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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release September 9, 2012


REMARKS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT
TO SUPPORTERS

Portsmouth High School
Portsmouth, Ohio


11:58 A.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello, Portsmouth! (Applause.) I tell you what -- it's great to be here. On the way down, Ted Strickland, the closer we got, he said, the closer we're getting to heaven. (Applause.)

I tell you what, wasn't this guy magnificent? (Applause.) Until he spoke, I didn't know what Romney was going to do to Santa Claus. (Laughter.) No, I tell you what, this guy is amazing. What a difference a governor makes, man. (Laughter and applause.)

And, Melanie, thank you for this introduction. That's what everybody wants to do -- get up on Sunday morning and say, oh, my God, I've got to introduce the Vice President with all those cameras. (Laughter.) But you're very gracious, and I appreciate it and all your hard work, not just today but what you've been doing for us for a long time now. Thank you so very, very much. (Applause.)

If my dad were still around, he'd say, Joey, be polite and turn around and say, please excuse my back. (Laughter.) But it's nice your having my back. (Laughter.)

And by the way, it's great to be in a high school where they've got great athletes and really bright students, I'll tell you. You guys are something else. (Applause.) I understand you've got some great ball clubs, but your basketball team went to the finals two years in a row? (Applause.) Whoa! Whoa! And your students went to -- were finalists in the Quiz Bowl of the state? You guys are something else, man. (Applause.) It's usually one or the other, but you got both.

Well, I tell you what, it's great to -- it really is great to be here. Ted has been my friend for a long, long time, and he's sort of been my guide through Ohio. I was originally -- I'm a Delaware Senator all my life until I became Vice President, but my home is where I was born and where I was raised early on, is in Pennsylvania. And this is kind of like going home -- I mean, being with -- no, seriously. If you know northeast Pennsylvania, you'll not be surprised it's not a whole lot different than southern Ohio or actually a lot of parts of Ohio. And so it's -- I feel really comfortable here. I've been here a lot. I plan on coming back a lot. (Applause.)

As Ted pointed out in his convention speech -- and this is not hyperbole -- as he pointed out in his convention speech, that this is -- this country faces the starkest choice for President of the United States it has in at least my lifetime -- and that means in all of your lifetimes. (Laughter.)

But for all the talk Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan have engaged in, they don't have the courage, at least not yet, to actually tell you what their policies for this nation really are. And it will shock you, I have the courage to tell you this morning what their policies are. (Laughter.)

Because, look, guys, it's amazing. If you listen to them, they talk so much about how much they care about Medicare. I mean, you'd think it was a Republican idea, the way they talk about it. (Laughter.) You'd think it was Republicans supporting it all. I mean, they talk about it. They talk about how they want to preserve it. I mean, they do it sincerely. I mean, they talk about how sincerely they want to preserve it, protect the benefits for all those people, particularly guaranteeing all those people who are on Medicare now -- those 30 million seniors -- that nothing will change.

And if you listen to them these days, as I said, you would think that it had been a Republican plan all along. But that's what they say. That's what they say and that's what they exude. But let me tell you what they don't tell you -- and these are facts.

They don't tell you that their plan would immediately cut benefits for 30 million seniors in wellness visits, in prescription drugs. It would cut benefits immediately for those on Medicare right now. What they don't tell you is that what they're proposing would actually cause the Medicare trust fund that they want to protect -- remember -- it would cause the Medicare trust fund to run out of money by 2016. That's a fact. Their plan would cause it to run out of money by 2016.

And most of important of all, what they don't tell you -- they're not actually for preserving Medicare in the first place. Now, it's not just -- I'm not making the usual argument that, with Republicans -- remember, back with Gingrich, it was "let Medicare wither on the vine" and all that stuff. They have a different plan. I mean, they have a fundamentally different plan. It's called voucher care. I call it voucher care. It's vouchers.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, no, and by the way, here's what it's going to be. Because a lot of people say -- they hear public officials stand up and say, the other guy thinks this and this guy thinks that, and they kind of stand back and say, I don't know. But let me tell you what they're for -- I mean, for real. And they've laid it out. They've laid it out. And they've voted for these kinds of things already in the Republican House of Representatives -- Congressman Ryan's budget.

