To honor the work we are doing. Our country and our company runs throughout our veins and when the crisis began, we all wanted to find a way to create the equipment that the country needed. Our team has stepped up and worked tirelessly for a common cause. Our workers both hourly and salaried have done their very best to put safety first. To stay safe, strong, and on the job. I do want to take a moment to ask our team members to remember all of our health care workers, first responders, a central workforce that have given their lives in order to serve and protect the public during this extraordinary challenge in our country. It has been a privilege leading this team and i am so proud to be part of the ford motor led effortlessly by bill ford. Without further ado, please help me give a standing ovation from introducing our executive chairman of lord Motor Company, bill ford. [cheering and applause] bill ford hello, everybody and thank you so much angela and thank you for your tireless leadership. You and your team represent the very best of ford. And welcome, mr. President to fords rossville plant. Welcome to all of our employees joining us today. Today is a big day for ford and an important time for our country. This plant, we assemble components and hybrid batteries for ford cars and trucks. For the past six weeks, our employees have been assembling machines to save lives. ,nd as everybody here knows ford has always been a family business. But it is not just my family. Generations of ford employees have punched in every day and plants at plants like this one building for america and we take that trust very seriously. We have a special responsibility to take care of each other and this country. Just like we have done for 117 years. Ii, many of our workers went to fight overseas and those that could not stayed to build war machines of all types needed to win the war. Plants just like this. In fact, president roosevelt visited our willow run plant a few miles down the road to honor the ford workers producing b 24 bombers during world war ii. Ford was called the arsenal of democracy. Of theirme grandchildren and greatgrandchildren are building equipment to save lives and to protect our medical professionals and first responders. I am deeply grateful to all of our employees at ross and bill for stepping up and leading the way. Factories tod our keep our workers and their againes safe, our teams thinking about what they could do to serve our country. And just as they always have, our employees sprang into action. We are the most American Automaker employing more hourly workers in the u. S. Than any other automaker. [cheers and applause] assemble more vehicles in america than anyone else and we invest more here. And that is why at a moments notice, we were able to shift gears and put our manufacturing expertise to work producing lifesaving medical gear and equipment. Our spirit of innovation, ford engineers worked with 3m to design powered respirators from sketch to production in less than 40 days. And working with Ge Health Care and the uaw, we plan to manufacture 50,000 ventilators right here in this facility. And just down the road, we have assembled over 17 million face shields for our medical heroes of ross the country. Manufacturing can do. And that is why a Strong Manufacturing base is critical for our country. And thank you, mr. President for your support of american manufacturing. This week, many of our Assembly Lines restarted today with ford workers building the cars and trucks and americans depend on like the f150 and others you see in this room. Actually, i think this one might be a might make a pretty good president ial limo. Anyway. Here is what i want all of our employees and your families to know. We put as much care and attention into developing our plan to return to work as anything i have been involved with in my 40 years at fort. We consulted the best medical plants, we rethought layouts and we employed technology that will help keep all of us safe. And many of the concepts we are deploying across all of our plants were pioneered right here. The many ways our 200,000 employees have stepped up to help each other and the world through this pandemic makes me very proud to call each one of you a part of our ford family. Americas engines may have gone quiet over the last few months of safety,new spirit responsibility, and innovation, ford is proud to start them up again. And now, it is my pleasure to introduce the president of the United States. We have spoken many times over the years and while we dont always agree on every issue, he has always considered our opinion. He supported tax cuts that have helped us move the economy forward and we deeply appreciate his work in leading a new trade treaty with mexico and canada. And there is no doubt that we share a passionate view that building in america is the right thing to do for our workers, the economy, and the future of this country. You forident, thank joining us here today to celebrate our workers in this important effort to help get america through this crisis. Please join me in welcoming the president of the United States. Thank you. \ [cheers and applause] pres. Trump thank you very much. I like that dais very much. I just heard youre going to be having 2000 more jobs right down the road for the bronco which is a big winner. That is great. Fantastic job. Thank you, bill. Write down the road. [applause] it is an honor to have bill with us. And i am thrilled to be back in michigan. We have done a lot of work in michigan. A lot of plants are