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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release October 24, 2012


REMARKS OF VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT

Marion Harding High School
Marion, Ohio


1:30 P.M. EDT


THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello, Marion. How are you? (Applause.) Let me start by thanking the band. You guys are so good to be here doing this. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

As I was coming in, I got to meet the principal and the superintendent, and I was saying I stopped on the way down at a diner, had some breakfast, and someone said to me, Ohioan, said, where are you coming from? And I said, Dayton. He said, where are you going? I said, Marion. He said, I read in the paper you said you love Ohio. He said that must be true, you've gone from Dayton, Ohio to Marion, Ohio. (Laughter.) I never thought of it that way. I didn't think I was marrying you all. (Laughter.) But it's great to be here. It's great to be here. (Applause.)

Mr. Mayor, where's the mayor? Mr. Mayor, thank you very, very much, Jim, for allowing us to be here. Thanks for the -- as we say where I come from, thanks for the passport into town. I appreciate it very, very much. And the superintendent -- actually, the mayor is Scott. Jim is the superintendent. Jim, where are you? Thank you, Jim. I appreciate what you're doing here. (Applause.) And your principal, Carol, is also out there. Where's Carol? Carol, thank you very, very much. Mayor -- I tell you what, I told Scott if I had his hair I might have a chance at a career. (Laughter.)

And, Governor Strickland, it's great to be with you. Guys, you all know the Governor. I've known the Governor a long time, and we've become close friends over the last half a dozen years, and I've just got to say one thing, man, if you're wondering about whether or not principle and character matters in public life, you want to know -- you want an object lesson in what principle and character is all about, just look at this guy right here, this man right here. (Applause.)

Well, folks, you probably heard the rumor that Ohio is going to pick the next President of the United States of America. (Applause.) And I'm happy about that.

Folks, if you have seats take them. You don't have to stand for me. You're very gracious to do that, but -- now, those of you who don't have seats, I'm sorry. (Laughter.)

Well, we're led by a Vietnam veteran here. Good to see you, man. Welcome home. Welcome, welcome home. (Applause.) It took a long while, didn't it? It took a long while. Thank you for your service.

Look, folks, I think that there's no better group of Americans we could put the presidency in the hands of to decide than the people of this great state. The President has now held his third debate with Governor Romney, and I had my one debate with Congressman Ryan. (Applause.) My only regret is we didn't have three.

Folks, look, as the President pointed out, and it's become clear after these four debates, that the President has exposed that -- these debates have exposed that Governor Romney and Paul Ryan, as the President said, have a foreign policy out of the '80s. The Cold War is over. A social policy out of the '50s, and the President said, an economic policy out of the '20s.

Look, folks, the difference is -- the difference in our policies now are profound, and they're clear differences. But more importantly than that is sort of the value set that underlies the policies we support are really very different. Both these men are good men. They're both good men. They're good fathers. They're good husbands. They're decent men. But they have a different value set. They come at this from a different direction than we do.

And that's why in the last debate you saw Governor Romney rushing to agree with President Obama on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and disavowing the foreign policy he's been running on for the past two years. I mean literally. I don't know whether any of you saw Jon Stewart, did you see Jon Stewart's show? (Applause.) Well, they're -- he was finishing his sentences. I mean it is really amazing. I don't know what happened. We call that conversion where I come from. (Laughter.)

But beyond that, the last debate, I think they're getting the idea where the American people aren't much in sync with their ideas. The last debate, he even went -- Governor Romney even laid out how he was for rescuing the automobile industry. I bet you all didn't know that, did you? I tell you what I didn't know that either. (Laughter.) This is the same guy "let Detroit go bankrupt," and he's saying, you did exactly what I would have done, Mr. President.

I wonder what all those conservative folks are thinking about him right now, all those guys on the far right who were so happy that they were going to be a different kind of campaign this time. Half the time this last debate, I didn't know whether or not Governor Romney was there to debate Barack Obama or endorse Barack Obama. I wasn't sure. I'm serious. I'm serious. (Applause.)

But, Governor, you can't run from the truth. You can't run from your record. You can't run from your policies. You can't run from your position, for example, on women's rights. Romney and Ryan have made it very clear -- they made it very clear, they don't believe a woman has the right to control her body. They're willing to impose their private views on the public. They want -- on women's health, they want to give power back to the insurance companies.

Some of you women know that in fact you get charged 50 percent more for the same policy a man gets charged for, the same policy. Well, under the Obama -- what we call Obamacare these days, they're not going to be allowed to do that anymore.