Here's what they talk about. They talk about giving your mom a voucher, the equivalent of a coupon that's worth a certain amount of money. And they say, mom, now you go out there in the insurance market and you bargain for the best deal you can get. No, seriously, this is not a joke. And if it turns out if you want to stay in Medicare, you can. You can bargain to get back in Medicare. But if the amount of money we give you is less than the benefits you're getting now, you've got to make up the difference, mom. You've got to make up the difference.

Now, Ryan's first plan, which everybody got to look at and study, it went through the House and passed by the Republicans, the experts said that would cost mom an extra $6,400 a year out of her pocket. No one knows exactly what this new plan will cost, but it's the same principle. You're out of Medicare, and you get to buy back into it or some other plan -- and don't worry, guys, the market will take care of you. (Laughter.) All right. (Laughter.)

And they talk so much about the national debt. They talk about the great urgency and the need to bring it under control, the need to act now. We agree. We absolutely agree.

But let me tell you what they didn't tell you. Not once did they tell you that they, meaning Romney, Ryan, the Republican Congress -- and I negotiated with the Republican Congress -- not once for any of the outside plans, the expert plans put there, that thing they call Simpson-Bowles you hear about and all these other bipartisan plans. Not once did they sign on if it required even $1 or one cent in additional taxes for millionaires. They rejected every single plan put forward. Not once.

Ladies and gentlemen, the urgency -- these two men seeking to lead the country over the next four years, they have fundamentally different versions and visions of what America should look like and they have a completely different value set.

Look, President Obama and Governor Romney are both great husbands and they're great fathers, but that's where the similarity ends. (Laughter.) No, I mean it. That's not -- it's just -- don't confuse that. That's where the similarity ends.

Governor Romney, for example, believes in this -- you'll hear all this talk about the global economy. A lot of you heard about the global economy when they close down your plants and things like that. But you hear about the global economy, and it's real. There's a global economy. But he thinks in the global economy, it doesn't much matter where an American company puts their money or where they create jobs.

Over the past few days, I've been here in Ohio and I've turned on the television in the morning or late at night when I get back, and I see this ad they're running in black and white on TV, with President Obama -- I'm paraphrasing, I don't know the exact quote. But it says President Obama wants to ship your jobs to China. President Obama -- and Romney is going to get tough on China, and Romney is going to bring jobs back to Ohio, and so on. (Laughter.) China? Not creating jobs in Ohio? I mean, incredible -- absolutely incredible. I mean, if it wasn't so important, it would be kind of humorous.

But, ladies and gentlemen, this comes from a man whose company was referred to in the national press as a "pioneer" of outsourcing jobs from Ohio to other places. This man, who said that if, in fact, the federal government got involved with helping the automobile industry restructure, General Motors would be the walking dead. This man, who criticized the President and me for being "protectionist" -- we were "protectionist" when we stood up to China and said, don't deal unfairly with our tire manufacturers, we want to make sure it's level. (Applause.)

And guess what? And by the way, we won. (Applause.) And he called us protectionists for enforcing trade agreements for a fair deal for American tire companies, which, by the way, they're making more tires here in America. More people are working in America. (Applause.)

And this guy runs an ad like he's running? (Laughter.)

Another thing the Governor didn't tell you about. He didn't tell you about his new corporate tax proposal, but I will lay it down -- it's on paper. Here's what he proposes. He proposes a new tax -- by the way, he won't tell you anything about his taxes. (Laughter.) But he proposes a new tax relief -- a new tax proposal called territorial taxes -- taxation. That means where American corporations, if they invest abroad -- they build a new plant and hire people in China or anywhere else in the world -- that whatever profit they make, they never have to pay any U.S. taxes on that profit, they just pay the taxes in that country.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Now, an expert looked at that and he said, that will create jobs -- 800,000 jobs in China, India, Singapore.

I mean, look, folks, and this guy is criticizing my President for not standing up to China, for not creating jobs here? I mean, how does he think those jobs got back here?

Folks, look, you know what I find most fascinating? (Laughter.) What I found most fascinating was in the Governor's acceptance speech at the convention -- which he made a good speech -- he made a firm commitment, one of the few firm commitments I observed him make -- it was firm. (Laughter.) Remember this, he said, I make a commitment that I, as President, am going to go on a jobs tour. Well, with all his support for outsourcing, it's going to have to be a foreign trip. I mean, the first thing he does is have to go abroad. (Applause.) I mean -- jobs tour.

