Remarks by PresidentBiden at Signing of H.J.Res.100 Providing a Resolution to Avert a Nationwide RailShutdown
10:53 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Let me begin by thanking my team
here. They did one heck of a job in averting what could have been a
real disaster and — and ended up with a good product. But we still have
more work to do, in my view, in terms of ultimately getting paid sick
leave not just for rail workers but for every worker in America. That
is a goal I had in the beginning, and I’m coming back at it.
So —
but good morning. The bill I’m about to sign ends a difficult rail
dispute and helps our nation avoid what, without a doubt, would have
been an economic catastrophe at a very bad time in the calendar.
Our
nation’s rail system is literally the backbone of our supply chain, as
you all well know. And so much of what we rely on is delivered on our
rail, from clean water to food and gas and every — every other good. A
rail shutdown would have devastated our economy.
Without
freight rail, many of the U.S. industries would literally shut down. In
the event of a shutdown, my economic advisors report that as many as
765,000 Americans, many of them union members themselves, would have
been put out of work for the first time and — excuse me, within the
first two weeks of this — of the strike alone.
Communities could
have lost access to chemicals necessary to ensure clean drinking
water. Farms and ranches across the country would have been unable to
feed their livestock. And thanks to the bill Congress passed and what
I’m about to sign, we’ve spared the country that catastrophe.
At
the same time, we ensured workers are going to get a historic 24
percent wage increase over the next five years, improved working
conditions, and peace of mind around their healthcare.
And,
look, I know this bill doesn’t have paid sick leave that these rail
workers and, frankly, every worker in America deserves, but that fight
isn’t over. I didn’t commit we were going to stop just because of — we
couldn’t get it in this bill, that we were going to stop fighting for
it. I’ve supported paid sick leave for a long time, and I’m going to
continue that fight until we succeed.
And I want to thank
Congress, Democrats and Republicans, for acting so quickly. I know this
was a tough vote for members of both parties. It was a tough — for
me. But it was the right thing to do at the moment to save jobs, to
protect millions of working families from harm and disruption, and to
keep supply chains stable around the holidays, and to continue the
progress we’ve made and we’re — continue to see on the economy.
For
months, you couldn’t look anywhere without seeing headlines screaming
“Gas prices at the pump are up.” But, look, folks, gas prices are down
and you barely hear anything about it right now. And they’re continuing
to go down.
And there — there’s a lot more that’s going to
happen. And they’re down more than $1.50 a gallon since the summer, and
they continue to fall.
And our economy continues to grow. The
economic report — the GDP is up even more than it was previously
thought. We continue to create jobs — lots of jobs.
And today,
we’ve learned that the economy added 263,000 jobs in November. And
we’ve now created 10.5 million jobs since I took office, more than any
administration in history at this point in a presidency. And 750,000 of
them are domestic manufacturing jobs — “Made in America.”
The unemployment rate remains near an all-time, 50-year low: 3.7 percent.
And
wages for working families — I want to say this again — wages for
working families, in fact, over the last couple of months, have gone up —
up. These wage increases are larger than the increase in inflation
during that same period of time.
And so, we’re in a position now where we — things are moving. They’re moving in the right direction.
As
we go into the holiday season, here’s what this all means. The
Americans are working, the economy is growing, wages are rising faster
than inflation, and we’ve avoided a catastrophic rail strike.
It
means our plan to build the economy from the bottom up and the middle
out — you’re tired of hearing me say that, but it’s working. The
wealthy are still doing very well while the middle class and the poor
are having a shot.
I want to thank Congress once again for being
partners today, for averting this disaster and keeping our economy on a
stable footing during the holiday season.
I want to thank you all. And now I’m going to reach over here and sign this bill and make it official.
This is the House Joint Resolution 100. Okay.
(The resolution is signed.)
And,
by the way, I really can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciate the
team behind me working with business and labor to get this done to avoid
this.
But otherwise, it’s a really good bill lacking only one thing, and we’re going to get that one thing done before it’s all over.
But anyway, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Q Mr. President, why aren’t you going to Georgia to help Senator Warnock?
THE
PRESIDENT: I’m going to Georgia today to help Senator War- — not to
Georgia; we’re going to help Senator Warnock because I’m doing a major
fundraiser up in Boston today for — for the — our next and continued
Senate candidate and senator.
Thank you.
Q Mr. President, how soon should rail workers expect sick days?
THE PRESIDENT: As soon as I can convince our Republicans to see the light.
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