{"id":136304,"date":"2022-02-15T18:17:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T02:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=136304"},"modified":"2022-02-15T18:17:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T02:17:19","slug":"president-biden-at-the-national-association-of-counties-2022-legislative-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=136304","title":{"rendered":"President Biden at the National Association of Counties 2022 Legislative Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Folks, my name is Joe Biden.  (Laughter.)  And I used to be a county councilman.  (Applause.)  And I ran for the Senate because it was too damn hard being in the council.  (Laughter.) <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p3QVCa8rOVQ\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s great to be back with you all.  Commissioner Larry Johnson of DeKalb County, Georgia, thank you for your leadership.<\/p>\n<p>I also want to thank all the folks working so hard here in the Washington Hilton to make this conference possible.  Thank you all very much.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>And if you want to know how seriously I take the role you play on the frontlines in this country, just look at who I asked to come with you.  You said you wanted to know what was going on.  I sent you the whole damn administration.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>Yeah, Secretaries \u2014 three Secretaries, an Administrator \u2014 Regan of the EPA; Gene Sperling leading the Rescue Plan implementation; Mitch Landrieu, who\u2019s leading the implementation of the Infrastructure Law; and you all know Julie Rodriguez, my Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.  (Applause.)  And along with a number of other key deputies and \u2014 leading my economic strategy.<\/p>\n<p>     Look, I want to recognize my home county executive, Matt Meyer, so I can go back home.  Matt, thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Matt is doing one heck of a job, and I\u2019m sure he\u2019s told you the story, I heard, of the \u2014 my time in the county council. <\/p>\n<p>You know, I used to \u2014 I don\u2019t know about you all, but commissioner, councilman \u2014 whichever your title is \u2014 you knock on the door and say, \u201cMy name is Joe Biden, and I\u2019m a candidate for the county council.\u201d  And they look at you like, \u201cOkay?\u201d  (Laughter.)  And you\u2019re wondering \u2014 you\u2019re wondering what the county council does, aren\u2019t you?  (Laughter.)  Well, it affects their lives more than anybody else\u2019s.  No, it really does.  You\u2019re involved in everything. <\/p>\n<p>When a constituent called, she said \u2014 I represented a \u2014 we had \u2014 we have one county that has 60 percent of the state\u2019s population.  And we had six councilmen.  So a councilman\u2019s district was seven times bigger than a house member and \u2014 in the state house \u2014 and three time bigger than the state senator.<\/p>\n<p>And I represented a middle-class district to a working-class district, but there was one very wealthy neighborhood.  And I got a call one night; the woman said to me \u2014 obviously not of the same persuasion as I was, politically \u2014 called me and said, \u201cThere\u2019s a dead dog on my lawn.\u201d  (Laughter.)  And I said, \u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d  I said, \u201cHave you called county?\u201d  She said, \u201cYes, they\u2019re not here.\u201d  And I said, \u201cWell, I\u2019ll get them in the morning.\u201d  She said, \u201cI want it removed now.  I pay your salary.\u201d  (Laughter.)  So, I went over.  (Laughter and applause.)  I picked it up.  She said, \u201cI want it out of my front yard.\u201d  I put it on her doorstep.  (Laughter and applause.) <\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ve gotten much better since then. <\/p>\n<p>So, I know from personal experience how hard the job you have is.  People \u2014 people having to phone or \u2014 you know, or not afraid to use that phone.  I used to give out my phone number; can\u2019t do that anymore.  They don\u2019t even allow me to have a phone anymore.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>But I \u2014 I also know you work often on the basis of what other people \u2014 whether they\u2019ve lost faith, they have faith, they lose faith in government \u2014 you\u2019re there.  You represent the frontlines of public service.  It\u2019s not hyperbole.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I was elected \u2014 one of the first calls I made was to your board of directors.  And I reminded Judge Gary Moore, your past president, that this administration includes a President and Vice President who are both former county officials.  And I promised I\u2019ll always have you as a partner with us.