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

But, Ted, we talked about this yesterday. The thing that we both find most fascinating about the Republican Convention is how they discovered the middle class. (Laughter.) I mean, they discovered there's a middle class. They talked about the middle class and about middle-class values and they went on and on. I tell you, it warmed my heart. It warmed my heart.

And then they talked about what they value. They talked about what they value. Well, my dad -- God love him -- used to have an expression. When anyone would say, Joe -- his name was Joe -- Joe, let me tell you what I value, my dad, seriously, would always go, don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, I'll tell you what you value. Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value. (Applause.) You say you value education and you don't spend any money on education? Well, then you don't value education and so on.

Well, let's take a look at Romney's budget. Let's take a look at what it does, what it values. Medicare -- massive cuts. Excuse me, Medicaid -- massive cuts, throwing 19 million people off their health care, including, as Ted referenced, children and 1 million seniors. Seventy percent of those seniors who would be kicked off of Medicaid who are in nursing homes would be kicked out of those nursing homes. That's why they're there. That's how they're able to be there.

What are we going to do with all those folks? A lot of those folks are our moms and dads. They come from middle-class families. And even worse, some of them have no families and nowhere to go. What's going to happen to them?

Massive cuts in Social Security for future generations. If you're in your 40s, their plan calls for you getting $2,700 less than you'd get now. If you're in your 20s, you're going to get $4,700 or thereabouts less in Social Security.

Massive cuts in education as Melanie referenced -- early education, elementary and secondary education -- eliminating the $2,500 tax credit for middle-class families who are struggling to keep their kids in college. Get rid of it.

Pell Grants cut by $1,000 a year for over 9 million kids from working-class families who are qualified to be in college, who we have an interest in getting a degree to build America -- 9 million of them cut $1,000 a year. God only knows how many will have to drop out because it's about nickels and dimes, man. It's a close call for these kids to be able to stay in school.

And why are they doing all this? I could go on, but why are they doing all this? Well, it's because they need you, folks. Because they need to pay for the massive tax cuts they want to keep and the new ones they're proposing for the very wealthy.

Look, just let me give a couple of examples, because I don't want to keep you standing. I'll give you a couple of examples.

Five hundred billion dollars of maintaining what they call the Bush tax cut -- you know how they always talk about the Bush tax cut and the top 2 percent -- five hundred billion -- maintaining that for the wealthy costs a trillion dollars for the next 10 years. But $500 billion of that money goes to -- hear me -- 120,000 American families, a half a trillion dollars in tax cuts for 120,000 American families.

Ladies and gentlemen, on top of that -- this is where the phrase, I think, where President Clinton generated -- causing him to say, you know, folks -- he said, this is the last administration on steroids. (Laughter.) By the way, they have a brand-new proposal, laid it out. They're not talking about it now, but they've laid it out. They want to cut taxes for those 120 [thousand] families by another $250,000 a year on top of the half a trillion. Now, I mean, this is real.

Now, look, I know it's not going to surprise you, but this has a very big price tag. When you give those kinds of massive tax cuts to the very wealthy -- and by the way, these are good, decent people. Those 120,000 families, they didn't ask for this. They didn't ask for this. They're as patriotic as the rest of America is. And I'll bet if you surveyed them, they'd say they didn't need it, although I have no proof of that. They're decent people.

But giving these massive tax cuts to the very wealthy, what happens? You've got to make it up somewhere. You've got to. Guess who -- you, middle-class Americans. There's a non-partisan organization, a scholarly organization that goes out there and takes a look at all the plans all the campaigns put together, and does a survey of what does it really mean economically. And this outfit called the Tax Policy Center, they examined Romney's tax plan. Here's what they concluded. They said taxes on middle-class people with children will go up $2,000 a year -- $2,000 a year.

Ladies and gentlemen, just to give an additional tax break to families who clearly don't need it, nothing is going to change in their standard of living. But the neighborhood I come from -- where I come from in Scranton and Claymont and Wilmington, $2,000 a year makes a difference. It's about whether you can pay your automobile insurance. It's about whether or not you can keep your kid in school. It's about what you eat for dinner. Two thousand dollars matters to average Americans. (Applause.) And $250,000 doesn't matter anything to someone making $8 million.