And right now, if a woman is pregnant, she goes to get insurance, pregnancy is "a preexisting condition." (Laughter.) By the way, that's not a joke. That is not a joke. But we say you can't do that anymore. Well, these guys want to turn around and give it back to the insurance companies.

Folks, when Romney talked about equal pay -- remember he got asked that question the debate before last? Do you support equal pay? He started talking about binders. (Laughter.) He started talking about binders full of women, that he -- whoa, eureka! (Laughter.) It was amazing. And he never did -- he never did answer the question about equal for equal work.

But that shouldn't surprise you, as his chief advisor says, he didn't support even the Lilly Ledbetter Law, and Congressman Ryan voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Law.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's pretty amazing to me. And now -- I want to make one thing clear to you so nobody misunderstands because we don't want to fly under any false flags here. Barack Obama and I, from the day we joined forces, we were absolutely clear to everyone -- and you should be clear -- that we're going to make sure -- one of our central missions is to make sure my daughter, his daughters, my four granddaughters have every single opportunity my sons have -- every single opportunity my grandson will have. (Applause.) It is a waste of talent not to have that happen.

And there's a fundamental difference, a fundamental difference, but it's not just on -- it's not just on foreign policy and women that there's a fundamental difference. Ladies and gentlemen, there's a fundamental difference we have on the central organizing principle we have on the new Republican Party. And I say new -- a lot of you guys who are closer to my age, this is not your father's Republican Party. Seriously, this is not Bill Saxbe, who I served in his last years. This is not mainstream Republican philosophy. This is a different breed of cat. They're not bad or good -- it's just different fundamentally. This isn't even Mitt Romney's father's Republican Party.

And so, look, they've been running on two organizing principles. The foundation of what I call this new Republican Party is based on two things: massive cuts in spending, particularly entitlements -- health care, matters relating to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security; and on the other side, massive increase in tax breaks for the very wealthy. But all of a sudden, they're walking away from that in the last three or four weeks.

Romney now claims, after running for six years on the idea of a $5 trillion tax cut, no, no, no, I don't have a tax cut for $5 trillion. Did you notice that at the debate? I mean, that must come as a shock to all those guys he debated 20 times on the stage out there. It came as a shock to me. I wonder where it went. As my little seven-year-old granddaughter would say: Pop, did Casper the Ghost steal it? Where did it go? (Laughter.)

Folks, in addition to that you have the Governor now talking about the fact that he also -- they're also abandoning -- why did he pick Paul Ryan? And Paul Ryan is a smart, good man. Why did he pick him? Because Paul Ryan has a real hard-edged view on what to do about government involvement, period, and he has already passed -- they've already passed in the Republican-controlled House the Ryan budget. It's all out there. It's in black and white. It's not like we have to wonder about it. It didn't get through the Congress because the Democrats blocked it in the Senate, but they passed it. They passed it.

And that budget eviscerates Medicare, turns it into a voucher. It decimates education. All of you thinking of going to college, your parents out there are going to now have a $2,500 tax cut that they can use to help you stay or get to college. And my introducer pointed out she went to school on Pell grants. We've increased Pell grants so that not only 6 million kids, there's now 9 million kids from working-class families, qualified kids able to go to college. (Applause.) It cuts that tax cut. It eliminates the $2,500 tax credit.

So, folks, they've already passed it. And Romney said in the past, had he been President when this passed, he would sign it into law. But now Governor -- I mean Congressman Ryan is saying, no, no, no, that's not my budget. I mean, literally, they're saying, my budget doesn't cut; my budget just slows the increase.

Well, tell that to the father and mother who has to tell their child next spring that I can't send you back to university, Honey, we don't have enough money, I can't get you there. Tell that to the kids that are getting a thousand-dollar Pell grant cut, and a thousand dollars is a bridge too far for an awful lot of working-class families to be able to stay in school. Tell that to the seniors who all of a sudden will find themselves, when they're qualified for Medicare, that they get a voucher, they get kicked off of Medicare -- they get a voucher that's worth less than the value of Medicare, and they can buy back into Medicare if they want or buy back into private insurance. But the first time they passed it the experts said that will cost seniors in the future $6,400 a year out of their pocket to get the same care that's guaranteed now.

And now they've said they've got a new program. All of the experts point out that it will cost, if you're 55 years old and you go into this new program, by the time you've qualified at 65 it's going to cost you $60,000 more over the lifetime of Medicare. But all of a sudden they're saying this doesn't decimate education, it doesn't decimate Medicare. They're saying that's not what our agenda does.

