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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release August 31, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
AT CAMPAIGN EVENT

UAW Local 1714
Lordstown, Ohio


12:00 P.M. EDT


THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello, Lordstown!

AUDIENCE: Hello!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: As the son of an automobile man, this makes me feel good. (Applause.) My dad sold what you made, and he sold Chevys by the way. (Laughter.) And we used to have an expression in our house, the first kid in the neighborhood to learn the definition of the word recession was the son of an automobile man. (Laughter.) The last kid in the neighborhood to learn what recovery meant was the son of an automobile man, and we've been through a lot.

David, thank you very much, man. You are a great, great asset to us, and I also want to -- (applause) -- I also want to thank Big Glenn, your other president. I told him if he'd been running in front of me in college, I'd have been an All-American. (Laughter.) I tell you.

And you know there's not too much I could say about Ted Strickland. One of the things about Ted, we've been friends a long time, and in the neighborhood I come from, the single, greatest currency is loyalty, and this is one loyal, decent guy. (Applause.)

Mayor Franklin, wherever you are, thanks for the passport into town. I appreciate it very much, and I talked to Sherrod before we got here. Where everybody is talking about what everybody else did, I want to tell you, there is a guy who always has your back, man. He always has your back. (Applause.)

And I tell you what, just imagine -- just imagine if the Ryan that got nominated last night had the heart of the Ryan that we're standing here with today. (Applause.) I tell you what, you are good to me. You are really, really good. (Laughter.)

Last night, if you watched the convention over the last three days -- (laughter) --

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, no, look, everybody has their day. Everybody has their day. Well, they said last night that things weren't getting better. I guess they don't know what's happening in this valley. I guess they don't know what's happening here in Lordstown. I guess they haven't met any of you all. I don't think they saw that.

Look, folks, this country faces the starkest choice in my memory. And now that Governor Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan have been nominated, the differences are even drawn more sharply and more starkly. Congressman Paul Ryan has given absolutely clear definition to all those vague commitments that you've heard Governor Romney talking about the last six or seven months. Because Congressman Ryan -- and Tim can tell you -- Congressman Paul Ryan and his congressional Republican friends have already passed in the House of -- there you are, Tim -- (laughter) -- already passed in the House of Representatives what Romney wants to give the whole nation.

And so in a strange way, Tim, this is like two incumbents running. Everybody knows what we stand for and why we stand for it and what we're going to do, and no -- there should be no mistake here. Everybody knows exactly what you're going to get if, in fact, the Governor were to be elected because they've already passed it in the House of Representatives.

And they call their plan -- I love this -- they call their plan new, bold and gutsy. (Laughter.) Well, guys, in the neighborhood I grew up in, the place I come from, there's nothing gutsy about giving another trillion dollars in tax breaks to millionaires. (Applause.) There's nothing bold about turning Medicare into a voucher system. There's nothing bold about kicking 19 million kids and elderly off of Medicaid, with no place else to go. There's nothing bold about doing that. (Applause.) There's nothing gutsy about cutting college scholarships and community colleges, getting rid of the tax credits to help families keep their kids in community college and college.

All this is being done in the service of paying for those outrageously ridiculous tax cuts for the very wealthy. Because that's what it is -- it's a choice. It's a choice.

And what's new about their plan? Not only it's not new, it's not fair, it's not right, and it won't get this economy moving before. And how do we know? Folks, it didn't do it before and it will not do it now. (Applause.)

Look, guys, as they say in my neighborhood, we've seen this movie before. We know how it ends. It ends in all those things they lamented last night -- all those things they poured their hearts out about last night. It ends in lost jobs; stagnant wages; equity in your homes being devastated, assuming you're able to be in your home still; your retirement accounts being eviscerated. It ends in a catastrophe as it did for the middle class.

Ladies and gentlemen, Governor Romney and Paul Ryan are running on a theme, and here's their theme: Restore the dreams and greatness of the country. But what they don't tell you is that when Congressman Paul Ryan got elected to the Congress in 1998, we had a gigantic surplus, the middle class was raging. What he doesn't tell you is that when, in fact, these guys last night -- when, in fact, they got going, they didn't tell you that for the past 14 years Congressman Paul Ryan has voted for every one of these things that caused the catastrophe we inherited.