<\/p>\n<p>     The partnership was critical when we passed American Rescue Plan \u2014 the most significant investment in the country\u2019s local governments in American history.<\/p>\n<p>     And I also inherited a tough situation in 2020.  But after an incredibly difficult year, local and state governments have added 448,000 new jobs in 2021 \u2014 the strongest growth in 20 years.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>     And, you know, it\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s amazing what you all do.  I really mean it.  I\u2019m not being solicitous.  After a year of disruption for our kids, we were able to add education jobs in 2021, more than \u2014 more than any other year on record.<\/p>\n<p>     You got county law enforcement officers and first responders back on the job so ambulances could arrive on time and communities could be kept safe.<\/p>\n<p>     And the big reason why America\u2019s recovery has led the world is because of all of you and why, in my first year in office, more jobs were created than ever any time in America history \u2014 6.6 million jobs.  (Applause.)  You. <\/p>\n<p>     And, folks, look, we had the strongest economic growth in nearly 40 years \u2014 5.7 percent increase in the GDP.  The unemployment rate dropped more than any time \u2014 any year in American history.  Child poverty dropped by 40 percent, more than any year in American history.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>And, folks, new business applications grew at a faster rate than any year on record.<\/p>\n<p>     The Rescue Plan also was the first major relief bill to get directly to counties, because here is what I learned when I was a county councilman: If you get money for \u2014 for the state, what happens is it goes through the state legislature.  (Laughter.)  And guess what?  (Laughs.)  Well, I wanted to make sure the money goes directly to the counties.  (Applause.)  Directly to the counties \u2014 no, really.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>     We allocated $350 billion to state and local budgets.  We made sure that $1 billion [$100 billion] of that went straight to the counties and cities. <\/p>\n<p>     And look, I know how much it matters.  It really matters giving you \u2014 giving you the ability, the flexibility, the control to meet both the short-term and long-term challenges you face.  Which, by the way, even \u2014 and I \u2014 I\u2019m not being critical of the state legislatures or to \u2014 or others, but people don\u2019t know the full responsibility and \u2014 that you all have, even other elected officials.  They \u2014 I mean, I\u2019m not being solicitous.  It\u2019s just true. <\/p>\n<p>    And, by the way, that Rescue Plan is still delivering.<\/p>\n<p>    I urge all of you to use the flexibility we built into the law and spend those funds wisely, to build a future around working people who make up the communities you run.  Put these funds to work to keep people on the job, connect people with better jobs \u2014 providing retention bonuses for teachers and bus drivers, like Howard County, Maryland, did; adding healthcare centers and training new childcare workers, like \u2014 I hope I pronounce it \u2014 Deschutes County, Oregon.  Is that \u2014 where are you, Deschutes County?  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>     Well, what you did matters. <\/p>\n<p>Helping unemployed parents get back to work by covering childcare costs, like Oakland County, Michigan, did.<\/p>\n<p>    Reducing gun crime by retaining police officers, like DeKalb County did in Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>    Expanding community violence intervention programs, like King County did in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>    Ensuring people get the full benefit of one of the most consequential tax cuts for working families in our history.<\/p>\n<p>     We expanded the Childcare Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit included in the Rescue Plan.<\/p>\n<p>     In the past, if you paid taxes and you had a good income, you could deduct $2,000 per child.  So if you\u2019re making 200 grand a year and you have three kids, you got to deduct 6,000 bucks off your \u2014 off the taxes you owed.  Well, that\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n<p>But guess what?  If you were making minimum wage and you had four kids, you didn\u2019t get anything.  It wasn\u2019t refundable.  You didn\u2019t pay $8,000 in taxes.  There wasn\u2019t what \u2014 you couldn\u2019t re- \u2014 you couldn\u2019t reduce your taxes.  <\/p>\n<p>So we made sure it was refundable.  Because guess what?  It\u2019s just as hard for a firefighter or a teacher or a cop who has the benefit of that tax break to raise his kids as for a wealthy person to raise their kid.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>No, and \u2014 and by the way, it\u2019s not a criticism of the wealthy.  