order any time at c-span jobs.org. >> pres. biden held a news conference wrapping up a trip for the cop 26 climate summit. he spoke with reporters about enacting the climate change commitments he made and the status of the infrastructure bill. pres. biden: good evening everyone.

wrapping up another busy day in scotland. thank you. a lot of good meetings. with my leaders. it was important for us to be here. raising domestic climate ambitions and demonstrating the commitment to support, but those countries on the frontlines lines of the climate crisis. today, i spoke with leaders of the island nations and developing countries. my message was the united states will be the partner to meet the climate crisis. i want to thank the united kingdom and prime minister johnson for hosting the world at a critical moment as well as prince charles, who put together a significant operation over the last six to seven years of bringing in the private sector to work on these issues.

glasgow started -- you are tired of hearing me say it, but a decisive decade of action so we can limit the 1.5 degrees within the reach of us and the rest of the world. we have to accelerate our progress. by more than 100 countries representing 85% of the world's forest, and deforestation reversed by 2030, as a great example of the ambition we need and i'm proud to initiate and support it. the u.s. will raise the ambition and deliver the goal that we are reducing u.s. emissions by 50% to 52% as secretary kerry has talked about by 2030 from 2005 levels. we have to make significant progress. parenthetically, i can't think of any two days that war has

-- that more has been accomplished dealing with climate than these two days. in the past two days, i have announced initiatives that will make sure we hit the target of including today to new rules to reduce methane losses in oil and gas operations and from natural gas pipelines. thanks to the effort of our joint effort with the eu, we have grown global methane pledge. when i spoke to the united nations, from nine countries signing onto the pledge in september at the united nations to more than 100 countries signing on. that is half the world's methane emissions and 70% of the world's global gdp making commitments to catalyze private finance, spur renovation, and grow high standard infrastructure through the build back better initiative. we had a great meeting today

where we talked about my build back better initiative that was adopted by the g7. it was that everyone should be focused on as we help the infrastructure of the rest of the world, which means to focus on climate. the example is if you build an oil well or a gas or oil refinery, you will have that for the next 30 years. why not invest now if we are going to provide for the help of nations in solar or wind capacity? although we also brought through the new emergency plan for adaptation and resilience it is called "prepare." we will support climate adaptation efforts for more than half a billion people worldwide. we released our long-term strategy that outlines how to

get to net zero emissions by 2050. we know this must be a whole society effort and i also want to thank the representatives from the private sector and from labor and philanthropies, civil societies who are dedicated to the climate action efforts we are making. that leadership, together with action by state and local and tribal governments, has been essential in the united states. that is why, despite the previous administration pulling us out of the paris agreement and refusing to acknowledge a climate crisis, we brought down emissions during that period. i want to acknowledge the passion and power of the activists who are doing vital work to acknowledge our moral obligation to future generations. it is not just a moral imperative. it is an economic imperative. investing in clean energy is an enormous opportunity.

enormous opportunity for every country to create good paying jobs and spur economic recovery. you have heard me say before and my colleague as well. when i think of climate crisis, i think of jobs. that is what the build back better framework will do for the american people -- bring investment in clean energy to address the climate crisis, cut greenhouse gas emissions by well over a gigaton by 2030, save consumers money in their energy bills and tax credits for things like installing solar panels and weatherization other homes. it will provide manufacturing credits to make sure the united states is competing in energy markets of the future like solar panels and wind turbines. it will accelerate electric vehicles and school buses and build a nationwide network of 500,000 charging stations. it is about jobs. it is about competitiveness versus complacency. it is about making the world safer, cleaner, healthier, a

place for children around the world to look for the future and the way they cannot now. there are so many other things that have happened today that i feel good about, but let me start, if you will, i will be happy to take your questions. you have a question, phil? i want you on tv a lot. phil: you and your disappointment, with rome and the lack of willingness for xi jinping to show up at the g20 or cop 26, i wanted to ask broadly, when uss where you stand in relations with china after your first 10 months in office, you have had difficulty in engaging with their counterparts and chinese military that has tested a hypersonic missile and building nuclear capability.