opening, lots of plants stopped, we stopped them from closing and we kept workers here in michigan and the United States, different places, as you know, all over the United States. It is an honor to do. It is one of the reasons i am standing here. Years ago, i was honored long before i ever thought of the president ial situation, i was honored in michigan and i said, how come you are losing so much of your car businesses to mexico business to mexico and other places . I asked that question very innocently, probably 10 years ago. The man of the year, they named me man of the year in michigan and i said what is going on in michigan . We have stopped it and thanks to a lot of Good Companies like ford, lots of things are happening here. And that is why i am honored when bill mentioned the plant that you are going to be doing 2000 and it is a great success, the bronco, so that is good news. Thank you very much. [applause] i am honored to stand on the factory floor operated by the incredible workers of Ford Motor Company. You really are tremendously talented people. I know it, im not sure Everybody Knows it but a lot of people do and they will all know it after this speech. You are really talented, great people. Thank you very much for doing a great job. We know what it takes. Few people have that ability. In the war against that it the invisible enemy, the hardworking patriots here answer the call to serve. You proved the American Workers built ford and you are built ford tough. A great expression. They still use that expression, bill, right . A great expression. Can i use it for myself . Built trump tough. I dont know. They may say that is a takeoff and you cant do that. You made america proud and you made ford proud and america is proud of ford. Right here at the component plant, you are building a great medical arsenal to defeat the virus and cement americas place as a leading manufacturer and exporter of ventilators. Anywhere in the world, we are getting calls from other countries, many other countries, friend and foe, we get calls from foes and we want to help them out. We are making thousands and thousands of ventilators, and i think we started right over here. We got a call from bill and this is incredible what has happened and what you have done. With your help, not a single american who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. Not one. As you remember, we took over empty cupboards and we got in the business, 14 million tests, the second country with 3 million tests. Germany, south korea, 14 million tests and the tests are the best. I want to thank you very much for doing a great job. Driven by love and sweat and devotion, we are saving lives and forging ahead. As of this week, the beating heart of the American Auto industry is back open for business. That started right away, didnt did . Did and it didnt it . Starts right now. You have all of those supply chains that will come through because if they dont, just build the product right here, ok . That can happen. But we heard that, it is a big story, we are starting with the cars now and it is going to be a big success. In addition to many wonderful uaw workers, we are joined by secretary ben carson who has done a fantastic job. He is here. Thank you. Where is he . There he is. Thank you, ben. [applause] hi, ben. Thank you. And the man who has done a fantastic job for ford, we will ask bill about this later, i will find out. I want to make sure for myself but i know based on results, i know. Ceo jim hackett, thank you very much. The word is yes. The word is great job. Plant manager, angela weathers, angela, thank you very much. That is a big job. That is a big job. Do you enjoy it . Great job, fantastic. It is a big deal. Ge healthcare u. S. And canada president everett cunningham, thank you everett. [applause] thank you, everett. Before going further, let us send our love to all of the families that have been displaced by the flooding near midland. I spoke to your governor this morning and we sent tremendously talented people out here. We have fema and the army corps of engineers and they can do things people can do. And they can do things that frankly, no other people can do. The army corps of engineers, they are good at rebuilding dams that are busted or blown up or for whatever reason, bad things happen. Americans are praying for central michigan. We will take care of your problem. The governor and i had a great conversation this morning, and at the appropriate time i will go and see the area we will be fixing. We will help you out. We signed an Emergency Declaration very quickly and we will help you are very quickly come also. In recent months, the state of this state and this country have faced great challenges. In detroit, you were hit hard by the virus. As one people, we hold in our hearts the precious memory of every person we of lost and we of lost too many. Is tooto money one many. It came from china and should have been stopped in china. They should have stopped it. And as a grateful nation, we proclaim god bless our health care workers. They are like warriors. I want to thank all the nurses and doctors. Because of the virus, ford was forced to stop automobile production for the First Time Since world war ii. That is something. But you didnt despair. Your Company Leadership called at the white house and asked the most american of all questions, how can we help . Its true. I said, that is nice. That is very nice. Everyone of the workers in this project volunteered to take part in the greatest industrialization and mobilization