Civic Media Special Broadcast: President Biden In Westby, WI

This is Civic Media News. I'm Spana Tomey Olson. President Biden has landed here in the

Badger State. It looks like he's about to start speaking actually on time, which rarely

happens for any campaign visit for any candidate. But this is actually him speaking on behalf

of the White House today. So maybe that's the big difference. He's going to be talking

about his investing in America agenda. We'll head to him now.

Hello, hello, hello, hello. Hello, Wisconsin. First time I was here was about 180 years

ago with William Proxmar, and I was a 31 year old senator. I'm only 40 now, but you know,

please have a seat if you have one. It's great to be back. Before I began with your

permission, I'd like to say a few words about the school shooting yesterday in Winder County,

Georgia. You know, my wife, Jill and I are mourning those four gunned down two students

and two teachers. I'm wounded and hospitalized. Nine others. I'm sure you all as well. You

know, students, just young teenagers, educators, just doing their jobs, communities like so

many around the country, just getting back to school and a joyous and exciting time,

absolutely shattered, shattered. I directed my team to immediately ensure that we're doing

everything we can to provide support. The Department of Justice and the FBI are working closely

with the state and local law enforcement of investigating this. We have a lot of information

out all of it. We're grateful. The school personnel and first responders who prove and

prevent more people from being killed or injured and brought the suspect to custody. But

as a nation, we cannot continue to accept the carnage of gun violence. I'm a gun owner.

I believe strongly in the amendment, we need more thought, more than thoughts and prayers.

Some of my Republican friends in Congress have just finally have to say enough is enough.

We have to do something. Together, let's ban assault weapons. My dad is a hunter. I don't

know a whole hell of a lot of deer were in Kevlar Vest. I'm serious about this. High capacity

magazines, once again, what do we need them for in terms of domestic reuse? There are too

many people who are able to access guns that shouldn't be able to. So let's require safe

storage of firearms. I know I've mine locked up, but how could you have an assault rifle

of weapon in a house not locked up and knowing your kid knows where it is? Got a whole

parents accountable if they let their child have access to these guns. Let's enact universal

background checks and then immunity for gun manufacturers. I realize I'm in a rural

area like in real parts of my state where guns, we all have them and it's not popular

to talk about it, but the truth is there's a difference between rational and irrational.

Imagine, you know, the only outfit in the world that we can't sue and by law, passed by

law, are gun manufacturers. How about if that was the case with Big Tobacco? What do you

think would happen? If we're not able to have sued Tobacco, how many more people would

be dead now, but for the ability to change the law? Folks, common sense measures supported

by responsible gun owners, you know, won't bring back those children, but thousands of

children have been gunned down a call. You know, more children are killed or die from

a gunshot wound than any other reason in the entire United States. Every disease, every

action, everything. More die is a consequence of a bullet in the United States of America.

But to help save lives if we do the things we're talking about, prevent communities from

being ripped apart again, we can do if we do it together and I really think we can't.

So I just wanted to say that before we began.

And now to our event today. Thank you, Darren, for that introduction and for sharing your

story as a family farmer. And thank you to one of America's best, I say one of the three

best governors in the entire United States of America. Where is it? There he is. Tony,

you're the best pal. When I think of Tony, I mean it sincerely. One word comes to mind,

integrity, integrity. And so next to him is a former governor of not far from here from

Iowa named Tom Vilsack, who's a, and his wife, Christian, Christian here that, yeah, there

you are. She's smart and he is just like Jill, smart and I am. But Tom is doing a hell of

a job as Secretary of Agriculture. And thanks to all the local elected labor and community

leaders that are here. And a special thanks to Brent Ridge, CEO of Theoryland Power Cooperative

for hosting us today. You know, I come from the state of Delaware. Everybody thinks it's

an Eastern industrial state. Our largest industry in Delaware and I served as Senator for 36

years. I know I don't look that old, but I am. For 36 years is agriculture. It's a $4

billion enterprise in the Del Marble Peninsula. And it's co-ops made it happen. Millions

of Americans run co-ops like yours for electricity every single day. And it matters. In June

of 2021, five months after I came to office, I went to nearby LaCrosse, Wisconsin. It was

a 65th anniversary of President Eisenhower signing the bill that created the interstate highway

system. I talked about my vision to do something just as historic to invest in infrastructure

and clean energy and so much more in rural America. To invest in all America and all Americans.

