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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
Internal Transcript January 20, 2012


INTERVIEW OF VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN
BY RYAN SEACREST, "ON AIR WITH RYAN SEACREST"

E! Networks
Los Angeles, California


11:15 A.M. PST


Q Well, it is very exciting to be on-air today here in Hollywood. The Vice President of the United States, Mr. Joe Biden, is with us. Mr. Vice President, thank you for making time to come into our home here.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, man, it's great to be with you. You've got a great audience, and I'm a fan.

Q Well, we're excited to have you. We've been interacting with our audience before your visit to find out what's most important to them, and we'll cover some of those things that are at the top of the list, and also get them on the phone to let them chat with you -- which is rare and unique. So I'm excited about that.

First, as you know, on their mind, jobs and economy.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Should be.

Q You've got a lot of young people who are working hard to go to school, and they are concerned that there won't be any place for them to work when they get out. What do you say to them?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, quite frankly, Ryan, I think it's even worse than that. A lot of them want to go to school and can't go to school. They're trying to figure out how in God's name they're going to pay for school. And all the studies show that 62 percent of all the new jobs in the next 10 years are going to require a degree beyond high school. And they're trying to figure out how to get there, how to pay for it.

And those who are in school are worried when they get out what are they going to do. That's why we've worked so hard to create jobs. We -- look, to put this in context, when we came into office, before I lowered my right hand on that magnificent January day, we had already lost 740,000 jobs that month. We lost 800,000 before the month was over. We lost 8 million before we passed the first bill.

But since we passed the Recovery Act, we're in a situation now, we got 22 months in a row with real job growth in the private sector. And if we can just convince our bodies on the other side to pass the jobs bill, which every outside validator from Moody's on says it would create 2 million more jobs, we get a jumpstart.

And the bottom line here is that the only way we're going to grow this economy is we got to invest in infrastructure; we got to invest in new energy sources; we got to invest in education; and we have to invest in innovation. And so if we don't do that -- and that's why everything we've done is geared toward investing in those areas. They're the jobs of the future. They're the jobs that pay. They're the middle-class jobs. And middle class has been clobbered.

Q I got an interesting message from a student who Facebooked me, and he said something that resonated. He said that, I don't dream big anymore. I mean, the hope in the American Dream seems to be lost a little bit with some young people.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, by the way, it's lost with a lot of people. Look, the middle class has taken a beating the last 10 to 12 years. I come from a family where I grew up and the one thing we were -- literally it was part of our DNA was to dream. My mom and dad never went to college.

I remember after a high school baseball game -- I was a fairly good athlete and I thought I had a way to college through baseball and football. But my dad who never went to college ran an automobile agency. He didn't own it; he was the general manager. And the one advantage I had, I used to be able to go down to his dealership on Friday when there were big dances and he'd -- I'd get the new car off the lot, he'd let me take. (Laughter.)

And I remember going down -- I'm serious -- my senior year, I remember going down, and after a game still in my uniform, running into the showroom with my '51 Plymouth parked and saying, where's dad, Mary? He's out in the side lot, Honey. And I walked out -- my dad was pacing. My dad was a graceful, decent, thoughtful man. And he looked up and he said, Joey, God I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. And I wondered what -- true story -- I wondered what the hell happened. He said, Joey, I went to the Farmer's Bank, which was a state bank then, to borrow the money to get you to school, and he said, they won't lend it to me, Honey. I'm so ashamed. I'm so ashamed. I'm so sorry.

It's not just the kids who aren't getting to school. It's the dignity that middle-class mothers and fathers have been stripped of by what's happened to them. Every -- they lost $16 trillion in wealth in their homes, in their 401(k)s. They can't get their kids to school. College costs are going up. And that's why we've spent so much time in this administration, from the front end, to making sure that we get college assistance, that we provide for access to education, because that's the ticket for these kids still.

Q When do you think it's going to get better? When will the economy really, truly get better? That's something that a lot of people have asked me about?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: It is getting better, but I can't give you an exact date. But I can tell you when it will get better -- why it will get better. It will get better as we continue to invest in education, as we continue to modernize our transportation systems, as we continue to invest in -- make a full commitment to green energy. All of those things are generally just within our grasp. We can do them now.

