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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release September 12, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN
AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT

Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio

1:02 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, it's good to be here at Wright State University -- (applause) -- and back in Dayton, Ohio. (Applause.)

Folks, thank you very much. And I want to begin by apologizing. Apparently, there's an overflow room that's watching this and I saw I don't know how many -- several hundred people outside standing in the parking lot; my sincere apologies to them for not being able to get in. I appreciate the effort they made to get here, and I wish there was some way I could figure out to accommodate that, but I can't.

Ladies and gentlemen, with your permission, I'd like to begin on somewhat of a -- I feel it's necessary to begin on somewhat of somber note with a word about the news out Libya and out of Egypt. Last night our nation lost four truly dedicated Americans -- courageous Americans, courageous Americans. And the loss was accomplished as a consequence of an unwarranted attack on the diplomatic facility in Benghazi. And Chris Stevens, a man who used to work for the Foreign Relations Committee years ago that I chaired, a really, fine, fine man; and a foreign service officer named Sean Smith; and two others whose names I know but are being withheld until the families are notified, they are obviously in our prayers and their families are in our prayers. There's nothing worse than receiving that phone call.

These brave -- and it's not hyperbole to say brave -- our ambassador was in Benghazi while the war was going on. Our ambassador risked his life repeatedly while war in Libya to get rid of that dictator was going on. These men are as brave and as courageous as any of our warriors that we've sent. (Applause.)

And, ladies and gentlemen, their loss tragically reminds us again of the incredible price that not only our warriors pay in the service of this great country, but the price paid by foreign service officers and AID personnel. I've traveled all over the world in my years as a United States senator and Vice President and been in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq multiple times. And as you know, but it doesn't always go fully noticed or remembered, there are an incredibly significant number of foreign service officers who have given their lives in those wars as well.

Chris and Sean and their colleagues were exemplars of our nation's commitment to freedom and to justice and to partnership with nations and people around the world in order to make us safer at home -- to make us safer at home. The cause to which they dedicated their lives and gave their lives -- democracy, partnership, tolerance -- stands in sharp contrast to the values of those who callously took their lives.

And let me be clear, we are resolved to bring to justice their killers. (Applause.) And we will work -- we will work with the Libyan government and our other partners to do just that. There is no place in a civilized world for senseless murder like occurred last night. (Applause.)

Ambassador Stevens and his colleagues are not only mourned by Americans, they're also mourned by the vast majority of the Libyan people who they fought for, whose freedom they helped accomplish. (Applause.)

As you always have, Americans must be steadfast, resolved and committed in the face of such horrific events. We never have been and we will not be run off, period. That's not who we are. (Applause.)

And we're determined to redouble our work that those courageous Americans have begun and make sure -- and make sure that their objectives are met. Our nation needs women and men like them in our service.

But as I said, it's critically important to recognize that being a foreign service officer isn't all about going to coffees and teas; so many of them, as I speak, are risking their lives in Afghanistan at this moment, along with 90,000 American military personnel. The task of a President is not only to defend our interest in causes -- in the cause of freedom abroad, it is also to build a nation here at home to which the entire world can look and aspire to be like. And whether we do that and how we do that, that is literally the essence of the choice that we face in this presidential election. It really is that basic.

And foreign policy is not some sidelight to all of this. And you deserve -- all of America deserves leaders who will tell you what they intend to do in both spheres. (Applause.)

And, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you what we believe -- President Obama and I -- and what we will do. We believe it matters where you create jobs, not just if a job -- where it is created. (Applause.)

Our President knows creating jobs here in America, keeping jobs here in America, and bringing jobs back to America, that's the job of a President -- in America, in America. (Applause.)

That's why with all the criticism and doubt expressed, that's why the President stepped up to the ball and refused to cede the automobile industry in the 21st century to Germany or Japan or Korea or China or anywhere else in the world. (Applause.) And that's why -- that's why today here in the state of Ohio, there are 115,000 decent-paying auto jobs in Ohio that you can raise a family on. (Applause.)

Since we've come to office, 500,000 good-paying, manufacturing jobs have been created -- more than any time since the early '90s, and they say manufacturing is dead. Not as long as we're around it's not dead. (Applause.) What do they think built the middle class?

