President Joe Biden pitched his economic vision and promised to deliver for American workers during a speech to labor leaders in Washington, D.C., just hours after announcing his 2024 reelection bid.

Biden said he was proud to be considered a pro-union president and will continue to push policies that will produce more union jobs, while chastising Republicans for not voting for the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act and other initiatives, which he said will cut the debt while supporting jobs that will construction and other jobs that boost the middle class. Speaking over the chants of “four more years”, Biden addressed the labor federation at the North America’s Building Trades Unions at the Washington Hilton, which represents 14 unions and nearly three million workers. He said “We’re on the cusp of major change. We’re creating jobs again. Manufacturing has come alive again. People can afford decent health care. Towns that have been forgotten and left behind are coming to life again because of you all — what we’re doing … Now we’ve just got to keep going. Finish the job… Wall Street did not build America, the middle class built America and unions built the middle class.”

The speech was Biden’s first public event after making his 2024 re-election bid official in a video message on Tuesday morning. Biden said that unions were responsible for growing jobs and the economy alongside him since he entered the White House, and urged workers to stick by his side: “Folks, trickle-down economics doesn’t work. We’ve got a very different plan for the economy, we, you and I together, we’re turning things around, and we’re doing it in a big way.”

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