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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release September 21, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
AND DR. JILL BIDEN AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT

Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire


1:42 P.M. EDT

DR. BIDEN: Hello, everyone. (Applause.) Hello, it's a pleasure to be here with you today. And I want to start by thanking Dr. Lynch for that very kind introduction. Thank you.

And of course, I want to thank all of you for all that you are doing for our campaign. We couldn't do this without you. I've been out campaigning and every day I see just how much energy and enthusiasm that's out there for this campaign.

I know that this election is connecting with people in a very real way. This isn't just about the headlines or the back-and-forth. This is about people's lives. And it's no different for me. I know that even if my husband's name weren't on the ballot, I'd still be working out for this campaign.

I'm a full-time teacher, as Dr. Lynch said, not a politician. And I want to make sure that we continue to invest in quality education so that college and job training are affordable for every child in America. (Applause.) President Obama and my husband are moving us forward on education. They've doubled funding for Pell Grants, reformed the student loan process, and supported our wonderful community colleges.

I'm also a military mom. Our son, Beau, serves in the Delaware Army National Guard, and he served in Iraq for a year. I know firsthand that mixture of pride and concern that military families feel when a loved one is deployed. So I want to make sure that all our veterans and their families get the benefits that they have earned and the respect that they deserve. (Applause.)

And once again, President Obama and my husband are moving us forward. They've expanded the GI bill, given tax credits to businesses who hire veterans, and supported military families and caregivers in bold, new ways.

And finally, I'm involved in this election as a woman. Making it easier to get -- Joe and Barack have made it easier to get equal work for equal pay. (Applause.) And just like Dr. Lynch said, they're making sure that we can make our own decisions about our health care. (Applause.) And we've seen just in these past few months just how critical it is that we don't keep refighting the battles that were settled decades ago. (Applause.)

So this election is personal to me and it's deeply personal to the man I'm about to introduce. I've seen Joe up close. I've seen how -- (laughter). It's in my remarks, really. (Laughter.) I've seen how his optimism, his determination -- (laughter) -- his big, strong heart -- (laughter) -- drives him to make a difference for other people every day. (Laughter.) I've heard the urgency in his voice when he comes and talks about the people he's met -- the moms and dads who are working so hard to provide a good future for their kids; the students struggling, like you are, to pay off loans; the grandparents hoping they can cover their prescriptions this month. And I know that he's more determined than ever to fight for all those people, and to fight for four more years. (Applause.)

So please join me in welcoming the champion for the middle class, our Vice President, Joe Biden. (Applause.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hey, folks, how are you? (Applause.) Good to be here on campus! (Applause.) Hello, Dartmouth! I tell you what, it's great to be back on a college campus. And Susan, Doc, thank you so very much for what a lovely introduction.

Where I come from, I am known as Jill Biden's husband. (Laughter.) And I'm voting for her. I want you all to know that the only reason I hang around is so she can see me up close. (Laughter and applause.)

But all kidding aside -- all kidding -- you can tell you're on a college campus, man. (Laughter.) I tell you what, I am so impressed by two things. One, I am told some of you had to move out of the housing, the adjacent housing, so this could take place. I apologize for that. (Laughter.) But thank you very, very much. And secondly, you are ruining the reputation of every college in America by having a thousand or so students here at 2:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. (Applause.) But thank you all so, so very much.

Look, folks, Susan Lynch is -- I'll just say one thing about Dr. Lynch. What is -- and I don't want to turn this into kind of a personal tribute here, but one of the things that I think is vastly misunderstood by an awful lot of people is -- I'm sure some people think being married to the governor or being married to a President or being married to a Vice President, whether you're a man or woman -- somehow the spouse has a good thing going. The truth of the matter is that there's an awful lot of men and women who have given up, for at least temporarily, the urgency of their careers in order to help their husband or wife serve in public life. And so I just want to say to Susan, an accomplished physician, that I don't live in New Hampshire, but I've been here a bunch, and I think the state owes you an awful lot, as well, Susan. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

Folks, you've been standing here a while, so let me get straight to it. This country, to state the obvious, is facing a very stark choice, a stark choice, for President -- and I would add in the Senate and House races, as well -- but particularly for President. And the President and I -- and it's the starkest choice in my memory for President. And the President and I have a fundamentally different vision for this country and a fundamentally different value set on which we think our policies should rest.

And I want to say at the outset -- and I'm not being solicitous -- I think both Congressman Ryan and Governor Romney are good, decent men. They are great family men. They appear to be great fathers. I'm sure they are great fathers and great husbands. But we have such a starkly different view of this country itself of how we view the country, as well as what we think we should be doing for the country.

And these matters -- these differences matter. They matter greatly. And it's a matter not only of our physical security, but of our economic stability and the welfare of so many people. And this outcome of this election, as is referenced by my wife and as well as Dr. Lynch, is going to have a profound impact on the social policies of this nation.

Just want you to think what the Supreme Court would look like four years after the first Romney term. It would be starkly different than it will look like if we are reelected for four years.