Folks, we've set a goal, and we will accomplishment -- accomplish it of creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs by 2016, and we want to keep that going by ending the tax loopholes that encourage companies, whether they're in my home state or the state of Ohio or wherever they are, from getting a tax break for unbolting the machinery on the floor in Toledo and taking it to China. (Applause.) We think any company who unbolts machinery on the floor in China, Indonesia, or anywhere else in the world and brings it to Ohio, they should get the tax break. (Applause.)

We oppose the establishment of a phrase you'll hear a lot about that most people understandably don't -- wouldn't know a lot about: the so-called territorial tax. Let me tell you what the establishment of a territorial tax, which the other team is proposing, would do. It says if you're an American company and you go invest in a company abroad, and you make millions of dollars, you pay taxes in that country, but you don't pay any American taxes.

AUDIENC: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Talk about a magnet to go abroad. Ladies and gentlemen, the studies have shown that would create 800,000 new jobs -- all of them in China, Singapore, Mexico -- all of them abroad, not here in the United States.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Folks, the tax structure has to work to encourage jobs in America. Ladies and gentlemen, my dad used to have a saying. And a lot of you in this Wayne State University [sic] and neighborhoods a lot of you are from are just like where I'm from. A lot of you have seen people fall on hard times, not just now but 20 years ago and 15 years ago and 25 years ago.

My dad used to have an expression. My dad had to leave Scranton, Pennsylvania to move to Delaware with my Uncle Frank because there were good jobs there and left us with my grandpop till they could get settled. From that point on, every one of the kids in our family, all four of us, heard my dad use the following expression I don't know how many times. He'd say, Joey, remember, I mean this sincerely -- a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in the community. (Applause.) And what Barack and I are about is restoring that dignity and respect by creating good jobs here in America. (Applause.)

A lot of talk about taxes these days. Well, we think any tax code has to have two elements to it. One, it has to be fair. Everybody has got to be in on the deal. And two, it has to generate economic growth and expansion. That's what it should be doing. The President and I believe it makes absolutely no sense to maintain -- you know all this talk about maintaining the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy? Let me just give you an example. Continuing that tax cut, you what that means? $500 billion over the next 10 years; a half a trillion dollars will go in tax breaks not to you, but to 120,000 families in America. I'm not making this up, Mr. President -- I'm referring to the president of the university who's here. (Laughter.) I'm not making this up. And on top of that, there is new talk of a new proposal that's been laid down: Another $250,000-a-year tax break for those same 125,000 families.

Ladies and gentlemen, if it weren't so serious, it would almost be comical. But, ladies and gentlemen, that's neither fair nor is there any evidence it will create any new jobs, promote any economic growth.

To grow the economy, to grow the economy is to put more money in the pockets of middle-class people, to give them an opportunity, to cut taxes for the middle class. That's why every year since we've been in office, we've reduced taxes and your payroll taxes by every year -- $3,600 for middle-class families. (Applause.) That's why -- that's why we're pushing the House and Senate -- and the Democrats in the Senate did this -- to extend the tax cuts for 98 percent of the families in America by continuing a tax cut for everybody below the $250,000 level; keep it for them.

Ladies and gentlemen, middle-class families need help. That's why, for those of you struggling to send your kid to school, to college, or to keep your kid in a college -- whether it's a community college or a Wayne State University, or any college in America --

AUDIENCE: Wright State!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Wright State. (Applause.) But it also -- it also includes Wayne State. (Laughter.) It also includes the University of Delaware; it also includes the university -- and so on. Anybody who wants to, anybody struggling to keep your child here at Wright State University -- (applause) -- and Wayne State University -- (laughter) -- anybody doing that knows how hard it is.

How many of you who are parents here, or these students here -- the children of those parents -- how many of you wondered whether you were going to have to have a talk with your son or daughter last May or June to say, you know, honey, I'm not sure we're going to be able to send you back; I'm not sure you're going to make it back?

