Good afternoon, everyone.
Good afternoon, Democrats.
So I just returned this morning
from Poland and Romania.
And I'll tell you
that everything that you were watching on television, I know makes you understand
and feel the importance of this moment on many levels.
Russia's invasion threatens
not just Ukraine's democracy.
It threatens democracy and security across Europe.
And by extension, democracy is threatened anywhere.
It threatens us all.
The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people
in defense of the NATO alliance.
Days before I traveled to Poland
with many of you, I was in Selma
to commemorate the 57th anniversary
of the march
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
That historic place,
which is a stark reminder
that we must always remain vigilant
to safeguard freedom and democracy.
And we must always remember the duality
of a democracy in that, yes, there is strength,
but a
democracy by its nature is also fragile.
You know, when the president and I took office, our country
was facing the aftermath of a reckless president.
The COVID-19 pandemic
and questions about America's leadership on the world stage.
We had a plan and we rebuilt relationships with our allies.
And the results of that effort are clear as we stand together
in this unified rebuke of Russia.
The president and I also proposed
with your leadership, with your help, the American Rescue Plan.
And since that plan was enacted last year, we went from 2 million people
and vaccinated to over 250 million vaccinated
in our country.
Businesses are back
open and 99% of our schools are no longer remote.
We went from 60,000 jobs created each month
to 678,000 jobs created last month
and over 7
million total jobs created since we took office.
We passed a once in a generation
infrastructure law
and it will create more jobs.
It will rebuild communities.
I'm sorry, it will create more jobs, including good union jobs.
And we didn't stop there.
More than 70% of the judicial nominees
we have appointed are women.
More than 70%.
And of course, the president recently
nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
to the United States Supreme Court.
As the president laid out in his State of the Union,
it's time to bring down costs, the costs of living even more.
It is time to create more union jobs.
It is time to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to succeed.
It is time to defend our democracy and be vigilant in its defense
and to safeguard our planet for generations to come.
It is time to do so much more.
So our job is the job of just supporting the people,
supporting their
voices, supporting their will and desire
of what their government has a responsibility to deliver.
So that when I go overseas, when the president goes over
the seas, when you talk to folks
and we say America is a beacon,
it is a model,
that we can actually back that up.
That's what we're doing.