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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release September 13, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT


University of Wisconsin-Eu Claire
Eu Claire, Wisconsin


11:08 A.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello! (Applause.) Hello, Wisconsin! Hello, Eu Claire! (Applause.) Gosh, it's good to be back on campus. It's a fading memory, but I remember. (Laughter.)

Mickey, thank you very much for that introduction and for the great job you do. This is an independent small business owner, who is doing great and doing great for us. Thank you, Mickey. (Applause.) And for all of you who live 10, 20 miles from here in the Seventh District, I hope you will in fact vote Pat Kreitlow who is here. Pat, where are you? (Applause.) Okay.

Folks, I used to have to say this with my dad -- with your permission, can I take my coat off? (Applause.) Thank you.

Folks, I want to start off -- I have to start off -- I think it's appropriate to start off on a slightly, just a slightly somber note. The brave -- and I mean it's not hyperbole -- the brave Americans we tragically lost in Libya remind us again of the incredible price that not only our military pays when they're deployed, but the incredible price, through Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab Spring, that our diplomats have paid. It goes unnoticed, but in the height of the war in Iraq, there were almost as high a percentage of diplomats and AID workers, American aid workers, killed as a percent as there were military, or injured.

And, ladies and gentlemen, there's 90,000 warriors as I speak in the mountains of Afghanistan, and with them -- and sometimes on their own -- there are hundreds and hundreds of civilian aid workers and diplomats who I assure you, it's not hyperbole, are risking their lives. The only difference is they're not wearing a uniform. They're not wearing a uniform.

And the cause to which they are dedicated and gave their lives -- democracy, partnership, tolerance -- stands in absolute sharp contrast to the values held by those who callously took their lives, who I think have no real values. We have always -- we always have as Americans, and we will remain as Americans, steadfast and resolved and committed in the face of such horrific events. And we will not be run off. We will redouble our work that those courageous Americans have been doing to ensure a more tolerant, more secure world, in the interests not only of the people in those countries, but in the interest and security of the United States of America. We owe them a lot. (Applause.)

Folks, the task of a President, to state the obvious, is not only to defend our interests and the cause of freedom abroad, but also to build a nation here at home, a nation to which the entire world can look and aspire. And whether we do that, how we do that, that is literally the choice we face in this election -- how and whether we do that.

Folks, the country faces the starkest choice for President in my memory. You see, the President and I have a fundamentally different vision than Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan, and a different value set that guides us. They're good men. They're good men. They're good fathers, they're good husbands, but that's the place at which the differences -- the similarities end in terms of our views.

The fact of the matter is that the differences among us, the four of us, and between the President and Governor Romney, these differences matter a great deal to all of you assembled in this room, at this university. They matter a great deal to our present and future security. They matter in terms of our economic growth, and they matter -- it's clear by now they matter in terms of American social policy, whether we continue to progress or we go back to the '60s. Ladies and gentlemen, they matter. They matter. (Applause.)

They matter for all of you on this campus. They matter for the incredible generation you are a part of and you represent. For you're all about to become the future business leaders, the future labor leaders, the future political leaders, the future -- the future of this country. Soon you're all going to be stepping out of this great university and taking your place in the leadership of this country, and the question is what will you inherit as you walk off the stage, those of you who are seniors, this spring.

I want to tell you where we stand as straightforwardly and honestly as I can, and where our friends are not willing to tell you where they stand but where their record is absolutely clear on where they stand on all these issues -- even though they're no longer talking about a lot of the positions they've taken. All of you know, and I know, how the education of your generation, and how well you're educated and those who follow you, how that is literally the fundamental key, the keystone to whether or not we maintain our security and whether or not our physical security as well as whether or not we remain the dominant economic power in the 21st century.