To propel us into the future, creating millions. And I mean millions of good-paying jobs.

And positioning America to win the economic competition of the 21st century. And I'm

back again today to begin a series of trips and events showing that progress we've made

together by our investing in America agenda. An agenda that has come to fruition over

the last decade. Invest in America. Invest in American workers. Here in Westby, I'm

proud to announce that my investments, that through my investments, the most significant

climate change law ever. And by the way, it is a $369 billion bill. We should have named

it what it was. But anyway, the Department of Agriculture is able from that legislation

to announce $7.3 billion in grants. To 16 electrical crops nationwide, to help rural

communities transition to clean, affordable, reliable energy. It's the most significant

transformative investment in electricity and electrification and clean energy for rural

America since FDR's New Deal, nearly 90 years ago. And that's not like that's a fact.

And it includes Durieland Power Cooperative that will receive $580 million to develop

and purchase solar power, wind power, energy source right here in Wisconsin and all across

the Midwest. And here's why it's a game changer. Before the New Deal, private companies

were used to provide affordable electricity to rural communities. As a result, one in ten

rural households, only one in ten, had electricity before FDR came to power. So farmers had to

organize electric co-ops to distribute electricity to their families and their communities. With

help from the New Deal, there are now more than 800 rural electric co-ops to provide electricity

for 40 million Americans in 48 states. But key challenges, they've over-trowver come

them, but there's still the co-ops are still nonprofits. They don't have the same resources

that private utility companies have to modernize their energy infrastructure. And for decades,

they couldn't access tax credits and make clean energy more affordable. That's why Camel

and I ensured that for the first time in American history that these nonprofit co-ops can

benefit from clean energy tax credits just like four profit utilities have for decades.

We're also creating new tools for co-ops to refinance prior debts. So those fun, they

can go out there and not be held back from investing in their future. Today's historic announcement

of $7.3 billion for rural electric co-ops and bills on those steps. It means clean affordable

electricity for over five million rural households and businesses across 23 states. It means 20,000

jobs, good paying, high quality jobs, including union jobs. So rural America is empowered to lead

our clean energy future. It means covering the upfront cost of clean energy so rural families

can save other energy bills and get just a little more breathing room at the end of the month.

And it means rural entrepreneurs and manufacturers were so fundamental to our economy are powered

with reliable affordable energy and they can create more job opportunities in their communities.

And guess what? It's also good for the environment as well.

Because of our historic actions, we're going to reduce by 43 million tons

greenhouse gas pollution every single year as a consequence of these investments.

That is the equivalent of removing pollution from more than 10 million gas powered vehicles,

10 million. It's going to save $265 billion in health care costs because of better

cleaner quality of air. People aren't breathing just polluted air and getting sick.

That comes from the NIH. It matters folks. You know it. And folks, I've kept my commitment to be

present for all America and all Americans, including rural America. Your communities are the backbone

and that's not how you're the backbone of this country. You deserve the same resources

as folks in our cities and our suburbs. That's what today's announcement is all about.

Generating rural power for rural America. But that's not all. Last year, I was next door

with your good neighbor, Governor Walts, a Minnesota. I think the guy's gone places, baby.

I talked about we're making the most fundamental and significant investment ever in rural America,

creating new and better markets, new income streams that are generators of rural

America that can grow and thrive. For example, we're taking on big corporations and doing everything

from increasing competition in the meat markets to boosting domestic fertilizer production.

