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THE WHITE HOUSE

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


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
AND DR. JILL BIDEN AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT

University of Wisconsin La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin


2:30 P.M. CDT

DR. BIDEN: Hello, everyone. It's great to be here today. (Applause.) And how about the Kentucky debate? Didn't Joe do great last night? (Applause.)

I am so proud of him. Last night I saw the Joe I know, someone who truly understands what's going on in people's lives, someone with the heart and the experience to stick up for the middle class -- (applause) -- and someone who showed us the clear picture of the choice in this election.

And now it's my pleasure to turn this over to someone who has been fighting hard for the kind of America that we want to live in, someone who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and do the hard work to keep moving this country forward, my husband, our Vice President, Joe Biden. (Applause.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello, University of Wisconsin. (Applause.) Good to see you all. Good to see you all.

With your permission, I'd like to ask a guy who can throw a hell of a pass, is a great congressman, Ron Kind, to come out here and join us. Ron, are you still back there? (Applause.) Come on out, Ron. I needed a passport from the congressman to get into town. I know this is his town.

Chancellor, let me begin by thanking you. I know you've all been waiting. You all know at a university you don't have to wait more than 20 minutes for a full professor, and she is but I'm not. (Laughter.) So -- but thank you for waiting. I'm sorry we're a little late getting out here.

And I also want to recognize one of the finest guys I've ever served with in all my years in the United States Senate and one of the people who is just -- when you say his name in Washington, when you say his name here, and I'm sure -- anyone who knows him -- when you say the name Herb Kohl, you say integrity. (Applause.)

Herb, your presence is going to be missed, particularly by me. (Laughter.) Herb and I served together a long time, serving on the same committees, and I -- whenever I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, I'd pull Herb aside or go see him -- no seriously. This man has a lot of wisdom, man, a lot of wisdom. And I'm going to miss you, Herb. (Applause.)

Well, my name is Joe Biden. I am Jill Biden's husband. (Laughter.) And I'm proud to be with you -- you can say that again. That's how I'm known in Washington -- as Jill's husband.

Folks, I'm sure you observed last night, we had a little bit of a debate -- (applause) -- with a gentleman -- and he is a gentleman -- a gentleman from Wisconsin, Congressman Ryan --

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I hardly agree with anything he says, but I want to tell you I think he's a decent guy. And he has a beautiful family, and he's a great husband and father. And for that, I have great respect for him. (Applause.)

But you know, anyone who watched that debate, I don't think there is any doubt that Congressman Ryan and I, Governor Romney and the President, we have a fundamentally different vision for America, and, quite frankly, a fundamentally different value set. And the fact is that the differences that we have about the future of this country are, quite frankly, profound. They're as profound as any differences of any presidential campaign that I've observed, that I've been involved in.

And the truth is that I think people were listening. And if they were, they know what some of those differences are, and they know how those differences can fundamentally affect the direction of this country.

One of those areas was in the area of Afghanistan. I made it absolutely clear on behalf of the President and I that we are leaving Afghanistan in 2014 -- period. There is no ifs, ands or buts. (Applause.) We have trained over 315,000 Afghan military personnel. It's their responsibility to step up to their defense of their nation. (Applause.) We went for al Qaeda, we went for bin Laden, and we accomplished that goal. And now, it's time, and they are willing. It's time for them to stand up as we draw down.

Congressman Ryan, he made it very clear that Governor Romney has a very different view. Although he says he thinks we should get out in 2014, although he says that that makes sense, he says we should never have announced that -- and I might add, had we not, the Afghans would never step up -- we should never have announced that and when asked, do you guarantee you'll get out, he said, it depends. (Laughter.) No, I'm serious. You heard it. It depends on the situation on the ground -- it depends.

Well, ladies, it depends on nothing other than a date as far as we're concerned. It's time for the Afghanis to take care of their own responsibility. (Applause.) But like almost everything, it depends. It depends on which day you ask them the question. (Laughter.) It depends. It depends on the circumstances.

But it wasn't just on foreign policy it depends. It was also their attitude about what constitutes a fair tax code, what is a reasonable a budget, and whether or not they're even cutting the budget. Now, Congressman Ryan is now saying even though he passed the Ryan budget through the House of Representatives -- it didn't become law -- which drastically cuts the budget across the board 19 percent, eviscerating education and so many other things. He says, no, no, no, that's not a cut, it's just a smaller increase. (Laughter.)

Well, I want to tell that all to your parents when they no longer can take that $2,500 tax credit next year if they were to win. Tell that to that 200,000 kids who have been kicked off early education. Folks, on taxes -- on taxes, if you go back and take a look, Paul Ryan saying his budget really isn't a budget cut is like Governor Romney standing in an unemployment line and saying to a guy, I didn't outsource your job, I offshored it. (Laughter.) That's the distinction they make. (Applause.)

