Biden recalls his childhood during Scranton business visit
In native city to discuss infrastructure plan, fund Amtrak line between NYC and Pa.
SCRANTON — In his latest return to his native city, President Joe Biden predicted Wednesday his agenda will create 2 million more jobs a year, allow more children to attend pre-school, more women to return to work and more people to travel by passenger train.
Speaking in front of a vintage trolley like the one that ran to his Scranton neighborhood as a youth, Biden guaranteed his agenda will mean no one earning less than $400,000 a year pays “a single penny” of additional taxes. Wealthier Americans would pay for the agenda, which would also not increase the national debt, he said.
Biden spoke for about 50 minutes, saying farewell at 6:22 p.m.
Congress continues to debate massive investments in roads, bridges, Amtrak and other infrastructure and more spending on child care, early childhood education and addressing climate change.
“Somewhere along the line we stopped investing in ourselves,” he said. “This has been declared dead on arrival from the moment I introduced it, but I think we’re going to surprise them.”
Biden spent more than 10 minutes at the beginning of his speech recalling his youthful
days in Scranton.
Retelling stories of his childhood while standing outside the Electric City Trolley Museum, Biden highlighted local family members in the front row. He remembered visiting Simmey’s and Hank’s Hoagies and watching movies at the old Roosevelt Theater in the city’s Green Ridge section, where he lived for about five years until his family moved to Delaware in the early 1950s.
“No matter how long you live here in Scranton, it’s a place that climbs into your heart and it never, ever leaves you,” he said.
He recalled his days riding Amtrak trains between his Delaware home and Washington as a U.S. senator and predicted
the infrastructure bill Congress is negotiating would revive Amtrak and modernize American transportation.
“I am the most railroad guy you’re ever going to met,” he said, recalling he rode 2.1 million miles on the nation’s largest passenger railroad. “They should name half the railroad after me.”
He did not specifically mention the proposed Scranton to New York City passenger train, but the audience included Bill Flynn, the chief executive officer of Amtrak, and Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s president. That line could also connect with the Lehigh Valley.
Afterward, Flynn said the support he’s heard for the Scranton project means a lot.
“We hear about all the great support for intercity passenger rail, specifically the support for Scranton and eventually restoring service between Scranton and New York. We think it’s just a great idea,” Flynn said. “We’re here to support, of course, the infrastructure bill and the president’s vision. And we are excited about the opportunity to restart service between Scranton and New York. That’s our goal. That’s absolutely our goal.”
Before Biden took the stage, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey predicted Congress would pass Biden’s infrastructure plan and the bill that promotes his Build Back Better agenda.
Casey said one bill provides money for upgrading physical bridges, the other provides bridges such as child care that allow women, in most cases, to work.
Hours before his arrival here for the first time as the nation’s leader, Biden had his native hometown on his mind.
The president’s Twitter account, @POTUS, tweeted a photo of Biden in his Little League uniform.
“Today, I’m heading back home to Scranton. It’s where my values — of hard work and treating others with dignity — were set. Those values are at the core of my agenda,” Biden’s tweet said. “See you soon, Scranton.”
It’s the same photo that’s part of a sign in the front yard of his former home at 2446 N. Washington Ave. The same photo appears on Biden’s Instagram account with a slightly longer caption.