Remarks by the Vice President at a Campaign Event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, Philadelphia. (Applause.) Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

I want to thank Robert Nix for your leadership and for those very kind words and all you do for our country.

And I want to thank all the incredible leaders who are here with us today, in particular our young leaders. It is so good to see you all. (Applause.)

I also want to thank the members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are with us this afternoon. (Applause.)

And, everyone else, thank you for being here.

So, in 2020, Black voters in Philadelphia and across our nation helped President Biden and me win the White House. (Applause.) Yes, you did. And in 2024, with your voice and your power, we will win again. (Applause.)

Philadelphia, in Joe Biden, we have a fighter; a leader with skill, vision, determination, and compassion; a leader who keeps his promises.

As a candidate for president, Joe Biden gave his word that we would fight to address some of the biggest issues facing the Black community, and we have delivered. (Applause.)

In 2020, Joe Biden and I vowed that we would lower the cost of healthcare, like insulin.

For far too many years, too many of our seniors with diabetes had to make the awful decision about either filling their prescription or paying their rent, and Black Americans are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. So, we capped the cost of insulin for seniors at $35 a month. (Applause.)

And under Joe Biden's leadership, finally, we took on Big Pharma and finally gave Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices. (Applause.)

We also took on the issue of debt, which makes so many people feel like they can never get ahead.

Take, for example, medical debt. We are now making it so medical debt can no longer be included on your credit score -- (applause) -- so that medical debt cannot impact a person's ability to get a car loan, an apartment lease, or a home loan. (Applause.)

In 2020, we promised to forgive student loan debt. (Applause.)

Do I see people testifying? (Laughs.) Can I get a witness? (Laughs.)

And I'll tell you, I -- I have a unique position as Vice President to spend a lot of time with our president. And on this subject, I remember sitting in the Oval Office with our president, Joe Biden, shortly after the United States Supreme Court struck down our initial plan to forgive billions of dollars in student loan debt.

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: A different leader -- a different kind of leader would have thrown in the towel. Not Joe Biden. (Applause.) Not Joe Biden.

And I'm going to tell you what he said that day. I'm going to tell you what he said that day: "This is not over." (Applause.)

So, we kept fighting. And so far, we have forgiven over $165 billion in student loan debt for over 5 million Americans. (Applause.) On average, more than 30 dollar -- $30,000 per person and $70,000 for our public servants, like nurses, firefighters, and teachers. (Applause.)

In 2020, we promised to take on the issue of the epidemic of gun violence, knowing that today, in America, gun violence is the number-one cause of the death of the children of America -- not car accidents, not cancer -- gun violence.

We took on the issue knowing Black Americans are 10 times as likely to be the victim of gun homicide.

And I'll tell you, I have personally held too many hands of mothers and fathers as I attempted to comfort them after their child was killed by gun violence.

So, to address this crisis, under the President's leadership, we passed the first major gun safety law in nearly 30 years -- (applause) -- a bipartisan law to strengthen background checks.

And, again, I sat in the Oval Office with the President, where he sat down with Democrats and Republicans and appealed to their better selves. And that's why, for the first time in 30 years, it happened as a bipartisan deal.

We created the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which I lead and has now invested $1 billion to hire mental health -- (applause) -- mental health counselors in public schools to help heal the mental trauma of gun violence.

And, Philadelphia, in all of our work, the President has been guided by a fundamental belief: We work for you, the American people -- (applause) -- not the special interests, not the billionaires or the big corporations, but the people.

And in November, all the victories we have won and everything we fight for every day is on the line.

You know, Donald Trump once asked Black Americans -- I'm going to quote, excuse the language -- "What the hell do you have to lose from a Trump presidency?" And sadly, we all know too well.

When he was president, Donald Trump tried over and over to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and to take healthcare, then, from millions of Black Americans.

Year after year, he proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare so that so many of our seniors would be deprived on what they rely on to live with dignity.

And then he handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court -- the court of Thurgood --

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- with the intention that they would overturn Roe v. Wade. And as he intended, they did.

And today, one in three women and more than half of Black women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban -- a Trump abortion ban. And if he wins a second term, I promise you: He's going to go even further.

So, all of this is to say, who sits in the White House matters. It matters for -- (applause) -- it matters for the people of America and for people around the world.

As vice president, I've now met with over 150 world leaders: presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings. And I cannot tell you how many times one of those leaders has pulled me aside and talked about how much the world relies on us and on Joe Biden's leadership -- (applause) -- his defense of democracy, his commitment to the ideals of freedom and liberty and equality, and his willingness to fight for these ideals.

And as the people of Pennsylvania know, our president does not only know how to fight, he knows how to win. (Applause.)

We beat Donald Trump once, and we going to beat him again. (Applause.)

And now it is my honor to introduce our President, Joe Biden. (Applause.)