project that our society has done, the American People have done in our lifetimes. The Company Founded by a man named henry ford, good bloodlines, good headlines. Good bloodlines. Do you believe in that stuff . He had good blood. They teamed up with the Company Founded by thomas edison, that is general electric, good stuff. Good stuff. And you put it all together and they are all looking down right now and they are very proud of what they see. You began the production of 50,000 lifesaving ventilators. A number that if you go back two months was people would say that would be impossible to believe. The media is back there, they would have said a couple months ago, the creation of that many ventilators would have been not a possible thing. Every single one of these ventilators is made in the usa with american heart, american hands and american pride. Just as your greatgrandparents produced more than one model t every minute, just as your grandmothers and grandfathers produced a b 24, you did the be the b 24 bomber, i saw pictures in the back. That was quite a weapon, quite an incredible weapon, the b 24 bomber. Just as the ford what just as a ford f1 50 drives off the line every 52 seconds, you mastered this complex new machine, the ventilators are very complicated, delicate, big, expensive machines. One month ago, ford had never built a single ventilator. Now, you are a world leader, that is not bad. You adopted the designs of a company that was building just 10 per week but a highquality ventilator and very soon, you will be producing one new ventilator every single minute. It is an absolute amazing achievement and you really are helping now beyond the country, you are helping other countries throughout the world. We have 188 countries that are fighting this terrible enemy. Ventilators are something, you can do cotton swabs, you can do all of the things, you can even do testing but ventilators are a whole different lot. It is very tough. Great job. Thanks to you, we will stockpile over 100,000 new ventilators in the next few months and have offered over 14,000 to friends and allies around the world that and they desperately need them. Just this week i spoke to five they called me and said is it possible to get ventilators . I am sending them over. I want to recognize a few of the exceptional americans who made this possible. Keith is an electrician here in the plant. Please tell us what you had done, how you like it, come on up. Lets see keith. Look at keith. [applause] thank you, keith. Well have to grab him and shake his hand. I guess we cant do that. Keith on behalf of ford and the uaw, welcome, mr. President. Im an electrician. When i first heard the news that my plant was going to be building ventilators, it only took me a minute to get a hold of my uaw and i decided that this was my opportunity to serve my country. So on the first day as a volunteer, we went full speed, seven days a week, 12 hours a shift. I would go home sore, bruised, had blisters, was bleeding, had trouble sleeping. Just the pains of that day. But i kept coming back because this is a great nation. I couldnt say that i could be more proud of my coworkers for their efforts and their sacrifices to build these fine ford ventilators, respirators, face masks and face shields. Thank you, this has been an absolute honor and a blessing and god bless you, sir. Pres. Trump thank you very much, keith. Thank you. [applause] great job. Great people. We are also joined by gary, a quality technician. Gary, come on up. Gary. [applause] thanks, gary. Gary good afternoon. Thank you, president trump, for the honor to tell my story. My name is gary and i am a fourthgeneration Ford Motor Company employee. My grandfathers worked for Ford Motor Company during world war ii and my father retired from rosenville after 41 years. I always knew growing up i wanted to work for ford. I am very proud of the ventilator project and the amazing job done by ford and the uaw team. I had anxiety when i received the call to volunteer. I didnt want to get sick and take it home to my family. However, upon arriving on the first day, i felt safe due to the new policies and procedures put forth by our uaw health and safety team. It is a great feeling to know everything we are doing here, and each assembly we make, is saving somebodys life. Thank you, mr. President , and god bless america. [applause] pres. Trump thank you very much. Thank you, gary. Thank you, gary, very much. With us as well is adrian, who has helped lead this effort as one of fords top engineers, highly respected. Come on up, adrian. [applause] adrian thank you, mr. President. Really thank you for the opportunity to represent my friends and colleagues who have been involved in project apollo. I am honored to be part of the team that over the last few weeks has been able to produce more than 17 million of these face shields, 13 million surgical masks, 32,000 pressurized air purifying respirators, and here at this facility, produce a ventilator every 60 seconds. These feats are a testament to the skills and capabilities of the men and women of Ford Motor Company and our uaw and other partners who have come together to do what we can do to support the battle against covid19. Ford Motor Company and its employees are always prepared to step up and do the right thing to support those in need. Most particularly in times of Significant National crisis. I believe these acts are part of the dna of our company and are inspired by both fords family and our continuing history of service. Personally, i am proud to