Ladies and gentlemen, particularly on matters relating to civil rights, civil liberties, women's rights, minority rights, there's no group of Americans to which it quite frankly should matter more than all of you on this campus and in the campuses all across America.

You are representatives -- and I'm not being solicitous when I say this -- of an incredible generation, the 9/11 Generation that has done things that the vaulted generation of the '60s -- I was on campus from '61 to '68 -- that vaulted generation we talk about and read about -- your generation has volunteered more. Your generation has made more sacrifices and more. Your generation has been more engaged than any generation in American history. And ladies and gentlemen, you're also the best equipped and best educated generation in American history. And so it's important, it's important, it seems to me, that both parties tell you exactly what they stand for, and exactly what they have in mind.

I was asked not long ago -- I was -- I'm supposedly an expert on foreign policy, when you read my -- an expert is anyone from out of town with a briefcase. (Laughter.) I don't have a briefcase with me today. But I was speaking to a group of my counterparts from around the world at a closed national security session. And when I finished, I was asked a question by one of my counterparts from another allied country. They said, what does America have to do in order to guarantee that it maintains its position in the world as the world leader in the 21st century? And I said, it's a simple answer to that question. We must be the best-educated country in the world. It's that basic. (Applause.) I sincerely mean it. Jill has an expression: Any nation that out-educates us will out-compete us. It literally means we must be the best-educated nation in the world.

And that's why the President and I, from the day we were sworn in, have focused from the outset on improving education and American access to education. Ladies and gentlemen, we've set a goal. We've set a goal that -- people, when I say what the goal is, they say to me, we're not there already? We've set a goal that says that by the year 2020 we will once again have the highest percentage of population with a college education. We stand 16th in the world right now -- 16th in the world right now. That's why we work so hard, so hard, to see to it that every qualified student in America, every qualified young man and woman, regardless of the neighborhood they come from, has access to college, if they have the intellectual capacity and the educational background, to get there.

Six out of 10 jobs over the next decade are going to require a certificate or a degree beyond high school. That's why we've worked so hard to improve and fund community colleges for special training certificates and various organizations that are trying to hire qualified workers. That's why we provided a $2,500-a-year tax credit. For families like mine coming up, it mattered to whether or not you can get to school and whether you can stay in school.

That's why instead of paying -- continuing to pay $60 billion over 10 years to banks to process federal loans -- and the banks are doing it honestly; there's nothing wrong with it -- but instead of paying that $60 billion to banks, we voted to stop those payments, the Congress voted to stop them, and put it directly into Pell grants. (Applause.) That's why today there are 9,000 qualified students on campuses instead of 6,000. And I'm told by your president 16 percent of the student body here is here in large part because of Pell grants. (Applause.)

And look, folks, and because I know not just from the statistics -- from my own college career, Jill's career in graduate school and our sons and our daughter -- I know that the average student in America, as they walk across the platform to receive their diploma this May, will also get a bill for $25,000 on average; some places much higher, but an average of $25,000. So that's why we, in fact, capped student loan repayments at 10 percent of your disposable income. It matters in what you'll be able to do.

Look, Jill and I and the President and Michelle, and I'm sure Susan and John, know none of us would be standing where we are today were it not for the fact someone reached out and gave us a hand -- in most of our cases, in a scholarship or a loan. We would not be standing here. (Applause.)

That's why we've invested in early education to in fact, eliminate the achievement gap before kids hit that second grade. Ladies and gentlemen, instead, that's why we've insisted on higher standards for students, for teachers, for administrators. That's why we've invested in elementary and secondary education -- a lot of it controversial.

But these are the reasons why we are certain we will meet the goal in this country of once again having the best educated population in the world, and the most -- the highest percentage of college graduates by 2020.

And, folks, look, for us education is the keystone to everything. For Romney and Ryan, public education and access to college is literally, not figuratively, an afterthought. As a matter of fact, it's worse than an afterthought.

Ryan and Romney have laid out their budget. The Ryan budget has already passed the Congress once, and it is fully endorsed by Governor Romney. It's why he was picked. And he's a bright, articulate guy, Ryan. But here's what his budget does: His budget cuts $4.9 billion a year out of public education -- $4.9 billion; knocks 200,000 children out of early education. It eliminates the tax credit for $2,500. It charges -- it reduces by a thousand dollars per Pell student the amount of money they get, which God knows only how many that will knock out of school. It eliminates the 10 percent limit on cap on repayment of student loans.

Look, the Romney budget doesn't do anything for education. What it does, it eviscerates it and it exacts -- it will exact a heavy price if they succeed. It will literally mortgage the future of this great country at this moment of incredible international competition.

But it's totally consistent. It's totally consistent with their notion that they've developed -- Ryan in a book I'd recommend. I'll help their sales here, but they -- he and -- no, but I'm very serious -- he and Congressman McCarthy and Congressman Cantor, three young leaders -- they refer to themselves -- I'm not being facetious -- as the Young Guns. They wrote a book called "Young Guns." You ought to take a look at it. You ought to take a look at -- I'm serious -- what they say, totally consistent with what Romney is saying.