I was asked at a -- I'm supposedly an expert on foreign policy. (Laughter and applause.) Where I come from, an expert is anyone from out of town with a briefcase. (Laughter.) I do not have a briefcase with me today. But here I was speaking at a conference, a private conference with my counterparts, our allies from around the world. When I finished and submitted to questions, I was asked a simple question: What is the single most important objective, what's the single most important job that America must complete in order to maintain its dominance, physically as well as economic ascendancy, in the world? What is it?

And the answer I gave them I think surprised them, but the President and I share this view together. We have to be the single best educated nation in the world in order to be able to do that. (Applause.) That is not hyperbole. We must be the single best educated nation in the world. (Applause.)

So notwithstanding all the criticism we received from our friends on the right about the Recovery Act and how much we invested in education and how much we talk about education -- first of all, the President and I know neither one of us would be standing where we are today were it not for help we received in scholarships and loans to get our education. (Applause.)

Folks, that's why the President and I have said by the year 2020, we are determined that we will once again have the highest percentage of college graduates of any nation in the world. (Applause.) That's why we have insisted and worked so hard to see to it that every qualified man and woman, every qualified boy and girl in America should have access to college regardless of what neighborhood they come from. It's in America's interest. (Applause.)

For we know, and you know, six out of every 10 jobs in the next 10 years are going to require a degree or a certificate beyond high school. (Applause.) We must be prepared. That's why we provided a $2,500-a-year tax credit to your parents and you to defray the cost of your college education. (Applause.) That's why we've increased the money for Pell grants, which in one fell swoop increased the number of students in college from working-class families from 6 million to 9 million -- because of Pell grants. (Applause.)

And I personally know from my own experience, I personally know from the experience of my children and the debt from which they -- when they graduated from college and graduate school, I know that the average student graduating from this university and universities across Wisconsin and America, you will get your diploma and a bill for $25,000 as you walk across that stage.

That's why the President and I have worked so hard, and with the help of a Democratic Congress, passed a plan that says you will not have to pay more than 10 percent of that loan back -- excuse me -- 10 percent of the disposable income you have from your job to pay back your loans to give you some room. (Applause.)

And, folks, that's why -- that's why we've invested in a way that every education professor on this campus and across the country knows, the way to deal with that achievement gap is to start students off with early education to make sure -- (applause) -- to make sure. That's why we've insisted on higher standards for students and teachers and administrators in our elementary and secondary schools. And that's why America will have the highest percent of graduates from college of any nation on the world by 2020. (Applause.)

If you notice, Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan hardly talk about education at all, literally. Think about it -- listen to what they say. They hardly mention education at all except in a negative context. That's almost the only time you hear them talk about it.

They tell you, though, that they still value education. Well, my dad used to have an expression. My dad used to say, Joey -- when someone would come up to him and say, Joe -- his name was Joe -- Joe, tell you what I value, my dad would go like this -- seriously, he'd say, don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget. I will tell you what you value. Show me your budget. (Applause.)

So, folks, let's take a look. Let's take a look at how much they value education. And by the way, I'm not making up any of these numbers, folks. (Laughter.) They have put their policies down in writing, and through the congressional leadership of Congressman Ryan and leadership in the Congress, they have passed already through the House of Representatives -- fortunately stopped by a Democratic Senate -- they have already passed what I am about to tell you they're still for. The addition of Congressman Ryan, who is a good man, to the Romney ticket gave flesh to the promises that were never articulated fully by the Governor. We now know what they want to do. Governor Romney wants to visit upon the nation what Congressman Ryan and the Republican Party in Congress have already delivered in the Congress -- not passed -- but in the Republican House.

The so-called Romney-Ryan budget calls for massive -- this is how they speak of education and what they value -- it calls for massive cuts in elementary and secondary education, cut by $4.9 billion. They knock 200,000 kids off of early education. They eliminate the $2,500 tax credit your parents rely on. They cut $1,000 from 9 million Pell grant student, kicking God knows how many of them out of college. They eliminate the 10 percent cap on your loan repayment. And they want to once again go back to reimbursing the banks -- this is real; I'm not making it up -- $60 billion over the next 10 years, which we have saved by eliminating that fee. They want to go back and have the banks be in charge of negotiating and processing your loans, costing the government $60 billion in payment to the banks over the next 10 years.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And, folks, banks aren't bad guys, but we don't need them for you to all get a loan. (Applause.) We take that $60 billion for federal loans.