be playing a part in supporting the brave men and women who are on the front line every day. Putting themselves at risk to help others. As i stand here today surrounded by these awesome americanmade cars and suvs and beautiful trucks, i am so pleased that our facilities and dealerships are safely in operation come a serving the needs of our current and maybe future ford and lincoln customers. Thank you, mr. President. [applause] pres. Trump i have bought plenty of them. Thank you. I have a lot of those lincolns. That is great. Thank you very much. The Global Pandemic has proven once and for all that to be a strong nation, america must the a manufacturing nation. We are bringing it back, 600,000 jobs, the previous said ofrations manufacturing we are not doing that, it is gone. 600,000 jobs until we had to turn it off, and now we will turn it back on like never before. I see numbers that you didnt even see the last time. We will rebuild it quickly. It will happen very quickly. We are already seeing indications of that. Larry kudlow gave some numbers that were inspiring this morning based on what we are hearing and seeing. True National Independence requires economic independence from day one i have been fighting to bring back our jobs from china and many other countries. Today, i am declaring a simple but Vital National goal, the United States will be the worlds premier pharmacy, drugstore, and medical manufacturer. We are bringing our medicines back. [applause] and many other things. We must produce critical equipment and supplies, pharmaceuticals, technologies for ourselves. We cant rely on foreign nations to take care of us, especially in times of difficulty. In previous decades politicians shipped away our jobs come jobs,p away our outsourced supply chains and off short our industries. Ored ourffsh industries. They sent them abroad. We are bringing them back and we have been doing that long before this crisis. We are bringing them back. That is why we have so many plants being built all over the United States that make a beautiful product called cars. Bringing them back. You will see them. I told Prime Minister abe of japan, we have to get them back. We have many japanese Car Companies building here. You have to bring them back. There are deficits with all these countries for years and years and years. They were ripping us left and right. We had no idea, we had no leader that understood what the hell was happening but now you do. I said, got to bring them back. We made a great deal with south korea, with japan, 40 billion dollars, japan is putting into the United States, not to mention all of the plants they are building. The south korea deal was a terrible deal and we made it good. Hillary clinton made that deal. She said it is going to produce 250,000 jobs. And she was right. It produced 250,000 jobs for south korea, not for us. Wasnt too good, was it . But we are bringing it all back to our country, and it started long before this happened. And maybe that is one of the reasons this happened. Maybe people werent so thrilled with what was going on. We had the greatest year in the history of our country and we will have it again very soon and this administration, we know it matters where someone and something, where someone works on something, or where something is made. As we have seen today, Companies Like your great ford and workers like you are a national treasure. I consider ford to be a national treasure. I consider you to be a national treasure, the talent. Because that talent and culture arecommitment to winning irreplaceable. Your patriotism cant be outsourced. Your 117 years of incredible manufacturing heritage cant be replicated anywhere else in the world. The talent, i see the talent, i know what talent is. Thats why in my administration, we live by two simple rules. Buy american, hire american. [applause] we have another role. Its called america first. We had america last. Under previous president s. They were more concerned with the world been there on country. Than their own country. My first week in office, i withdrew from the Transpacific Partnership which would have destroyed the auto industry. I have never asked you about that. I think you agree. Would you please stand up and nod. Your industry would have been destroyed if that had gone through. I dont know how these unions arent endorsing trump instead of the standard democrat. A democrat that doesnt even know where he is. We renegotiated the catastrophic deal with south korea to preserve the protective tariff on foreignmade pickup trucks. The chicken tax. You know what thats most profitable thing . Because of the chicken tax that was expiring a year ago. I got it extended. Because of that tax, its one of the most profitable products. I kept my promise to replace nafta with a brandnew usmca which is a fantastic deal for our country. Tough new requirements under the usmca ensure workers to be built at american plants by American Labor and labor endorsed it. You are losing all of your car industry. Now, people arent going to be moving back to mexico. You are going to have it the other way. We preserve our relationship, mexico has the same time been very nice. Our border is the strongest it has ever been. Were up to 200 beautiful new miles of order wall. That is pristine. Nobody comes through. Its a serious wall. We had among the best months we have ever had, now with some but somebody comes across, we bring them back. We dont go through five years of litigation. Not so long ago, if they stepped foot into our country, you had to be