{"id":175635,"date":"2024-04-17T23:31:29","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T06:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=175635"},"modified":"2024-04-17T23:31:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T06:31:29","slug":"president-biden-on-actions-to-protect-u-s-steel-and-shipbuilding-industry-from-chinas-unfair-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=175635","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on Actions to Protect U.S. Steel and Shipbuilding Industry from China\u2019s Unfair Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pittsburgh, PA&#8230;Hello, Pittsburgh.  (Applause.)  Please have a seat.  Robert, thank you for that introduction and for sharing your story about being a third-generation steelworker and a Marine Corps veteran.  Where are you?  Are you over on this side?  There you are.  Well, I want to thank you for the \u2014 your new president, by the way.  Dave McCall has been a friend of mine and a friend of a former president.  We \u2014 we miss him, but it\u2019s great to have you, Dave.  You\u2019ve been a good friend.  And we\u2019re both longtime friends \u2014 (applause) \u2014 we\u2019re both longtime friend of Tom\u2019s as well.  We miss him dearly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-175636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM.jpg 640w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM-123x70.jpg 123w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM-570x322.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z2sif3eV4Hg\" title=\"04\/17\/24: President Biden Delivers Remarks\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dave, you\u2019re doing a great job in his footsteps and \u2014 and it\u2019s just going to get better, in my view.<\/p>\n<p> There\u2019s an expression that comes to mind: \u201cYou go home with them that brung you to the dance.\u201d  And you brought me to the dance.  (Applause.)  No joke.<\/p>\n<p> The Mayor and I are buddies.  I told the Mayor \u2014 and I mean it sincerely \u2014 the first outfit ever to endorse me as a 29-year-old kid running in a tough year for United States Senate, making me the second youngest man ever elected to the Senate, was a guy named Hughie Carcella.  And back in those days, the s- \u2014 we had a big steelworkers \u2014 we had a lot of steelworkers in Claymont, Delaware, where I was from, because they worked in Worth Steel Company. <\/p>\n<p>And \u2014 and I\u2019ll never forget coming to me and saying, \u201cWe\u2019re going to get you help.\u201d  And I came out to Pittsburgh and you \u2014 and the steelworkers endorsed me.  It changed everything.  (Applause.) <\/p>\n<p>Nixon won my state \u2014 Nixon won my state of Delaware with 60 percent of the vote, and I won with an astounding 3,100 majority \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 3,100 majority.  And it\u2019s thanks to you.  I really mean it.<\/p>\n<p> I\u2019m Pittsburgh and \u2014 because of \u2014 and I really mean it: My love for Pittsburgh goes back to my Scranton days.  My Grandfather Finnegan always talked about Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p> Any rate, to make a long story short, the bottom line, for all kidding aside, is I\u2019m president because of you guys.  I really am.  And I\u2019m proud, as was mentioned earlier \u2014 I\u2019m proud to be the most pro-union president in American history, for real.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> Where I was raised, it ain\u2019t labor; it\u2019s unions \u2014 unions.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> I had an uncle.  He\u2019d say, \u201cJoey, you are union from belt buckle to shoe sole.\u201d  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p> Well, I want to thank some folks who had my back and \u2014 and had to stay back in Washington and couldn\u2019t be here today.  Representatives Summer Lee and \u2014 you know, I \u2014 she \u2014 by the way, there are votes going on \u2014 and Chris DeLuzio.  And Senator Bobby Casey is one of my closest friends, as his dad was.  And John Fetterman, who I want to stay on his side no matter what.  (Laughter and applause.) <\/p>\n<p> And thank you to all the state and local leaders here, including the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Ed Gainey.  Ed, you\u2019re the best buddy.  You\u2019ve \u2014 you\u2019ve really stepped up.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> And a great leader, JoJo Burgess, an Army veteran from a steelworking family.  He was my guest at the State of the Union just a couple of years ago.  He came back home to Washington, Pennsylvania, and decided to run for mayor, and he won.  (Applause.)  And he\u2019s still working as a steelworker.  But that\u2019s America.<\/p>\n<p> Look, folks, it was \u2014 I was \u2014 almost exactly five years ago that I began my campaign for president right here in Pittsburgh, where I announced.<\/p>\n<p> I said one of the reasons I was running was to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class.  And it was already mentioned \u2014 it\u2019s been mentioned a thousand times, thankfully, since then \u2014 that the backbone of America has a steel spine.  It really does have a steel spine.<\/p>\n<p> You heard me say it before: Wall Street didn\u2019t build America; the middle class didn\u2019t build \u2014 built America, and you guys built the middle class.  