And, folks, they talk so much about the national debt and how they are so concerned we're going to leave your generation with this incredible debt. They have the debt clock running behind the Republican convention. They talk about per capita how much it will mean to each of you in your teens and 20s, most of you in your 20s, and a few of you older. (Laughter.) And they talk about it with such great urgency. They talk about the need to act now, the need to get it under control. And they imply that we're not concerned at all. Nothing could be further from the truth.

At the outset, President Obama has pushed to reduce this long-term debt, the vast majority of which I might add, was run up after Clinton balanced the budget and how they piled on and then the Great Recession and the consequences of their economic policy. So the President, we put forward a $4 trillion deficit reduction package; already passed a trillion dollars of it.

But you heard about this super -- the grand bargain, the super committees they were going to set up to do all this stuff. But what you haven't heard from them -- and this is the truth -- not once have they told you that they have rejected every effort that Romney, Ryan, the Republican Congress rejected every effort, not only ours, but the so-called Simpson-Bowles, that bipartisan commission they talk about, Domenici-Rivlin -- all the serious commissions that were put forward, every one of them slightly different. They all came back with a balanced approach of how to reduce the long-term debt. They varied slightly, but they all had one provision; it was balanced. There were significant cuts in spending and some additional raise in revenue.

Ladies and gentlemen, every single one of the proposals put forward, including the commission, that as my mother would say, God love them -- that Congressman Ryan now asserts was such a good commission, Simpson-Bowles, and he voted against -- he was on the commission -- he was against the proposal he now seems to be singing its praises. And why did they always vote no? Why did Romney say at his debates he would not support them? For a simple reason -- because each one of them raised slightly the taxes on millionaires. They have rejected every single proposal if it contained $1, one cent in additional cost to people making a million dollars or more. That's the truth.

Romney and Ryan, they believe -- which is obvious that we are in a global economy. We are in a global economy. And to them, in a global economy, it doesn't matter much where American companies put their money or where they create jobs. They've even proposed -- Governor Romney, after running Bain, which is a good, honorable company. What did The Washington Post say? They were a pioneer in outsourcing. A pioneer in outsourcing. That's not bad if you are running a company like that. Your job is to make money for your investors. It's a different job than the President. (Laughter and applause.)

But in addition to that, now what has Governor Romney called for? Governor Romney has called for -- his great concern about jobs here -- he's called for a new, what they call -- and a lot of you students will know this -- a territorial tax. And that means that any company who picks up or starts off an American company in China, or anywhere else in the world, will only have to pay the taxes in that country and never have to pay a penny in tax for any American -- one single penny in American taxes.

Well, let me tell you what that means. A study shows that if we have that territorial tax, it will create 800,000 jobs -- all of them in China, Indonesia, all of them abroad. So, folks, look, if you know -- the fact of the matter is, we're doing everything in our power to give incentives to companies to come home and stay home, not to create new incentives for companies to go abroad. (Applause.)

One of the most fascinating statements Governor Romney made in his acceptance speech at the convention -- it was a good speech -- but here's what he said, in his acceptance speech he said that one of the first things he'll do as President, he said, I will take a jobs tour. Well, with all the support for outsourcing and new tax policies it's going to have to be a foreign trip. (Laughter and applause.) He's going to have to go abroad for his jobs tour. (Applause.)

Look, folks, President Obama and Governor Romney have a very different view as to the importance of where jobs are created. President Obama knows creating jobs here in America, keeping jobs here in America, bringing jobs back to America -- that's the job of the President of the United States of America, jobs in America. (Applause.) That's the job.