It\u2019s just to think about it.  Think about it.  It was well intended originally when \u2014 when the Childcare Tax Credit \u2014 when the Child Tax Credit existed early on.  Because you said, \u201cWell, we got to give a break for raising kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But I remember it used to drive my dad nuts, because we had four kids.  It was a lot less.  It was less than a thou- \u2014 it was 1,000 bucks then.  But, you know, if you\u2019re making what was 12,000 bucks a year \u2014 that was like making 40 now or 50 \u2014 if you\u2019re making that kind of money, you didn\u2019t have any taxes you could deduct it from, so there wasn\u2019t any benefit for your kids.<\/p>\n<p>Look, that\u2019s why the American Rescue Plan \u2014 we didn\u2019t expand the amount \u2014 well, we expanded the amount, but I \u2014 even if we don\u2019t expand the amount \u2014 middle-class tax cut \u2014 we made it refundable.  So you get paid back what you would\u2019ve had to pay, which you got to deduct if you made more money.  So the money you \u2014 go directly into your pocket, helping with your kids. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I\u2019m so thankful for counties like Salt Lake County and Miami-Dade County \u2014 created programs to help lower-income folks who typically don\u2019t even file taxes because they\u2019re below minimum wage or don\u2019t have any income to get the assistance they need but they have to file in order to get the assistance.<\/p>\n<p>You all reached out and said, \u201cLook, you have a benefit coming, but you got to file taxes.\u201d  And you helped them do it.  You \u2014 and I used to have a friend who was a great basketball player back in the days when Providence had great teams \u2014 Providence College.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>No, I mean, they had \u2014 they had some superstars at the time.  His name was Pete McLaughlin, and he wasn\u2019t the \u2014 he passed away.  But he wasn\u2019t the \u2014 he used to say \u2014 he wasn\u2019t the sharpest academic candle on the table, but he knew what was going on.  And he knew how to \u2014 he said, you know \u2014 he had an expression: \u201cYou got to know how to know.\u201d  I can take you into the greatest library in the world, the Library of Congress; if you don\u2019t know how to read the card catalog, it\u2019s useless to you.  You got to know how to know.<\/p>\n<p>So, you\u2019re helping people know how to know how to get inter- \u2014 what they need.  And it\u2019s all about making sure people [who] have more economic difficulty raising their families can finally get a benefit that wealthier people get in the tax burdens and the Child Tax Credit.<\/p>\n<p>But, look, another thing that funding can support, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, is jobs.  It\u2019s going to create millions \u2014 several million jobs.  Folks, look, it took a long time and a lot of administration, but we finally passed a Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.  Everybody.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>     And we finally ended \u201cInfrastructure Week.\u201d  We got something done.  (Laughter.)  Everybody knew America was falling behind in infrastructure. <\/p>\n<p>     After years of dead ends and broken promises, we came together \u2014 Democrats and Republicans \u2014 and we did something about it. <\/p>\n<p>     Not only has Infrastructure Week finally arrived, we can look forward to an infrastructure decade; that\u2019s what this is for 10 years. <\/p>\n<p>     Just 92 \u2014 just 92 days after I signed the law, it\u2019s already making a tangible difference.<\/p>\n<p>     We announced billions of funding allocations to put people to work in good-paying jobs cleaning up rivers in Ohio, chemical plants in Florida, and dozens of other sites; bolstering the energy grid with a stronger transmission lines and towers; modernizing bridges like the one I visited in Grafton County up in New Hampshire, where the weight restrictions could force school buses and firetrucks to go 10 miles out of their way to get on the other side of the river; and capping and plugging tens of thousands of orphaned oil wells and gas wells that continue to spew methane, which is a \u2014 deadly for the environment.  Creating jobs as good as the folks who dug those wells in the first place with the same salaries.   <\/p>\n<p>This is only the beginning.  Hundreds of billions in new investments are on the way.  Now it\u2019s time for the counties to get ready.  You don\u2019t have to wait until the projects start.  You can use the resources from the American Rescue Plan now.<\/p>\n<p>     You\u2019re going to need welders, pipefitters, advanced manufacturers ready to take on those jobs.  