President Joe Biden has taken the stage at Wilkes University’s Arnaud C. Marts Center.
Biden is in Northeast Pennsylvania today to discuss his Safer America Plan which calls on Congress to vote to spend $37 billion to combat gun violence, hire more police officers and support local departments as well as fund courts and social services, among other initiatives.
Air Force One landed at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport around 1:50 p.m. The president was originally set to speak at the university on July 21 but tested positive for COVID-19 that day.
Today is the first time the president has publicly addressed the plan. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running for governor on the Democratic ticket; as well as U.S. Rep Matt Cartwright and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey all spoke before Biden. He was introduced by Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown.
This is Biden’s second visit to the region as president. He was last in his birthplace, Scranton, in October. During the visit, the president discussed his Build Back Better plan at the Electric City Trolley museum to an invite-only crowd.
Biden also spent the morning of Election Day 2020 in Scranton.
Before Biden arrived at Wilkes University, a small group of protestors gathered in a gravel parking lot at River and Market streets in Wilkes-Barre.
At a volunteer table under a tent, some protestors wore "Dr. Oz for U.S. Senate" T-shirts. The group held signs denouncing Biden, John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro toward traffic at the busy intersection.
Cars honked in support and opposition to the small crowd, who gathered around four hours before the president began his remarks at the university just blocks away.
Joe Kulakowski, a retired union president from Wilkes-Barre, was a Democratic committeeman in the city and a member of the party for 50 years. He switched to Republican last year.
Kulakowski joined the group Tuesday to support GOP candidates for the mid-term and protest what he believes Biden is doing to the country.
“They’re turning into a Marxist government. It’s like forget about the old values. I’m definitely pro-life. They want to kill babies. That’s murder. No matter how you look at it, that’s murder," he said. "They also want to take my guns."
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