He supported not paying for two wars. He supported not paying for the drug benefit. He supported a ridiculous tax cut for the very wealthy that wasn't needed, all of which was put on a credit card; all of which resulted in what we have. He supported eliminating regulations on Wall Street.

Ladies and gentlemen, what I don't get is they talk about how bad things got. How do they think it happened? (Laughter.) No, really. No, really, I'm being serious. (Applause.) How do they think we went from a surplus and the middle class doing well, to by the time we came into office this disaster. As my little six-year-old -- seven-year-old granddaughter would say, Pop, did Casper the Ghost do that? (Laughter.) I mean, who did it? How did we get here? (Applause.)

Look, there's a lot they didn't tell you at their convention. When Congressman Ryan, as I said, came to Congress, things were doing just fine -- balanced budgets, middle class thriving. And what they didn't say, the day that we got sworn in we were handed a bill for a $1 trillion deficit for that year, for that fiscal year. They had increased the national debt by over $5 trillion. They didn't tell you about that.

And much of what they did tell you wasn't on the level. You heard Congressman Ryan on Wednesday night, in a stirring speech, blame the closing of a GM plant in his hometown of Janesville on the President of the United States. Folks, let's look at the facts. The one thing the Congressman was right about, and I know from my own community of the two plants closed in Delaware -- it was devastating for the people in this community. But what he didn't tell you is the plant in Janesville actually closed when President Bush was still in office. He didn't tell you that. (Applause.)

And what they didn't say -- but for the sacrifices you all made and the courage of the President of the United States, all those GM plants would be closed, here, all across the country. Two hundred thousand auto workers who have been added to the rolls since reorganization would not be working. We would have lost a million jobs. (Applause.)

GM wouldn't have been reorganized; it would have been liquidated along with Chrysler. And as the chairman of the board of Ford Motor Company personally told me, and he said publicly, without the reorganization plan we put forward, Ford would have been devastated as well because the supply chain would have dried up. What they didn't say at their convention is because of the auto rescue, there are 4,500 of you working here and making a decent wage. You're adding -- what they didn't say. (Applause.)

And what they didn't say is GM is adding two -- GM, as has been already mentioned, announced a $200 million investment here in Lordstown, and combined the auto companies have committed across the country -- $23 billion have been promised by Ford, Chrysler and General Motors in expansion in the next couple of years. (Applause.) And by the way, what they didn't tell you, it's not the Bain way. (Laughter.) Not in Mexico, not in China, not in Vietnam, but in Lordstown, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland -- Made in America. Made in America. (Applause.)

And what they didn't acknowledge is that Governor Romney's position, as already been mentioned, and you know all too well -- is to let General Motors and Chrysler, let them go bankrupt. Let Detroit go bankrupt. He said, if we stepped up to help General Motors -- and this is a quote -- "GM would be the living dead." He's absolutely against the federal government or any government using funds to save jobs and save industries. That's not his view of the free enterprise way. He says it's bad for business -- except when it comes to his business. (Applause.)

Let me quote from a recent article: "Romney was willing to go to extremes to secure a federal bailout" when Bain Consulting was on the verge of collapse. The way Bain Consulting reorganized cost the government and the American taxpayers $10 million. Now, imagine that -- it was one thing when a million middle-class jobs were on the line; it was another thing when his own financial interests and those of his partners were on the line. And now -- and now they say they care about the middle class. Isn't it amazing how they've found the middle class? (Laughter.) They were searching all around and they found it. They found it. (Laughter.)

My dad used to have a saying. He said, don't tell me what you value; show me your budget and I will tell you what you value. Don't tell me what you value; show me your budget, I'll tell you what you value.

So let's look at what they value. Let's look at how much they value you. Ladies and gentlemen, they've proposed making massive cuts in education, massive cuts to community college and college assistance, massive cuts in Medicaid -- throwing 19 million people off of health care, including 1 million seniors. Seventy-five percent of all the folks in a nursing home are there because of Medicare -- Medicaid. And 75 percent of them are elderly women with absolutely no alternative. They call for massive cuts in Social Security. They say, oh, we're not going to hit anybody now. But here's what the Romney plan calls for: If you are in your 40s, you're going to get $2,400 a year less than you'd get now. If you're in your 20s, it's $4,700 a year less on Social Security that you paid for, I might add.