And it takes training to do those jobs well, and that\u2019s why union workers are the best in the world, because they actually get the job done cheaper because they don\u2019t waste any time.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>But you can start \u2014 (applause) \u2014 I know you all know, but you can start those Rescue Plan funds now by building pathways to better jobs through union-based apprentice programs and on-the-job training.  Like, you know, Maricopa County in Arizona, where they\u2019re using American Rescue Plan funds to help young workers develop in-demand technical skills so you know what the country is going to need.  Community colleges are doing it as well.<\/p>\n<p>     Boone County, Campbell County, Kenton County, Kentucky, where you\u2019re expanding high-speed Internet to nearly 100,000 homes and businesses.<\/p>\n<p>You know, how many times did you ride by a McDonald\u2019s parking lot in the middle of the pandemic and see people out there sitting \u2014 a mom and dad \u2014 tying into the network so their kids could do their homework remotely?  This is the United States of America, for God\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n<p>     Cook County, Illinois, where you\u2019re using Rescue Plan funds to work with the Southland Metals Hub, helping workers prepare to take on manufacturing and infrastructure jobs and strengthening the supply chains in the Heartland.<\/p>\n<p>     And Rescue Plan funds we delivered to your count- \u2014 to your counties, they can help each of you build a strong, diverse workforce you\u2019ll need to take up and take on these infrastructure jobs so that we\u2019re \u2014 there are \u2014 more families can deal themselves into this booming economy.<\/p>\n<p>     The truth is, we have an incredible opportunity ahead of us.  And that\u2019s not hyperbole; we really do.  We still have a lot of work to do to put together we\u2019ve \u2014 we\u2019ve proven that we can get big things done in this country bipartisanly. <\/p>\n<p>     And we all know the challenges still remain.  We\u2019re still fighting a deadly virus.  We still need more people to get vaccinated and boosted. <\/p>\n<p>But thanks to our \u2014 your partnership, we\u2019ve gone from 2 million people vaccinated, when I got elected, to 215 million people vaccinated.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>     And \u2014 and, again, I\u2019m not being solicitous.  You\u2019ve been critical partners since day one on masking, texing [sic] \u2014 testing, and vas- \u2014 vaccinations, standing strong against misinformation, and sometimes even withstanding shameful personal attacks.  Through it all, you\u2019ve led with patriotism and resolve.  And you\u2019ve saved lives.<\/p>\n<p>     Another challenge we face is eading- [sic] the \u2014 easing the burden on working families.  This \u2014 there\u2019s real inflation.  And if you\u2019re in a working-class family, it hurts.  That\u2019s why my Build Back Better plan \u2014 what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n<p>     Look, families are getting clobbered by the cost of everyday things.  You know, I know that gas and food prices are up; we\u2019re working to bring them down.<\/p>\n<p>     And I grew up in a family where the price at the pump was felt in the kitchen.  Everybody knew.  Everybody felt it.  I understand.  These are necessities, but they\u2019re not the totality of what a family needs.<\/p>\n<p>     So, while we work on supply chains and we work on bringing down the costs of the things that we\u2019re talking about have gone up so high, we still have other ways we can reduce the burden on working-class families. <\/p>\n<p>They still have to pay for childcare.  Families can spend as much as $14,000 a year in some parts of the country for childcare.  My plan: The cost of childcare for working families will cost 7 percent of your income.  No more.  And that helps millions of parents, especially women, get back to work.  Twenty million of them are not working now.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>     And, by the way, it ends up paying for itself when they\u2019re back to work paying taxes. <\/p>\n<p>Look, we still pay for \u2014 we still have to pay for prescription drugs.  You want to benefit a family?  Reduce the cost of the prescription drugs they have to pay.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>In America \u2014 in America, we pay the highest price for prescription drugs in the world \u2014 of any developed nation in the world.  About two to three times what other countries pay.<\/p>\n<p>     Let me give you a \u2014 I can give you hundreds of examples; I\u2019m giving you one.  One anti-cancer drug to treat leukemia and lymphoma that costs $14,000 a month in the United States \u2014 that same exact drug, by the same drug company \u2014 the same company \u2014 that drug sold in France costs $6,000.  Six thousand dollars.   <\/p>\n<p>     Those of you who live on the Canadian border \u2014 you know, when you cross the border, you can buy the same drug for a hell of a lot less than you can buy in the United States.  Same manufacturer.<\/p>\n<p>Or take insulin: The costs of drug companies to provide insulin \u2014 a vial of insulin \u2014 costs less than $10 to make.  But there are many families, like families I met last week in Culpeper, Virginia, paying $300 per vial for medicine they need every single day for Type 1 diabetes.  If they have good healthcare coverage \u2014 this family does \u2014 but they still have to pay $5,600 for prescriptions before their insurance kicks in.<\/p>\n<p>     Think about that: 200,000 American children with Type 1 diabetes.  Think about being one of those parents.  \u201cWe don\u2019t have insurance.\u201d  But you know your child, to live, needs that insulin.  How do you look that child in the eye when you don\u2019t have the income or you don\u2019t have \u2014 you don\u2019t have the insurance?  What do you do?<\/p>\n<p>Not only do you worry if your child may die, but you\u2019re stripped of your dignity.  You\u2019re stripped of your sense of who you are, not being able to afford that child\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n<p>Look, we can cap the cost of insulin to $35 a month.  Drug companies will still make money.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>Now, let me digress just for a moment.  I started the Cancer Moonshot, which I worked very hard on in the administration \u2014 the administration I served in last.  And I held conferences all over the country with literally thousands of people and, at the same time, doing it virtually.  And after one of them, I got the 12 largest drug companies in one room.  And I said, \u201cIf you found a cure for a particular cancer\u201d \u2014 and I named a cancer \u2014 I said, \u201cWhat amount of money do you think you should be able to charge for that drug?\u201d  They said, \u201cWhatever the market will bear.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And I said, \u201cWell, you know, many places, like Germany, you can get and make sure you make a profit that\u2019s 20 to 30 percent \u2014 even 40 percent \u2014 more than your total investment.   But once they set the price, that\u2019s the only price you can pay to sell that drug.  You still make 30, 40 percent profit after all your expenses you demonstrate.  And the other provision is you can\u2019t increase the price for that drug beyond the cost of inflation unless you\u2019ve done additional work on the drug to improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>     Think about where we\u2019re going.  We\u2019re on the \u2014 we\u2019re on the verge \u2014 thank God \u2014 of some significant breakthroughs in healthcare.  But should it be based upon what you can afford to pay?  If Congress acts, we could take care of things with the stroke of a pen tomorrow.<br \/>\n     We have a generation of so-called \u201csandwich generation\u201d \u2014 many of you are part of it \u2014 trying to take care of your children while taking care of your aging mom or dad.<\/p>\n<p>     We can help make it work \u2014 care for our elderly parents and have someone install a handrail in the shower, make sure they have steps that they can get up and down, someone can pick up their prescriptions while you\u2019re working, and allow them to continue to live in the dignity of their home.<\/p>\n<p>     But guess what?  That saves a hell of a lot of money, because the cost of that \u2014 and by the way, that\u2019s available under Medicare now, except 880,000 people don\u2019t \u2014 can\u2019t get into the program yet. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a lot cheaper to have mom and dad live at home with minimal expense than have the public pick up the cost of healthcare \u2014 of housing for the elderly.  We can do all that and still save money so when they put their head on the pillow at night, they can have peace of mind.<\/p>\n<p>     I\u2019m going to work like the devil to bring gas prices down.<\/p>\n<p>     And we\u2019re going to keep working to strengthen supply chains to bring the cost of every good down, particularly food and automobiles.<\/p>\n<p>     But you know the best news of all of this?  Nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in taxes for any of these services.  We can do it without increasing the deficit.<\/p>\n<p>     As a matter of fact, last year, we reduced the deficit by $300 billion.  (Applause.)  But by passing the elements of the Build Back Better plan, which reduced the burden on families, I got a letter from 17 Nobel laureates \u2014 came to me to say this plan, my plan, will ease long-term inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n<p>     Look, we can tackle these challenges, but only if we keep coming together.  The fact is: We can\u2019t do it without you.  