So the two pillars on how they were going to move this country forward, all of a sudden, man, they're not standing on them anymore. They've walked away. I've never seen any people backpedal as fast as these guys. (Laughter.) No, I'm not joking. No, no, I really mean it. The President has a name for it -- Romnesia. (Applause.) And by the way, apparently it's contagious. (Laughter.) Because Paul Ryan caught it. (Laughter.)

Folks, Paul Ryan telling you all that, in fact, he does not cut these essential programs, slice them and dice them, is a little bit like Mitt Romney standing in an unemployment line, turning to the guy who lost his job because it's been sent overseas and saying, I didn't outsource your job, I off-shored your job. (Laughter.) And by the way, that's not a punch line. When The Washington Post came out with this extensive piece, after investigating Bain Capital, and said, look, Romney was a pioneer in outsourcing jobs out of Ohio, out of Delaware, out of Michigan, out of -- a pioneer, okay? When I said -- and I started talking about that, their campaign spokesperson said in that first speech -- you might have been with me when I made the speech -- said, well, Vice President Biden just doesn't understand the difference -- this is God's truth -- doesn't understand the difference between outsourcing and off-shoring. (Laughter.) Whoa. Whoa, tell that to the woman who doesn't have a job.

Ladies and gentlemen, but Romney's defenders immediately said, Biden is being unfair -- it was the job of Bain Capital to make money. I agree it was their job. Their job is to try to figure out the highest profit rate regardless of where they're going to get it, to go to the places that pay the lowest wages, have the lowest taxes, out in other countries. That's the Bain way. Okay, I get it.

But, folks, that's not a President's job. A President's job is to bring jobs back to America -- (applause) -- create jobs here in America, keep jobs here in America. (Applause.) So when they said to me -- and please excuse my back. I feel impolite with my back to you.

But, look, so when they come along and say, well, that was just his job, but as an elected official he'd be different. Well, let's take a look at how different he was. He was the Governor of Massachusetts for four years. He talks about how proud of his record of his in Massachusetts -- if you notice, they're not even competing in Massachusetts. They don't even have a campaign in Massachusetts. So much for how much the people of Massachusetts loved their policies. (Laughter and applause.)

So, folks, but here's the deal. And by the way, I'm bringing this up because the Governor brings it up. He says, Massachusetts -- look at my record in Massachusetts. Okay, let's look at that record. When he was the Governor of Massachusetts -- as unbelievable as this sounds, it is factually accurate -- he, in fact -- his administration decided that they sign an agreement for -- pay $160 a month -- or $160,000-a-month contract to ship a call service, an answering service for the citizens of Massachusetts when they had a problem, to pick up the phone and call in and say, can I ask about my eligibility for help? Can I ask about my eligibility for unemployment insurance? They outsourced that. They sent that overseas. They signed a contract.

The state legislature, when the Governor signed that contract, passed a law saying you cannot outsource beyond our shores any function of the Massachusetts government. (Applause.) Well, guess what happened? Romney vetoed it. Romney vetoed it.

So, folks, look, here's the deal. It may have been -- it's not only his idea of outsourcing, it's not only his business, it's his philosophy. Because understand he's not a bad guy, but these guys are the global guys -- wherever you can, in fact -- this is a global economy, so their view is wherever you can do business and maximize profits is good for everybody. That's what they believe -- again, not bad guys, they believe that. But it's decimated states like Ohio and Iowa and Michigan and Illinois and my home state of Delaware. (Applause.)

And, ladies and gentlemen -- so, folks, and think of the cruel irony, the woman dialing the number she's been given to call her state agency to see if she qualifies for unemployment insurance because her job has been sent overseas talking to someone from overseas whose job she could be doing. I mean, literally.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the guy who's running all the ads here and Iowa saying he's going to get tough on China. I've been in -- I've had the great privilege of being able to be in this state now, I think it's my 25th event -- I'm not sure, but I've been all over the state. And every hotel or motel I stay in, I've turned on the TV and there's this ad of Romney saying, I'm going to get tough on China.

Well, let's look at the facts. He wrote a book just before he ran like a lot of us do when we try to run for President. He wrote a book. It's called "No Apologies." In that book, he when the President of the United States, Barack Obama, stepped up and challenged the Chinese government for an unfair surge in Chinese tires putting American tire manufacturers out of business -- and we won that case, saving a thousand jobs, some of them right here in the state of Ohio -- you know what Governor Romney said? He said that was protectionism. The President was mistaken. That was bad for business.

