Remarks by the Vice President at a Democratic National Committee Finance Event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening. (Applause.) Sit.

Thank you, Jaime. I'm always so happy to be with you. But most often, you are just out there in our country, traveling around our country, supporting Democrats everywhere. And the work you are doing through the DNC has been remarkable. So, thank you. And for that introduction, thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

Well, good evening, Democrats! (Applause.) Okay, so they're -- one of our team members, right after the new year, as we all returned to the White House, asked me, "What's your one word for 2023?" And without any reflection, I said, "Momentum. Momentum."

Because of who our President is, because of the agenda that we collectively set, we have a lot of good material to talk about. (Applause.)

And we've got a lot of finger-pointing to do. And by that, I mean pointing at the results of the hard work.

We've got a lot of good material. When I look around this room at the leaders and all of the work you did in 2020 that resulted in our administration -- together with Leader Clyburn, together with Senator Coons, together with so many -- what we were able to do -- Lisa Blunt Rochester -- what we were able to do -- (applause) -- with our partners in the Congress to get a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to get a CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act.

By the way, $370 billion explicitly going to climate. But the way we've totaled it up, probably going to be more like closer to $1 trillion.

So much good work.

So, it is incumbent now on all of us who believed and who knew -- and, yes, you worked so hard -- to keep working hard. It is now incumbent on us to see it through.

And one of the things that I'm so excited about, about all that we have accomplished together is it also validates something that we, as Democrats, I think, really believe, which is in the integrity and the purpose of our government to do good work that lifts up the condition of the American people.

We now have so much to point to that validates the desires and the goals and the dreams of American families, in terms of what they hope and believe their government would care about and work on.

They now know: Yes, you're right to think that your government will fix roads and bridges. That's kind of basic, but nobody got it done before President Biden. (Applause.)

But, yes, you're right to expect also that your government and its leaders will invest in the future of our country. So, the President is going to talk in more detail tonight. I'll talk in more detail later tonight.

But we got a lot of good material, and momentum is on our side. And so, this is not the time to let up. It's not the time to pat ourselves on the back. It's the time to see it through.

And that's going to take as much work, if not more, than everything that everyone here put into where we are today.

So, we are here to thank you. We know who's in this room, and you keep coming back, election after election after election. Yeah, Chris Korge -- he was like, "Yeah." (Laughter.) Thank you.

You keep taking the calls. You keep answering the calls. You keep making the calls. And we could not, in these positions, do what we do were it not for you doing what you do that takes so much effort and sacrifice and faith in the goodness of who we are as a nation and what we are capable of achieving.

And so, it is now my great honor and pleasure to introduce an individual who I have the extraordinary honor of working with every day.

And I'll tell you guys something. I see the President at all hours, in all circumstances. And I see what you all know, I'm sure, but don't necessarily see every day: He works so hard, and he really is guided by his faith and belief in what is good and what is right.

I see him make some of the most difficult decisions anyone could ever be charged with making. Because let's get it straight: If it comes to the Resolute Desk, if it comes to Joe Biden, it is because nobody else can make the decision, because it's so heavy, it's so weighted, and the outcome is not necessarily evident or clear.

It takes courage. And it takes the kind of vision and strength that we have in our President, Joe Biden. (Applause.)