perry mason. You would end up in a court case and we would say come back in five years. Only the stupid people came back. Why should they come back . They were released into our country. We dont do that. We want people coming into our country, but we want them to come in through merit and legally. I will continue to fight for u. S. Auto workers as we build our economic strength. Our strategy for a phased and responsible reopening protects those lives, those american lives, those high risk american lives from the virus. While allowing those at lower risk such as young, Healthy People where they have a much lower risk. We learned a lot. You are a certain age, you have a problem with diabetes or your heart, you are a prime suspect for this horrible disease. It is a terrible thing. We have learned that young people do very well. Incredibly well. Older people, especially older people with problems, they dont do well so we have to protect those people. We want to get everybody now safely back to work and we are going to do that. I spoke today about our churches. I said our people want to go back to church on sundays. Our churches want to take care of their people they go to worship. You are going to see something come out soon about opening up the churches. A permanent lockdown is not a strategy for a healthy state or a healthy country. Our country was not meant to be shut down. We did the right thing, but now it is time to open it up. A neverending lockdown would invite a Public Health calamity. To protect the health of our people, we must have a functioning economy. As i said, i will say it 100 times, we will have an incredible year next year right at the beginning. Even the Fourth Quarter is going to be very good. It is tremendous pent up demand. Americans who need and want to return to work should not be vilified. They should be supported, unlike many politicians and journalists for those who earn a living with their own two hands, working remotely is not just an option. You dont have the option. Our plan emphasizes safety and protection for returning employees. I want to commend ford and gm, ge, Fiat Chrysler and other companies. A lot of them in this area for blazing a trail to restart americas economic engines. Youre demonstrating that we can open our country while taking precautions like social distancing, daily medical screenings, strict hygiene. You can get tremendous numbers of very quick temperature checks. They aim a camera right there and two seconds later, they tell you your temperature. More accurately than the old days where you put it under your tongue for 2. 5 minutes. This is a little better. You get temperature checks. I want to thank you all for leading america back to work. You look at states like florida, georgia, and others where the numbers have gone down. They are open and their numbers are going substantially down. With your help and our policies, this country is poised for an epic comeback. This is going to be an incredible comeback. It is already happening. Within the next year, were going to be exceeding any expectation and i have had a good gut feeling about a lot of things including running for president. I said i think i can win. I guess i was right. Everyone here today, by the way i think were going to do better the second time and its important that we win the second time. Everyone here is part of a tradition. You walk in the footsteps of those who built the motor city in the 1920s and 30s. Who set the standard for automotive safety and style in the 1950s and 60s and beyond and even today, bill was showing me some of those cars. Its incredible. I wanted to buy one, then i heard the price and i said forget it. What a car that is. What a car. Our friends and allies marveled at these triumphs of american industry and our enemies learned that nothing can stop the strength and power and great of of the american worker, nothing. Just like generations of michigan manufacturers before you, each of you has done your best for america in its time of need. You love your country. You love your country so much. Now, you have a Critical Role to play in forging a new legacy of american greatness created that will inspire and indoor for generations to come. It is a very important time in our countrys history. Because of you, the ford name will stand as a symbol of american excellence, innovation, quality, and craftsmanship. Because of you, america will be strong and healthy and prosperous and free. For many decades to come. God bless you all. God bless america. I am proud to be here. I am proud to be with ford. Bill, thank you very much. We will be back. We will see you a lot. Were going to have a great senator, john james. Thank you all very much. [applause] watches cspans daily unfiltered coverage. With briefings from the white house, congress, and governors from around the country. Live join in on our program. Watch any time on demand at cspan. Org coronavirus. From publicdents, affairs. Available in paperback and ebook. Allents biographies of president s by their rankings from best to worst. This is our website. Cspan. Org. To learn more about each president and historian feature and order your copy today, wherever books and ebooks are sold. The house returns on wednesday and thursday to vote on the pfizer reauthorization bill. The bill extends surveillance authorities through december, 2023. It will require house action. With new house rules in place to allow for proxy voting, members can vote for other members not duringnt present votes. Listen on the go with the free cspan radio app