“Most economists agree the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy, at least at the moment,” Biden said, warning that President-elect Donald Trump could make things worse. “An economy that’s going through a fundamental transformation, that has laid out a stronger foundation and a sustainable, broad-based, highly productive growth.”

Biden made the speech at the left-leaning Brookings Institution, whose president, Cecilia Rouse, served in the Biden administration from 2021 until last year. With six weeks to go before he leaves office, the 82-year-old incumbent fumbled through much of his remarks, pausing to cough and blaming a “cold.” He momentarily halted his speech when his teleprompter malfunctioned, saying, “I lost the electricity here.”

Biden’s teleprompter goes out and he immediately malfunctions: “I lost the electricity here” pic.twitter.com/aMoo10nWPZ

— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 10, 2024

What became clear was that Biden believes he has a strong economic record and wants that to be remembered as he exits the stage.

“After decades of sending jobs overseas for the cheapest labor possible, companies are coming back to America investing in building gear and creating jobs here in America, in my view, where they belong,” the president said, making a point that Trump likely agrees with.

Despite his claims, Biden’s approval rating on the economy sits at 39.3%, according to the RealClearPolitics average, and his party lost to Trump in an election where economic concerns sat top of mind.

The president blamed high inflation on the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine but said his administration was able to overcome those problems.

“Four years ago, when I came to office, 3,000 Americans were dying per day from a pandemic that had profound effects on our economy, not only ours, but around the world,” Biden said. “Millions of Americans lost their jobs.”

During his first years in office, Biden was able to usher several economic bills through Congress, including the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act, and the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act.

He said the projects funded by those bills would make an impact for decades to come and teased Trump for failing to pass infrastructure spending during his first term.

“Remember infrastructure week? We had infrastructure week for four years. Nothing got built,” Biden said. “Everybody said when I wanted to have an infrastructure bill that mattered, over $1.3 trillion, that we’d never get it done. We got it done.”

Biden, in another point of agreement with Trump, touted the importance of domestic manufacturing, saying the supply chain crunch during the pandemic exposed how vulnerable the U.S. can be, especially with critical goods like computer chips made mostly in faraway nations.

“Grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, invest in America and American products,” Biden said. “When that happens, everybody [does well], and the wealthy still do very well.”

Biden also defended pushing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan through Congress with no Republican votes shortly after taking office. While conservatives claim the bill worsened inflation with almost $2 trillion in spending, Biden called it “the most significant economic recovery package in our history.”

He claimed that inflation-adjusted wages have risen $4,000 during his administration and that public support for labor unions is the highest it has been in more than 50 years.

“The bottom line is, in four short years, we come a long way from the crisis we inherited,” Biden said, adding that he’s “leaving the presidency, but I’m not going away.”

Referring to Trump as “my predecessor” throughout the speech, Biden focused at the end on the coming second Trump term, warning that his promised import tariffs would be a major mistake and that a retreat from the world stage would be dangerous.

“If we’re not leading the world, who does?” Biden said. “Not a joke. I’m not being a wise guy. If we do not lead the world, what nation leads the world? Who pulls Europe together? Who tries to pull the Middle East together? How do we deal with the Indian Ocean? What do we do in Africa? We, the United States, lead the world.”