Unions built it.<\/p>\n<p> And that\u2019s why I\u2019m here today to announce a series of actions that I stand by you, the American steelworker.<\/p>\n<p> Look, first, U.S. Steel has been an iconic American company for more than a century.  And it should remain a totally American company \u2014 (applause) \u2014 American owned, American operated, by American union steelworkers \u2014 the best in the world.  And it\u2019s \u2014 that\u2019s going to happen.  I promise you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> Second, American steelworkers can outwork, outcompete as long as they have fair competition.  But for too long, the Chinese government has poured state money into Chinese steel companies, pushing them to make so much steel \u2014 as much as possible \u2014 subsidized by the Chinese government.<\/p>\n<p> Because Chinese steel companies produce a lot more steel than China needs, it ends up dumping the extra steel into the global markets at unfairly low prices.  And the prices are unfairly low because Chinese steel companies don\u2019t need to worry about making a profit, because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily. <\/p>\n<p> They\u2019re not competing.  They\u2019re cheating.  They\u2019re cheating.  And we\u2019ve seen the damage here in America.<\/p>\n<p> You know, back in the early 2000s, the Chinese steel began floating the mar- \u2014 flooding the market wi- \u2014 in steel towns all across Pennsylvania and Ohio, who were hit very hard.<\/p>\n<p>Between those years, 2000 and 2010, more than 14,000 steelworkers [and ironworkers] in Pennsylvania and Ohio lost their jobs \u2014 14,000.<\/p>\n<p> Let me ask you: Are we going to let that happen again?<\/p>\n<p> AUDIENCE:  No!<\/p>\n<p> THE PRESIDENT:  I promise you that I\u2019m not going to let that happen again.<\/p>\n<p> Look, right now, my U.S. Trade Representative is investigating trade practices by the Chinese government regarding steel and aluminum.  If that investigation confirms these anti-competitive trade practices, then I\u2019m calling on her to consider tripling the tariff rates for both steel imports and aluminum imports from China.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> And we know that Chinese steel and aluminum are being imported into America through Mexico that avoids the tariff.  And just yesterday, I had a delegation down in Mexico meeting with AMLO, the Mexican president, to address this issue. <\/p>\n<p>Mexico and the United States are going to work together to solve it, I promise you.  I promise you.<\/p>\n<p> My administration is also taking a real hard look at the Chinese government\u2019s industrial practices when it comes to global shipbuilding, which is critical to our economy.  We depend on a fleet of commercial shipping vessels that carry American products around the world.<\/p>\n<p> Shipbuilding is critical to our national security, including the strength of the United States Navy.<\/p>\n<p> That\u2019s why my administration takes it very seriously that U.S. Steelworkers, along with four other unions, have asked us to investigate whether the Chinese government is using anticompetitive practices to artificially lower prices in the shipbuilding industry.<\/p>\n<p> We\u2019ve heard you.<\/p>\n<p> And if the Chinese government is doing that and the unfair tactics to undermine free and fair trade competition in the shipping industry, I will take action.  That investigation is going on.<\/p>\n<p> Taken together, these are strategic and targeted actions that are going to protect American workers and ensure fair competition.<\/p>\n<p> Meanwhile, my predecessor and the MAGA Republicans want across-the-board tariffs on all imports from all countries.  That could badly hurt American consumers.  It\u2019s estimated it would cost the average American family an average of $1,500 a year if they succeeded in doing that.<\/p>\n<p> Trump simply doesn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n<p>For years, I\u2019ve heard my \u2014 many of my Republican and even Democratic friends say that China is on the rise and America has been falling behind.  You may have noticed, the last two years, I\u2019ve been the only one disagreeing with that.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve always believed we\u2019ve [they\u2019ve] got it all wrong.  America is rising.  And we have the best economy in the world, which we do.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And since I\u2019ve come to office, our GDP is up, our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest level in over a decade, and we\u2019re standing up against the Chinese government unfair economic practice and industrial over-capacity.<\/p>\n<p> And we are the strongest economic \u2014 economy in the world.<\/p>\n<p> In addition \u2014 and, by the way, China has got more \u2014 I always say to my colleagues \u2014 when I meet other world leaders, I say, \u201cWould you trade places with China?  Would you trade places with their problems?\u201d  They\u2019ve got a population that is more people in retirement than working.  They\u2019re not in- \u2014 they\u2019re not importing any \u2014 they\u2019re not bringing \u2014 they\u2019re xenophobic \u2014 no \u2014 nobody coming \u2014 else coming in.  They\u2019ve got real problems.