In fact, here in Wisconsin, that means $12 million to lower fertilizer cost for farmers across

the state, which also creates jobs and grows new businesses. Here in Wisconsin, we're also invested

$47 million to lower energy cost, install renewable energy efficient technologies like solar

panels behind me on farms and rural small businesses. Darren just shared how that's cut his family

electricity bill in half. We're helping farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs tackle the climate

crisis, climate smart agriculture such as cover crops, nutrient management, storing carbon and the

soil. These practices reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and improve overall health of the soil

and the water. They put us on a path to continuing to grow the food, the fuel, the fiber

that will power our nation for decades to come. Through our bipartisan infrastructure law,

it's a fancy way of saying that $366 billion for an environment, most significant investment

in America's infrastructure. And what the infrastructure bill, by the way, the bipartisan bill,

that was a trillion, $200 billion. And guess what, we're still lowering the deficit. Anyway,

most significant investment in America since Eisenhower's interstate highway system. We invested

$4 billion so far in 350 projects to modernize Wisconsin transportation. Justin was

concerned that's been invested. Infrastructure going to three roundabouts of the U.S. 14

and the new bridge and county highway AM. Folks look, just like we're making the most significant

investment in rural electrification as FTR, we're also making the most significant investment ever

in affordable high-speed internet. Because the affordable high-speed internet is just as a

sense of the day is electricity was a century ago. In order to be able to do business,

and when things are shut down, the kid doesn't have to sit outside and make donals. Anyway,

that's why we've invested $1.6 billion. Justin was concerned to connect everyone to a

affordable high-speed internet in Wisconsin. Since I took office, 72,000 more Wisconsin homes and

small businesses have access to high-speed internet for the first time ever. We're going to keep

a going. We've also invested $200 million to release lead pipes across the state so a kid can

drink clean water without worried about brain damage and changing the schools as well.

We've launched the rural partners network putting new federal staff on the ground to help

communities access federal resources. Let them know what they are, where they go, how to get it

because it's complicated. So I want people on site being able to tell people how they qualify,

how they apply, how they get it done. And after years of importing 90 percent of our semi-conductor

chips, which I might add, American Venet, we invented the computer chip. It's needed for everything

for automobile engines to weapons. We passed the Chips and Science Act as lead private companies

from around the world to come back. We used to have 40 percent of the market not too many years ago.

And now we've got down to virtually zero. So we're out from countries around the

I'd travel from everywhere from North Korea anyway. South Korea, to across the world,

to get these computer chip factors to come. I asked when we convinced one of the companies in

South Korea to invest building these chips in America. I said, why would you do it? They're

investing several billion dollars. He said, because you have the finest, you have the most

advanced workers in the world and is the safest place in the world to invest. Well, our Chips

and Science Act has led private companies from around the world to invest hundreds of billions of

dollars in new chips and battery factories and more of them right here in America.

With the leadership of your governor, you've already added 200,000 new jobs and attracted over

five billion dollars in Wisconsin and private sector investment from clean energy and advanced

manufacturing. In fact, this spring, I was with your governor, Racine, where Microsoft announced

a three billion dollar investment, three billion dollar investment to build a data center.

Southrop, right, one of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems in the entire world.

It's going to create thousands of good paying jobs on site and across the state creating even

more opportunities in rural communities. Let's remember, my predecessor promised you that he would

redevelop Foxcom factory and Racine. You've been there lately? He didn't do a damn thing.

Nothing, folks, all these investments means family farms can stay in the family.

Rural entrepreneurs can build their dreams. Your children and grandchildren won't have to leave

home to make a living. I don't know how many of you have been confronted growing up

where everything's going well. The son or daughter comes to mom or dad and said, I can't stay.

There's not work for me here. I got to leave. That's stopping now.

Because we're spending opportunities to benefit everyone.

Believe the future or no one is left behind. Growing into economy from the middle

out in the bottom up, not the top down. Because you need to do that. Everybody does well.

Everybody does well. My dad used to have an expression, Joey, a job is about, my dad was a hard working guy.

Didn't go to college, a real red guy because of World War II. Anyway, he worked like hell.

He always come home and he didn't refer you go back and close the shop.

And my dad used to say, Joey, a job is about a lot more than the paycheck.

It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about being treated with respect.

And it's about knowing you can look your kidney eye and say, honey, it's going to be okay.

You're not going to have to leave home to get a job.

That's a stark contrast to my predecessor. When he was in office,

he enacted a $2 trillion tax cut, $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the very

wealthy, the biggest corporation to drove up federal deficit every single year of his presidency.

He left office with the largest annual deficit in the American history, $3 trillion.

And by the way, I made a commitment when I got elected. My vice president made a similar

look at it. No one making under $400,000. We'll see a single penny in their taxes raised,

not a single penny.

