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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release September 8, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
TO SUPPORTERS

Zane Grey Elementary School
Zanesville, Ohio


12:21 P.M. EDT


THE VICE PRESIDENT: Great to see you all. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Great to be with you all. It's good to be here in Zanesville.

I've got to start off by telling you, this morning, before I left my hotel in Columbus, I had a chance to sit down with an old colleague and one of my heroes, John and Annie Glenn. (Applause.) Because you've got to know what John said. No, no, let's keep the prompter where it was.

You've got to understand where John -- John, we were going to talk about everything that's going on in the country -- and, God, he's sharp. I mean, no, if I look like him when I'm 70 I'll be -- (laughter) -- I mean, this guy is -- I'm serious. Amazing. And Annie -- anyway, and so we talked about some old times and we talked about my wife, Jill, and the rest. And he said, Joe -- you know how John gets -- Joe, there's one thing I want you to know: You're going to Zanesville; that's 15 miles from our home. (Laughter and applause.) I tell you what, man, you've got rich soil down here. You've got rich soil down here. His pride in all of you is as strong as this guy's, I'm telling you.

Look, first of all, I just -- Autumn, thank you for that introduction. There's a reason why if I'm smart, I'm smart -- it's because of my sister Valerie, who -- we went to school together. I used to be three and a half years older than Valerie; I am now 20 years older than Valerie. (Laughter.) But Valerie is here somewhere. We went to the same university. I graduated; she graduated with honors. (Laughter.) And so that's my sister.

But, Autumn, thank you very much -- not only thank you for introducing me, but thank you for what you do, because it does matter. It does matter what you're doing. (Applause.)

And, Mr. Mayor, Jeff, thank you for the passport into town. I appreciate it. To all the county officials, party officials, thank you for being here -- thank you for being here. (Applause.)

And Ted Strickland is -- Ted has literally tutored me on Ohio. I've been in and out of Ohio -- I'm a Pennsylvania boy -- in and out of Ohio for a long, long time. But when I ran for Vice President the first time around, I literally -- I think Ted and I covered almost every corner, every part of this state in a bus. And there wasn't a place I went that we didn't get out of the bus, whether it was a local coffee shop or a factory or -- wherever it was, that people didn't come up. And it wasn't "Governor"; it was, "Hey, Ted, how are you? Hey, Ted, how are you?"

And Ted has been so incredibly loyal. And by the way, I don't know whether you watched it, but didn't he make one hell of a speech? (Applause.) And he made it clear -- Santa Claus is rooting for us to win. (Laughter.) Or else he's gone. I mean -- (laughter.)

Look, as Ted so directly pointed out in his speech at the convention, this country faces the starkest choice -- the starkest choice in our memory. And that's not hyperbole. I mean, it's just -- it really is. It's two fundamentally different views. You watched the Governor during the Republican -- you watched the Republican -- Governor Romney, and his running mate not only at their convention, but Romney during the debates; you've now seen the convention. And you saw who he picked as vice president of the United States.

So there should no longer be any doubt. It's absolutely clear on one point, and I mean this sincerely. I say this to the press as well. There is no difference with what Romney wants to do in this country and what the House Republicans, in the House of Representatives, have already tried to do. He wants to inflict the same programs, the same initiatives, the same tax system as the House of Representatives has passed, but fortunately has been stopped in the United States Senate.

If you listened to their convention, they talked about all of the terrible things -- which were real -- all of the terrible things that happened, that happened as a consequence of this Great Recession. And now they say what they're all about is they want to restore -- thank you, Ted -- they want to restore the greatness. I think their phrase is, they want to restore "the greatness to this nation."

Well, I wonder -- and I mean this sincerely. Just think about it. Take off your Republican or Democrat hat; just think about it. I wonder if it ever crossed their minds how in the Lord's name we got this -- in this mess in the first place? (Applause.) I mean, I'm serious. It's like that expression -- the willing suspension of disbelief. I mean, it's like all of a sudden, from the heavens, dropped this thing. Everything was going fine. It just dropped.