And we've just got to convince the other team that government isn't going to solve the problem. But government sometimes is -- provides the seed, the seed money to get a lot of these things going, to get business to invest. And one of the things I say to the students out there -- look, you're part of a generation that's the most incredible generation in American history, and that's not hyperbole. This 9/11 Generation, over 2,400,000 of them have strapped on boots and walked in the mountains of Afghanistan or the desert sands of Iraq where I've been in and out of those countries 23, 24 times, watching these kids.
They are the most generous generation. They have the potential. More change is going to take place within your lifetime, like, than any other generation in world history.

And all we want to -- our fight with the other team is making sure we give you a fighting chance. And the central part of that middle-class bargain was that you'd be able to get to college. You'd be able -- your kid would be able to do better than you did, and that's getting out of reach. And that's why people say, well, why Barack and I and Jill and Michelle, why do we focus so much on education? Every one of us know not a one of us would be in the position we're in now had we not gotten help to get our education.

Q What are the solutions to being able to afford college?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: The solutions are many, but here's what we've done. When we came into office, we were spending 60 -- committed to spend $60 billion more over the next 10 years to pay banks to process loans for students to get to college. We said what the hell do we have the middle man for? So we eliminated the middle man. We didn't get one vote from the other team to do that, but we eliminated the middle man. We took that $60 billion, put $40 billion into Pell grants.

That means if you're in a family or you're on your own and your income is under 50 grand, you get enough money to be able to go for a state tuition at any college, pay for any community college -- not room and board, but tuition -- and it guarantees you -- and you don't have to pay it back. It is a grant, a direct grant.

We said to every family out there who has a kid in college, you get to -- a credit of $2,500 per kid per year, up to 10 grand a year, that you have in college. That means if your federal taxes turn out this year to be $2,400, you'll get a check back from the federal government for $100. And so that's the difference between families being able to keep a kid in school.

Look, imagine how many people are going to bed tonight right here in this city and in this county and this state, staring at the ceiling wondering whether or not they're going to have to say to their beautiful kid come June, I'm sorry, Honey, but you can't go back to whatever college you're in, in the state. We can't afford it.

And we are now -- and the other thing we did is, the average kid graduating from college these days will graduate with $26,000 in debt -- average. Now, what that means is you got to take a job that pays the most -- maybe not the job you want if you can get a job. So we said -- and this is driving our opposition crazy. They don't think it's right. We think it's necessary -- to say, you never have to pay back more than 10 percent of your disposable income. You have to pay back your college loan, but never more than 10 percent per year of your disposable income.

So if you're a teacher and you start off at 40 grand, instead of paying 320 bucks a month you pay 190 bucks a month. That's the difference between your automobile insurance, your apartment rent and so on.

So we're doing everything we can to make it possible for students of limited means and families -- look, the way I sent my kids to college, my dad busted his neck and I worked to get to college and got help. My sons -- I made the mistake -- any parent listening this morning, don't make the mistake I made and say, whatever school your kid can get into, you'll get them there.

I am listed as the poorest man in the Congress. (Laughter.) Literally. Not a joke, unfortunately. I noticed ABC had a thing on this year saying, well, in the administration and the Cabinet members have X amount, except there's Job Biden. His net worth is only between $50 and $155,000. It's because of his income. It's not because of my income. It's because of 20 years of paying for college and graduate school.

Here's the deal. My kids graduated -- the first one, $66,000 in debt after working 30 hours a week and everything I could borrow to get him there after seven years of school. My other son graduated $105,000 in debt after Georgetown and Yale Law School. My third, my daughter, graduated from Tulane and Penn as a social worker and she graduated $66,000 in debt. I was lucky. My house increased in value and I was able to -- no, I'm not complaining. It was okay. I sold my house. I had equity in the house and began to pay those bills off.

Now, parents in my spot -- and I make a good salary now, but my parents and parents like me today, they don't have that equity in their home anymore, so they're getting killed. They're getting killed. And this is -- by the way, and I know some conservatives out there are going to listen and say, Biden, it's not government's responsibility, et cetera. Look, give me a break.