<\/p>\n<p> I\u2019m not looking for a fight with China.  I\u2019m looking for competition, but fair competition.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, we\u2019re standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.  I\u2019ve revitalized our partnerships in \u2014 and our alliances in the Pacific with India, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, and other Pacific Island nations.<\/p>\n<p> I\u2019ve made sure that we have the most advanced technologies that we\u2019ve developed and invented, and they can\u2019t be sent to China or undermine our \u2014 because it\u2019ll undermine our national security.<\/p>\n<p> When I spoke with Xi Jinping, he said, \u201cWhy?\u201d  I said, \u201cBecause you use it for all the wrong reasons, so you\u2019re not going to get those advanced computer chips.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Finally, for all this tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do any of that.<\/p>\n<p> The bottom line is that I want fair competition with China, not conflict, and we\u2019re in a stronger position to win the economic competition of the 21st century against China or anyone else because we\u2019re investing in America and American workers again, finally.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> You know, there\u2019s a law, back in the \u201830s, that passed when we \u2014 about whether unions could exist.  There\u2019s a provision that no \u2014 very few people \u2014 very few presidents ever paid attention to.  If a president is sent money from the Congress to do something for the public, he must use American products and must use American workers, unless you couldn\u2019t find them.  Well, guess what?  A lot of them didn\u2019t find them, except me.  (Laughter and applause.)  No, I mean it.  Not a joke.<\/p>\n<p> Everything we build, we build with American product and with American workers, period.  (Applause.)  And it doesn\u2019t violate any trade agreement. <\/p>\n<p> Thanks to my Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we announced over 51,000 new infrastructure projects all across America \u2014 (applause) \u2014 so far \u2014 we\u2019re just getting started \u2014 including roads, bridges, ports, airports, clean water systems, high-speed affordable Internet, all across America.<\/p>\n<p> You may remember, my predecessor promised \u201cInfrastructure Week\u201d after week after week \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 for four years and never built a damn thing.  (Applause.)  Nothing.  No, I\u2019m serious: Nothing.<\/p>\n<p> And, by the way, these projects are going to be using \u2014 using American-made materials, like American steel and American concrete, creating good-paying American jobs \u2014 union jobs.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p> Why?  As I said \u2014 I\u2019ve already said it, but since the \u201830s, the law has said we could do that.  And that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m doing. <\/p>\n<p> And we\u2019re buying American.  We are selling American.  It\u2019s all about America.  We buy America.<\/p>\n<p> And past administrations, including my predecessor, failed to uphold that \u201cBuy American\u201d provision.  Not anymore.  That\u2019s \u2014 that\u2019s over.  We \u2014 American products and American workers.<\/p>\n<p> Look, folks, you know, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant law taking on climate change ever anywhere in the world \u2014 anywhere in the world. <\/p>\n<p>We didn\u2019t get anybody to vote for it, other than my Democratic friends.  Okay?<\/p>\n<p> Well, guess what?  That includes billions of dollars in investments in industries of the future, including clean American steel.  It\u2019s clean because the way we produce it here emits much less carbon than the steel made in China.<\/p>\n<p> Last month, my administration announced the largest investment ever in clean manufacturing in American history \u2014 in all of American history.  (Applause.)  It included up to $1.5 billion in six clean steel projects across America \u2014 $1.5 billion.  It\u2019s going to create and support thousands of union jobs, including at \u2014 at Butler Works in \u2014 in Lyndora, Pe- \u2014 over in Lyndora, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p> My predecessor and his Republican friends in Congress want to repeal that law that would cut those jobs.  And it would cut the jobs if you repeal the law.  I\u2019m serious. <\/p>\n<p>The \u2014 I know when I say these things, you wonder can that \u2014 could they be \u2014 possibly be that stupid?  (Laughter.)  I \u2014 I shouldn\u2019t say it that way.  (Laughter.) <\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019m serious.  Think about it.  Just check it out.  That\u2019s what they want to do.  But that\u2019s not all.<\/p>\n<p>My predecessor rolled back protections for American workers.  He opposed the increase overall for federal minimum wage.  He put union busters on the National Labor Relations Board.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE:  Booo \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  For real.  Well, you know he did.  Think \u2014 think of what the board looked like before I became president.  Not a joke.  Not a joke.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, since I was sworn in as president, because of you, look at what we\u2019ve achieved together.  