Neighborhood, I come from a claim on dollar and it's a grand pens of any say, well, that's too

damn much. But before it is, it's to make sure that we know it's not that this isn't an attack on

the wealthy. He left us with a pandemic raging and economy reeling.

His allies in Congress, with all due respect, I've had this conversation with your

Senator Ron Johnson voted against every one of the things I talked about today. Every single

thing I talked about in terms of rural economy, he voted against it, voted against it.

It's hard to imagine your Senator voted against interest in the rural state

was so large and so consequential as the state of Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, your other Senator Tammy Baldwin has done everything to take care of the state so

she can be devoted to. Vice President Kamal Haas fought like hell for all of you and for the

future worthy of your aspirations. Look, just think about how far we've come. We have more to go.

We have more to go. Too many people are still in trouble. But nearly four years

that we've been president and vice president. But one of those extraordinary periods of progress

in American history. COVID, no longer controls our lives. We've gone from an economic crisis to

the strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again. We have the strongest economy in the

rural and no one challenged it. We got a more to do. We're seeing something else.

In thousands of cities and towns across the country and across Wisconsin,

we're seeing the great American comeback story. The way I see it, and I talk to the other team

talks about how bad off we are and how America's in the way I see it. Today's announcement is about

far more than just giving the rural America the power to turn on the lights. It's about giving the

power to shape our own future. In fact, Wisconsin has been, it has a strong, strong history

of neighbor helping neighbor and forming cooperatives, which are literally owned and powered by

the people of Wisconsin. Because of you, we're planning seeds today that grow and blossom for

generations to come. That's what we're seeing here in Wisconsin, a state with a proud tradition

of rural communities leading our nation forward. And again, that's not an exaggeration. You've

been a leader in the nation. Let me close to this. As I travel this state in the country,

hope you feel what I feel. Pride. Pride in our hometowns. Pride making a comeback. Pride in America.

Pride and knowing we can get big things done when we work together. Folks, I'm never more optimistic

about our nation's future. Just remember who hell we are. We're the United States of America.

That's who we are. Not a joke. We're the only nation in the world that's come through every

crisis stronger than we would into that crisis. Because we're a hard work and optimistic people,

decent people. We know from experience that there's nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we

work together. And again, that's not an exaggeration. We work together. I'm in the days when I first

got started. A lot of Republican senators, my close friends, we worked together. We compromised.

We didn't talk about things. There's a, we're in a, it was a dire moment that democracy was a

stake. We actually worked together. We fought like hell, but we worked together. We got to return that

for our children. Because our democracy depends on it. I'm keeping you too long in the sun.

So let me just say God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you.

There you have it, President Joe Biden here in Westby. That's in Vernon County, a really

rural part of Vernon County. Maybe only about 3,000 people, under 3,000 people that live there.

I'm Savannah Tomay Olson. Luke Mathers is here with me and we have Terry Bell there on site in

Vernon County. The big focus of his announcement today was his investing in America agenda. And this

is basically part of the inflation reduction act. However, this is all based on the energizing

rural America program, which is all under this big umbrella bill and law that was eventually signed

and really got some bipartisan support on the way out. So let's talk about what this is going to

do here in Wisconsin. So $7.3 billion is going to these co-ops. There are 16 of them throughout

23 different states. There's one of them that serves us here in Wisconsin. And that one here

in Wisconsin is getting about $580 million to be able to lower energy rates for the people of

Wisconsin, especially in these rural areas, which should make just about everything a little cheaper,

according to the Biden administration. What stood out to you here, Luke?

What stood out here to me, Savannah, is it feels very much like the,

and then we got the on-site team there to talk about the horn a little bit. They're there for real.

Yes, they are there, the folks there on the ground. But this very much felt like a little bit of a

kind of combined victory lap for the Biden Harris administration, as well as something that you

may have heard on campaign stump speech just a few weeks ago, but instead coming to us as an

official White House visit with President Biden, touching down here in Wisconsin today,

to highlight some of the success from the transformative legislation that he and his

administration oversaw, and is going to make a pretty big difference for the rural community there

in Westby and the surrounding area to be able to have more affordable electricity options

coming to those communities. And as the President and the White House have pointed out,

a number of different effects coming from that. The amount of greenhouse gas

removed or prevented from going into the atmosphere of 43 million tons per year,

thanks to this investment that is coming through the in the bipartisan infrastructure

legislation. So it's going to be pretty telling the trickle down effects that an investment like

this as the President kept referring it to, as we'll have on these communities.