I supposedly know something about foreign policy. I get labeled a foreign policy expert. And I was speaking to a group of national security experts from around the world at a function. And they said -- one guy stood up and said, Mr. Vice President, if you could only do one thing to maintain America's security and stability, what would it be? I said to have the single best educated population in the world. It's all about education. It's all about education.

Q Can I just say that you do have the opportunity to meet a lot of people and talk to a lot of people in this country in different states. What is their biggest complaint about government?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Their biggest complaint about government is it doesn't seem to understand their problem. My dad used to have an expression. He said --

Q Then how do we solve it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we've got to demonstrate to them that we're listening. We've got to demonstrate -- my dad's expression used to be, Joey, I don't expect government to solve my problem but, dammit, I expect them to understand it. And that's why one of the things that we are doing now is we're talking about and have been talking about the plight people face.

Look, the difference between us -- and I'm going to make a raw political statement here, so I'm -- a guy like Romney is a good guy. He's a decent, honorable man. And I'm admire his family.

But what he doesn't understand is we look at the foreclosure rate in the country as -- like my father did, like somebody going to bed tonight, there's millions of them still staring at the ceiling wondering whether they're going to be able to be in that house a month from now, and what can we do to help.

They look at it purely from a purely economic standpoint. The best thing to get the housing market back up is let these foreclosures occur, let the bottom fall out and then start to clean up. It's just -- sort of Darwinian, the fittest out there, and they're right. It will be the quickest way to do it.

But what they don't understand is there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who through no fault of their own are in this spot. The -- look, it's one thing when we make a moral judgment and say you went out and lived way beyond your means, and therefore, we're not going to bail you out. But look at all the people -- people you know. Go back to your old neighborhood. Not where you are now -- and I think it's wonderful where you are now. And I don't mean that -- this isn't classicism. This isn't talking about class warfare. This is reality. Go back to your old neighborhood, the guys and women you grew up. You'll find that a significant portion of them never missed a mortgage payment, never were behind, but now their house is upside-down.

Why? Because of these silly mortgages and stuff that occurred, two guys up the street when bankrupt, all of a sudden the bottom of their house fell out.

So I think in those circumstances government has a responsibility to give these people a leg up.

Q You mentioned Mitt Romney a few minutes. Who would you prefer to be the Republican candidate for President?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Look, my mom used to -- she'd say, Joey, be careful for what you wish for. (Laughter.)

Q We want a name. (Laughter.) Come on.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I, honest to God --

Q Who's your preference?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I -- look, the honest-to-God truth is there is really no ideological difference among them. Whomever we run against is going to be taking the same position on deregulating Wall Street, the same position on the mortgage crisis, the same position on not supporting these initiatives for college education. They're going to be taking the same position on more tax cuts for the very wealthy, fewer -- no tax cuts for the middle class. They're going to be taking the same position saying the government shouldn't be encouraging a green economy and investing in solar and in wind, et cetera.

So there's going to be really fundamentally no difference in terms of what we're going to be -- look, the good thing about this --

Q But when you're sitting with your wife, who would you say to her, I hope he's the one on the Republican ticket?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Honest to God, I don't know. They each have -- look, the one thing they've done is the first time in my career these guys aren't hiding the ball. It used to be they'd say, I'm a compassionate conservative. They used to -- they're just flat out, man, they're just saying exactly what they mean. This is going to be the clearest election in terms of which direction to take the country that we've had, I would argue, since 1932.

Q I'm going to come back and let the listeners chat with you in one second.

The Vice President of the United States is with us. We'll come back with Mr. Joe Biden after this.

* * * *

Q Back here with the Vice President. Mr. Vice President, thank you for being here. I want to cover a whole bunch of things in this segment and keep you on schedule, because a lot of people are around us here -- (laughter) -- they said, get him out on time.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm going down to Fort Pendleton; they're mad -- those Marines get mad when you're late. (Laughter.)

Q We don't want to hold you up on that serious business.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Right.

Q We solicited -- students and different people listen to our show on Facebook who had questions, and then I called them back and I've got them on the phone here now. And this is very rare that you get a chance to do this, and I appreciate you taking the time to speak with them candidly. I'll run through these and ask the questions.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Fire away.

Q Jasmine (ph), go ahead, in Huntington Beach. You're on with our Vice President.