And as I look over to some of the people who are my age to my right here -- none of the women, but a couple of you guys are my age -- (laughter) -- isn't it amazing how they talk now so much about their overarching care for Medicare? I mean, I never heard a Republican mention Medicare so many times in my whole life. They mention it so often, you'd think it was their idea. (Laughter.) You would think they hadn't been fighting to cut it since it started. You would think back when the Gingrich Congress was there, they didn't want it to wither on the vine. It's amazing.

There's nothing like the converted. I mean, I am so impressed. I am so impressed. (Laughter and applause.) And then, they say, they expect the American public to believe those Democrats, they're the ones cutting your Medicare. We Republicans, we're going to save it and save it for all of you students. Well, they've said that our actions so far, we've put Medicare in danger, we've cut Medicare for seniors.

Any senior -- any of you know -- on Medicare today, your grandmom or your grandpop, go home and ask them. The truth is Medicare benefits have actually increased since the President acted. (Applause.) Let me tell you, people on Medicare today are paying $700 a year less in prescription drugs. They're able to go get colonoscopies, breast screening -- all the tests they couldn't get before without any copay. (Applause.) They've actually gotten more benefits because of President Obama. (Applause.)

What they haven't told you is President Obama has increased the solvency of the trust fund to the year 2024. (Applause.) And in case you haven't noticed, our proposal was endorsed by the American Hospital Association, the AMA, and by AARP, not known to be against Medicare. (Applause.) So as my brother, Jimmy, would say, go figure. (Laughter.) Go figure, who are you going to believe?

Folks, it's not the misleading things they tell you about us and Medicare that bothers me the most. It's the things they don't tell you about their Medicare plan, which has been laid out in stark relief and voted on already in the Republican Congress. What they don't tell you, their plan would immediately cut those benefits to the 30 million people on Medicare right now, immediately. It would eliminate -- they pay $700 more in their prescription drugs. And they would also, those wellness exams would go away, because they required real copays.

What they don't tell you, is what they're proposing will not extend the life of Medicare. It will actually put the trust fund in jeopardy in the year 2016. It will be out of balance in two years, three years from the time they took office if they were to win. That's the fact.

And the most important thing they haven't told you, ladies and gentlemen, they are not for Medicare. They are for a plan called vouchercare. They are about creating a voucher.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Now, look, they say -- I love when the Congressman says no one on Medicare will suffer any damage. Well, first of all, they will. They will. (Laughter.) And the second thing is this is going to happen down the road, 10 years from now. Right, that's when vouchers kick in.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me explain to you what you already know. But it's important that -- assumption is the mother of all mistakes. Let's just make it clear.

A voucher is essentially a coupon that you're going to get, that your mom and your dad will get. And they'll be told, you can take this coupon worth X amount of dollars, a fixed number -- you take this coupon and you go out in the marketplace -- you know that solves everything. (Laughter.) You go out in the marketplace and you compete for the best insurance policy you can get. And, by the way, if you want to buy back into Medicare, you can do that too. But you get a number, a dollar amount, literally.

So you go out and compete. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the first plan that was passed by the House Republicans that Congressman Ryan was the author of, the CBO, which they always love to quote, said that plan will cost seniors on Medicare an additional $6,400 a year. You hear me now -- $6,400 a year more.

Now, there's a new study. They've changed the plan again, slightly. Well, there's a new study out of Harvard by a Harvard professor. And the professor points out that if you're 48 years old now, you can expect to pay $125,000 a year more when you're eligible for Medicare, for the same Medicare your grandparents are getting now. If you're 54 years of age, in 10 short years you will be paying $60,000 more for the Medicare your parents get today. And if you're going on Medicare at that moment, you will pay $11,000 more for the same health care you get today.

Folks, these guys -- Romney may live in a different neighborhood. But the neighborhood I come from -- I mean this sincerely -- that's a lot of money. (Applause.) That is a lot of money. That affects your standard of living. (Applause.) That affects the quality of your health care. That affects your life.

