When tha President Joe Biden holds news conference | USA Today

Hello folks thanks for being here well good afternoon everyone tomorrow will mark uh one year since took office it's been a year of challenges it's also been a year of enormous progress we went from 2 million people being vaccinated at the moment was sworn in to 210 million Americans being fully vaccinated today we created six million new jobs more jobs in one year than any time before unemployment dropped the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent child poverty dropped by nearly 40 percent the biggest drop ever in American history new business applications grew by 30 percent the biggest increase ever and for the first time in a long time this country's working people actually got a raise actually got a raise people before the bottom 40 percent saw their income go up the most of all the cataracts we cut health insurance premiums for millions of American families  we just made surprise medical bills illegal in this country you know those bills you get that you don't expect after two to five thousand dollars from the hospital beyond what you thought you were going to have to owe because the consultation you weren't told was going to cost that much no more they're now illegal thanks to the American rescue plan and other actions we've taken we've seen record job creation record economic growth in the past year now thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure bill we're about to make a record investment in rebuilding America to take us to be the number one  infrastructure in the world well now we're way below that we'll be creating better jobs for millions of people modernizing our roads our bridges our highways our ports our airports everything from making clean water let removing lead pipes that every American turnout every American can turn on a faucet and drink clean water urban and rural and suburban communities it's going to make affordable high-speed internet available to every  in urban rural and suburban areas we've never done that before now we are we're in the process of getting that done still for all this progress know there's a lot of frustration and fatigue in this country we know why proven 19.  the new enemy but while it's caused for concern it's not cause for panic we've been doing everything we can  and adapting as fast as we can and preparing for a future beyond the pandemic all know that after almost two years of physical emotional and psychological weight of this pandemic and had the impact it's had on everyone for many of us it's been too much to bear we're in a very different place now though we have the tools vaccines boosters mass tests pills to save lives and keep businesses and schools open 75 percent of adults are fully vaccinated we've gone from 90 million adults with no shots in arms last summer and down to 35 million with no shots as of today we're adding about nine million more vaccinations each week we're going to stick with our vaccination efforts because vaccinations work so get vaccinated please and get your booster look we're also increasing testing should we have done more testing earlier yes  we're doing more now we've gone from zero at home test a year ago to 375 million tests on the market in just this month if you buy a test of the store your insurance will reimburse you on top of that we're making one billion one billion at home tests available for you to order and be delivered to your home for free just visit covettest.gov to know how to get that free test kit to your home in addition there are twenty thousand sites where you can get tested in person for free now  now we have more treatments that people can that for people to keep people out of the hospital than any other point in the pandemic including life-saving anti-viral pills we purchased 20 million of these new Pfizer pills more than any country in the world and the bottom line on  19 is that we're in a better place than we've been and have been thus far clearly better than a year  we're not going back to lockdowns we're not going back to closing  should stay open because the  rescue plan we provided the states 130 billion dollars 130 billion dollars to keep our students and educators safe and schools open funding for ventilation systems in schools social distancing hygiene for classrooms and the school buses in addition we've added another 10 billion dollars for covet 19 tests to be able to be ministers administered at schools and many states and school districts have spent this money very well unfortunately some haven't encourage the states and school districts that use the funding to protect our children and keep our schools open use it the Covet 19 is not going to give up and accept things uh you know it's just it's not going to go away immediately but m not going to give up and accept things as they are now some people may call what's happening now the new normal call it a job not yet finished it will get better we're moving toward a time when covet 19 won't disrupt our daily lives recover 19 won't be a crisis but something to protect against and a threat look we're not there yet we will get there now the second challenge we're facing are prices covet 19 has created a lot of economic complications including rapid price increases across the world economy people see it at the gas pumps the grocery stores and elsewhere so here's what we're going to do a critical job in making sure that the elevated prices don't become entrenched rests with  which has a dual mandate full employment and stable prices the  previous year and a half given the strength of our economy and  the support that is now necessary  respect  the fed's independence and ve nominated five superb individuals to serve on the federal board of governors men and women from a variety of ideological perspectives they're eminently qualified historically diverse and have heard bipartisan praise call the  to confirm them without any further delay and here at the  and for my friends in congress the best thing to tackle high prices is a more productive economy with greater capacity to deliver goods and services to the  people and a growing economy where folks have more choices and more small businesses compete and where more goods can get to market faster and cheaper ve laid out a three-part plan to do just that first fix the supply chain covet 19 has had a global impact on the economy when a factory shuts down in one part of the world shipments to shops and homes and businesses all over the world are disrupted covet 19 has compounded that many times over a couple of months ago in this very room we talked we heard dire warnings about how the supply chain problems could create a real crisis around the holidays we acted we brought together business and labor and that much predicted crisis did not occur 99 of the packages were delivered on time and shelves were stocked and notwithstanding the recent storms that have impacted many parts of our country the share of goods in stock at stores is 89 now which is barely changed from the 91 percent before the pandemic often see empty shells being shown on television 89 percent are full which is only a few points below what it was before the pandemic but our work's not done my infrastructure law will supercharge your effort upgrading everything from roads and bridges to ports and airports railways and transit to make the economy move faster and reduce prices for families second thing my build back better plan will address the biggest cost of working families face every day no other plan will do more to lower the cost for  families it cuts the cost for child care many families including the people sitting in this room if they have children  they're working full-time many families pay up to fourteen thousand dollars a year for child care in big cities less than that in smaller ones my plan cuts that in half that will not only be a game changer for so many families budgets  it will mean so much for nearly two million  left the workforce during the pandemic because of things like child care my build back better plan cuts the price of prescription drugs so insulin that today costs some people as much as a thousand dollars a month will cost no more than 35 a month it cuts the cost of elder care it lowers energy cost it will do all this without raising a single penny in taxes on people making under four hundred thousand dollars a year or raising the deficit in fact my plan cuts the deficit it boosts the economy by getting more people into the workforce that's why 17  winners for economics say will ease long-term inflationary pressure the bottom line if price increases are what you're worried about the best answer is my build back better plan third thing we're going to do promote competition look in too many industries a handful of giant companies dominate the market in sectors like meat processing railroad shipping and other areas this isn't a new issue it's not been the reason we've had high inflation today it's not the only reason it's been happening for a decade but over time it has reduced competition squeezed out small businesses and farmers ranchers and increased the price for consumers we end up with an industry like the meat processing industry where four big companies dominate the markets pay ranchers less for their cattle they grow charge consumers more for beef hamburger meat whatever.