And just last week we had another case. We took another case to what they call the World Trade Organization against China for imposing unfair tariffs on American-made specialty steel from this state and others. We won that case and AK Steel, here in Ohio, is better off for it.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can listen to Romney talk about China, but judge us by our actions. The President and I will not stand by and let China break international trade agreements that hurt the people of Ohio or any other state. (Applause.) And as the President said the day after their second debate when asked about Romney, he said, well, his plan seemed awful sketchy. Well, folks, I don't like correcting the President in public, but I'm going to do it. The President was wrong. They're not sketchy. They're Etch-a-sketchy. Everything and they're shaking that tablet. (Laughter and applause.)

I'm serious. By the way, I'm told -- I don't know if it's true, Etch A Sketch pads have gone through the roof, people are buying them. I guess they're trying to keep up with Romney, you know what I mean? (Laughter.)

Ladies and gentlemen, look, all humor aside the stakes are much too high for this country, much too important. It's time for people to stand up and say what they believe in and give people a choice. Be honest about it. Say what you're going to do, why you're going to do it. There's legitimate points they have on their side. Let the people decide instead of trying to muddle the whole thing.

Look, the President has done exactly that. He's told you exactly where he stands. And the best I can say for our opponents is starting from their convention, they had what we Roman Catholics call an epiphany. (Laughter.) They had an epiphany. That means they had sort of a conversion, the light was shown.

At their convention, I was amazed. They discovered the middle class. Wasn't it amazing? (Laughter.) They didn't talk about the middle class through all their debates, and all of a sudden there's a convention like eureka, there is a middle class. And from that time on, they're going to save the middle class.

Ladies and gentlemen, and now they say they not only value the middle class, but have the same basic values as the middle class. Well, my dad used to have an expression when someone would -- his name was Joe. When they'd say, Joe, let me tell you what I value, my dad would look at him and say, Charlie, don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I will tell you what you value. (Applause.)

So, folks, let's look at their budget. I mean, I think it's fair -- this is not negative politics. Let's look at what they're saying. First of all, on taxes they're insisting on keeping a tax cut for everyone -- but they all make it sound like everyone meaning including the top 2 percent. I want to give you an idea. We have been pushing to make the middle class tax cut permanent, which would mean between two and four and a half -- $2,000 and $4,500 for families making between $50,000 and $100,000.

Well, guess what, they say no, no, no. We're not going to let you make that tax cut permanent. It's all due to expire on January 1. They say, we're not going to let that happen unless you keep the tax cut, which cost a trillion dollars, for the very wealthy.

Now, I want to tell you what's in that tax cut. Now, you won't believe me when I say it, but notice you'll see no correction in the press. They're all here -- national press and local press -- covering this. This is what it's made up of. Of that additional trillion dollars in tax cuts, $500 billion of it -- a half a trillion dollars -- goes to 120,000 families, in all of America, 120,000 families over the next 10 years will get another half a trillion, $500 billion in tax cuts.

Ladies and gentlemen, and on top of that, their $5 trillion tax cuts adds another $250,000-a-year tax break for those same families. Look, I come from the wealthy little state of Delaware. I learned in my career wealthy people are just as patriotic as poor people. They're just as willing to chip in as poor people. They're not even asking for this. They know they don't need it. They're average income is $8 million a year, this 120,000 families.

So, folks, how do you justify that? How do you possibly justify continuing to hemorrhage a half a trillion dollars in taxes -- cuts for people with an average income of $8 million a year. Well, when asked about his $5 trillion tax cut, the one that gives them another $250,000 -- here's what he says. He says, no, no, no, no, I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut, it's just revenue neutral. You saw it in my debate with Ryan. You saw it in the President's debate with Romney.

When asked to say, okay, how does that work? He said, we're going to cut all those tax breaks for the wealthy guys. Remember in the presidential debate, the moderator turned and said, Governor, name me one? He couldn't name one single thing. In my debate, I turned to Congressman Ryan and I said, name me on. On television, he said the math is too complicated for us to understand. (Laughter.)

No, it's what he said. He didn't have time. The math was too complicated. I know the math. The math says the little guy gets crushed and the big guy gets the break. That's the math. (Applause.) That's how it works. (Applause.)

Folks, there is one loophole. There is one loophole for the wealthy that they said they will not close. It happens to be the biggest loophole. It's the one loophole that allows Mitt Romney to pay 14 percent on $20 million income.