Look, folks, there's a lot more about the Romney/Ryan budget were time to permit, I could tell you some of the other ridiculous -- I shouldn't say ridiculous. (Laughter.) Some of the other, in my view, unfair proposals they have to change Social Security. All you students, they're saving Social Security for you. If they win, they got a new plan. It's going to -- you're going to get thousands and thousands of dollars less under their Social Security than you would anybody on Social Security today.

I could tell you about what they're doing, the massive cuts in Medicaid. They throw 19 million people off of Medicaid -- 1 million of them seniors. Ask any of the seniors gathered here today. Seventy percent of all seniors that are in a nursing home are there only because of the availability of Medicare and Medicaid.

And, ladies and gentlemen, they're our moms and dads. They are middle-class people. They are people who paid into Medicare and Medicaid their whole lives. We're not talking about the abject poor. We're talking about middle-class Americans. Where will they go?

And for those 30 percent who have no one and no place to go, what will happen? But you might ask -- you say, Mr. Vice President, what you're telling me almost sounds unbelievable. These guys aren't bad guys. Why would they do these things, and things I haven't even mentioned in their budget.

Well, I'll tell you why, they have no choice based on their economic theory and their idea of what constitutes a tax policy that's fair and that will grow the economy. If I had time I'd go into great -- but just give me -- let me give you a couple examples. They propose extending and adding another $2 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years for the very wealthiest among us. Let me give you an example. It's really important sometimes to get down to a fact to put this in context. Extending the so-called Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent -- people over $250,000 -- and these are good patriotic Americans. I really mean this. I come from the wealthy little state of Delaware, very high, per-capita income. The wealthy people of my state are as patriotic as any poor folks I know, any middle-class folks know. But they're not even asking for this. And they clearly don't need it.

Let me give you an example, of the trillion dollars extending that tax cut cost, $800 billion of it goes to people with a minimum income of $1 million a year. But here's the astounding part, $500 billion -- a half a trillion dollars goes to 120,000 families -- 120,000 families by expending --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- you're right. By expending -- extending just that tax cut. And now, the new trillion-dollar-plus tax cut offered by Romney and Ryan will give a $250,000 tax cut in addition per year to each of those 120,000 families, as well as anybody who makes a million or more.

Ladies and gentlemen, and this all has a price tag to state the obvious, not just what it could do to reduce the deficit, not what it could do to make sure we take care of the essential needs of education -- not what it could do for so many other things. Folks, guess who pays for it? You.

There is a nonpartisan organization that everybody quotes, the Tax Policy Center -- that's the outfit that when we're all laying down our tax plans, these experts, they take it and they put on their green eyeshades, and they go through it all. (Laughter.) I'm serious -- they're serious economists, reputable outfit, nonpartisan. Here's what they concluded. They said if Romney's tax policy succeeds it will mean a tax increase for ever middle-class family with a child, $2,000 a year more -- $2,000 a year more to justify that tax cut.

Look, folks, as I said, these wealthy people, they're good people. They don't need it, they haven't asked for it, it's not going to change their standard of living one iota if it's not continued. But it will yours. (Applause.) It will yours.

Folks, we've seen this movie before. We've seen this movie before. We know how it ends. It ends in a catastrophe with the middle class and the Great Recession of 2008. 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.)

So our plan focuses first on education -- 100,000 new science and math teachers in the next 10 years. (Applause.) Two million workers learning new skills for the new economy through their community colleges. One million new manufacturing jobs over the next four years. Cut oil imports in half by 2020. (Applause.) Invest in clean and renewable energy, wind and solar, create tens of thousands of jobs that way -- 600,000 new jobs using new technologies to get gas out of the ground. Real and fair trade enforcement. Level the playing field so the world can buy what they want -- products stamped: Made in America. (Applause.) And cut the deficit by $4 trillion.

And, ladies and gentlemen, end the war in Afghanistan as we did in Iraq. (Applause.) As we did in Iraq -- in a responsible way. (Applause.) And come home, invest in our roads, our bridges, our schools, rebuild our country. Ladies and gentlemen, that alone will create tens of thousands good-paying jobs repairing the damaged infrastructure in this country.

