The President of the United States, Joe Biden, defended on Sunday the measures implemented during his term at the head of the Administration during a rally to support the candidacy of the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, in the framework of the midterm elections.
Biden stressed, according to the White House on Monday, that his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, «left in ruins» the economy, stressing that he is the first president at the head of the Administration that has caused a higher unemployment rate since the time of Herbert Hoover.
«And (he has left) the country in a no-win pandemic. By the time I was sworn in, only 3.5 million people had been vaccinated, fully vaccinated. Now there are 220 million,» he said, adding that, for his part, he has managed to create 10 million new jobs.
In this regard, he said that the unemployment rate «is at a historic low of 3.7 percent. We are sending American products abroad instead of American jobs abroad. We have created 700,000 new manufacturing jobs,» he added.
«By the way, you know how Republicans say ‘Democrats spend too much’? Well, you know what, guys? They gave me the biggest deficit in history. I cut the $1.4 trillion deficit this year, the largest in U.S. history,» he said.
Aside from economic measures, Biden recalled the PACT Act, which seeks to help war veterans «who were exposed to toxic substances,» such as firefighters during the September 11 attacks.
During his speech, Biden dedicated some reproaches against the Republican candidate for governor of New York, Lee Zeldin, alleging that during his years in office he has voted against most of the initiatives promoted by the Democrats, such as the bipartisan infrastructure bill or the inflation reduction bill.
Among other measures, the president also assured that the Biden Administration «has raised the minimum tax on American businesses a staggering 15 percent. «Firefighters pay more than that. But 15 percent, again, which Congressman Zeldin voted against,» he said.
«In May, Governor Hochul and I were in Buffalo together, I’ve visited all the sites of mass shootings, in the weeks after that senseless, evil mass shooting,» he said, adding that the current governor’s opponent wants to «put more guns on the street.»
«He opposed ‘red flag’ laws, which would take guns out of the hands of people who pose a danger to themselves and others. Look, what’s the point of that? At the federal level, we passed the most important gun safety legislation in almost 30 years. And Zeldin opposed it,» he explained.
Finally, Biden recalled the attack suffered on the 28th of that month by Paul Pelosi, husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had to be hospitalized after his attacker, DePape, threw several hammer blows that resulted in a fractured skull.
«Look at what the Republicans said. Some of them are making fun of it or making excuses for it. There has never been a time in my career when we have glorified violence on a political basis,» Biden said of Pelosi.
In an attempt to mobilize the electorate, he called on Americans to go to the polls, as democracy «is at risk.» «The latest polls say 76 percent of Americans care about maintaining our democracy. And we know that this is the time to defend it, to preserve it, to elect it,» he said.
