{"id":28185,"date":"2016-11-19T08:28:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T16:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=28185"},"modified":"2016-11-19T08:28:22","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T16:28:22","slug":"weekly-address-building-on-a-record-of-economic-progress-by-vice-president-joe-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=28185","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Address: Building on a Record of Economic Progress By Vice President Joe Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Hi folks, this is Joe Biden.  Over the last eight years, we\u2019ve created more jobs than all the advanced economies in the world combined. Unemployment has been cut in half. Wages are finally on the rise. We\u2019ve gone from economic crisis to recovery to the cusp of genuine resurgence\u2014and we\u2019re better positioned to own the 21st Century\u2014economically and otherwise\u2014than any other nation in the world.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/smghyezLW5o\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But we know there\u2019s more we can do and more than needs to be done to make this resurgence permanent. And it begins and ends with what the President and I have believed since day one\u2014we have to give the American workers a fighting chance. We have to build the middle class. Restore the basic bargain, which was\u2014if workers contribute to the success of an enterprise, then they should share in the gains. We have to make sure that everyone who\u2019s worked hard and played by the rules has a real shot at getting into the middle-class and staying there.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last eight years, we\u2019ve worked with Congress to try to do all those things.<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Every worker in America\u2014more than 160 million\u2014got an average payroll tax cut of $1,000 per year;<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Better unemployment benefits for 18 million job-seekers during the recession;<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Trillions of dollars in tax cuts for low-and middle-income families.<\/p>\n<p>And when Republicans in Congress didn\u2019t act, we used our executive authority to\u2014<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Extend overtime coverage for over 4 million workers\u2014boosting their wages by $12 billion over the next decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         We\u2019ve given additional paid sick leave to more than 1.1 million workers employed by federal contractors\u2014and we\u2019re requiring that those workers earn at least $10.10 per hour.<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7         Help to close the pay gap by fighting back against pay discrimination; making salaries more transparent\u2014so employees know what others are making doing the same job. We\u2019ve closed the pay gap between men and women by 10 percent. Not nearly enough\u2014but it\u2019s a start.<\/p>\n<p>And we also called on cities and states to act across the country, and mayors and governors are leading the way to raise the minimum wage. Since the President\u2019s call to action to increase the nation\u2019s minimum wage back in 2013, every state from my state of Delaware and 18 others\u2014and 55 cities\u2014have raised their own minimum wage. From Alaska to California, Nebraska to Florida\u2014workers now have a shot at a paycheck they can actually live on. Seven million workers have seen their wages rise. Earlier this month, four states\u2014Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and Washington, in this last general election, overwhelmingly passed minimum wage increases.<\/p>\n<p>It matters. It really matters\u2014because no one in America should work 40 hours a week and still live in poverty. Additionally, California, Rhode Island, Washington State and New Jersey\u2014 and more than two-dozen cities like Minneapolis and Spokane\u2014have extended access to paid leave\u2014expanded it.<\/p>\n<p>You all know why that matters. In the neighborhoods where you and I grew up\u2014if you miss a paycheck because you\u2019re sick, or have to take care of a loved one\u2014you could be in trouble for that month\u2019s mortgage payment, the car payment\u2014just paying the heating bill. Paid leave makes a real difference in ordinary people\u2019s lives. We have to preserve the progress we made over the past eight years and continue to support states and cities in their fight for worker protections.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just for the workers who benefit\u2014they\u2019re not the only ones. The economy benefits\u2014the overall economy. Companies benefit from higher productivity and less turnover. Communities benefit when people have more money to spend at local stores, the diner, the movie theater. The entire economy grows.<\/p>\n<p>Folks, there is so much more to be done to seize the immense possibilities within our reach. We are better positioned than any country in the world to own the 21st century. But we have to address the economic anxieties brought on by globalization. They\u2019re real. The increasingly rapid movement of people, money, goods and ideas around the world\u2014we can do that.<\/p>\n<p>But we need to recognize that globalization hasn\u2019t been an un-alloyed good\u2014and we need to empower those who have paid the price of that globalization. There\u2019s many things we can do to level this playing field. Because given a chance\u2014American workers never, ever let their country down. But they need a chance.<\/p>\n<p>And I just want to thank you all. Thank you all for the faith you have in this great country because, as I said, we are better positioned than any nation in the world to own the 21st century. We know how to do it. Insist that we do it.<\/p>\n<p>And have not only a great weekend this weekend, but have a great Thanksgiving weekend\u2014because we have much to be thankful for.<\/p>\n<p>God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Hi folks, this is Joe Biden. Over the last eight years, we\u2019ve created more jobs than all the advanced economies in the world combined. Unemployment has been cut in half. Wages are finally on the rise. We\u2019ve gone from economic crisis to recovery to the cusp of genuine resurgence\u2014and we\u2019re better positioned to own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28186,"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-28185","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\/2016\/11\/Fullscreen-capture-11192016-82522-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28185","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=28185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}