Through my American Rescue Plan, I enacted the Butch Lewis Act, the most significant law \u2014 (applause) \u2014 the most significant law for union workers and retirees in 50 years. <\/p>\n<p>Think of what would happen if we didn\u2019t get that passed.  And none of them wanted to help me.  But we got it done.<\/p>\n<p>It protected the hard-earned pensions of more than 120,000 steelworkers.  (Applause.)  Folks, you\u2019ve had my back, and I promise I have your back.<\/p>\n<p>We made that happen while my predecessor never lifted a finger to help.<\/p>\n<p> I also increased the federal minimum wage for federal contracts.  The people I\u2019ve appointed to the National Labor Relations Board actually care about American workers.<\/p>\n<p> So far, we\u2019ve created 15 million \u2014 as mentioned earlier \u2014 new jobs \u2014 a record in a \u2014 in a term of a president \u2014 (applause) \u2014 492,000 new jobs so far in Pennsylvania alone.  (Applause.)  Under my predecessor, who is busy right now \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 Pennsylvania lost 275,000 jobs.  I mean, let\u2019s \u2014 let\u2019s look at the facts.<\/p>\n<p> On my watch, unemployment hasn\u2019t been this low for this long in 50 years.  (Applause.)  That\u2019s 50 years.  Wages are rising.  American manufacturing is booming.  We\u2019ve created up close to 800,000 new manufacturing jobs since I became president, including 28,000 manufacturing jobs right here in Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n<p> We\u2019ve attracted $680 billion \u2014 let me say it again \u2014 $680 billion in private-sector investment in advanced manufacturing and clean energy here in America, including $4 billion just here in the state of Pennsylvania so far.<\/p>\n<p> Folks, instead of importing foreign products and exporting American jobs, we\u2019re exporting American products and creating American jobs.  Think about \u2014 think of all the time \u2014 think \u2014 think of the last years where they\u2019d go \u2014 American \u2014 corporate America wanted to go find the cheapest labor in the world, send the jobs overseas, and then import the product home.  Not anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Together, we\u2019re doing what\u2019s always worked best for this country.  We\u2019re investing in all of America, in all Americans. <\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re building an economy from the middle out \u2014 not \u2014 and the bottom up, not the top down.  Because when we do that, the poor have a ladder up and the middle class do well and the wealthy still do very well.  (Applause.)  We all do well.  No, for real.<\/p>\n<p> Look, let me close with this.  I just came from my hometown, Scranton, Pennsylvania, a place like Pittsburgh that sort of climbs into your heart and never leaves you.  And it really doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p> My mom didn\u2019t live in \u2014 in Scranton since she was \u2014 1954, but when you\u2019d ask Mom where is she from, she\u2019d say, \u201cScranton.\u201d  \u201cScranton.\u201d  (Laughter.)  Well, where you learn basic \u2014 a basic value set, like you do here. <\/p>\n<p> Money doesn\u2019t determine your worth, I would always be told.  Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. <\/p>\n<p>My dad used to say, \u201cA job is about a lot more than a paycheck \u2014 worth a lot more than a paycheck, pal.  It\u2019s about your dignity.  It\u2019s about respect.  It\u2019s about being treated with respect.\u201d <\/p>\n<p> And he\u2019d say \u2014 he\u2019d always \u2014 and I give you my word.  These are phrases he\u2019d always use.  He\u2019d say, \u201cYou know, not only being able to give \u2014 have respect, but being able to look your kid in the eye and say, \u2018Honey, it\u2019s going to be okay,\u2019 and mean it \u2014 mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Look, everyone \u2014 everyone deserves a fair shot \u2014 just a fair shot.  And we\u2019re going to leave no one behind.<\/p>\n<p> Folks, that\u2019s my view of the economy \u2014 from Scranton, from Pittsburgh, from the thousands of working- and middle-class neighborhoods all across America.  It\u2019s a future we are building together.<\/p>\n<p> As I said, I always think of my dad.  I really mean it.  My Dad, during the war, he didn\u2019t get to go to college.  He got a \u2014 he was from Bal- \u2014 as they say in Baltimore, Baltimore \u2014 (pronounced in an accent) \u2014 (laughter) \u2014 he was from \u2014 he was from Baltimore, and then his father, then, worked for American Oil Company and moved to Wilmington and then to Scranton to open up business \u2014 to open up stations. <\/p>\n<p> And \u2014 but he always would come home and \u2014 and he\u2019d go back and close the business.  He didn\u2019t own it; he was a \u2014 managed a dealership.  And he\u2019d say, \u201cA job is a lot more than a paycheck.\u201d  And it really is.  It\u2019s about treating people with dignity.  It\u2019s about treating them with respect.  And, look, it\u2019s going to be okay.  It\u2019s going to be okay.<\/p>\n<p> Folks, because of you, the American worker, I\u2019ve never been more optimistic about America\u2019s future.  And I mean it.  I really, truly am.