Well, a big part of that too is the investment in broadband. We all remember the stories from

the pandemic when there were kids, especially in rural areas who were sitting outside their

local McDonald's, sitting outside their public library, just to be able to get signal,

to be able to participate in school. It was a crisis before the pandemic, but we really saw just how

it impacts people every day across different parts of the state, but especially the rural parts of

the state. Our news director, Terry Bell, is there in Westby Terry? What did you take away from

his speech there? Well, this is the fact, as you mentioned, how significant derelict power is,

and this this program, $7.3 billion for renewable energy for these cooperatives like

dereland cooperatives, which is a pretty significant cooperative. It provides wholesale

electrical services to 24 distribution cooperatives and 27 municipal municipality, excuse me,

municipal utilities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. Renewable energy at this point

makes up about 20 percent of derelict power cooperatives. Overall, power generation portfolio,

you could expect that to increase. No accident, of course, that the backdrop, if anybody was watching

on streaming of the backdrop behind the President, solar panels here at derelict cooperatives,

so clearly the message being driven home. Well, they're actually going to be able to build so

much more with this money. They're going to be able to do four new solar projects and four new

wind and energy, wind energy projects just with this money from this grant. On top of that, too,

what's really going to be important here in the rural part of Wisconsin is that internet access.

There are so many people who tell me when I would go to different portions of the state

that, man, I would love to be able to stream a movie and not have to load it and buffer it

for 20 minutes beforehand. It really is a great equalizer at this point and something everybody

should have access to. Oh, yeah, and as the President mentions, Savannah, right now,

making internet widely available is just as key to our lifestyles as electricity was during

the Great Depression in the air of a new deal. Just out of curiosity, Terry, how's your internet

access been out there in Westby? Well, it's hard to say because events like this things are not

so great, like any big event, there is no Wi-Fi here and whatever it is. But we're out in a

sparse area where Wi-Fi is not a consideration. Of course, if you're a customer here,

you would have internet, but in that not being the case, we were reliant on Wi-Fi here,

which obviously not a great signal. Makes sense when we're all the way out there, but really

just drives home the entire point that President Biden is here talking about. He's really touting

the three main pieces I think that are going to be part of his legacy in office. And that's the

American Rescue Plan Act, the big one that was passed during COVID, which gave Wisconsin $2.5

billion. We have the inflation reduction act and that's the umbrella that this is under.

And then the bipartisan infrastructure law, which will end up creating thousands upon thousands

of jobs here in Wisconsin within the next 15 years. Luke, what else stands out to you?

Yeah, I don't think it's a mistake that of the several dozen co-ops that will be benefiting from

programs like this, that the White House happened to find a co-op that is smack dab in the center

of the political universe, which here in Wisconsin, that is the third congressional district.

So we know that this is one of the most highly contested congressional districts that will be on

the the map for not just here in Wisconsin, but around the country. It is a district that is

currently being represented by freshman Republican Congressman Derek Van Orden, who won the seat

in 2022 and is up against a competitor in Rebecca Cook, who ran in 2022 as well. But she secured

the Democratic nomination for that seat this year just last month. And it's going to be a very

interesting race. The voters in the third congressional district are seeing not just those

congressional ads. They're seeing an increased focus from the U.S. Senate candidates here in Wisconsin,

as well as the top of the ticket with the president, who was the former Democratic nominee for

this 2024 cycle. But his administration, the Biden-Harris administration, clearly making a focus

with this visit on one of those couple dozen co-ops that resides as a beneficiary of a program

like this, but is very, very contested on the political map this cycle.

We were just talking about it before we came on the air. There are no coincidences in politics

when it comes to geography like this. I think we're going to wrap up here after hearing from President

Biden. And remember, we'll have some special coverage Tuesday night for the presidential debate.

You're listening to Civic Media News. I'm Savannah Tomay Olsen.