Ladies and gentlemen, when asked on "60 Minutes" -- not by us, but by "60 Minutes" -- Governor, you only pay 14 percent on $20 million because of this tax break and the guy making 50 grand pays more. Do you think that's fair? The Governor said, yes, I think that's fair.

So, folks, this is one of those places where -- my mom used to have an expression. I'd say, Mom, can I go -- when I lived in Claymont -- can I go hang on the corner with the guys? She said, Joey, they're going to get in trouble. I said, well, I won't mom. And she looked at me and said, Joey, if it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. (Applause.) Man, this is one quacking duck. (Applause.) This is one quacking duck.

Folks, just use your common sense. This is about common sense. As Bill Clinton said, this is about math; it's adding and subtracting. Look, the only way they can make this massive tax cut work, the only way -- and every expert outfit has said it, including the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank; the Tax Policy Council made up of Bush and Clinton personnel who are economic experts -- the only way they can make it work, the Tax Policy Council says, is raise your -- if you're middle class and you have a child, your taxes will go up $2,000 a year to pay for this.

The only way they can make it work is to gut Medicare. These guys don't -- I don't think these guys are folks who don't care about the elderly. I think they care. I think they're decent guys, but the only way they can make this massive hemorrhaging of tax cuts for the wealthy work is they've got to eviscerate Medicare, they've got to radically cut the cost. That's why their program kicks 19 million people off of Medicaid -- middle-class folks, a million seniors.

You know, the seniors here know that if God forbid they're left alone and they have to go to a nursing home, in most states you have to pay -- you have to spend all the money you have before you qualify, and then, the only thing you can do is you have -- thank God you have Medicare and Medicaid. They eliminate Medicaid for a million of those. Where are these folks going to go? What are they going to do? And all -- all -- in the service of tax cuts for the very wealthy. It is not fair. It is not right. It is not good economics. It is not good for growing the economy. (Applause.)

Look guys, they say this just like with Ronald Reagan did -- Ronald Reagan did not do this. I served with Ronal Reagan. Ronald Reagan had the massive tax cut; when it didn't work, he ended up raising taxes 11 times. Ronald Reagan did not do this. Ronald Reagan couldn't even be their standard bearer this time based on what he did.

Ladies and gentlemen, these guys have become so tied to special interest -- (Baby cries.) Look, I don't blame that baby for crying. (Laughter.) You know what? She just realized what it means if Romney gets elected. (Laughter.) She was out there -- God love her. (Applause.) Hi, baby, how are you? It's okay. He's not going to get elected. You're going to be okay. (Applause.) You're going to be okay. What a beautiful child you have. But I can't blame her. God, I shouldn't be scaring children like this. (Laughter.)

Folks, look, the thing that's changed so much that bothers me so much is how this new right, they lock themselves into absolutes. All these guys have gone out and signed -- I mean, they've literally signed a pledge on a piece of paper -- they signed a pledge to Grover Norquist. Now, who in America -- what does Grover Norquist represent? Who does he represent?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Evil!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, it's not so much evil. (Laughter.) Look, I'm not saying that. I want to make it clear to you -- I'm not saying that. Here's what I am saying, though.

They signed a pledge with Grover Norquist that they would pledge not to raise a penny in taxes for wealthy people. They all signed it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I respectfully suggest, and I mean this seriously, instead of signing a pledge to Grover Norquist, they should be signing a pledge to you. (Applause.) They should be signing a pledge to you that they're going to level the playing field; they're going to once again give middle-class people a fighting chance. My dad used to say, Joey, I don't expect the government to solve my problem, but I do expect the government to understand my problem. (Applause.) And the problem we have was delivered to us by the policies of the previous eight years.

Folks, the President and I guarantee you, the pledge we make to you is we'll continue to level this playing field. Never, ever, ever when you've given middle-class people a chance have they ever, ever, ever failed this nation -- never one single time. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: And folks, let me lay out to you very briefly the way we think we're going to -- that we can continue to level this playing field. It breaks down to some basic propositions.

First, on education, we're going to continue to improve and fund education because, as my wife says -- my wife is a full-time teacher; teaching right now. My wife says, any nation that out-educates us will out-produce us. We rank -- it's hard to believe, it's hard to swallow -- we rank 14th in the world in the percent of people we graduate from college -- 14 in the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, education is the foundation upon which all this is built. All you high school students, 6 out of 10 jobs over the next 10 years are going to require a degree or a certificate beyond high school. That's a reality. That's a reality. And, ladies and gentlemen, that's why we're going to maintain the $2,500 a year tax credit, that's why we're going to expand Pell grants, and that's why we're going to see to it we have 100,000 new math and science teachers in America so that we can have the best-educated public in the world. (Applause.)