Look, folks, it's simple. It's simple. Unlike this new Republican Party -- and I don't use the phrase new lightly. This is not your father's Republican Party. (Applause.) This is not your father's Republican Party. This isn't even Mitt Romney's father's Republican Party. (Applause.) Unlike them, we see a future where the rich and the poor do their part and have a part, where my granddaughters have the exact same opportunity and rights as my grandson -- the exact same ones. (Applause.) Where women control their own destiny, and where there's no longer any debate about the Violence Against Women Act. (Applause.) And where we're once again number one in the world in college graduates; where Social Security is protected for you; where Medicare is guaranteed; where we promote the private sector not the privileged sector. (Applause.)

We see a future where America leads not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. (Applause.) A future where we truly fulfill and remain committed to the only sacred obligation we have. We have many obligations -- we have obligations to our seniors, to our children, to the American people. There's only one in my view, truly sacred obligation, and that's to equip those we send to war and care for them when they come home. That's a sacred obligation. (Applause.)

How many of you in this auditorium like me have a son -- had a son or a daughter, or a neighbor or a friend, or a brother or a sister who in the last 12 years has been deployed to Iran [sic] or Iraq? Raise your hand. How many of you know somebody? You got it, man. We owe them. We owe them and their families -- (applause) -- and their families an incredible debt of gratitude. The English poet said, they also serve who only stand and wait.

I used to walk in every morning when our son was in Iraq for a year and I'd go in -- and my wife teaches full time -- she's standing like she always did over the kitchen, putting sugar into her coffee, and I'd literally see her mouthing the same prayer. Those of you who've had a son or a daughter, a husband or wife, child over there, you know there's not an hour that goes by during the day where you don't feel that sense of, are they okay. These families have been through a lot. And we owe a particular debt to the families of what we call Gold Star mothers and fathers.

Ladies and gentlemen, I check every single day -- I check every single day the casualties. People say, why are you so fixated, Joe, on citing the exact number of those we lost? It's because every single life, every single life is important, and it's the only life to their families. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, we owe an enormous debt to the families of the 6,475 -- what we refer to in my multiple trips in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq -- in the field are military personnel when they load a coffin in a plane to send it home, and I've ridden in those planes -- they say, "Fallen Angel aboard." Fallen Angel.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are heroes. 49,795 wounded. Literally thousands upon thousands of them, critically wounded. And they will require for the rest of their lives expensive and consequential care in order to be okay. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I know you know in this state that we must never, never, ever forget their sacrifice and always -- always keep them in our care and our in our prayers. (Applause.)

And so, folks -- and I don't know how we can talk about the future without understanding the price that's been paid already and not remembering. And we still have 90,000 warriors -- 90,000 combat troops in a country -- if you could come with me the multiple times I've been there -- that has the most incredible, God-awful landscape in some parts. It's like a moonscape.

They warrant our prayers. Ladies and gentlemen, you know, folks -- this country, all of you have been through an awful lot in the last four years. But like all throughout our history, Americans haven't lost 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. There is no quit in America. (Applause.)

So when I hear -- when I hear Romney and Ryan and the new Republican Party in Congress talk about this culture of dependency, a new phrase I'm hearing. You're hearing a lot of about -- you heard about -- this culture of dependency, this notion that America is in decline, I don't recognize the country they're talking about. It's not a country I live in. It's not where I come from. They're wrong. They're dead wrong. America is coming back. We're not going back. We're going forward. (Applause.)

And I've got news for Governor Romney. I got news for Congressman Ryan. Gentlemen, it's never, never, never been a good to bet against the American people. Never. Never. (Applause.)

So, folks, what America needs today as much as any time in our history is a President with a steady hand and the judgment and vision to see us through, and we have that President, and we're going to keep him, President Barack Obama.

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

END 11:53 A.M. CDT