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In Wilkes-Barre, Biden pushes new Safer America Plan.

President Joe Biden discusses his Safer America Plan at Wilkes University on Aug. 30, 2022
Kat Bolus WVIA News
President Joe Biden discusses his Safer America Plan at Wilkes University on Aug. 30, 2022

President Joe Biden's $37 billion Safer America Plan would help recruit, hire and train an additional 100,000 police officers nationwide.

Biden, during a stop at Wilkes University Tuesday, said the plan also invests in gun prevention programs, more mental health and drug counseling support and social workers.

It’s based on a simple notion: fund the police, the president said.

“A safer America requires all of us to uphold the rule of law, not any one party or any one person," he said.

The wide-ranging and at times passionate speech touched on everything from Biden’s roots in Scranton to gun violence and school safety. Biden also commented on what he called "MAGA Republicans’” who support those who stormed the capital on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Don’t tell me you support law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened on the 6th," he said.

The event Tuesday opened with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown introduced Biden.

U.S. Senator Bob Casey and U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright also spoke in support of the Safer America Plan.

“We don’t surrender to gun violence, we take it on and we make progress," said Casey.

Cartwright said everybody wants a safer America.

“We need to focus on mental health problems, protecting against domestic violence, closing loopholes that can allow criminals unchecked access to firearms and ammunition,” he said. “We have to make schools safer, and get ahead of problems that are on track to end up as a shooting and stop that shooting from every happening.”

Biden, holding a wireless microphone and moving around the stage in the Arnaud C. Marts Center's gym, said that Americans want safe neighbors and a decent place to live. They want a fair shot for their kids and peace of mind that wherever their children go, they will come home safely, he continued.

“But for too long, too many families haven’t had that piece of mind. They watch the news and they see kids being gunned down in schools and on the streets… They see their neighbors lose their loved ones to drugs like fentanyl,” he said. “They see hate and anger and violence just walking the streets of America and they just want to feel safe again. They want to feel a sense of security and that’s what my crime plan is all about.”

Kat Bolus is the community reporter for the WVIA News Team. She is a former reporter and columnist at The Times-Tribune, a Scrantonian and cat mom.

You can email Kat at katbolus@wvia.org