what is your assessment of where things stand and are you concerned of the potential for armed conflict? pres. biden: let me start by addressing the first part of your statement and that is that i indicated china and russia are not showing up at saudi arabia and that was a problem. we showed up. we showed up. by showing up, we have had a profound impact on the way i think the rest of the world is looking at the united states and this leadership role. i think it is been a big mistake, frankly, for china not showing up. the rest of the world says, what value added are they providing? they have lost ability to influence people around the world and all the people here at cop. the same way i would argue with regard to russia.

with regard to the more profound question about do i worried about armed conflict or something accidentally occurring with china? i am not but i have had, as i said before, and we have talked about this, phil, i may be mistaken --i think, as i said, i look at china and i had hours of conversation with xi jinping, both in person as vice president and since i have been president at least five or six hours worth of conversations on the telephone. i'm going to have a virtual summit with him. i have made it clear -- this is competition. it does not have to be conflict. there is no reason for conflict. i have also indicated to him -- i'm not reluctant to say publicly -- that we expect him to play by the rules of the road. we will not change our attitude to the constitution and international aerospace, etc.

we have made it also clear that we have to work on doing things like cybersecurity and a whole range of other issues. i don't anticipate there will be a need for physical conflict but, you know, as you have heard me say before, my dad had an expression. he said the only conflict worse than one that is intended is one that is unintended. my meetings with him vitually coming up, i haven't set the exact date yet. i want to make sure there is no misunderstanding. it is competition, not conflict, so there is no unintended. yeah, peter? peter: mr. president, you're touting your $1.75 trillion plan

including climate but your party is not united behind it. senator joe manchin yesterday caught it budget gimmicks, shell games, and a recipe for economic crisis. he said he never signed off on the framework. do you have a specific commitment from senator manchin to support your build back better bill, yes or no, and how do you respond to those criticisms? pres. biden: number one, i will not talk about specifics from my conversations. he will vote for this if we have endless proposals of what he has anticipated. that is looking at the fine print of the detail of what comes out the house in terms of the initiatives. i believe that joe will be there. with regard to the issue of whether or not he thinks that he is worried about this being inflationary or going to be negatively impacting the economy, i think that i have made it clear that joe will continue to and we will -- and i apologize for repeating what 17

nobel laureates and economists say it will lower inflation, raise wages, increase competition, create 2 million jobs a year, etc. i think that -- i understand joe is looking for the precise details to make sure nothing slipped in in terms of the way the legislation got written that is different than he acknowledged he would agree to think we will get this done. peter: you recently said you have no short-term answer to bring down gas prices. rent is up, the cost of everyday items are up and inflation is at a 13 year high in the u.s. when specifically should americans expect for prices to come down? pres. biden: look, first of all, the significant reason why prices are up is because covid affected the supply chains. i know you know this.

number one. number two, if you take a look at, you know, gas prices, and you take a look at oil prices, that is a consequence of thus far the refusal of russia or the opec nations to pump more oil. we will see what happens on that score sooner than later. number three, i think, if you take a look at what we are talking about, come thanksgiving, we are in a situation where we find that we are in a very different circumstance. last thanksgiving, you know, as i said this year, the last thanksgiving, i sat down with my wife, my daughter, and my son.

this thanksgiving, we are in a different circumstance. the wages have gone up higher faster than inflation. we have generated real economic growth. it does not mean these dislocations are not real. they affect people's lives. one of the reasons i have decided to talk about the need to deal with the operation that occurs in some of the pricing of beef and chicken and other things, that is right i indicated you were going to look at whether or not there is a violation of antitrust laws and what they are doing. there is a lot to look at but the bottom line is that i think that -- and anyone who would prefer, as bad as things are in