A lot of people had that discussion. That's why the President and I put in a tax break of $2,500 for anybody who sends their kid to college to write off the bottom line of their federal taxes. (Applause.) That's why we kept the interest rate down. That's why we say you have to pay back no more than 10 percent of your disposable income when you graduate.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is all about providing economic opportunity to the middle class. Ladies and gentlemen, it's also in America's economic interest that we graduate every qualified young man and woman in America from college if they're qualified to attend. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot of talk about Medicare these days. As a matter of fact, some of the guys talking about it, you would think they came up with the idea, wouldn't you? (Laughter.) I find it fascinating. I mean, I don't know man -- but at any rate, they talk a lot about Medicare. Let me tell you what we are for, the President and I, and what we are against. We are for Medicare, we are against Vouchercare. (Applause.)

Most of you have worked your entire lives contributing to the promise that Medicare would be there when you retire, and we're determined that that promise be kept. That's why the plan that we already passed confers on 30 million people who already are receiving Medicare additional medical benefits with no additional cost. What it does for the average Medicare recipient heading toward that so-called doughnut hole saves them $700 a year. It also says now that you can go for a wellness visit. You have a problem, you feel a lump, you are worried about a condition that's developing, you can now go and you can get an expensive colonoscopy, you can get the mammogram, you can get these other tests and pay no co-pay. That's already happening now. (Applause.) That's the law now. (Applause.)

Yet you turn on your television -- I've had the great honor of being able to travel around Ohio a lot lately -- turn on my television in the hotel room and I see these ads about how -- anyway, I see these ads. (Laughter.) People telling you that we have cut Medicare. That is absolutely not true. We've increased benefits for Medicare recipients, and in addition, we've extended the solvency of this system to the year 2024. (Applause.)

Folks, a lot of talk about the national debt. It's serious. Although, what's not talked much about is the last time a Democrat occupied the White House before us. The budget was balanced and the national debt was moving down. On the day we got elected, the national debt had already ballooned and was out of control. We got a bill for $1 trillion for that fiscal year in deficit. Ladies and gentlemen, we know we have to act; that's why we stepped forward. We put forward a reasonable, balanced approach to cut $4 trillion over the next 10 years off our national debt, off the deficit.

Ladies and gentlemen, and like every reasonable proposal that you'll hear people talking -- you'll hear names like Simpson-Bowles and Rivlin-Domenici and so on -- these were serious people who took a serious look at things. Every single one of them said it had to be balanced -- revenue cut -- excuse me, cuts in the budget and revenue increases among the -- for the very wealthy.

Ladies and gentlemen, the wealthiest among us, they're as patriotic as we are, but they have to get in the game. They have to get in the game. (Applause.) And almost every serious bipartisan group out there has said the same thing. Folks, we do not support massive cuts in Medicaid that would result in throwing 19 million people off Medicaid, including millions of children and over a million seniors.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's out of nursing homes.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's what I was about to tell you. (Laughter.) And I'm glad you raised it, sir. You understand it.

What's happened out there is the combination of the elderly -- and, by the way, these are middle-class folks. We're talking about -- it's poor folk, but we're talking about middle-class folks. Seventy percent of those millions folks -- 70 percent of those folks in nursing homes are women, and 70 percent of them are there only because they have Medicaid -- Medicaid. Your moms, my mom, our moms and dads. That's the reality of it. That's the reality. What's going to happen to all those people if we actually kick them out -- off of Medicaid? Where will they go? And many have no one or no place to go.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Our homes -- our homes not nursing homes.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You got it, old buddy. (Laughter and applause.) Look, we don't support the massive cuts being proposed for future generations through Social Security; the massive cuts in education, early education, elementary education, secondary education; eliminating the tax cuts I just talked to you about to about to help people get to college and stay in college. We don't support the proposal to cut $1,000 a year for more than 9 million students who are here on Pell grants. God only knows how many will have to leave school if that occurs.

Look, there is no need to make these cuts if, in fact, you don't extend $2 trillion in tax cuts for people making over $1 million. Because they're the facts. (Applause.) Two trillion dollars goes a long way to meet these basic needs.

