President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks from Prince George’s County, Maryland on Thursday, sharing the stage for the first joint public event since Biden withdrew from the 2024 race and threw his support behind Harris.
Introducing Biden for the first time since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris offered effusive praise for Biden, telling a raucous crowd, “I could speak all afternoon about the person I’m standing on this stage with – our extraordinary president Joe Biden.”
“There’s a lot of love in this room for our president, and I think it’s for many, many reasons, including few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including to expand access to affordable health care.”
Throughout Harris’ remarks, the crowd erupted in chants of “Thank you, Joe,” which continued after Biden took the stage following Harris’ introduction.
Here are highlights from the speech:
- Inflation Reduction Act: The vice president outlined provisions in the administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, passed two years ago this week, that led to today’s announcement on drug prices.
- Biden’s long road: Biden spent much of his remarks detailing the long road it took to today’s announcement, which, harkening back to his efforts as a freshman senator in 1973. But in the back end of his remarks, dozens of audience members in attendance began streaming for the exits in a real-time display of the enthusiasm gap between Biden and Harris.
- Slamming Republicans: Biden also took some time to slam Republicans, both in Congress and in the 2024 presidential race, for opposing his domestic agenda. And he blasted the much-maligned Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a potential Donald Trump second term. “You may have heard about the MAGA Republican Project 2025 Plan – they want to repeal Medicare’s power to negotiate –- negotiate drug prices, put Big Pharma back to charge whatever they want,” he said. “Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is — beat the hell out of them.