terms of prices hurting families now, trade this thanksgiving for last thanksgiving. "wall street journal." excuse me. i beg your pardon. >> bloomberg. pres. biden: i hope i got it. especially since my granddaughter works for you guys in a different circumstance so i got it. i'm in trouble. >> i have a bloomberg question to begin. who will you nominate to chair of the federal reserve board? can you speak about what you are thinking about if you consider your choice for fed chair and the other seats that are open? the president has gone without nominating a year before a nominee needs to be selected. are you concerned about having a short timeline if you are not going to renominate jay powell? pres. biden: no, i will not discuss it with you, because we

will make those announcements fairly quickly. it has been in training for some time. number one. number two, i also would indicate that i think we are going to have plenty of time to make sure all of the major nominees are able to be cleared in time, that way their terms would expire. number three, i have given a lot of thought to it and have been meeting with economic advisers on what the best choices are. we have a lot of good choices but i will not speculate now. nancy, cbs. i think you had your hand up. i'm sorry. nancy: thank you. some of the commitments you made here won't happened unless congress passes future legislation. how do you convince republicans and some democrats to get behind more spending?

if you look at this conference and say china is not meeting these global goals, russia does not intend to meet them, india does not plan to, why should we? pres. biden: we want to be able to breathe and lead the world. i mean it sincerely. presumptuous of me to say. tough for another leader. the fact that china was certain -- understandably-- a new role in the world as a world leader not showing up? come on. the most important thing that has gone the attention of the world is climate. everywhere. from iceland to australia to -- i mean, it just is a gigantic issue. they walked away. how do you do that and claim to be able to have leadership now? same with putin and russia.

you know, it is burning, he has serious climate problems. he is mum on the willingness to do anything. i genuinely believe and i mean this from the bottom of my heart. when i said at the g7 that america was back, you know, people wondered whether that was true. we will change the dynamic of a lot of things coming out of the g7. i think -- i'm just gonna -- what i'm about to say sound self-serving. two world leaders came up to me today and thanked me for my leadership and said, you're making a big difference. you and i talked about that. and so i think the fact that america showed up, americans

showed up and decided to lead and lay out what it wished to do. for example, as i said, the mere fact that we are able to go from 7-8 countries talking about -- maybe 14, i don't remember the original number --the deal with the whole notion of methane. 100 nations. 100 nations have signed on to reduce methane by 30% by 3030. methane is 25 times more toxic for the environment than co2. lawyer making real progress --we are making real progress. look what we're doing and what they are put together. one of the things i feel best about --and i don't claim any unique credit for it, but i think we have got in, for the first time, a combination of in dealing with international problems and the circumstances

affect all nations that we have not only gotten countries off the sideline in terms of making significant financial contributions but literally trillions of dollars for the private sector jumping in, knowing they are going to play an incredibly positive part in dealing with these problems. israel. it is genuine. i think that all bad expression, proof is in the parting. -- pudding. i feel like we will deliver at home and lastly, if you take a look at what economy is growing? the united states is growing. it has problems, mainly because of covid and supply chains. it is growing. we have created over 6 million jobs and are leading the world

in terms of the fastest growing major economy. i think we are going through a difficult time in the world because of covid, because of supply chain consequences, because of the environment, and all of this occurred in the way it has imploded in the near term. as i said here, and i really mean it, i think the percentage of opportunity to press the restart button and move in a direction that i think the vast majority of countries --look, i'm sure you interview other world leaders letter here. the vast majority think this is an opportunity. they are not sure what to do or how to do it, not that i have all the answers. i'm not implying that. they know that growth rests in dealing with the economy in a way that affects the whole notion of what we are going to

do about climate change. it is a gigantic opportunity. okay. i called on the wall street journal, catherine. i got the wrong one. let's try the real wall street journal. katherine: we are the real wall street journal. u.s. virginia and new jersey residents to vote earlier in a tweet. terry mcauliffe is struggling and a you want by 10 points. do you see his problems as a rebuke of your pregnancy -- presidency and that -- could that signal losses in the midterm? pres. biden: we are going to win. i think we will win in virginia. we reported being close. the race is very close. it is about who to -- shows up and turns out. i one via a large margin but the point of the matter is that i think that this is going to be we all knew from the beginning of a tight race. it is tight as you get down to