Folks, we've seen this movie before and we know how it ends. It ends in a catastrophe for the middle class and the Great Recession of 2008. Look, folks, the President and I, we have a different way forward. We know the way to create jobs is the old fashioned way -- from the middle out, not from the top down. (Applause.)

Let me tell you what our plan is. Our plan, folks, is on, first, education -- 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next 10 years to equip our generation to compete. (Applause.)

Two million workers learning new skills for a new economy through the community college route.

One million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years.

Cut oil imports by half by 2020. Invest in clean, renewable energy, wind and solar. (Applause.) Create tens of thousands of jobs -- 600,000 new jobs for better use of our natural resources and new technologies.

Real and fair enforcement of our trade laws, creating a level playing field so we're able to export to the world what the world wants, products stamped: Made in America. (Applause.) Because they want those products. And some will have another tag saying: Made in Ohio. (Applause.)

Look, cutting the deficit by $4 trillion as we proposed.

Ending the war in Afghanistan, just like we did in Iraq -- (applause) -- and using that money to repair our roads, our bridges, our schools, our country. (Applause.) That alone will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Invest here at home.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's simple. It's really, quite frankly, simple. Unlike the Republican Party -- and by the way, this is not your father's Republican Party. (Laughter.) As a matter of fact, this isn't even Mitt Romney's father's Republican Party. (Laughter.) Seriously, it's not.

I worked with too many great Republicans over my career in the United States Senate. They're not bad guys, this is just a different, as my brother would say, a different breed of cat. (Laughter.)

Folks, unlike them, we see a future where everyone, rich and poor, does their part and has a part. And has a part. (Applause.)

We see a future -- and Barack and I are committed to this to our core -- where our granddaughters and daughters have every single, solitary opportunity our grandsons and daughters have, every one -- (applause) -- where we're number one in the world again in college graduates, where Social Security is protected, 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 power of her example, but by the example of her power -- but by the power of her example -- a future, a future, because we must guarantee there's a future where we keep the only truly sacred obligation we have as a nation. We only have one truly sacred obligation, and that's to care for those who we send to war and care for those who come home from war. (Applause.)

Folks, let me ask you. How many of you, like me, had a son or daughter that went to Iraq or Afghanistan? How many of you have a brother or sister? How many of you know somebody who's gone? How many of you know somebody in the military? (Applause.)

Well, you all know, we owe these young women and men an incredible debt. We owe those families an incredible debt. We owe particularly an enormous debt we can never repay to the families of those 6,473 fallen heroes -- 49,746 wounded -- thousands critically wounded who are going to need our best medical care the rest of their lives. (Applause.)

Those of you guys -- those of you men and women who fought in Vietnam -- 70 percent of those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, had they been wounded in Vietnam, would have died. But because of the golden hour, because of the breakthroughs in triage and medical care, they're alive. But I visit their hospitals all over the world, as my wife does. They're going to need our support the rest of their lives. They can make it. They're tough. But ladies and gentlemen, we can't ever forget. We can't ever forget their sacrifice.

And we always have to keep them in our care. And we got to keep them in our prayers, because there's a famous expression by an English poet. He said, "They also serve, who only stand and wait." I used to watch Jill every morning -- she's a teacher, and she'd get up and she'd be having her coffee over the sink. She'd always fix it there, and she'd look out and she'd literally be mouthing a prayer every single morning. Those of you who have people deployed, you know, five, 10 times a day, it just flashes through your mind.

Folks, we owe so much. This is going to go down and be recorded, this 9/11 generation, as the second greatest generation in the history of this country. (Applause.)

Folks, you know this country, all of you. All of you have been through an awful lot in the last four years. But the incredible thing is you didn't lose faith. You did what Americans always do. You fought back. You didn't give up. You got up. You got up. And you know as well as I do there is simply no quit in America. There is no quit in America. (Applause.)

And we are coming back. Ladies and gentlemen, when I hear Romney and Ryan and the new Republicans in Congress talk about the culture of dependency, the decline in America, I don't recognize the country they're talking about. It's not where I live. It's not the people I know. But I do know one thing. They're wrong. They're dead wrong. America is not in decline. America is coming back. We're not going back. We're going forward. It's because of you.

And one more thing, I've got news for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan: Gentlemen, it has never, never, never been a good bet to bet against the American people. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you so much. Thank you. (Applause.)


END 12:25 P.M. EDT