They say when I attack -- when I point out that Governor Romney, who's a great businessman, did it the Bain way -- the lowest wages, the cheapest community that you can find to put a factory and then move there, the Bain way and offshore -- I mean outsource jobs -- they came back and said, no, no, that's not what he's doing.

When the Governor -- when I pointed out to the Governor even as governor of Massachusetts, sent a call service that people in Massachusetts would pick up the phone and call to see whether or not they were entitled to unemployment benefits, they got someone in Asia. He outsourced that.

AUDIENCE: Wow.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I'm serious. Imagine the idea -- the feeling of a guy calling and saying, how about my unemployment check, knowing he could have that very job, the person he's calling has. But it's not -- it's been outsourced. When I said that, they said, no, Biden doesn't understand. That's not outsourcing, that is offshoring.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, these unusual distinctions my friend makes these days -- my friends make these days are really more than misleading. On taxes, they say -- you heard last night we raised taxes 99 million times or whatever it was on middle-class people and small businesses. Even Governor Romney has admitted we have not raised taxes.

We've cut taxes for the middle class by $3,600 -- 98 percent of the people in America got a $3,600 tax break the last three years. And now we want to make sure -- (applause) -- and now we want to make sure that we make -- the tax cut for the middle class is due to expire in January, that we make that permanent -- make that permanent.

But you know what their answer is? They say no. They say no. This is literally true. Here's what they say. They say, we will not make the tax cut for the middle class permanent unless you agree, Obama and Biden, to extend the tax cut for the very wealthy. We are not going to let the middle class have it unless the wealthy continue the tax cut.

Let me put this in perspective for you. That tax cut costs, for just the wealthy, $1 trillion over the next 10 years; $800 billion of it goes to people with a minimum income of $1 million. And this is the fact -- fact-check it, as they say -- $500 billion goes to 120,000 families making an average of $8 million a year, while they eviscerate education, while they refuse to allow tax cuts to go forward for the middle class.

Ladies and gentlemen, only a man who answers a question on "60 Minutes," as Governor Romney did about two weeks ago, when asked by the moderator on "60 Minutes," he asked the question -- he said, do you think it's fair, Governor, that you pay only 14 percent of your -- a 14 percent tax rate on $20 million in income when someone making $50,000 pays at a higher rate? And the Governor said yes, that's fair.

If you have that point of view -- no, I'm serious -- if you have that point of view, you understand why they are so desperate to hold on to a tax cut the wealthy are not asking for. They're as patriotic as poor folks, but they know they don't need it and they know it's time for them to chip in.

Look, that's all you need to know, though, as to why the Governor wants to make sure that he holds up tax cuts for your parents, unless you continue to fund a $500 billion tax cut for 120,000 families.

And the other thing that we learned is that Governor Romney no longer is for that tax cut that he's been talking about for a year and a half -- the $5 trillion tax cut. It's amazing, it evaporated. I don't know where it went. He says that tax cut he's calling for will be fully paid for -- it's not $5 trillion, and besides, it will be fully paid for by doing away with exemptions for the very wealthy people.

Now, the one exemption, the one loophole -- people usually call them loopholes -- the one loophole he's made clear that you cannot get rid of is the one that allows him to pay at 14 percent. (Laughter.) Seriously. And when asked what other loopholes will you cut -- and you heard it asked last night at Congressman Ryan -- they refuse to name -- could not name one, not one.

That's why, folks, the bipartisan group called the Tax Policy Center, made up of former Bush and former Clinton economic experts, that's why they said that the Romney-Ryan tax plan would in fact raise taxes on middle-class families with a child an average of $2,000 a year -- $2,000 a year.

And by the way, every model looked at it from the so-called -- the American Enterprise Institute, never accused of being a liberal organization, on says the same thing: Taxes will have to be raised on the middle class if they succeed in their tax cut. Folks, it's time to lift the burden off the middle class, not double down on the Great Recession that hit them. (Applause.)

A middle-class family -- as a consequence of the Great Recession, middle-class families lost $16 trillion in wealth, mostly in the equity in their homes. They saw them evaporate in their pension plans and their 401(k)s. It's time -- it's time for everyone to chip in, including the wealthy. But as I said last night, we shouldn't be surprised at their continued opposition to everyone chipping in. These are the folks who talk about 47 percent of the American people being unwilling to take responsibility.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And by the way, the Congressman from Wisconsin, in his speech to the Spectator, said that 30 percent of the American people are takers. I don't know who these guys are talking about. I don't know who they're -- these people are like my mom and dad were, the people in the neighborhoods I grew up in. Eighty-two percent of them pay their payroll taxes and other taxes and at an effective rate higher than Romney pays his taxes. (Applause.) Over 10 percent of them are senior citizens on Social Security, the rest are disabled vets and veterans -- and military personnel fighting now. That's the 47 percent; the 47 percent this nation depends on to build this country.

