Biden: Sanctions to stifle Russian growth for years; U.S. continues to help Ukraine
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The U.S. and its allies' sanctions against Russia are "going to stifle Russiaâs ability to grow for years to come," President Joe Biden said on Wednesday in a speech at the North American Builders' Trade Union 2022 Legislative Conference.

In addition, he emphasized the U.S. is continuing to supply Ukraine with "the resources they need to defend their country." On Tuesday, Biden said he signed an order to send more Javelin missiles to Ukraine. "Advanced weapons and ammunition are flowing in every day" to Ukraine, he said.
Turning to domestic issues, "We're going to build up America not from the top ... but from the middle out," Biden said. "The reason there's a middle class is because of unions."
He emphasized that the U.S. now has more construction jobs than it had before the pandemic.
It's not just infrastructure week, Biden said, "it's the infrastructure decade," referring to the infrastructure bill passed in November.

1:32 PM ET: Biden announced a $20.5B transportation infrastructure project, which he said will create more jobs, reduce pollution, and make it safer for people to get to work.
Speech ends at 1:32 PM ET.

1:25 PM ET: Biden described the importance of having affordable child care available for American work. Prescriptions also need to be affordable, he added, and called for legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription prices.

Update at 1:22 PM ET: Speaking about unions, Biden said: "Amazon (AMZN), here we come!" Amazon shares are trading down 3.0% in afternoon trading. The remark comes after Amazon workers at its Staten Island warehouse last week voted to join a union.
"Rebuilding unions is smart for American business," he said, noting that it give workers prevailing wages and keeps companies accountable.
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the world could face "enormous economic repercussions" from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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