And the massive changes in Medicare, giving seniors a stipend -- they call it a voucher, which would have to be worth less than the Medicare costs now or else it wouldn't save any money. They say they're going to give -- and my mom, God love her, was a bright, bright woman, and some of you saw her at the last convention -- incredible woman. But my mom -- and she was smart as the devil. I can't imagine giving my mom, when she was 80 years old, say, here Jean, here's a stipend, now you go out and find the best deal you can with all those insurance companies. I'm serious. That's what it is.

And again, why are they doing this? They're doing this all in the service of these massive, additional tax cuts for the very wealthy. Now, I know people hear me say that and they say, well, we're probably exaggerating. Let me just give you one example, okay? Just one -- thank you -- just one example.

They talk about extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, right? It's cost a trillion dollars over 10 years to do that, but let me tell you where it goes. These are facts. I say it front of all the press -- $500 billion of the tax cuts will go to 120,000 families. Seriously, now -- $500 billion -- half-a-trillion dollars to 120,000 families. And by the way, I'm sure they're decent, I'm sure they're patriotic, but I'm also sure they don't need it. They don't need it. (Laughter and applause.)

And then Romney says, somehow that's not good enough. So he proposes an additional $250,000-a-year tax cut for everyone making over a million dollars. They're facts. And obviously this has a gigantic price tag. And it doesn't just increase the debt -- the deficit, but as the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said -- and remember they said last night we're increasing taxes on the middle class; they were pledging not to -- the nonpartisan tax policy group pointed out, and they studied the plan that they laid out there, black and white -- it said that will increase taxes for middle-class families with children by $2,000 a year. Well, folks, how can that be right? No, no, I'm being serious -- not Democrat or Republican. How can it be right to give 120,000 families a half-a-trillion dollars, and in part to pay for that, raise taxes on families with children and the middle class?

And on top of that, Romney says in the first hundred days he'll repeal Wall Street reform, let the banks write the rules again. What he didn't tell you last night about his position on insurance -- he wants to put the insurance companies back in charge in repealing health care, allowing them to cut you off when you are -- your coverage when they decide you're too sick; allowing to cut you off when they say you've hit your limit at the last six months of chemo or the last six months of need you have; allowing them to charge once again different rates for women and men, allowing them once again to say pregnancy is a preexisting condition. (Laughter.) I'm not making this up. I'm not making this up.

Allowing the insurance companies to increase your premiums exponentially because your child has a preexisting condition -- has asthma or diabetes or some other chronic disease; putting the insurance coverage out of reach for you to be able to cover your child; knocking 3 million young adults off their parent's health care coverage -- they're the facts. They're the facts -- what their proposals do. And they call the President and me out of touch? (Laughter.) Out of touch? A Swiss bank account, untold millions in the Cayman Islands, a refusal to let the public see your tax returns -- out of touch? Whoa.

Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party. This is not even Governor Romney's father's Republican Party. Folks, it's no time to turn back. We have to continue to move forward. Folks -- (applause) -- folks --

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Folks, this is deadly earnest when I say this: There is so much at stake in this election. Your very standard of living, the very opportunities that my mom and dad were able to provide for me, the very opportunities that your parents provided for you -- they're literally up for grabs.

And here's what I'm absolutely certain of -- I'm absolutely certain -- there's not a single, solitary doubt in my way -- my mind -- that we are on our way to rebuilding this country stronger than it was before the collapse. I am absolutely certain we're on our way to rebuilding the middle class to be more vibrant than it was before the collapse.

And the reason I am certain is I know you. I was raised with you. I know, given a chance, we have never, ever, ever, ever let our country down. Folks, the fundamental difference I think between the Romney ticket and the Obama ticket is we really do believe in the American people and their capacity. (Applause.)

And ladies and gentlemen, we do not think you grow the economy from millionaires down. We know you build it from the middle class out. That's how you build America. (Applause.)

And we know when we've done that it's never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. It's never been a good bet to bet against the American people. So join us! Help us finish what you helped us start. Help us. Help us win Ohio. And if we win Ohio, we win the election. (Applause.)

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


END 12:22 P.M. EDT