Port of Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland
4:17 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, thank you, thank you. We have an expression — we used to have an expression when I served in the Senate — Senator Van Hollen — they said — when they wanted to make some statement that was personal, they’d say, “A point of personal privilege.”
You know, when you were talking about being a waterman, working on the water — my family is originally from Baltimore, came in the early 1800s. And the entire Biden family worked in the water — were watermen until probably 1906, -7, or -8.
And my father was raised here in Baltimore. They don’t say “Baltimore.” They say “Bawltamer.” And so, you know, although they never worked at the port, they did work in the bay and along here.
So, you know, this has been — this is one the oldest ports in the country continuously running and one of the best ports in the country.
And so, Tony, thanks for that introduction. And, Mayor Scott, thanks for the passport into the city. I appreciate it very much.
And I want to thank Governor Hogan for being here and members of the delegation.
I want start off with one of my best buddies and, I think, one of the most effective people in the United States Senate, Chris Van Hollen. Don’t — if you need something, go to him, man. He knows how to get it done.
And to also Dutch Ruppersberger. And a guy who — I knew him when he was a kid. He doesn’t remember me. I’m getting so old; I knew his dad, Senator Sarbanes. And Congressman Sarbanes, Congressman Brown, and all — all of this delegation. You got a first-rate delegation.
And so, I want to thank them for being here today and thank them for all the help in getting the members of the House and getting the legislation passed. It’s a big deal. It’s going to make a big difference.
The reason I started calling this “Build Back Better” is: We’re the only country in the world — we underestimate ourselves; we’re sort of down on ourselves the last 10 years or so — we’re the only country in the world, as a matter of history, that every crisis we’ve faced we’ve come out better on the other side. We not only beat it — not a joke, think about it — we’ve come out better than we were before we went into the crisis.
And the economic and political, as well as the health crisis we found with COVID — I was determined, when we got elected, we got to build it back better than it was. Because the world is changing so rapidly — so rapidly, man. We got to keep up. We’re in competition to determine whether or not we can still remain the most powerful economic force in the world.
And so, today, I’m here to talk about one of the most pressing economic concerns of the American people — and it’s real. And that is: getting prices down, number one; number two, making sure our stores are fully stocked; and number three, getting a lot of people back to work while tracking and tackling these two above challenges I mentioned.
Today’s economic reports showing unemployment continuing to fall, but consumer prices remain too high. Tell us — the Ameri- — the American people, in the midst of an economic crisis, that recovery is showing strong results, but not to them. They’re still looking out there. Everything from a gallon of gas to loaf of bread costs more. And it’s worrisome, even though wages are going up.
We still face challenges, and we have to tackle them. We have to tackle them head on.
And on the good side, we’re seeing the highest growth rate in decades, the fastest decrease in unemployment at this point ever since 1950. Jobs are up. Wages are up. Value is up. And savings are up. But we’re — we got problems too.
Many people remain unsettled about the economy, and we all know why. They see higher prices. They go to the store online, or they can’t — or they go to the store — go online and they can’t find what they always want and when they want it. And we’re tracking these issues and trying to figure out how to tackle them head on.
My administration, with the help of the folks on my left over here, is — has a plan to finish the job at getting us back […]
source Remarks by President Biden on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal
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