Q Good morning, Ryan. Good morning, Mr. Vice President.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hey, Jasmine.

Q I just want to say it's an honor to be talking to you, so thank you for taking my phone call.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's my honor.
Q I'm 22 years old, and I recently had to drop out of community college to start waitressing full-time. And growing up with the American Dream of going to school and getting a degree and getting a good job, and I was just wondering what the administration plans to do to restore our faith in the education system and the American Dream.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, Jasmine, let me just tell you flat out, don't give up that dream, kiddo. This has been a little way station on the way to that dream. It's been interrupted. But, look, what I'd like to do, and I know whether you can do this, Ryan -- can Jasmine call in with her -- don't do it on the air, Jasmine. Give me your phone number, I'll personally call you and tell you, because you'll be surprised how many initiatives are out there to be able to make sure you can go to community college.

I guarantee you -- I guarantee you we can find the way to pay for your community college education. And you've got to do it. You obviously have ambition. You obviously have talent. You have got to do it because we need you to be educated, but you also need it.

Look, in the middle of this recession, the unemployment rate among people with a degree after high school is one-half what it is the rest of the nation; it's only 4.1 -- number one. Number two, you get a degree from a community college, you're going to make on average $8,000 a year more the rest of your life than someone with a high school degree.

And so there's a number of programs, from Pell grants to direct college assistance, that we can help you with. There's a number for a lot of people to call. But you call, and if -- is that okay, Ryan, if they call, and give --

Q Of course. I was about to put her on hold and then get her phone number and have her call you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good.

Q We're really going to exercise this option.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And by the way, I promise I will call you on my way down to Pendleton, okay?

Q Okay. So Jasmine --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And I guarantee you we can get you back in school.

CALLER: Thank you.

Q And then, Jasmine, we're going to call you back after you have that phone call, and hear how that phone call went.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good.

Q So hang on for one second, someone's going to jump on the line and get your phone number, all right?

Q Fantastic.

Q This is Steven (ph), Loma Linda. Steven, go ahead, you're on with us.

CALLER: Good morning, Mr. Vice President, and good morning, Ryan, and of course, good morning, Ellen. It is an honor to speak with you. Really, I love the show.

Q Thank you.

CALLER: I heard your response, and

Q I heard your response. And well, I'm a student at Riverside City College, and like other colleges, the budgets have already been cut to the bone. And for us, to deal with this, the administration and chancellor have been falling back on raising students' tuition and cutting classes.

And my question is, what does your administration plan to do to prevent this increasing burdens on students, as well as holding administrations accountable for the -- for following their mission statement to provide accessible and affordable education?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's a great question, old buddy. By the way, no kidding, this generation is more capable than any generation out there. These -- that's not hyperbole. That is literally, literally true.

Q Steven, how old are you?

Q I'm 28.

Q 28.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: 28. Well, by the way, you're still part of this 9/11 Generation, old pal.

Hey, look, three things. Number one -- so the rest of the listeners understand -- what's happened is the state and county have cut the commitment to community colleges and colleges in this state, as they have all across the country. I'm not making a value judgment. Because they got caught in the middle of this God-awful recession as well, they got to balance budgets and they've gone after it.

What we've done is we've increased the commitment to community colleges by $25 billion federally. That's number one. And we've done that so they can increase the curricula, better the curricula, and have enough professors and be able to do what they have to do.

Secondly, their -- you find -- and it's happening in your county, I expect -- that we're partnering with -- the community colleges are partnering with a lot of businesses who are looking for employees. For example, I just was with Siemens. Siemens is a gigantic corporation. They had a choice to spend a half a billion dollars to build a plant in China or in North Carolina -- they chose North Carolina.

They did it for a whole range of reasons, but one of them is to be able to partner with the community colleges where they go in and they help them set up tech programs where they guarantee internships and then jobs for anybody who passes through the program that they have, because they need jobs. There's a great shortage of a whole bunch of skills from nursing in America to tool and die makers.

Number three, what we've done is we have seen to it that you are able to afford to go there. You can either qualify for a Pell grant. You qualify for a direct loan. You qualify for a tax write-off. If you're doing it yourself at 28, you can write off the cost of the bulk of that education.

