>> on his way to was rally in philadelphia, president biden toured the i-95 highway collapse and offered an update on construction efforts. he was joined by politicians. the accident occurred june 11 when tanker truck crashed and caught fire under a i-95 bridge.

>> hello, folks. we just finished an aerial survey of i-95 and the damage done by the tanker truck. to the people of philadelphia, i want to say we are with you, we will stay with you and get this rebuilt until it is totally finished. we will try to do that as quickly as possible. i told the governor there's no more important project right now in the country as far as i'm concerned, i'm directing my team literally to move heaven and earth to get it done as soon as humanly possible. since sunday morning, we work closely with the governor,

senators, and representative boyle and the mayor to provide the necessary federal assistance to support an all hands on deck response to this crisis. i want to thank these officials for working collaboratively, effectively, efficiently with each other and with our federal team. i also want to thank the first responders in the immediate aftermath and those on-site. they've been working 24/7 to clear the debris. within hours of the crash, the dot was on the ground supporting pennsylvania officials to get the site cleared and to be able to start the rebuilding. we immediately released $3 million quick release emergency fund to offset the cost of repairs. this is just a down payment, obviously.

we will be getting a lot more federal funding out the door in the coming weeks. pennsylvania has already received 8.9 billion dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure law including $6.5 billion for transportation projects which gives the governor some flexibility to move existing funds of this project right away knowing it's in the bank. also crews have been hard at work 24/7 since the crash operating engineers, laborers, carpenters, teamsters, cement features -- finishes, and the teamsters help rebuild. they are doing right now. the cruise finished demolition on thursday ahead of schedule and now they are working on emergency repairs to quickly and safely reopen the roadway to traffic. the federal government i've committed we will reimburse 100% of this phase of the work and well over the first 200 days

then after that, 90% of the work. we will be here until the end, we will not leave until it is finished. that's why i asked the mayor who runs my operation relative to the infrastructure legislation to lead the effort. he knows what it takes to get things done. new orleans never had any problems like tornadoes and hurricanes and floods and the like. all kidding aside, he is on this every day. using materials made of recycled glass manufactured here in pennsylvania and the design of the project is incredibly innovative. in order to get this work done in record time. we are also working with local officials to redirect traffic, minimize congestion, and along alternative routes. i grew up not far from here just across the line from

pennsylvania in delaware. i know how important this stretch of highway is not just philly, but the entire northeast corridor and home state. over 150,000 vehicles travel on it every day including 14,000 trucks. it is critical to our economy, to our quality of life. we will continue to do everything we can within our power to get this back open as quickly and easily as possible. we are not leaving until it is done and we will get it done god willing in record time. i'm looking forward to hearing more from the folks on the ground and the moment and now i'm going to turn it over to the governor who is doing one hell of a job. he gets tired of my calls i think, but he is doing one hell of a job. >> thank you very much. thank you, mr. president. thank you for being here and

taking it a priority to be with us today. i have remarked many times that this is an all hands on deck approach. local government under the mayor's leadership or state government and our federal partners working together to get i-95 reopened. i need you to know that in the first hours after the bridge collapsed, after this tragedy in our community, resident biden and the white house were on the phone to us saying what do you need? we are here for you. you heard the president outlined the resources that are going to come to the commonwealth of pennsylvania to rebuild this critical artery. it's not just the resources that the president has delivered. he has helped us cut through the red tape. he together with the administrator and mayor have provided incredible leadership. mr. president, i want to say thank you for making us a priority and rank you for

delivering for the good people of philadelphia, pennsylvania, and this nation. we appreciate you. the president correctly talked about all the teammates we have in this process. i need to say a special word about the men and women of organized labor who are rebuilding this roadway. building trades, union trades men and women are doing an unbelievable job. mr. president in a moment, you will meet gregory from local 542. he is an operator. he just got off his shift and instead of going home to sleep, he came here to see you and to talk about the work that he and his colleagues are doing. these are special people working their tails off and mr. president, they are working 20 around-the-clock. they are working together with my team at penndot led by the secretary who is doing an incredible job.

secretary carol has a nice office in harrisburg, but he has not left his post here and northeast philadelphia overseeing this work and mr. secretary, we appreciate your and credible work. we all owe a debt of gratitude to our first responders, fire, philadelphia police, everyone in law enforcement together with fema and our state police. our first responders have been truly awesome. i hope this chevy has shown everyone -- this tragedy has shown everyone the pennsylvania can do big things. if we are tested, we are able to do big things. this is a great example of what's great about pennsylvania. our innovation meets our great. we work together to get this done.