If you noticed, Romney no longer talks about his education policy. You don't even hear it mentioned. You don't even hear it mentioned any more. Ladies and gentlemen, education for them is an afterthought. It's not, again, because they're bad, they just don't think it matters, that that's not how you grow the economy.

Ladies and gentlemen, second -- on jobs. We're going to continue to do what we started when we rescued the automobile industry. Ladies and gentlemen, 250,000 people back at work. In the year before we came to office, 400,000 auto workers lost their job. And when Governor Romney -- although he tried to rewrite history at the last debate when he authored an op-ed piece saying -- titled, Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.

Ladies and gentlemen, we saved 100,000 jobs from going under, and then created -- excuse me, a million jobs from going under, and created 250,000 new jobs. One in eight jobs. One in eight jobs. (Applause.) One in eight jobs right here in this state depend on the automobile industry. (Applause.)

Steel is coming back. We're seeing it in Canton and Youngstown and Lorain. We're going to continue this momentum by creating a million new manufacturing jobs, helping businesses double their exports. How? Give tax breaks to companies that come home, not to those that go abroad. (Applause.)
Train 2 million Americans with the job skills and retrain them -- that they'll need over the next 3 years at community colleges, work with businesses to make sure that students can finish school and go right into the jobs that are already open.

Third, on energy -- continue to cut oil imports -- cut them in half, cut them in half by more American-made energy -- oil, clean coal, natural gas, right here in Ohio. Natural gas alone can create 600,000 new jobs by the end of this decade, thousands in Ohio. (Applause.) And they can do it safely if we insist on the standards. Renewable resources -- wind, solar, biofuel -- conservation. These guys even voted against what we finally got passed, conservation methods to double the mileage in our automobiles and trucks by 2024. That alone will save $1.7 trillion in costs to you at the pump, and over 12 billion barrels of oil less will be consumed. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, you got to do all of the above.

And on taxes, we think the way you grow this economy is the way we always have. We've always grown it from the middle out. Because, folks, here's the deal. When the middle class is doing well everybody does well. The poor have a way up, they've got a ladder up, and the wealthy do very, very well. We create a lot of millionaires. It's a good thing, not a bad thing. But that's how you do it. You don't grow from the top down.

That's why we cut middle-class taxes by $3,600 a year. That's why, at the end of this year, we're going to continue to insist that you, in fact, have that tax cut in your payroll taxes. That's why we're going to insist on making permanent that middle-class tax cut. That's why we're going to insist on additional tax cuts for small businesses.

Ladies and gentlemen, 98 percent of the American people, and 97 percent -- 97 percent of all small businesses, if they don't let this tax cut go through, will have their taxes raised considerably. And they say they care about you all.

Ladies and gentlemen, fifth, we're going to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade. Every single outside group has recommended that there's a balanced way to bring down the deficit we inherited. And I might point out, in the years that Ryan was in the House, and the years that Romney was engaged, they voted -- they put two wars on a credit card -- and I, as a senator, suggested we should have paid for them -- they put a prescription drug entitlement on a credit card, and they added a trillion dollars in a tax cuts on a credit card -- not one bit paid for. And all of a sudden, all of a sudden, they doubled the national debt in eight years -- doubled it -- and now they talk about -- they have that clock in the background, and they talk about the moral obligation to our children.

Well, there's only one thing that's changed. Instead of giving the price tag, the bill to our children, now under the same programs, they're going to give the bill to the middle class and make you pay for it now. That is the fundamental difference. That's the only difference.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to let these tax cuts for the very wealthy expire. Ladies and gentlemen -- and here's how we're going to do this. We've already cut a trillion dollars -- a trillion dollars, and we're going to end the war in Afghanistan just as we have in Iraq -- (applause) -- saving hundreds of billions of dollars. We're going to take that money and pay down the debt, and begin to rebuild American roads, American bridges -- (applause) -- American schools, invest in America. (Applause.) Because the fundamental core of our strength is our economy.

And on housing, there are millions and millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, woke up one day and found that they lost $16 trillion in wealth, the equity in their home. They did nothing wrong. They did nothing wrong. Two guys down the block go bankrupt, and all of a sudden they find the equity in their home is cut in half. They never missed a mortgage payment. They didn't do a single thing wrong.