As my little granddaughter -- you may have saw on television, my youngest one said -- she'd say, Pop, I wonder, did Casper the friendly ghost do it? (Laughter.) You know what I mean? Where did it come from? Where did it come from?

You heard what they told you, but you didn't hear what they didn't tell you. It was the very same policies they're talking about now. The very same policies they're running on. The ones that got us in this mess in the first place. (Applause.) And that the nation -- and you, the hardworking American people have been digging yourselves out of since it got dropped on us. (Applause.) These are their policies. Or as Bill Clinton so gracefully said, not long ago -- wasn't he good? (Applause.) As President Clinton said, this is the last guy but except on steroids. I mean, they -- (laughter) -- I mean, what are these policies?

Well, they're now not telling you. They don't have the courage to tell you what these new policies are. I do. I've got the courage to tell you. I'm anxious to tell you. Look, they talked about -- think about this. I mean it sincerely. They talked about -- if you've been dropped down from Mars, you've been in a time capsule for the last hundred years, and you got dropped down from Mars and you turned on the convention, and you heard them talking about Medicare, you'd think that -- really -- I mean, you'd think they really cared about it. You'd think it's something they thought of. (Laughter.) No, no, I'm serious. Wouldn't you? I'm honest, wouldn't you have thought, these guys, man, they must have come up with this idea and they've defended it all along? Whoa. (Laughter.)

And you hear about how much they want to preserve it, and how they want to make it stronger, and -- one thing -- and protect the benefits of you seniors who are already on Medicare, right? That's what they say. (Laughter.) They mention it so often, you'd be surprised to learn they've always been trying to chip away at it for the last 40 years.

And the guys who came up with the idea -- the Democrats, and guys like me who spent my whole life fighting to defend it, keep it from -- and remember the last time we had Republicans like this? It was, we're going to let it wither on the vine. Well, man, this is like -- I didn't know what I was -- I was amazed. There's nothing like conversion, but it's amazing. (Laughter.) That's what they told you.

But let me very sincerely tell you what they didn't tell you. They didn't tell you that the very plan they put on paper, that they're proposing, would cut benefits immediately for 30 million seniors already collecting Medicare by doing a couple of things. You should really know this; this is real.

One, it would raise the cost of prescription drugs for those people who hit the doughnut hole -- number one. Two, it would require you now -- now you can go see your doctor if you, God forbid, feel a lump in your breast or you're bleeding and you want -- and you need a breast examination for cancer or you need a colonoscopy or you need -- they're costly processes. Now you can go if you're a senior. (Applause.) But now, under their proposal, it'll mean that you'd have to take money out of your pocket and co-pay. No, seriously -- you'll have to take money out of your pocket and co-pay to go.

Ladies and gentlemen, what they didn't tell you was what they're proposing -- remember how they talked about, we've got to extend the life of the program? What they're proposing -- and this is a fact. I say it to the press -- fact check me. (Laughter and applause.) By the way, it's amazing how they don't like to be fact checked, right? I mean, we're not going to be bound by those fact checkers. (Laughter.)

At any rate, what they're proposing will actually cost the Medicare trust fund that pays for the benefits when you go to the hospital, a doctor, et cetera, to run out of money -- a sufficient amount of money by 2016. That's when it would hit the wall.

And the most important thing they did not tell you -- they're not actually preserving Medicare. They're for a whole new plan -- Vouchercare. And here's how it works -- I'm not making this up. (Laughter.) Here's how it works. They're going to give your mom or your dad, when they become eligible or even though they are eligible, they're going to give you a voucher, which is essentially a coupon. And it's going to be worth X amount of dollars.

And they're going to say to your mom -- Mom, go out there in that insurance market and bargain for the best deal you can get, including if you want to buy Medicare. But if it costs more than the -- if it costs more to get the benefits you're now getting, they say, Mom, go borrow it somewhere. (Laughter.) No, I'm serious -- you've got to take it out of your pocket.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's not fair and that's not truthful. What they told you is not on the level.

