It was standing room only in the Hankin Academic Arts Building at Westchester Community College on May 10 when President Biden came to the Valhalla campus. The president delivered a major speech on the debt ceiling, his budget and why the Republicans should abandon their plans to block raising the country’s debt ceiling unless Biden makes budget cuts to the tune of 22%. Biden’s speech was designed, in part, to put additional pressure on Republicans in advance of another meeting on the debt ceiling that’s scheduled to take place at the White House on Friday. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said there was no forward movement in yesterday’s White House meeting on the subject.
Biden used a handheld microphone and walked around the stage. Photo by Peter Katz
Biden had arrived at Westchester County Airport shortly after 12:45 p.m. on board the helicopter Marine One. He had come from John F. Kennedy International Airport after a flight from Washington on board Air Force One. Biden was greeted at the Westchester airport by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Traveling with Biden were Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, both of whom had flown up from Washington with him.
A view of the theater at WCC set up for Biden’s speech. Photo by Peter Katz.
While at WCC, President Biden participated in a photo event with local leaders. According to the White House, Biden was photographed with Mayor Tom Roach of White Plains, New York State Senate President Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Chairman of the State Democratic Party Jay Jacobs, leaders of WCC and local union members and officials.
The event was reminiscent of a campaign rally at the start, with Hochul, Bowman and Gillibrand blasting Republicans for playing politics with the national debt, the creditworthiness of the U.S., and the global economy. Hochul introduced local elected officials who were at the event and each stood up to loud applause and cheers.
Bowman, in a fiery speech, raised the issue of recent mass shootings and gun laws.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman speaking at WCC. Photo by Peter Katz.
“They’re OK with our children dying everyday from gun violence because they won’t do a damn thing about it,” Bowman shouted as the audience reacted loudly. “We need a ban on assault rifles. We need universal background checks. We need universal red flag laws,” Bowman said.
Biden was introduced by Brian Sullivan, a seventh grade science teacher at the White Plains Highlands Middle School.
Preident Biden, right, thanks Brian Sullivan for his introduction. Photo by Peter Katz.
Biden said it’s good to be back in Westchester, having appeared in the county just before the 2022 election at an event for Gov. Hochul at Sarah Lawrence College. He gave a special acknowledgement to Republican Rep. Mike Lawler who was at the WCC the event.
“Mike’s on the other team but you know what? Mike is the kind of guy that, when I was in the Congress, was the kind of Republican I was used to dealing with,” Biden said. “He’s not one of these MAGA Republicans. I don’t want to get him in any trouble by saying anything nice about him.”
Biden then moved on to the main topic, whether the U.S. is going to default on its debts because the debt ceiling hadn’t been raised. The speech at WCC was being followed in financial as well as government circles around the world as evidenced by the presence of reporters from foreign financial journals and other overseas news media.
Biden speaking at WCC. Photo by Peter Katz.
“There’s a big debate going on in this country about protecting America’s hard-earned reputation as the most trusted, reliable nation in the world, about how we fix the long-term fiscal health of this nation, a debate with enormous implications for the American economy and quite frankly for the world economy,” Biden said. “It’s important for the American people to know what’s at stake.”
Biden said that it’s not a theoretical debate that’s going on in Washington.
“The decisions we make are going to have real impact on real peoples’ lives,” Biden said. “The MAGA Republicans have taken control of the House. They’re doing to the best of my knowledge what no other political party has done in the nation’s history. They’re literally, not figuratively, holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation’s debt, a debt we’ve already incurred over the last couple of hundred years, unless we give in to their threats and demands.”
Biden was in Westchester until about 3:45, when the helicopter Marine One flew him to Manhattan where he was scheduled to attend a number of political fundraising events.
