impact has been profound. Think of all your
children and your grandchildren who didn't have that senior prom. Who didn't
have that graduation party. Who didn't have all the things we had that we took
for granted on that impact on the psyche. So there's a lot we have to do, and
empathy reflects itself not just on what a person demonstrates they understand
of knowing what people need and helping to make it happen, and we're trying to
do that, and a lot of Republicans is trying to do it too. I don't mean this as
a partisan thing. A lot of people are trying to do it because they know we've
got a problem. Excuse me. These 10 questions are really going quickly. I've
got to meet with some of my talks and some of the Republican leadership soon,
but anyway Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg. >> Thank you, Mr. President, two
questions. One, shifting back to your trip to Asia. When you meet with
President Xi Jinping of China, will you tell him that you're committed to
defending Taiwan militarily? And what are you hoping to get out of this
meeting that will make it a success? Are you willing to make any concessions
to him? >> Well, look, I'm not willing to make any fundamental concessions
because what I've told them, in the beginning. I've spent over 78, I think
they told me hours with them so far, 60,77 in-person when I was Vice
President. President Obama knew he couldn't spend time with the Vice President
of other countries. So I travel 70,000 miles with them in China and around the
United States. I've met with him many times. I've told them I'm looking for
competition, not conflict. And so what I want to do with him when we talk is
lay out what each of our red lines are, understand what he believes to be in
the critical national interest of China. What I know to be the critical
interest of the United States and determine whether or not they conflict with
one another. And if they do, how do we resolve them and how to work it out?
And so Taiwan doctrine has not changed at all from the very beginning. So I'm
sure we'll discuss Taiwan, I'm sure we'll discuss a number of other issues
including fair trade and relationships relating to his relationship with other
countries in the region. So there's a lot we are going to have to discuss. You
want another question, everybody else got one, or two or three? >> You didn't
say if you will tell Xi Jinping personally that you are committed to defending
Taiwan. >> I'm going to have that conversation with him. >> That wasn't my
second one. Sorry, I actually have an unrelated question too. Mr. President,
do you think Elon Musk is a threat to US national security? And should the US,
and with the tools you have, investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter with
foreign governments, which include the Saudis? >> I think that Elon Musk's
cooperation and or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of
being looked at whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate. I'm not
suggesting that. I'm suggesting that worst being looked at , that's all I'll
say. There's a lot of ways. Kristen Welker. >> Thank you so much, Mr.
President. I appreciate it. I want to follow up with you on working with
Republican's leader McCarthy, again suggested that he is not prepared to write
what he has called a blank check to Ukraine, and yet you expressed optimism
that funding the policies toward Ukraine would continue. Why should the people
of Ukraine in this country have competence in that, given the comments by
Leader McCarthy? And just to follow up with you on your comments to Zeek, you
said you don't need to do anything differently. If Republicans control the
House, don't you need to recalibrate to some extent to try to work across the
aisle with a Republican White House? >> Well, let me put it this way. What I
meant was I don't have to change any of the policies have already passed.
That's what they said they want to go after, and so what I have a simple
proposition, I have a pen that can veto. So that's what I mean. I don't have
to re-calibrate whether or not I'm going to continue to fund the
infrastructure bill or we're going to continue to fund the environment, etc.
We have to. I think there's a growing pressure on the part of the American
people, expecting both parties and all elements of both parties to work out
their substantive differences, and not just I'm not going to do that because
it would benefit that party. May make it personal. It remains to be seen what
the makeup of the House will be, but I'm hopeful that Kevin and I can work out
modus vivendi is how we'll proceed with on. >> Will aid to Ukraine continue
uninterrupted? >> That is my expectation, and by the way, we've not given
Ukraine a blank check. There's lots of things that Ukraine wants we didn't do.
For example, I was asked very much whether we'll provide American aircraft to
guarantee the skies over Ukraine. Said no, we're not going to do that. We're
not going to get nearly Third World War taking on the Russian aircraft and
directly engaged, but would we provide them with all the rational ability to
defend themselves? Yeah. >> We find those high Mars. Well, high Mars, there's
two kinds and the average person's parlance rockets you can drop in those. One
that goes over 600 miles and one that goes up by 160 miles. We didn't get many
ones that go to 600 miles because I'm not looking for them to start bombing
Russian territory. And so we want to make sure that there's a relationship
that they're able to defend themselves and take on what is purely the ugliest
aggression that's occurred since World War II on a massive scale, on the part
of Putin within Ukraine, and there's so much at stake. So I would be surprised
if leader McCarthy even has a majority of his Republican colleagues who say
they're not going to fund the legitimate defensive needs of Ukraine. >> Just a
quick one. Obviously a lot of attention on 2024 now that the votes have been
cast in the midterms. Two-thirds of Americans in exit poll say that they don't
think you should run for re-election. What is your message to them and how
does that factor into your final decision about whether or not to run for
re-election? >> It doesn't. >> What's your message to those two-thirds? >>
Watch me. >> One more, very quickly. [inaudible 01:16:02] with a resounding
victory in Florida last night. Who do you think would be the tougher
competitor Rhonda Santa's, or former President Trump, and how is that
factoring into your decision? >> It'd be fun to watching them take on each
other. David Singer. >> Thank you, Mr. President, I also have a question for
you about China, but before I do, I just wanted to follow up on something you
said earlier. When you said it remains to be seen whether the Ukraine
government is prepared to compromise with Russia. Previously, you've told us
the only thing for the Russians to do is get completely out of Ukraine, go
back to the lines that existed prior to February 24. Are you suggesting with
the word compromise that you think that there is room for territorial
compromise now? >> No, that's up to the Ukrainians. Nothing about Ukraine
without your Ukraine. >> What kind of comprise did you have in mind? >> I
didn't have any in mind. Now you have asked the question whether or not that's
my recall, whether or not, what would happen if in fact after I think the
context is that whether or not they pulling back from Fallujah and the army
from the city of Kiesan, and they're coming back across the river to the
Eastern side of the river, the Russian forces. And I said what's going to
happen is they're going to both lick their wounds, decide what they're going
to do over the winter and decide whether or not they're going to compromise.
That's what's going to happen, whether or not. I don't know what they're going
to do, but I do know one thing we're not going to tell them what they have to
do. >> [inaudible 01:17:50] you are meeting with President Xi, at this point
the Chinese government by the estimate of the Pentagon, it's getting ready to
bring their force of nuclear weapons up to over 1,000 weapon, significant
increase from what they've had for many decades. You've seen the threats from
President Putin about the use of his nuclear. >> Remember how you all went
after me when I said that was real? >> And what [inaudible 01:18:17] happen?
Do you think he backed off because of that. >> No, I'm just saying I just find
it interesting that Biden is being an extremist, and it turns out you all are
writing about it now, kind of fascinating. >> So my question is, do you think
that they are putting together [inaudible 01:18:42] on the Russians, and do
you believe that you need to begin speaking with President Xi about some form
of arms control if he's going to get up to a level of weapons similar to what
the United States and Russia have right now. >> No and yes. No, I don't think
there's a lot of respect that China has for Russia or for Putin. I don't think
they're looking that as a particular alliance. Matter of fact, they've been
keeping their distance a little bit. I do think that remains to be seen
whether Xi Jinping has decided that or backed off of his initial judgment that
he wanted China to have the most powerful military in the world, as well as
the largest economy. But he's a long way from both, but I think talk about
nuclear weapons and location, a number of them and access is important to
discuss. Thank you all so very much. We'll do another hour a little later.
Thank you so much. >> We respect you to do more of this in the future. >> Will
you go to the Southern border Mr. President