Folks, they also talked about -- isn't it amazing, the very guys that since Clinton left office who ballooned the national debt, once again they're concerned about debt. They're talking about it and they got that clock running back there. They don't know that they had a whole bunch of Republicans running to get that clock moving the previous 20 years. (Applause.)

But they're right. They're right about one thing, we got to deal with the debt. They're right. There's a great -- but they talked about this great urgency to get it under control, the need to act now. But not once -- not one single time did they tell you that they've rejected every single, solitary offer. Ryan, Romney, the Republican Congress rejected every effort to reduce the debt in the last four years.

What they didn't tell you is that we met -- and I was in charge of it for our administration, we met for days and months in negotiations. And here are the facts. They rejected every single effort to reduce the debt put forward by us, by outside groups, and by that bipartisan commission they keep talking about. Remember how Ryan talks about that bipartisan commission? They rejected every single proposal put forward to reduce the national debt, because they were unwilling to have millionaires pay one dollar or one cent more in taxes. They rejected every one, seriously.

Remember in the debate Romney said -- they asked Romney, well, if we cut $10 for every $1 in new revenues, would you be for it? No. Folks, this is not on the level.

Let's face the facts. There are two men seeking to lead this country over the next four years who have fundamentally different visions of America and a completely different value set. They're not bad men. They both love their families. They're both decent guys. But they have two totally different visions.

For example, Governor Romney believes that in a global economy, it doesn't much matter where a company puts their money or where they create jobs. I've been in Ohio less than 24 hours and I've already seen -- I got in at 11:30 p.m. last night, left the hotel this morning I guess after seeing Johnny -- John and Annie I guess about ten o'clock or 10:30 a.m. thereabouts.

And I saw in that time span three ads in black and white of President Obama standing there and they said President Obama is sending your jobs to China. President Obama -- and we're going to bring jobs back to Ohio. We're not creating jobs in Ohio the ad says. I find it absolutely fascinating. And, as they say in some parts of the country, it takes a lot of chutzpah to be talking about this. (Laughter.)

Folks, Governor Romney, the man whose company he ran was referred to by the Washington Post as a pioneer in outsourcing jobs, the man who thought it was okay to let Detroit go bankrupt, the man who criticized President Obama and me as protectionists when we had the gumption to defend the American tire industry against unfair trading practices in China. And we won. (Applause.) That same man is trying to tell you he is going to change -- he is going to get tough on China, and he is going to bring jobs to Ohio.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wish Governor Romney had also told you about his new tax proposal. No, no -- he has got a new tax proposal. It has a fancy name in economic terms. It's called a territorial tax. Let me translate what a territorial tax is. Any company that goes abroad -- invests and makes a profit -- will never have to pay a single, solitary penny in tax on that profit in the United States. That changes the law.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I'm serious. And guess what, it will create jobs. Experts point out it will create 800,000 new jobs in China, in Indonesia, in Mexico. (Applause.) I'll tell you what, man, and in his acceptance speech, Governor Romney made a firm commitment -- I found this wonderful, he made a firm commitment, he said, and I, when elected -- I'm paraphrasing -- will take a jobs tour. Well, folks, for his support of outsourcing new tax policy, it's going to have to be a foreign trip. (Applause.)

Look, this is one of those cases, like all the cases, where we say just look at the record. Just look at the record on jobs. China outsourcing -- we want to switch this to insourcing. Just look here in Ohio, and I sincerely mean this -- and I ask the people who watch this on television who are Republicans and independents and Democrats, I ask you literally to ask yourself the following question: Do the folks in Ohio really think had Governor Romney, with his views on outsourcing, his views on General Motors and Chrysler and beyond that, do they honestly believe had he been President the last four years there would be today 115,000 auto jobs in Ohio?

