President Biden said he hopes America does not "squander" the "opportunity" to remake the economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during a speech Thursday on his "Build Back Better" plan. <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/09/16/watch_live_president_biden_speaks_on_leveling_the_playing_field_in_our_economy.html">Watch the president's full speech here</a>. "We can build an economy that gives working people a fair shot this time," Biden said. "We can restore some sanity and fairness in our tax code. We can make the investments that we know are long overdue in this nation." <blockquote>PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Let me end with this, this pandemic has been God-awful for so many reasons. The lost lives, over 660,000. The jobs, the businesses lost, the lost time in school for our kids. But it does present us with an opportunity. We can build an economy that gives working people a fair shot this time. We can restore some sanity and fairness in our tax code. We can make the investments that we know are long overdue in this nation. That's exactly what my bipartisan infrastructure plan does. I should say our bipartisan infrastructure plan does. Investments in roads, bridges, highways, clean water in every home and every school. Universal broadband, affordable places for people to live, and we can invest in our people. Giving our families a little help with their toughest expenses like daycare, child care, elder care, prescription drugs, health care, preparing young people to compete against any country with preschool and community college. We can confront this crisis of extreme weather and climate change, and not only protect our communities, but create new opportunities, new industries, and new jobs. In short, this is an opportunity to be the nation we know we can be. A nation where all of us -- all of us -- not just those at the top, share in the benefits of the growing economy in the years ahead. Let's not squander this moment, trying to preserve an economy that hasn't worked well for a lot of Americans for a long time. Let's not look backwards, just trying to rebuild what we had. Let's look forward together as one America, not to build back, but to Build Back Better.</BLOCKQUOTE>