They talk about, America has developed a culture of dependency. By now, all of you have heard or seen on television what Romney said at a fundraiser of big donors this past spring. He said, "there are 47 percent of the people who are dependent on government, who believe that they have -- they believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility," he goes on to say, "to care for them; who believe they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

Ladies and gentlemen, based on everything he's done in his career, I believe he genuinely believes that nearly half this country is made up of people who see themselves as victims who in fact are dependent on government. And here is what those people are made up of, that 47 percent.

By the way, he went on to say, and I quote, "my job is not to worry about those people."

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, but -- no, I don't need your boos, I need your help. (Laughter.) No, I'm serious, think about this. Think about a presidential candidate saying this is a -- this is not your father's Republican Party. No, no, it's not a joke. It's not. This is a different philosophic base for this new Republican Party, this House Republican Party.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's take a look at the people who they think he has no responsibility toward, or who are dependent: the 78-year-old widow living on Social Security and Medicare, which she worked for her whole life to earn; the 63-year-old Vietnam War veteran who goes to the VA hospital once a week to get help and treatment; the 29-year-old veteran who did two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan, and who is now in college because of the new G.I. bill; the 27-year-old couple struggling to get by with basic minimum wage jobs, one of them working two jobs, but get a child credit -- a child care credit to make sure their kid can be in a responsible daycare center while they work; 9 million -- 9 million children, young adults from working-class families intellectually qualified, educationally competent, who are in college today because of Pell grants.

He thinks all these folks -- he thinks these folks believe they're entitled, that they've become dependent, they see themselves as victims who won't take responsibility for their own lives. How could he be so profoundly wrong about America? How is that possible? (Applause.) Not in my neighborhood. Not where I grew up. Not the people I know. (Applause.)

And the positions they take on all of the issues are totally consistent with that underlying philosophic notion that America has developed a culture of dependency. The Ryan budget eliminates the childcare tax credit. It cuts by a thousand bucks Pell grants. It eliminates college tax credit. It eliminates 1 million seniors from Medicaid, 700,000 roughly of whom are in nursing homes only because they have Medicare and Medicaid -- and they're middle-class families; they've worked their whole life; they've had to go out and sell their home, spend down all they had for their care, and then become eligible.

His budget eviscerates the EPA, radically changes Social Security. Folks, we have a fundamentally different value set than these guys do. We believe America does well, America has always prospered when hard work is rewarded, when everyone has a fair shot, everyone plays by the same rules, everyone gets a fair shake, where everyone is held accountable -- rich and poor. (Applause.) And first and foremost, where everybody gets an opportunity.

We don't think people who reject responsibility should be given opportunities again. We think they've made a choice. But the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of the American people -- as my dad would say, I don't expect the government to solve my problems, but I at least expect it to understand my problems. Just understand them. (Applause.)

So, folks, that's why first and foremost our different vision, as I said, is built upon first and foremost education. Not only what we've done -- we're determined to generate 100,000 new math and science teachers; 2 million workers learning new skills at community colleges for the jobs of tomorrow; 1 million new manufacturing jobs. (Applause.) Cut imports in half -- oil imports in half by the year 2020. Invest in clean, renewable energy -- solar, wind, biofuel. What do they think the rest of the world is doing? (Applause.) And in the process, create tens of thousands of decent-paying jobs -- 600,000 new jobs are available if we responsibly and safely tap into the natural gas resources we have in this country, converting our buses and trucks to gas-generated -- natural gas rather than oil.

Real and enforceable trade laws, like the President is doing right now. Because, ladies and gentlemen, I'm convinced if the field is level, the vast majority of the -- the vast majority of people around the world are looking to buy products that are stamped: Made in America. We are not unable to compete. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, and we're determined -- we're not sure what the Romney position is, but we are determined to end the war in Afghanistan as we did in Iraq. As we did in Iraq -- responsibly. (Applause.) Bring them home. Rebuild the roads here, the bridges here, the schools here, the infrastructure here, supporting hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs.

We see a future where everyone -- everyone -- rich and poor does their part and has a part, where we're number one in the world again in education, where Social Security is protected and Medicare is guaranteed, where my granddaughters have every single right and opportunity my grandson has. (Applause.) And where you can marry whomever you love. (Applause.)

Such a different vision, ladies and gentlemen, we see a future where we continue to promote the private sector, not the privileged sector, where Americans lead the world not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.

Ladies and gentlemen, folks, this is not a country of victims. This is a country where when people get knocked down, they get back up. There is absolutely no quit in America. There never has been any quit in America. And so when I hear Romney and Ryan and this new Republican Party in Congress talk about decline and dependency, I give you my word, I don't know what country they're living in. I really don't. I don't see it. I don't see it anywhere I go. I don't see it in the neighborhoods I grew up in. I don't see it in wealthy or poor neighborhoods. I don't see it.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I've got news for Governor Romney and for Congressman Ryan, gentleman: Is it has never, never, never been a good bet to bet against the American people, never! (Applause.) Never, never, never!

Folks, let me say to you students at this great university, we need your help. America cannot afford to lose this fight, so please go out there. Register people to vote. Show up at the polls. Make the case for us.

And may God bless you and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)


END 2:10 P.M. EDT