AUDIENCE: No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, no -- it's a serious question. Do you really think -- all you Buckeyes out there, did you really think -- (applause) -- do you really think that Ohio in the last -- since 2010, would have added 50,000 new manufacturing jobs? Look, I think these are fair questions.

Look, President Obama and Governor Romney, as I said, have very different views on the importance of where you create jobs. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, knows that creating jobs here in America, keeping jobs here in America and bringing jobs back to America is the President's job. That's the job. That's the job. (Applause.)

And one other thing -- wasn't it fascinating how they discovered the middle class? (Laughter.) Holy mackerel, man -- eureka! I mean, how many times did they mention the middle class? They found it or they knew how to say it. (Laughter.)

Look, folks, they talked about middle-class values, seriously. And I'm sure some of them meant it and some of them were from the middle class. They talked an awful lot about what they value. My dad, God rest his soul, used to have an expression. When someone would say, this is what I value -- his name was Joe. This is what I value, Joe. He'd go like this. He'd say, look, don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I will tell you what you value. (Applause.) Show me your budget. I'll tell you what you value. (Applause.)

So let's look at the Republican budget. Let's look at Romney's budget. It's already been laid out, what it does -- massive cuts in Medicaid, throwing 19 million people off their health care, millions of children, more than a million seniors -- 70 percent of those seniors in nursing homes today are there only because Medicaid is available. These are from middle-class families. These are our moms and our dads. And some of them have nobody to look to and no place to go. What are they going to do? Massive cuts in Social Security for future generations. If you're in your 40s, you're going to get 4,600 bucks a year less under their plan that you'd get now on Social Security.

Ladies and gentlemen, early education -- actually, it's $2,700 for you guys. It's $4,600 for people in their 20s, so you got a reprieve, you're only going to lose $2,700. (Laughter.) Massive cuts in education, early education, elementary and secondary -- eliminating the $2,500 a year tax credit to help middle-class people keep their kids in college, cutting Pell Grants by $1,000 a year from 9 million students from working-class families. God knows, God only knows how many are going to have to drop out of college. And why are they doing all this? They're not bad guys. They're not mean guys. Why are they doing it?

Well, they have to. They need you to pay for the massive tax cuts they want to keep for the very wealthy and add to the very wealthy. (Applause.)

And, folks, in the interest of time, just let me give you two examples. Of the tax cut, they want to keep for the very wealthy, the so-called Bush tax cuts, this is a fact, $500 billion -- one-half trillion dollars of those tax cuts go to 120,000 American families -- $500 billion to 120,000 families. You notice they've never challenged my facts as I repeat that. (Applause.)

Second thing is, and this is what President Clinton meant about them being on steroids, they want to add a new -- a new -- $250,000-a-year tax break for those same families. Folks, that's not fair. Man, that's not right. But it won't surprise you the price tag for that is very big. When those kinds of tax cuts are given, somebody has to pay for it. The money comes from somewhere, and guess who: You. You.

There's a nonpartisan organization called the Tax Policy Center. Everybody submits plans to it. They looked at the Romney plan, and here's what they concluded: Taxes on middle-class families with children will go up $2,000 a year to pay for those tax cuts. Just give you -- just to give an additional tax break to families who aren't bad -- they're patriotic families, but they don't need it. I don't mind them having all that money, but they don't need it. It will not change one single thing about their living standard. But $2,000 out of the pocket of the neighborhood I come from, that changes your living standards. That makes a difference. (Applause.)

Folks, it's not right. It's not fair. It's not new. It's just worse. Folks, we've seen this movie before. We know how it ends. The last time they ran that play for every wealthy person, when they said they'd give the tax breaks, they said it was to create jobs, middle-class jobs. Well, look how it ended for the middle class -- a catastrophe. Look how it ended with the Great Recession of 2008.