<\/p>\n<p> When my son died, I decided I wa- \u2014 he had spent a year in Iraq, and he \u2014 unfortunately, his hooch was next to a burn pit.  And he went one of the most fit guys in his \u2014 in his regiment, and he came home with stage four glioblastoma.  They\u2019re more brain injuries for \u2014 for folks fighting in Iraq than any other place in the world.<\/p>\n<p> Remember what happened to all those firemen in 9\/11?  Same thing happened because these burn pits are just awful.  They put everything from human waste to \u2014 anyway \u2014<\/p>\n<p>And \u2014 and I \u2014 and so, I wasn\u2019t going to run.  But what happened was, when he passed, you remember that \u2014 right after that \u2014 well, you don\u2019t remember him passing in 2015.  And I w- \u2014 I wasn\u2019t going to run.  I was going to write a book about inflection points in American history, where the actions we take in a short period of time determine what happens in the next five or six decades.  Well, that\u2019s one of the places we\u2019re at right now. <\/p>\n<p>And when those folks came walking out of those fields \u2014 down in Charlottesville, Virginia \u2014 carrying Nazi banners, singing the same garbage that they sang in Hitler\u2019s streets in Germany in the \u201830s, carrying torches, accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan, and a young woman was killed, I decided that I had to run.  I had to run.  Our democracy is at stake, and it really is.<\/p>\n<p>But you know what changes it?  When you make the economy grow.  When you stand up and ordinary people have an even shot and they\u2019re not at all susceptible to the garbage that\u2019s fed from these guys.  It\u2019s pure garbage. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m supposed to stop.  I \u2014 I shouldn\u2019t keep going.  (Laughter and applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Well, folks, look \u2014 look, we\u2019ve got to just remember who we are.  And I can\u2019t \u2014 well, when I left Scranton today, I wanted to go to the war memorial that has the names of all the Scrantonians who died in World War Two etched into a granite wall, because I wanted to see where my uncle \u2014 \u201cUncle Bosie,\u201d Ambrose J. Finnegan \u2014 where his name was etched.<\/p>\n<p>Back a- \u2014 when D-Day occurred and \u2014 on Sunday, the next day, my mother\u2019s four brothers all went down to the recruiting station and joined the military.  Every one of them volunteered. <\/p>\n<p>And my uncle \u2014 they called him Un- \u2014 Ambrose \u2014 instead of \u201cBrosie,\u201d they called him \u201cBosie.\u201d  My Uncle Bosie was a hell of an athlete, they tell me, when he was a kid.  And he became an Army Air Corps, before the Air Force came along.  He flew those single-engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones.<\/p>\n<p>And he got shot down in New Guinea, and they never found the body because there used to be \u2014 there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea. <\/p>\n<p>And \u2014 and then my son volunteered to go to Iraq for a year.  And he came back with stage four glioblastoma.  And they \u2014 and they gave \u2014 like many of you, risked your lives and you know people who gave their lives for the country.  They\u2019re heroes. <\/p>\n<p>But one of the things that I \u2014 as I was doing that today, I was reminded of what my opponent said in Paris not too long ago.  They asked him if he would go visit American gravesites.  He said, \u201cNo,\u201d he wouldn\u2019t do it, because they were all \u201csuckers\u201d and \u201closers.\u201d <\/p>\n<p> I\u2019m not making that up.  His staff who was with him acknowledge it today.  \u201cSuckers\u201d and \u201closers.\u201d  That man doesn\u2019t deserve to have been the Commander-in-Chief for my son, my uncle. <\/p>\n<p>So, folks, we got a lot of work to do, but I\u2019m confident we can do it.  And I mean it.  I\u2019ve never been more optimistic about our possibilities as a nation. <\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s go out and get (inaudible).  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re the United States of America.  There\u2019s nothing beyond our capacity \u2014 nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>2:50 P.M. EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pittsburgh, PA&#8230;Hello, Pittsburgh. (Applause.) Please have a seat. Robert, thank you for that introduction and for sharing your story about being a third-generation steelworker and a Marine Corps veteran. Where are you? Are you over on this side? There you are. Well, I want to thank you for the \u2014 your new president, by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175636,"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":[3,20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-4172024-112601-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175635","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=175635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175637,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175635\/revisions\/175637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/175636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=175635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=175635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=175635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}