also even if you are not out doing the work of our tradespeople, we are doing the hard work in our federal or state government. folks here have a renewed sense of civic pride through this project. they were watching a livestream last night eating $.95 wings. there something special happening in our community, people coming together. another motorist are hurting and is in its owners are hurting, but this community is coming together. lifting up those workers and making sure that they know we are supporting the. i can now talk a little bit more about the progress we are making. i can tell you now, i can state with confidence that we will have i-95 reopened within the next two weeks. we will get traffic moving again thanks to the extraordinary work going on here by these union trades workers. mr. president, senators,

congressmen, we are so grateful for the incredible support the federal government has provided us. we are proud to be your partners. you and first lady knows a lot better than you, this is a sporting town. she loves her philly sports, we love our philly sports. this is our championship and we are getting it done here in philly. one of the teammates i am proud to serve with is senator bob casey. it is my privilege to welcome him to the podium now. sen. casey: i want to start by commending and saluting the great work of the president. we are honored you are here. we love it when you're home, but we are especially grateful you came immediately to pennsylvania to help us rebuild this portion of i-95. i can't tell you how much i appreciate the working relationship that all of us have

with executive branch. president biden and his team and the white house, secretary buttigieg, the administrator and so many others making it possible for us to get those initial emergency dollars out the door to meet the needs so quickly. mr. president, thank you on behalf of the people of pennsylvania and well beyond for the immediate response. i want to commend and salute the governor for his team. governor shapiro and his office, secretary carol and all the men and women who make it possible for us to stand here today and be prepared to rebuild this section of the 95. that goes as well of course to the mayor and his team. as the president made reference to and the governor, all of those men and women who responded initially, those brave men and women whether they are firefighters or emergency

responders, employees of penndot, city workers, so many came to the aid of a community and now you have a whole group of other great pennsylvanians, union members and others making it possible for us to rebuild i-95 and this section. we are honored by that work, we still have more to do but i am grateful to hear with the governor just told us and i am also grateful that we have a delegation in this region. whatever we need to do, senator federman and i, represented as boyle, representative evans and so many others supporting this effort to make sure we get this done. we are grateful for the leadership already and grateful for those who have done the hard work to respond and begin the rebuilding process. i am grateful to be joined by our partner senator federman. several federman --

sen. federman: mr. president, a little over one year ago, the president and i were standing together at a collapsed bridge, one that i drove over just the night before with my son. he showed up hours after the bridge collapsed. he promised to make sure any resources they needed and any help and support and guess what, that bridge was rebuilt less than one year well in front of time. now i am standing next to the president again next to a collapsed bridge and he is here to commit to work with the governor and the delegation to make sure we get this fixed quickly, fast also.

this is a president that is committed to infrastructure and on top of that, the bill that is going to make sure there will be bridges like this all across america getting rebuilt. it's a pleasure to be here and to introduce my friend the congressman. [applause] >> thank you, i am congressman brendan boyle. forget that i'm congressman, more importantly i am a northeast philadelphia resident and a daily commuter on that section of i-95. you better believe how much i care about this infrastructure project and getting this reopened as quickly as possible. mr. president, i want to say thank you.

very early sunday morning my first phone call was to the white house. mr. president when we spoke on the phone earlier this week and he pledged to me that this was your single most important infrastructure project right now getting this rebuilt, that means the world to me and the millions of us who live in philadelphia or the surrounding area. in my lifetime, i have never seen a president more engaged or in this area are often than president joe biden, so thank you. josh, my second call right after speaking to the white house, my second call was to you. the work that you have done, your team, so many others has really been remarkable. as josh mentioned, this is been a great example of all hands on deck. federal, state, and local

officials working together. mayor, you have probably been to the site more than anyone and i want to thank you and everyone involved with the city for your effort as well. this is even bigger than just repairing a critical part of i-95. as i pointed out earlier this week, if you draw a radius circle 75 miles, anyone from maine to miami, this is the most densely populated part of a 95. that's how prickle this is. -- how critical this is. there is the cynicism that many of us have to fight in washington day in day out. those who propagate a view that government can't do things. can't achieve big things. we are going to prove them wrong.

thank goodness we proved them wrong last term bypassing and you signing the bipartisan infrastructure bill so we have the resources to be built to meet and tackle this challenge. we will prove them wrong again by rebuilding this road faster than any other similar collapse we have seen in the country. that is the way we get people believing back in their government again. withwith that, it is my honor to bring up jim kenney. governor kenny: i have been in public office since 1992 and have been through five presidents including this one. i was antonetti vallance press conference the other day and my phone kept ringing with a 202 area code. i thought it was spam.

one of my deputy mayors said, can you please answer the phone because the president is calling you. he called us about this and he was always there for the hard, hard times of the pandemic, of the testing, of the vaccine, of the lost revenue. we would not be the city we are now without this man here. i know he lives close. he is from delaware. he is considered almost a citizen here. but, the president of the united states called me to see what he could do to help us and that says all you need to know about this president and this man here. think, mr. president. we appreciate it and we love you. president biden: my wife is a philadelphia girl. where are we going? this way, president.