Ladies and gentlemen, the President and I have a different way forward. We know the way to create good jobs is the old-fashioned way, from the middle out, not from the top down. (Applause.) Our plan focuses first on education. One hundred thousand new STEM teachers -- math, science teachers the next 10 years; 2 million workers learning new skills at our community colleges; 1 million new manufacturing jobs the next four years; real and fair enforcement of our trade laws; leveling the playing field so our exports -- exports people want can be sent out of America proudly stamped: Made in America. Made in Ohio. (Applause.)

People want what we make. Cut oil imports in half by 2020. Clean and renewable energy, creating thousands of new jobs -- 600,000 new jobs over the next several years just by tapping into the 100-year supply of natural gas below our feet right here in this state. (Applause.) Cutting $4 trillion off the debt. Ending the war in Afghanistan just like we did in Iraq. (Applause.) And begin to rebuild the homes and rebuild the roads in Zanesville and Ohio, rebuild our schools, our bridges here at home. (Applause.)

And I might add, as the mayor knows, creating tens of thousands of decent-paying jobs in the process. Folks, it's simple, unlike this new Republican Party, and I say new because these guys are not your father's Republican Party. As a matter of fact, they're not even Mitt Romney's father's Republican Party.

AUDIENCE: No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: We see a future -- and I mean this sincerely, and I know you do in your gut too -- we see a future where everyone, rich and poor, does their part and has a part; where we're once again number one in the world in the percentage of people we graduate from college; where Social Security and Medicare are protected -- you paid for it -- where we promote the private sector and small business, not the privileged sector. (Applause.) And, folks, I mean this where my granddaughters have every single solitary opportunity my grandsons have -- every one. (Applause.)

We see a future where America leads not only by the example of our power, which is immense, but by the power of our example; a future where we can fulfill -- truly fulfill the only sacred obligation we have, and, Reverend, you know it, is to care for those we send to war and to care for them when they come home from war. (Applause.)

Folks, I know a little bit, as we say where I come from, your neighborhood, the Governor said it, you're a patriotic people. How many of you have had somebody who has gone to war in Iraq or Afghanistan? (Applause.) How many have a neighbor you know whose son or daughter have done?

Let me tell you, we owe an incredible debt. The most difficult part of the multiple trips -- over 20 trips I've made to Iraq and Afghanistan -- two when my son was there for a year -- and they allow me to go into the battle zones. They allow me to go into the FOBs, the forward operating bases. They allow me to get in the Humvees. They allow me to go in the MRAPs. The most difficult part of every one of those trips -- and I remember the first time it happened -- I was leaving Iraq, and I was in a C-17, and it's a magnificent cargo aircraft, and before I got on the plane, General Odierno, one of our great generals, said, Mr. Vice President, there will be a Fallen Angel going home with you. And I walked in and strapped in the cargo space was a coffin and a flag. In Iraq and Afghanistan, they'd refer to those heroes we lost as the Fallen Angels. (Applause.)

And, ladies and gentlemen, we owe an enormous -- an enormous debt to those Gold Star moms and dads or those husbands and wives, those children who have been left behind. Six thousand -- and I every day check the number so to be precise because every single life is precious. (Applause.) As of early this morning, 6,473 Fallen Angels; 46,746 wounded -- many of them critically wounded who are going to be in need of extensive medical care the rest of their lives. And you know that, Commander. We must never forget. And I know you will never -- you never do in Zanesville. But we must never forget as a government. We must never forget their sacrifices and always keep in them in our care, but most of all, keep them in our prayers because they need our prayers. (Applause.)

You know, folks, this country -- all of you, the hard-working women and men of this country -- you have been through an awful lot the last four years, but you know, as well as I do, there's no quit in America. There's no quit in America. So when I hear -- when I hear Romney and the Republicans talk about this culture of dependency, the decline of America, I don't recognize the country they're talking about. I don't recognize the country they're talking about.

Folks, they're wrong. They are dead wrong. America is not in decline. America is not in decline. America is coming back. We're not going back. We're moving forward because of you. (Applause.)

And I've got news -- I've got news for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan, gentlemen, it has never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against the American people. (Applause.)

God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you all very much.

END 12:50 P.M. EDT