>> thank you.

thank you. thank you everybody. please sit. this is such an honor to be here. i have to tell you. my first trip to the white house is wonderful. i am president of the connecticut alliance for retired

americans, retired professor of english in connecticut and chair of the national repeal gpl task force. [applause] thank you. quite a few of our task force member's are here today. when i was growing up, my widowed maternal grandmother who had six children was so grateful that her social security benefits would keep her out of the poor house and there was a poorhouse a couple of blocks from her house. as a teenager i often accompanied my grandmother on saturdays when she brought her homemade bread to the poorhouse. i think the vision of the people who were there in that poorhouse

motivated me and others on the task force as well. to help correct the injustice that my fellow public service workers who keep our communities writing have had to endure and we have kept that in her mind -- our mind. our task force began in may of 2020 with a small group of alliance activists and grew to include firefighters, police, postal workers, first responders, teachers and many of the others in the unions and organizations that they represented in this room today. thank you for that. [applause] we worked to secure a repeal petition of over 110,000

signatures and we included activists from maine to alaska. [applause] we focused on the repeal of provisions that had been an injustice to many public servants over the last 40 years. our d.c. rallies, we had two of them, are summit, our webinars and traversing the halls of congress led us to a bipartisan victory in both houses. [applause] with the leadership of members of congress here today and the president's signature, almost 2.5 million americans will now receive their rightfully earned

social security benefits. i want to thank them all and on behalf of the task force from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for that. especially the person i am honored to introduce today. now it is my immense gratitude that i introduce the president who has done more for american seniors than any other president. thank you so much, mr. president . [applause]

pres. biden: thank you very much. thank you. i know in about 20 years i will become a senior. it is hell turning 40. god bless you all. thank you for that introduction and for all the work you have done for retired americans and making a gigantic difference. thank you. they used to say it was a point of personal privilege. she gave me a handwritten poem from her husband who said i look like i'm 20. [laughter] thank you and i will give him a call. thank you to current and former members of congress for being here today.

particularly susan collins. abigail spanberger. where is abigail? get up, abigail. i also want to thank leader schumer. schumer is not here, is? your guy could not make it today either. for all of you who kept this bipartisan bill on track from the beginning to end and so did our great labor district today, i want to thank them. my dad taught me, the job is a

lot more than a paycheck. it is about your dignity. it is about respect. it is about your place in the community. it is about being able to look your kid in the eye and say it is going to be ok. the billowing signing today is about a preposition -- the bill i am signing today is about a preposition. americans should be able to retire with economic security and dignity. that is the entire purpose of the social security system crafted by frank on roosevelt nearly nine years ago -- franklin roosevelt nearly nine years ago. social security's for retirees and survivors and millions of americans. we have all heard stories like the one that betty share today. employees, public secretaries, nurses and many more, many working second jobs often just because they need to make ends meet. of all that have existed and

denied social security benefits by thousands of dollars per year. that denial of benefits also applied to surviving spouses of public service employees. benefits cut that cost them security and a little bit of dignity as well. joining us today is a 17-year-old from texas. where is he? come here. [applause] elicio is just around the corner from seating -- receiving social security. he walked 1600 miles from texas to washington, dc to support this bill. when he did it, he did it for

his grandmother. guess what? tomorrow is his birthday. we have a tradition in our household. we have to sing happy birthday. are you ready? happy birthday to you. happy birthday to you. happy birthday to you. ♪ [applause] elicio, you have one request. when you are president and they say joe biden, promise you will not say who. [laughter]

by signing this bill we are assigning social security benefits for millions and the spouses of survivors. an average of $365 per month increase. that is a big deal. for millions of americans going forward. that is not all. over 2.5 million americans will receive a lump sum payment of thousands of dollars to make up for the shortfall in the benefits they should have gotten into any 24 -- they should have gotten in 2024. they will begin receiving these payments this year and this is a big deal. someone said this is a big deal. it is a big deal. [laughter] as the first president with more

than 20 years of expanding social security benefits, this victory is a four year fight to provide security for workers who dedicate their lives to their communities. i am proud to have played a small part in this fight. thanks to chair brown and richard neal. [applause] one of the first things we did was to protect pensions for as many as 2 million union workers as we signed the butch lewis act. the most significant act to protect unions in 50 years. it helped them retire with dignity. just like the social security fairness act. what i'm about to sign, when i

came to office and promised i would also protect social security, i never thought we would have to make that promise but we still do. i said that if anyone tried to cut these programs, i would stop them. that is the promise we have kept. even in the face of cutting these programs, i know there is a lot more work to do to improve and expand benefits including those who need it most. to protect social security for the long-term and asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share and so much more. we could not have done this alone. to the people in this room, the people around the country who did the work and kept the faith, thank you. our economy today is the strongest economy in the world. we have more to do but it is the strongest economy in the world because we have the best workers in the world. we do. [applause]

i might add, when i went to south korea to get communications and samsung to send back their chipmakers to the united states, they said yes and i said why,. the foreign leader of an american corporation, because you have the most qualified workers in the world. i am serious. it is the safest place in the world to invest. today is a victory for the dignity of workers. everyday people who built the middle class and who built this country, we cannot forget who did it. we are the united states of america. there is nothing beyond our capacity if we set our mind to it and we do it together. god bless you all.

may god protect our troops. let's sign this bill. [applause] we have spots up here. ok. get ready, get set, go. all right.

[applause] thank you. thank you. all right. i know it will be a long time before any of you collect social security like me. thank you. it is a good day. thank you. ♪ this is my daughter.