turn out and my guess is i will be landing at 1:00 in the morning east coast time. that is about the time we will hear the final results. i think we will win new jersey, as well, but look. they all fear is always unpredictable, especially when we do not have a general election going on at the same time. that has been the case up and down for a long time, especially as virginia has turned more blue. having said that, i do not believe--and i've not seen evidence that whether or not i am doing well or poorly, whether or not i have my agenda passed or not, is going to have any impact on winning or losing. even if we had passed my agenda, i would not claim to have one because biden agendas past. i think it will be very close.

i think it will get down to, as you all know, turnout, and i think that based on what i have heard so far, it is awful hard for me to be prognosticating, which i do not like doing as president from overseas, but i think--i hope that every eligible voter in virginia and new jersey shows up and votes, and the more of them do, the better our chances are, and i think we will win. ok. npr. scott? scott: thank you. you mentioned climate activists and want to ask about them. your touting agreements and other world leaders have but the atmosphere is skeptical around the conference and angry. activists feel like decades of talks have led to broken, says and feel like even off --if

these goals are reached, it is not enough. i wonder what you would say to the people who are angry at this moment where joe manchin has expressed and created more doubt your climate legislation will pass and you have a soup -- conservative cream cart -- supreme court taking a look at epa gas emissions. what is your message to them? pres. biden: first of all, i think anyone who is focused on the environment should be worried. we have a lot more to do but we have done more than we have done. more has to be done. i do not find -- i did not have a single member of this c onference come up to me and say, are you going to pass what you have and how that? -- will that affect? what will you do? they're looking at what has happened in terms of everything from dealing with deforestation to what we will do on build back

better and how we have been able to focus now. what is the last time you have heard world leaders sit down together and agree what they are going to do is when they deal with the infrastructure of other countries, they will focus first and foremost on whether what the climate impact is on that? look, this is a --there is a reason for people to be worried. i am worried. i'm worried if we do not continue to move forward and make the progress we are making, it is going to -- we have thrown in jeopardy the prospect that we are going to be able to keep the temperature from rising above 1.5 degrees celsius. i'm optimistic because i think there's a -- how can i say it?

the best way to say it to you, scott, is what i feel is that the populations of each of our countries have a different perspective than it did at cop25. i think there is -- i mean, not because of the leaders of our countries, including mine, that all of a sudden, people see these things happen that they never thought would happen. they see people drown in their basements in queens, new york, because of flooding and brain. they see more territory burned down and the united states makes up the entire landmass of the state of new jersey. they have seen hurricanes with top winds of 178 miles an hour. they are looking at these things and seeing the water is warming and a whole range of things occurring around the world that had not happened. it is sort of like, whoa.

i don't get what i used to get --there is no reason anybody would remember this, but back one a fine republican named dickie lugar was from the state of indiana and he and i were -- the chairman and ranking members of the foreign relations community -- committee. we proposed and it works but it has got a no enthusiasm. for debt for nature swaps. people looked at us like, what in the hell are you doing? why are you forgiving the debt so brazil will not burn down the forest? why are you doing that? now, everybody goes, what else can you do? what else can you do? i think there is a whole different attitude that is out there and i think this will be led --i'm not being solicitous here. i think it is being led by -- my

granddaughters and their friends. that generation. i think they are out there going, whoa, and they have that profound impact on their parents and grandparents about what is happening. all of these climactic things have happened that people are now paying attention like they never did before. there's a lot more to do. it will determine whether or not we will find what we were talking about, but for example, even if the funding did not come from the government's, you have the permit sector engaged -- private sector engaged with investing trillions of dollars off the sidelines. it is bankers that are now deciding --i talked a long time ago about that you have major corporate americans pricing the price of carbon. it matters. . things are changing.

. we have to have enough sense in world leaders to get it right. thank you also very much -- all so very much. i appreciate it. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

including border security and government spending.