federal reserve's announcement of a half percentage point interest rate increase. [indiscernible conversations]

president biden: this week, my administration released new information we are on track to cut the federal deficit by another $1.5 trillion by the end of this fiscal year. the biggest decline in single year ever in american history. the biggest decline ever on top of us having a $350 billion drop in the deficit last year. my first year as president. he also learned for the first time since 2016, the treasury department is planning to pay down the national debt issued to the public this quarter.

for all the talk the republicans make about deficits, it did not have been a single quarter under my predecessor. not once. bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor and before the pandemic and during the pandemic. it has gone down both years since i have been here. period. why is it important? bringing down the deficit is one way tease inflationary pressures in the economy where the cost -- the consequence of the war and gas prices and food -- it is a different world this moment because of ukraine and russia. we reduced federal borrowing and we help to combat inflation. this process is a great deal -- is good news but it did not happen by itself. the previous administration increased the deficit every year it was in office in part because of its reckless to trillion dollar tax cut paired i know you're tired of hearing me saying that but i to trillion dollar tax cut that was not paid

for. was not paid for. and a tax cut that largely benefited the biggest corporations, 55 of which aren't $40 billion in profits and paid not a single penny in income tax in 2020. wealthiest americans like the billionaires who on average pay just 8% in federal taxes. the previous administration only ballooned the deficit, it undermined the watchdogs, the inspector general's whose job it was to keep the pandemic relief funds from being wasted. member at the time i kept saying they're going to fire the inspector general's. they fired the inspector general. in my administration, those watchdogs are back. the justice department has a chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud who is going to go after the criminals who stole billions in relief money meant for small businesses and american families but never got to them. guy in the pockets of criminals. -- got in the pockets of committal's paired when i came

to office, we took a different approach across the board. with the american rescue plan and other actions, we started to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out. rescue checks and tax cuts for working families that gave them a little breathing room and put food on the table and a roof over their heads. rumor the first years -- the first year, all those lines of automobiles lined up and going for a parking lot just to get a box of food in their trunk? got vaccination shots in arms and helped us go from 2 million americans who had been vaccinated to more than 20 20 million americans fully vaccinated. we made it easier for millions of americans to sign up for coverage and the affordable care act saving them on average of $2400 a year. as a result of these and other economic recovery plans, we recovered faster than projected. a record 6.7 million jobs created last year, the most in the first year of any president in american history. and the fastest economic growth

in any year in nearly four decades. can you head, i have a plan to reduce the deficit even more which will help reduce inflationary pressures and lower everyone's costs for families. it is a plan that lets medicare negotiate the price of prescription drugs as they do with the department of veterans affairs. we can cap the price of insulin at $35 instead of the hundreds of dollars, even thousands of dollars a month for some families. my and looking ahead, i have a plan to reduce the deficit even more, which will help reduce inflationary pressures and lower everyone's cost for families. it's a plan that lets medicare negotiate the price of prescription drugs come as a do with the department of veterans affairs. -- $80 a month, not having to pay for gas at the pump. tax credit for folks to buy

solar panels, more efficient windows and doors for their homes, estimated savings $500 per year on average. we can do these things for making sure that no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay a single penny more in federal taxes. all we are asking is that the wealthiest americans and the largest corporations begin to pay their fair share. you've heard me say before, i'm a capitalist. i believe he should be able to make as much money as you legally can, but just pay your fair share. there's no reason why billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a teacher or firefighter. that's in sharp contrast to what today's were welcome party is offering. senator rick scott of florida, united states senator, released what he called the ultra mag

agenda. let me tell you about this ultra mag agenda. it's extreme, as most of these things are. it will raise taxes over 90% of american families, among the hardest hit, working families -- imagine your family of four and you don't make enough money to pay federal taxes. you pay all your taxes, but you're still not making enough. under this new tax plan, the ultramaga agenda, while big corporations are going to paint nothing more, the working class folks are going to pay a lot more. and it goes further than that. this calls for congress -- i'm not making this up either, you have to think about this, it

requires, if it were to pass every five years, the congress , would have to vote to reinstate or eliminate social security, medicare, and medicaid. social security something seniors have paid in for their whole life, and it has to be reauthorized? it has to be reauthorized every five years? look, again, it's hard to make this up, but then again, it's a maga agenda. you know, meanwhile, millionaires and billionaires and corporations skate by. imagine that. just imagine that. i think it is truly outrageous. i've offered a different plan a plan rooted in american values of fairness and decency. wealthy folks and corporations will pay a little more. little more. billionaires will have to pay a minimum tax.

we're going to protect and strengthen social security and medicare, not put it on the block every five years. let me remind you again i reduced the federal deficit. all the talk about the deficit from my republican friends, i love it. i've reduced $350 billion in my first year in office. and we're on track to reduce it by the end of september by by another $1,500,000,000,000, the largest drop ever. i don't want to hear republicans talk about deficits and their ultra-maga agenda. i want to hear about fairness. i want to hear about decency. i want to hear about help on ordinary people. the bottom line is that, for decades, the trickle-down economics has failed as income inequity grew to historic levels under the republicans. the maga republicans excuse me, i don't want to mispronounce it. the maga republicans. it's time to grow the economy but from the bottom up and the middle out. because here's the deal: when the poor have a ladder up and the middle class grows, the wealthy always do very well.

they do very well. that's what this is about. that's what this is about, everybody doing better. and so, i want you to understand again, first year, , $350 billion reduction deficit; this year, a trillion-five. it's going to bring some relief. thank you. i'll take a few questions quickly. >> mr. president, may i ask you a question about sanctions that -- about sanctions against or about further sanctions in europe. the european union today announced new sanctions against oil against russia. what's the next round for the u.s.? and also, on a separate issue, what's the next step on abortion once this case gets settled? pres. biden: no one asked about deficits. you want to make sure this doesn't get covered.

with regard to additional sanctions, we're always open to additional sanctions, and i've been in consultation i'll be speaking with the members of the g7 this week about what we're going to do or not do, number one. number what was the second one? two, as i said when i when this hit, as i was getting on the plane to go down to alabama, this is about a lot more than abortion. i hadn't read the whole opinion at that time. but this reminds me of the debate with robert bork. bork believed the only reason you had any inherent rights was because the government gave them to you. if you go back and look at the opening comments from by the bork-biden when i was questioning him as chairman, i said, "i believe i have the rights that i have not because the government gave it to me, which you believe, but because i'm just a child of god; i exist." i delegated, by joining this union here, to delegate some

obligati- some rights i have to the government for social good. so the idea that somehow there is a inherent right that there is no right of privacy, that there is no right and remember the debate we you don't remember, but we had a debate about griswold vs. connecticut. there'd been a law saying a married couple could not purchase birth control in the privacy of their own bedroom and use it. well, that got struck down. griswold was thought to be a bad decision by bork and i my guess is the guys on the supreme court now. what happens if you have a state changes the law saying that that children who are lgbtq can't be in classrooms with other children? is that legit under the way the decision is written? what are the next things that are going to be attacked? because this maga crowd is really the most extreme political organization that's existed in american history

in recent american history. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] >> following president biden's remarks, federal reserve acting chair jerome powell announced the biggest interest rate increase in 22 years. to address inflation in the u.s.. he also outlined additional details and how the federal reserve intends to curb high inflation.