And so we've been able to allow millions to go out and refinance and renegotiate their mortgage, and we have a proposal to allow 14 million more people -- many of you right here in Ohio -- who never missed a mortgage payment, but you're paying at 6.5, 7, 7.5 percent -- you could be paying if you could refinance at 3.75 percent, saving yourself 3,000 bucks a year, without a single penny in cost to the taxpayers. And they're standing in the way.

Where I come from, and my neighbors of Scranton and Claymont and Mayfield, $3,000 makes a difference in a life of a family. (Applause.) It means being able to pay your automobile insurance. It means being able to keep your kid in a community college. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, these guys should just get out of the way. (Applause.) It's time to get this done, and we will get it done. (Applause.)

Folks, there's more to say, but I've already said too much. Let me just synthesize it here, folks. The Romney and Ryan plan is the same old thing. Governor Romney said -- you've seen the ads he used to run a month ago -- when I say used to, with him it could be a day ago -- (laughter) -- but a month ago, where he said the first thing he'll do is he'll shred the regulations we put on Wall Street and the banks. He'll let the -- seriously, the first thing he's going to do -- allow Wall Street to go back to being a casino with your money and allow banks to write their own rules. And on top of that, when you cut all aside, the combination of tax cuts that they're insisting on for people making a million dollars or more adds up to over $2.2 trillion.

Ladies and gentlemen, we've seen that movie before. We know how it ends. It ends in a catastrophe for the middle class -- 9 million lost jobs, $16 trillion in equity in your home, 401(k)s decimated, up in smoke. It ended in the Great Recession of 2008. And I've got news for them. The American people will not go back. They will not go back. (Applause.)

So, folks, look, let me end by saying that if you want to understand the really fundamental, core difference in our philosophy and how we look at this nation -- this is for real -- all you have to do is look at how they view half the country.

You know, when that now famous off-the-record tape that he gave that -- that was taped, where he said 47 percent -- where he talked about 47 percent -- I want to remind you what he said because it explains a lot in why they have the programs they have. He said 47 percent of the American people -- I've never heard such an outrageous statement from any presidential candidate, any presidential nominee in either party -- here's what he said. I want to remind you. He said 47 percent of the American people are not willing to take -- quoting -- "personal responsibility for their own lives" -- 47 percent of the American people not willing to take -- if you had that view, then I understand why you'd have the philosophy they have.

Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know where these guys live. I mean this sincerely. I don't understand where they grew up. Let me tell you -- let me tell you, Governor Romney's notion about 47 percent, let me tell you who those people are. Those people are made up of people like Theresa, whose mom needed help and got a little help, got herself on her feet, got her back going -- a little bit of help from her -- a little bit of help to her on a Pell grant. What happens? That's what this is all about in America -- just a little bit of help if people will take responsibility. She took responsibility.

Of that 47 percent -- let me tell you who there made up of, for real. A significant -- over 60 percent of them are made up of people who, in fact, work full-time, all the time. They pay their withholding tax. They pay their tax. They pay their state of Ohio taxes, their federal taxes. They pay their local taxes. As a matter of fact, they pay at a higher effective rate than Governor Romney pays, making $20 million a year. And he says they don't take responsibility.

Let me tell you who the rest are. Any of you who are seniors in this room, if you're living like my mom did -- I don't believe you. (Laughter.) I don't believe you're a senior. I'm teasing. (Laughter.) God love you.

If you're like my mom and my dad -- my dad's company after all the years we were there didn't have a pension, so my dad had Social Security. He also had four kids who cared about him, and my mom. But if you're living on Social Security alone, over 10 percent of these people in the 47 percent are people who are seniors not being taxed on their Social Security. They shouldn't be paying taxes. They paid for this their whole life. They need this. (Applause.)

And let me tell you, as I said to Congressman Ryan, facts matter, man. Facts matter. The old expression: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. The facts are that the remainder of these people -- about six-point-some percent -- don't hold me to the exact number, roughly that -- they are military personnel. They are disabled American veterans. They are the 68,000 kids -- kids -- I'm so used to my son being in Iraq for a year, I call them kids. They're not all kids. They're men and women. They're the 68,000 warriors that we right now have going in those god-awful, god-forsaken mountains in Afghanistan. They're getting paid. But guess what? They're not paying any federal tax -- and they shouldn't pay any federal tax. (Applause.) That's who this 47 percent is -- the people who are the backbone and spine of this country. (Applause.)