But number three, we're meeting now with -- I met on Friday with the president of the University of Pennsylvania. The president has met with a group of -- well, we're putting together a group of 100 college presidents because they have to hold costs down. College costs have to come down. There's ways in which they can do that. College tuition has gone up in the last 10 years over 280-some percent, more than --

Q He says, yeah, I know.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: More than -- more than health care, number one. And so there are a lot of things these universities and community colleges can do to bring costs down by modernizing. And so we're starting that program to work with them to do that.

But look, man, there is a means. There is a way for you to continue to be able to afford going to that school. And if you need help again do the same thing. But it is a problem all across the country with state budgets. Some states have to cut more than others and some choose to cut education before they cut other things.

Q Steven , good luck, my friend. Thanks for the call. All right?

Q Thank you.

Q Keep the faith.

Q I will.

Q See you. And I have one more here. Christine (ph) is Los Alamitos. Christine, you are on with Vice President Joe Biden. Go ahead.

Q Good morning, Mr. Vice President.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good morning.

Q President Obama has proposed a new rule to make it easier for some illegal immigrants to remain in the country while they apply for legal status. Under current law, illegal immigrants must leave the country while they negotiate this application process, causing many families to be apart for long periods of time. Many of those families lose their breadwinner.

The new proposal is intended to reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from immediate relatives. While I think this is a step in the right direction, wouldn't it be more efficient and humane to give all law-abiding immigrants legal status in our country?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Look, right now -- and I'm going to elaborate slightly on this because -- so everybody understands. They probably all do. Right now, what we want to do is we want people coming out of the shadows. We want them applying for legal status in this country. And -- but right now the law says you got to go back to your home country and you got to go back and wait. Sometimes that wait is up to 10 years to be able to do that.

So what we propose in our administration is that you go and you register, you want to seek legal residence. And you're technically you're an illegal now. You have come out of the shadows. You have let everybody know who you are and where you are. It's not like this is any great kept secret. You register. And we want you to be able to stay with your family while you are in line to go through the process of this interview and go through this process of determining whether you are eligible. And just before you are ready for that period, you will have to go back to your country, but it'll only be for a matter of days or weeks.

Now, the reason that makes good sense is they're tax-paying citizens making sure they're taking care of their families, so you don't lose the breadwinners. There's not family separation. It's the humane thing to do.

We only not only think we should do that, we also think it's critically important we pass the DREAM Act as well. This is overwhelmingly in the interest of the United States of America, its economy and its growth. We should be embracing people who want to be here, who are trying to make it legal and who are capable of getting an education to contribute to the society and the community.
And we're having a lot of pushback on it now and the likelihood of us getting this passed between now and November is not high. But here's what I'm confident of. Public opinion nationwide is changing. People are becoming aware of this dilemma. There is much, much more sympathy for our position. But the President and I are absolutely committed, period. As a matter of principle, we're not going to back off this. We think we can get this passed and we think we can get it done. It will probably not happen until next year.

Q Well, thank you. I totally support your endeavors in this area.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you.


Q Christine, thank you for the call. We appreciate it. Good luck, okay.

Q Thanks.

Q So I know that you have said you will be on the Democratic ticket, but there still seems to be speculation. Why is that? I mean, clear it up right here for us.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I -- look, the best way to answer the question is Hillary likes her job where she is. I like my job where I am, although I'm flattered they think I could be Secretary of State and she is flattered they think she could be Vice President. The President likes us both where we are. Nobody wants to change, so it's not going to happen. (Laughter.)

Q Okay. I'm going to play back a quick clip of the debate from last Thursday night.

[Audio clip plays.]

MODERATOR: Mr. Speaker, I want to start with that this evening. As you know, your ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News and another interview at The Washington Post, and this story has now gone viral on the Internet. In it, she says that you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair. She said you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?

MR. GINGRICH: No, but I will.

[Audio clip ends.]

Q So then, Newt Gingrich went on. Did the media go too far and what did you think of that question and response?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I have no comment. Look, this is quicksand. And I think that Newt Gingrich is -- as we all are -- is going to be judged by the voters in the primary and the totality of who he is, and that includes everything. I mean, people make judgments about our character. They make judgments about our positions. And so, I just don't have any comment on that.

