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From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE

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ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT TOGETHER WITH THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS, RECEIVED DURING ADJOURNMENT OF THE SENATE 
                       ON JANUARY 10, 2025--PM 2

  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the President of the United States, together with an accompanying 
report; which was referred to the Joint Economic Committee:
       To the Congress of the United States:
  In the last four years, America has overcome some of the most 
challenging economic conditions in our history. When I took office, our 
economy was in the grips of worst pandemic in a century, and decades of 
trickle-down policies had left us especially vulnerable to its shocks. 
Hundreds of thousands of businesses had closed, and millions of 
Americans risked losing their homes. Unemployment was high and the risk 
of long-term damage was real.
  My Administration responded with a new economic playbook to rebuild 
our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. Since 
then, we've made historic investments in our nation and in the 
industries of the future. We've stood by unions and helped to create a 
record 16 million jobs. We've fought to lower costs for consumers, and 
to give small businesses a fair chance to compete. Today, our economy 
has not only recovered, it has emerged stronger, laying the foundation 
for a promising new chapter in the American comeback story.
  My Council of Economic Advisers has prepared this report examining 
actions taken to both ease the pandemic's immediate impact and 
strengthen our economy over the long-term, to help ensure we learn the 
right lessons as a nation and to build on the historic progress we've 
made.
  Our work began right away with the American Rescue Plan, one of the 
most consequential recovery packages in history. To reopen our economy, 
we knew we had to defeat COVID-19, so we launched unprecedented 
vaccination efforts. We got immediate economic relief out to tens of 
millions of families who needed it most. We expanded the Child Tax 
Credit, cutting child poverty in half to its lowest rate in history. 
And we sent funding directly to every state, city, and town in the 
nation, keeping police on the beat and teachers in the classroom, 
families in their homes and small businesses on their feet, preventing 
a wave of scarring bankruptcies, defaults, and evictions.
  At the same time, the pandemic had snarled supply chains and set off 
widespread labor shortages, driving up costs worldwide. In response, my 
Administration immediately convened businesses and labor to unclog our 
ports and get goods flowing. Russia's unprovoked and unjustified 
invasion of Ukraine further increased food and gas prices. In response, 
I directed the largest release of fuel from our strategic reserve in 
history to ensure that our energy markets were well supplied, and we 
challenged oil and gas companies to reinvest record profits in domestic 
production, which has reached an all-time high under my Administration. 
And we took steps to promote competition across industries, boosting 
transparency and lowering costs for consumers.
  Our approach worked. Inflation is down significantly from its peak 
and is now close to pre-pandemic levels. Together, we've achieved the 
elusive ``soft landing'' of lower inflation, steady employment, strong 
economic growth, and rising real wages--which most observers said was 
impossible.
  But ending the economic crisis alone was never enough. I ran for 
President to set the American economy on a stronger long-term course, 
by breaking from the trickle-down orthodoxy that has failed our nation 
for decades. That theory holds that by cutting taxes for the very 
wealthy, benefits will trickle down to everyone else. But in truth, not 
a lot has ever trickled down onto most folks' kitchen tables. Instead, 
inequality grew and America slid deeper into debt.
  I have a different approach. I believe the best way to build America 
is to invest in America, in American products and American people. And 
the best way to grow our economy is to grow the backbone of our nation: 
the middle class. That's what my Investing in America agenda has done, 
through landmark laws that shore up our infrastructure, our 
manufacturing base, and our people. Together, these are some of the 
most significant investments in America since the New Deal.
  For decades, American infrastructure has been neglected. But our 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is finally modernizing the nation's 
roads, bridges, ports, airports, transit systems, and more; removing 
every lead pipe in America, so every child can drink clean water; and 
providing affordable high-speed internet for every American, no matter 
where they live. And it's making sure these projects are done with 
American products and American workers, creating hundreds of thousands 
of good-paying new jobs, many of them union jobs.
  For too long, American factories have moved overseas, taking vital 
industries with them. Now, our CHIPS and Science Act is bringing 
manufacturing home, already attracting nearly $450 billion in 
manufacturing investments to build massive new semiconductor factories, 
equipping America to lead the industries of future. At the same time, 
our Inflation Reduction Act is making the most significant investment 
in fighting climate change in history, not only putting America on 
track to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and promoting our energy 
abundance and security, but also creating hundreds of thousands of 
good-paying clean-energy jobs.
  I know all too well, Americans still too often struggle to afford 
lifesaving prescription drugs, and sometimes are even forced to choose 
between medicine and rent. It's wrong. The Inflation Reduction Act also 
takes historic steps to change that, capping total out-of-pocket costs 
for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 a year; slashing insulin for seniors 
to $35 a month, down from as much as $400; and finally giving Medicare 
the power to negotiate lower drug prices across the board. And it has 
expanded health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, bringing the 
share of uninsured Americans to record lows.
  The impact of these efforts is just starting--and the full effects 
will be felt over the next decade--but there is no question that our 
nation today is the best-positioned on earth to win the competition for 
the 21st century. We've laid a foundation of possibilities that will 
make life a little easier for millions of Americans and can propel 
America for decades.
  Today, we hand the incoming Administration the world's largest 
economy. The next four years will determine if America builds on that 
strength, or slides back into the old trickle-down approach that only 
benefits those at the very top. I believe that the transformative 
investments we've made are already deeply rooted in our nation, and 
therefore too costly, politically and economically, to reverse. At this 
inflection point, I hope that our playbook serves as a model for how to 
fight for the middle class and give working families a fair shot, 
forging a stronger, more secure and prosperous America for generations 
to come.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.  

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