Folks, the President and I believe our job is to strengthen the economy, broaden opportunity. And in order to do that, unlike our friends, we think what we should be doing is promoting the private sector not the privileged sector. (Applause.) We think -- the small business people. Look, we know that the way, you know the way, Americans know the way to rebuild this economy -- the old-fashioned way: Build it from the middle out, not from the top down.

Folks, we've seen that movie before. We know how it ends. It ends in a Great Recession. It ends in the middle class being decimated. Folks, our plan focuses on first better education -- 100,000 new science and math teachers in the next 10 years. (Applause.) Two million workers learning new skills for a new economy at their community colleges. One million new manufacturing jobs. Cut oil imports by half by 2020. Invest in clean, renewable energy, solar and wind -- creates tens of thousands of new jobs that way. Safely develop that natural gas supply supporting 600,000 new jobs by the end of the decade. Real and fair enforcement of our trade laws. Level the playing field, so we can export what the world wants. They want products -- if the level -- if the playing field is leveled that say: Made in America. (Applause.) We still are the most productive workers in the world. (Applause.) And cut the deficit by $4 trillion. End the war in Afghanistan like we did in Iraq, responsibly -- responsibly. (Applause.) And use that money to come home and rebuild our roads, our bridges, our schools, our infrastructure, creating tens of thousands of new jobs in the process.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's simple. It's simple. Unlike the new Republican Party -- and I'm not being a wise way when I say that this is not your father's Republican Party. No, no, no -- it's not. This is not Rhodes and the guy -- this is not. This is not your father's Republican Party. As a matter of fact, this isn't even our opponent's father's Republican Party. (Laughter.)

Folks, unlike these guys, and I think like a vast majority of Americans, we see a future where everybody, rich and poor, plays a part and has a part; where my granddaughters have the exact same rights and opportunities in every single respect as my grandson does -- every single one -- (applause) -- where we're number one in the world again in the percent of college graduates; where social security and Medicare are guaranteed; where the future -- there's a future where America leads not only by the example of our power, which is immense and should stay, but by the power of our example; a future where we fulfill the only truly sacred obligation the nation has. In my view -- and I've been saying this for 20 years -- we only have one truly sacred -- we have a lot of obligations -- only one truly sacred one, and that is to equip those we send to war and care for those who come home from war. (Applause.)

How many of you in this audience either, like me, had a son or a daughter or have a husband or a wife, or have a neighbor who has been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan? Raise your hands. A lot of you. Ladies and gentlemen, we owe them an incredible debt of gratitude. (Applause.) Only 1 percent of the nation are fighting these wars -- an enormous debt. Keats [sic] once said there is -- they also serve who only stand and wait. They also serve who only stand wait -- for the husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters who have one of those 90,000 deployed troops in Afghanistan.

I promise you today, like my wife did, that son, that daughter, that husband, that wife, that mother, that father will cross that family member's mind a dozen times -- a dozen times. So we owe them as well. But we owe such an enormous debt to the families of our fallen heroes, which, in Iraq and Afghanistan, we refer to as angels, Fallen Angels.

Ladies and gentlemen, I make sure to get the number right every day, because every life matters. There have been 6,475 Fallen Angels, fallen heroes; 49,795 wounded, and thousands upon thousands of them critically wounded, in need of extended, expensive medical care the rest of their lives. Ladies and gentlemen, we must never -- never -- forget their sacrifice and always keep them in our care and in our prayers.

You know folks, this country -- all of you -- have been through an awful lot the last four years. But like generations before us, you didn't lose faith. You fought back. You didn't give up, you got up. And you know as well as I do, there is no quit in America. It doesn't exist. (Applause.)

So, folks, when I hear some of the opposition talking about America has adopted a -- what's the phrase -- a culture of dependency, in decline, I, honest to God, don't know what country they're talking about. It's not where I live. It's not my old neighborhood. It's not where I come from. (Applause.)

But I know one thing. They're wrong. They're wrong. America is better positioned today than any time in the recent past to be the most dominant economy in the 21st century. And no one should forget that. (Applause.) We're not going back. We're going forward.

And I've got one more thing to say to these guys: Gentlemen, it's never, never, never a good bet to bet against the American people. (Applause.)

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


END 1:32 P.M. EDT