Q He did make the point that it's tougher to find decent people to run for office because of it, because of some of the scrutiny in the media. What do you think about that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, look, this is not an endeavor for the faint hearted. But, look, you guys are public figures. (Laughter.) No, no, no, it's different.

Q It's very different.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: But what isn't different is you know when you do what you both are doing, you're giving up privacy. You know the idea that you'll be able to go out and have a private dinner with your spouse is unlikely. You know you're going to be asked questions about things that other people aren't asked.

The truth of the matter is, I think that's sort of the -- the sincerity meter of the American public is pretty well attuned. And we all know when we went into this, we're going to get asked questions -- some appropriate, some inappropriate. But in the public sphere, basically what the Court in New York Times v. Sullivan said is there's no inappropriate endeavor.

So I think they -- I think the public makes a judgment, and -- look, let me put it this way --

Q I think they are very savvy -- excuse me, I do think they are very savvy.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, here's what I think: I think the one thing that the public punishes a public official for is if he or she turns out to be different than they advertised themselves to be. So the guy who goes out there -- and I'm not commenting on Newt or anybody -- the guy who goes out there and says, I'm the most frugal guy in the world and I'll be frugal with your tax dollars, and they live in a -- they have overwhelming debts, and they live in an extravagant home. Well, they get punished.

The guy who lives in an extravagant home but never pretended he's frugal, well, he's not going to get judged the same way the guy who -- so it's -- people want to know you are what you advertise yourself to be.

And generically speaking, one of the things about Newt is he's always been pretty straightforward about who he is and what he is. So I -- and what he stands for. So I just think that the public -- this questioning gets asked. And by the way, we don't have to answer every question we're asked. We may get penalized for not answering. That's for the public to judge. But it's -- if you can't stand the heat, you shouldn't be in the kitchen.

Q We've got about a minute left with you before Secret Service comes and takes me away. (Laughter.) What's one thing about our President that we don't know you wish we did?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think there's a couple things. One is that this is a guy who -- he doesn't talk about it, but we can be in the middle of a meeting, and it's going to go into the night, and he will take out an hour, go up and have dinner every night with his two girls, get them started on their homework and come back.

Look, here's another thing I think they probably wouldn't know -- that from now on, if you want -- on Saturday morning in the little gyms in Montgomery County, Maryland, you will show up and see sitting on the bleacher the President, the First Lady, the Vice President, the Second Lady, and a shocking look on the ref's face because we, every Saturday, go to -- my granddaughter plays on the same team his daughter does, basketball.

Q Is that right?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And we go. Every Saturday we're around, we go.

Q That's great.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And by the way, he scares the hell out of the ref. So you know, like --

Q --- that ball!

Q Are they on the same team, or they --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, they're on the same team. They're best friends.

Q Oh, that's great.

Q At least they're not competing.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: They're good buddies. (Laughter.) I don't think people would expect to see him in a little gym at 9:30 on Saturday morning.

Q There's a lot of focus on what's coming up here in this election, and all the steps it's going to take to get there. But one of the most important things to our audience -- and especially the women listening now -- Mr. Vice President, is Valentine's Day, and you've been married for 35 years, I believe. What are your plans?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: My plans are to -- this is the single-most important day for my wife. When we first got --

Q As it should be.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And look, when we first got in office, there's these great big 16-foot windows with I think there are 18 panes of glass in them, and they're directly across the street from what they call the Eisenhower Building.

My wife came in after I left the office with a stepladder and with that paint kids use for posters at school. On every paint and -- every pane painted, Joe loves Jill -- not Jill loves Joe, Joe loves Jill, and all these things. (Laughter.) And I have -- you go down my driveway, there's this great big rock, this boulder that I got as a Valentine's gift -- to show how seriously she takes it -- that I got as a Valentine's gift three years ago, sitting on the driveway, on the side of the driveway, and engraved in the stone is, Joe loves Jill." (Laughter.) So it's a big deal for her.

The one advice I'd give to every man out there --

Q Ready.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- pay attention. Pay attention. (Laughter.) And jewelry helps. (Laughter.)

Q Thank you for your time, your generosity. And good luck to you. I appreciate it.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thanks --

Q Mr. Vice President Joe Biden. (Applause.)

END 11:45 A.M. PST