And, folks, we never must forget, speaking of those veterans and those warriors, never forget the price they paid, the price being paid. How many of you are veterans? How many of you know someone who has been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq? (Applause.) Well, we owe you and them a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay.

Every single day, as the press who follows me knows, I contact the Defense Department to find out exactly how many wounded, exactly how many dead. Because, let me tell you, it matters. It bothers me when people give a rounded number. I think about my son when he was there. If God forbid something happened to him, I don't want a rounded number because every single life lost there changes -- changes -- the complexion of a family, a neighborhood. (Applause.)

And the number changes, unfortunately, every day. When I started this trip in Ohio -- and by the way, I've been in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq over 20 times now. When you're in Iraq of Afghanistan, and a soldier gets lost, a warrior is lost, they're referred to in theater as a Fallen Angel. That's how they're referred to. And one of my early trips to Afghanistan -- we fly in and out on C-17s, cargo planes -- and as we were leaving Baghdad, at night, I think it was either a -- I think it was a major or a colonel. I think he was a colonel. I heard his voice outside as I got in, and he said, Mr. Vice President, permission to board a Fallen Angel. And they brought in a flag-draped casket and they lashed it to the floor of that big cargo space. It turned that cargo space from an airplane into a cathedral, because all of us sitting there -- Democrat and Republican alike -- all we could think about is the family waiting to receive that body in my home state, in Dover, Delaware.

And so far, and it's changed since the trip started, there have been 6,501 Fallen Angels -- 50,014 wounded; 17,000 of those with multiple wounds requiring extensive care for the rest of their lives. Our generation of Vietnam, sir, 50 percent of those wounded in Afghanistan and Pakistan had it occurred in Vietnam, they would have died. But because of what they call the Golden Hour and the triage capability, they're alive. But they will need our care for the rest of their lives. And their life expectancy is 30 years or more.

Folks, we owe the families of these Fallen Angels more than we can ever, ever pay them. We owe them an overwhelming debt. And I initially used to be criticized, but no one does criticize me anymore. For years, I've been saying we only have one sacred obligation as a nation. We have a lot of obligations to our children, to our parents, to those in need -- only one sacred obligation. It's to those who we send into war and to care for them when they come home from war. (Applause.)

And, ladies and gentlemen, we're in a position now where we are about to end this war in Afghanistan. And the people who have served -- over 2 million men and women -- have strapped on boots and stepped on the soil of Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. The American people are so much better, so much stronger, take on so much more responsibility than these guys give them credit for.

I have worked with eight presidents since I got elected as a 29-year-old kid to the Senate. I've never seen two candidates for the highest office in the land who are more negative about the state of this country, who are more negative about the prospects of the American people, who have less faith in the resiliency and responsibility of the American people. They talk about -- read their books, they talk about a culture of dependency. They talk about a country in decline.

I don't know where they live. I'm here to tell you America is better positioned than any nation in the world to lead the 21st century. But they say we're in decline -- 5.2 million new jobs. Instead of losing 800,000 jobs a month, we've gained for the last 31 months, 167,000 jobs a month. (Applause.) We need to do more.

But they say, when you tell them that, America is in decline. They say we're worse of. When the unemployment rate in Ohio dropped from 10 percent when we took office to 7 percent; right here, from 11 percent to 7.5 percent in Marion County, they don't say unemployment is declining. They continue to say America is in decline.

They talk about energy independence. Domestic oil production is the highest in 14 years. We're importing less oil than at any time in 20 years. They say that may be true, but you didn't do it. We're still in decline. When it was announced about 10 days ago, the housing stats are at their highest level finally since 2008. They didn't know what to say, so they just said America is in decline. Literally, think about what they say. Think about one positive thing that they have said about the state of America, one positive thing.

And when we brought out our plan to let people refinance, to save that $3,000 I'm talking about, not a single penny of taxpayers' dollars, you know what they said? They said we're being unfair to the banks. Ladies and gentlemen, America is not in decline. Romney and Ryan are in denial. That's what this is. (Applause.)

Look, I've learned the folks of this great state know what they know in my state -- there's no quit in America. The American people are not going back. We're not going back to what got us here. We're going on from where we are. The American people I grew up with only know one gear, forward -- only one way, forward. (Applause.) Give them a chance.

And I've got news. I've got news for Ryan and Romney: It's never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against the American people. (Applause.) We need you. We need you, Ohio. Together we can win Ohio. And if we win Ohio, we will win the presidency. (Applause.)

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

END 2:24 P.M. EDT