Folks, it's about time Governor Romney takes some responsibility. (Applause.) Takes some responsibility to help the American people, the middle class, instead of lining up to sign a pledge to a guy named Grover Norquist -- sign a pledge.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I tell you, it would be funny if it weren't so serious. They signed a pledge. The Congressman can tell you. I think every Republican in the House has -- maybe not every, but the vast majority -- they signed a pledge that said we will not raise taxes one dollar on the wealthy -- not one. And, ladies and gentlemen, it's time -- it's time Romney and Ryan and the Republican Congress take a pledge to the middle-class people, saying we're going to level the playing field. We're going to get you back in the game. (Applause.) We're going to give you a fair shot again. (Applause.)

It's time to acknowledge what got us into this trouble in the first place. They talk about this Great Recession as if it dropped out of the sky. Where did it come from? Or as my little granddaughter would say, did Casper the Ghost do it, Pop? Where did it come from.

It came from their policies of shredding reasonable regulations on Wall Street, allowing banks to write their own rules, continuing trillion-dollar tax cuts for the very wealthy. That's what got us here. And, ladies and gentlemen, take responsibility.

If anyone had a doubt about what's at stake in this election when it comes the women's rights and the Supreme Court, I'm sure they were settled last night. Congressman Ryan made it very clear that he and Governor Romney are prepared to -- are prepared to impose their private views on everyone else. It was made clear last night that they don't believe in protecting a woman's access to health care. It was made very clear that they do not believe a woman has a right to control her own body. That's between she and her doctor.

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And now they say they're willing to make an exception in the case of rape and incest. Ladies and gentlemen, Congressman Ryan was a leader in the House and even blocked those exceptions.

So, folks, now these guys pledge that they're going to defund Planned Parenthood -- which, under law, cannot perform any abortions.

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You heard it last night again. And after last night, if you have any doubt about the caliber and the philosophy of the justices they would appoint to the Supreme Court, I imagine they're pretty well past.

Ladies and gentlemen, can you imagine the next President is likely to have -- almost surely have one, and probably two Supreme Court appointees. Roe v. Wade is hanging. Do you think they're possibly going to appoint two justices to the Court who aren't going to join Scalia and others to overrule Roe v. Wade?

Ladies and gentlemen, the single most consequential decision a President makes other than going to war is the appointments to the Supreme Court, because those appointments live on long after any President is gone.

Ladies and gentlemen, Congressman Ryan, he voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Act. All it did --

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, no, it sounds ridiculous, but all it did was give a woman a cause of action when she found out she was cheated in her employment, that the statute of limitations didn't kick in and prevent her from bringing an action when she was cheated. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll all pushing hard for a fair pay act. I happen to think my daughter should get paid exactly what any man is being paid for the job she's doing. (Applause.) We proposed equal pay legislation -- they're against it. They want to block -- they want to turn back to the insurance companies the decision of whether a woman continues to have to pay 50 percent more for the same health care, where, once again, pregnancy will be able to be a preexisting condition.

Ladies and gentleman, they're holding hostage one of the proudest accomplishments of my career -- the Violence Against Women Act. They are still debating whether or not we need the Violence Against Women Act after 20 years.

Folks, if I leave you with no other message today, I want you to remember this one: Barack Obama and Joe Biden are absolutely, positively, firmly committed to ensuring that our daughters and my granddaughters have the exact same rights and opportunities to control their lives as my sons and my grandsons -- exact same rights. (Applause.) Make no mistake about that. These guys have a social policy out of the 50s.

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Folks, the American people have been through an awful lot the last four years as a consequence of this great recession. But like always, the American people didn't give up -- they got up. The American people didn't lose faith -- they fought back.

Folks, there is no quit in America. There is no quit in America -- there never has been. And I've never seen two candidates for the highest office of the land who are more negative about this country and its prospects than the people we're running against. All you hear from them is talk about a culture of dependency; America in decline.

You know, I don't recognize the country they talk about. I really don't. Not where I come from, not where you come from. I don't see Americans who think they are dependent. I see Americans who are looking for nothing more than a shot. They're not looking for a handout; they're just looking for a shot, a level playing field. How could these guys have such a profound -- (applause) -- misunderstanding of the people of this country?

The American people are so much better, so much stronger, so much more responsible than these guys give them credit for. And I've got news for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan: America is neither dependent nor is it in decline. (Applause.) And if they'd get out of the way -- if they get out of the way with these policies out of the '50s, we'd be racing back.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's never -- my distinct message to Congressman Ryan last night and to Governor Romney is: Gentlemen, it has never, never, never been a good bet to bet against the American people. You always lose when you bet against the American people. (Applause.)

So, folks, we need you. We need you to have as much faith as we have in the American people. We need you to stand up, we need your support. We need you to help us win Wisconsin, because if we win Wisconsin, we win this election. (Applause.)

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

END 2:54 P.M. CDT