>> we are coming right over here. mr. president, remember, you told us we would rebuild the backbone of the country. one team, one side, shoulder to shoulder getting it done. this is the material that will be used. can you give us a little read on it? >> mr. president, rather than throwing dirt in that hole that takes time to settle, time that philadelphians don't want to wait for the road to reopen, the dirt that is real, real heavy. instead, we put innovativeness together with grittiness. we are using this recycled glass product made in delaware county that is 85% lighter than the dirt. it goes in the ground. it goes in the ground and allows

us to build the foundation to pave over. the ceo is -- of the company is here with us today. we have ryan porter the leader of the building trades. whose women and men are out there putting the material on. when we flew over wearing one we saw that big pile sitting on 95. that is the material that will be going in the whole land used to pave it over. president biden: delaware county. my problem is i went to high school in delaware county. >> no kidding? president biden: they thought they were from delaware. thank you. this is an example of the innovation as well. there is so much a change or not manufacturing in what you are doing. thank you, thank you. >> we have been able to put three manufacturing facilities in the state now, diverting

glass from landfills. >> it has both the environmental part of the impact and the prospect of the future that will be much more. how can i say it? secure. so, thanks, man. >> i appreciated. thank you. >> i tell you what, man, you guys just endorsed me again. he has guns as big as my thighs it is good to see you, pal. >> mr. president, we will need crews out there 24/7. they delivered. >> they really have. incredible. are you kidding me? operating engineers. >> tell the president what time you worked last night. >> 6:00 a.m..

>> and you could have gone home and gone to sleep but you came here instead. >> thank you, i really mean it. i am proud of you. >> we appreciate you very much. >> do you want to show the president the live feed? >> mr. president we put up a live feed over here. >> pretty cool, man. >> the live feed is over here from a few days ago. this is what we saw from the copter. we are three lines down. this is the aggregate we just saw over there in delaware county. we will have the three lines on the top. this will allow us to reconstruct the bridge on the two ends. once we reconstruct the bridge on the two ends we will move the traffic. >> it is on the other. you cannot see it. i mean, you look at it and it looks like it is only here but

it is on the other. >> that is right. this is the live feed. it is of really an idea by my chief of staff to invite everybody to watch our progress. they are watching this apparently on philadelphia sports bars i -- all the time now. you can see the aggregate going in here. nothing there. they were still cleaning up. look at the progress they have made in roughly, i don't know, about halfway up the wall? >> know, that is about one third of the way. >> oh, i am an optimist. well, they will fill that up. then they will be able to pave over that and get traffic moving soon. president biden: i keep saying i am more optimistic about the company -- country that i have ever been, not because i am

president but because things are changing so rapidly. nothing in america we have ever failed if we keep doing it together. we are the united states of america for god sakes. we used to have the number one infrastructure in the world. now we are number 13. >> the bipartisan infrastructure bill. >> you've got it now. >> in the law you have 32,000 projects that have been funded pushing 200 when he $5 billion out of the door and the president has said this is the number one project and all of us, shoulder to shoulder, hand-to-hand get it all done as fast as is human sleep yes -- humanly possible. the governor has done an incredible job. this is a one team, one fight effort. >> the reason i said it, i am not being parochial.

because, philadelphia, it's like a second home for me. and because it is so close to my state. it is because where the collapse took place, in the middle of a working-class area, it is in the middle of an area hard-working people look at every day and it affects their daily lives. it affects their community and their state. just their community. i think the most important thing we have had to do is demonstrate the hard work of people. that, this is their day. my dad used to have an expression. not a joke. he would say, joe, remember, a job it's about a lot more than a paycheck. it is about your dignity. it's about respect. it is about being able to look your kid in the eye and saying, honey, it will be ok. that is what we are trying to do. for trickle-down economy, not a lot trickle-down to my dad's

kitchen table. when you build it from the middle out and the bottom up, the wealthy do very well. i am all for billionaires. i would like to be one if i could read as long as they start paying their fair share. all kidding aside, everybody does better. thank you, thank you, thank you. i am heading to a labor conference. i know you don't know much about labor stuff. we appreciate it. >> c-span's campaign 2024 coverage is your front-row seat to the presidential election. watch coverage of candidates on the campaign trail with announcements, meet and greets him a and events. to make up your own mind. campaign 2024 on the c-span networks. c-span now our free mobile video app or anytime online at

c-span.org. c-span. your unfiltered view of politics. >> next week on the c-span networks. the house and senate returned with both chambers planning vote to override vetoes by president biden. the house willttempt to override hiseto on legislation that would block his student loan forgiveness program and the senate will vote to override the president's veto to overturn the epa heavy truck emissions role. on wednesday special counsel john durham appointed by william barr testifies before the house judiciary committee on his report into the fbi investigation of then presidential candidate trumps alleged ties to russia. federal reserve chairman jerome powell appears before the house financial services committee and the senate banking committee wednesday and thursday on his department's semiannual monetary report. thursday evening the white house will hold a state dinner for the

indian prime minister narenda modi his remarks to a joint meeting of congress earlier in the day. watching next week live on the c-span network or c-span now our free mobile video app. headed to c-span.org for scheduling information or to stream video live or on-demand any time. c-span. your unfiltered view of government. >> american history tv, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. ohio democratic senator sharon brown leads a bipartisan group of senators in a reading of dr. martin luther king jr.'s 1963 letter from birmingham jail. in his book becoming fdr journalist and historian john deng thin darlin'revealed how napoleon transformed for oakland roosevelt.

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