You understand what families are up against.  You understand the cost if we fail to act.  We need your voices, of the county officials, helping us \u2014 folks understand what our communities need.<\/p>\n<p>     If we can get this done, there\u2019s no limit to what America can achieve.  So let\u2019s g- \u2014 let\u2019s give working people a better chance than they\u2019ve had, a quality they deserve, by investing in the future of every county. <\/p>\n<p>     Let\u2019s face these challenges head on, but let\u2019s keep building back better. <\/p>\n<p>     We\u2019re the only country in the world where whatever crisis we\u2019ve gone through, we\u2019ve ended up on the other side better off than we were before we got into the crisis.  We\u2019re the only one.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>     And folks, let me say one other thing: I had a group of eight major utilities come to see me to tell me they wanted to see the Build Back Better plan put in place, even though they knew they were going to pay higher taxes; corporate taxes could go up to 24 percent.<\/p>\n<p>     You know, there are \u2014 of the major Fortune 500 companies, there are 52 that made over $40 billion, didn\u2019t pay a single penny in tax.<\/p>\n<p>     Look, I\u2019m a capitalist.  I know \u2014 I think you should be able to go out and make a million or a billion dollars if you have the capability, but just pay a little bit.  Pay your fair share.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>     No, I\u2019m serious.  I\u2019m serious.  And that\u2019s why we\u2019re getting so much support for the things we\u2019re doing. <\/p>\n<p>     That\u2019s why, for example \u2014 and it\u2019s major corporations coming to us.  For example, you ride through some fields in Iowa \u2014 I mean, excuse me, Ohio, and it looks like there\u2019s nothing there except beautiful land stretched out.  Well, guess what?  An outfit called Intel came to me and said, \u201cWe want to invest $20 billion in those fields, creating 7,600 jobs to build a facility and 3,500 jobs permanent; average salary of those permanent jobs, $135,000 a year.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>     You know what they\u2019re doing?  They\u2019re going to make computer chips, because there are no \u2014 you know, one third of inflation is a consequence of the cost of automobiles going up.  Why are they going up?  We invented the computer chip, but we don\u2019t make it.  We have to get it from \u2014 everyone from Taiwan to China to other places. <\/p>\n<p>     Look, we can do this.  We can do this by reasserting who, in God\u2019s name, we are: the United States of America.  There\u2019s nothing \u2014 I mean this from the bottom of my heart \u2014 there\u2019s nothing beyond our capacity.  There\u2019s nothing we cannot do if we do it together.  That\u2019s always been who we are. <\/p>\n<p>This is the United States of America.  You can make a million bucks and still pay your fair share.  And everybody \u2014 when have you ever seen \u2014 I was talking to somebody.  I said, \u201cYou know, you go through\u2026\u201d  Neighboring state of New Jersey, from Delaware \u2014 my area is down by the shore.  You ride through an intersection where there\u2019s a big circle and there are four or five roads coming off of it.  And usually in the middle of that circle, there\u2019s plant \u2014 you can \u2014 you know, you can plant trees and flowers and the like. <\/p>\n<p>I can tell you the communities \u2014 and I said this to somebody and then they showed me a study that it was true.  I can tell you whether the community has renters or owners.  When they\u2019re owners, that middle circle is beautiful; it\u2019s planted.  When they\u2019re renters, they\u2019re not.  Doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s anything wrong with renting, but it means engaging in the community. <\/p>\n<p>Look, folks, when middle-class folks do well, there\u2019s never been a time the wealthy don\u2019t do very, very well.  (Applause.)  So, folks, let\u2019s stick to the people we need. <\/p>\n<p>Thank you for listening to me.  May God bless you.  And may God protect our troops.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>1:48 P.M. EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Folks, my name is Joe Biden. (Laughter.) And I used to be a county councilman. (Applause.) And I ran for the Senate because it was too damn hard being in the council. (Laughter.) It\u2019s great to be back with you all. Commissioner Larry Johnson of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Chrome-Legacy-Window-2152022-61345-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136306,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136304\/revisions\/136306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/136305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}