Biden mixes government work with campaign politics in NH
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Mar. 11—MANCHESTER — President Joe Biden mixed government business with campaign politics Monday during his first return visit to New Hampshire in nearly two years.
Speaking to supporters at his campaign office in Manchester, Biden thanked New Hampshire Democrats who delivered a record 65% write-in victory Jan. 23 after Biden had tried without success to engineer a primary calendar taking away the Granite State's first-in-the-nation primary.
"It stunned me, it really did," Biden said during 10 minutes of public remarks before he met privately with activists.
"You know, I wasn't able to come here."
Supporters chanted "four more years" at Biden who took off his suit and tie in favor of a zipped up sweater at the campaign event.
During what was his first visit to any campaign office in 2024, Biden also appeared eager to get past his controversial reference to migrants as "illegals" during last week's State of the Union speech.
"They aren't vermin, they aren't scum, they aren't all criminals coming here," Biden said.
Biden noted it was former President Donald Trump who tanked the bipartisan immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate for fear it would help his opponent's chances in this upcoming election.
The president dismissed polls nearly eight months out that have him trailing Trump in several battleground states. He said the campaign is just heating up and noted that early polls in recent elections have proven unreliable.
"I am optimistic, not just about winning but I am optimistic about the future of the country," Biden said.
Earlier Monday, Biden spoke for about 20 minutes to a crowd of 175 at the Allard Center of the Goffstown YMCA about his plans to further cut health care costs.
Biden is asking the Congress to set a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for drug costs for all Americans, similar to the cap Biden signed earlier for seniors on Medicare. It takes effect in 2025.
Rose Keller, a 22-year-old Bowdoin College student with cystic fibrosis, said her parents paid $3,000 out of pocket last year for a "life-saving medication" that has a retail cost of $300,000 annually.
"President Biden believes health care is a right, not a privilege," Keller said.
Biden said millions of families in this country are one chronic disease away from personal bankruptcy.
A shoutout to McCain
"I am doing everything I can to lower health care costs to provide people peace of mind," Biden said.
If given a second term, Biden said he would fight attempts to repeal Obamacare, and he saluted a two-time winner of New Hampshire's GOP presidential primary.
"We all miss someone who cast the deciding vote to protect the Affordable Care Act, my friend John McCain," Biden said.
"John McCain loved New Hampshire and he still drove my predecessor (Trump) crazy even with him long gone. That's John."
During both stops, Biden attacked Trump's openness to cuts in Social Security and other entitlement programs.
"There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and bad management of entitlements," Trump said Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" program.
Biden said of cutting entitlements, "Not on my watch."
Both Biden and Trump as president opposed benefit changes to Social Security.
Trump campaign secretary Karoline Leavitt said the candidate was referring to "cutting waste" rather than changing benefit levels for seniors.
Targeting tax cuts
Earlier Monday, Biden presented his $7.3 trillion federal budget, which called for raising taxes on the wealthy if needed to keep Social Security solvent into the future.
"If you make a million dollars in this country, you are done paying into Social Security sometime in February. Is that fair? We don't think so," Biden Budget Director Shalanda Young said.
As he did in 2020, Biden clearly aims to run against the $2 trillion Trump tax cuts that will expire next year unless renewed.
"Does anybody think the tax code is fair, raise your hand?" Biden declared. "I don't think so either."
Biden also lobbied for his proposed 25% tax on billionaires, noting that a study found the wealthiest Americans paid an average tax rate of 8.2%.
"If we just charged them 25%, not the highest rate — 25% — guess what we'd raise over the next 10 years? $400 billion," Biden said.
Outside the Goffstown Y, about 50 protesters held signs and chanted taunts at Biden.
Earlier Monday, Republican State Committee Chairman Chris Ager hosted an anti-Biden news conference at the Pint Publik House in Manchester with GOP congressional candidates and fiscally conservative activists.
"Unfortunately, the president's message is going to fall flat here in New Hampshire. Prices are not getting lower. We heard his plans for more government spending, more taxes and more regulations in his State of the Union last week," said Greg Moore, state director of Americans for Prosperity.
Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais, a Republican, greeted Biden at the Manchester Boston Regional Airport, along with U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and her husband, Tom; Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H.; as well as Bill and Stefany Shaheen, the husband and eldest daughter of U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
Gov. Chris Sununu had a "scheduling conflict" and was unable to greet Biden upon his arrival, a spokesman said Monday.
