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First Joint Appearance By Kamala Harris And Joe Biden Since The President Exited The Race. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 15, 2024 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How can we pay for the drugs, prescription drugs?

[14:00:03]

I'm serious. These are the discussions. You know it. We have to have enough insurance, can we afford the medical bills. We'll have to sell the house, you get a second mortgage, they're the discussions that took place in my house and your house.

Kamala, I both get it. You know it isn't just about health care, it's about your dignity. No, it's about your dignity. It's about peace of mind. It's about security. It's about taking care of your family. It's about giving folks just a little bit more breathing room. That's all.

Look, I believe that health care should be a right, not a privilege in America. And Kam and I are here today to make a major announcement on an effort to lower the extraordinary high prescription drug prices.

Before I do, I want to thank Governor Wes Moore, members of Congress.

I served in the Senate for 270 years. I know I only look 40, but I'm a little bit older.

The longest time I was too damn young, because I'm only about 29 when I got elected. Now I'm too damn old. But I'll tell you one thing in between, one of the finest, most decent men I've ever worked with, and I think of him when I think of integrity, Ben Cardin. Stand up, Ben. Stand up. I really mean it.

I imagine the people I work with by their integrity. He does what he says and says what he does.

Look folks, also, Nanette Barragan, for the longest time, she tried to pretend with me she was Irish, the name Barragan. She's a great friend, and she's one of the great leaders in this country for the Spanish community.

Congressman Mfume (ph), where are you? Stand up, man. I've never once gotten this man and asked for help, and I haven't gotten him, not one single time. Thank you, pal. Thank you.

And your soon to be senator, where is he? A whole lot easier job than being a county executive. I was a county -- I was a county official. They expect you can solve every problem you don't have the authority to do. And you don't have enough money.

But I hope I'm looking forward. I told her I campaigned for or against, whichever helped the most, along with members of my administration, Xavier Becerra, HHS, (INAUDIBLE) works for sale, seeing administrators here today.

And let me say something, we're all -- we're all thinking about my good friend, and he is a really good friend for a long time. Steny Hoyer, he represents the western shore of Delaware.

You all think we're kidding. We have that fight all the time. I wish him a speedy recovery. I understand he's doing well.

Folks, this is a fight all of us have been fighting for a long time taking on big pharma. We pay more for prescription drugs. It's not hyperbole, we pay more for prescription drug than any advanced nation in the world.

I could take out an Air Force One. And if you have a prescription from a drug company in America, and fly you to Toronto, Canada, fly you to Paris, France, fly you to Belfast, anywhere around the world, and get you the same prescription for the same company, for 40, 60 percent less than we pay for it here.

Too many Americans can't afford the drugs they badly need for life and death. So, they skip doses, cut pills in half, forgo prescriptions entirely, because the prescriptions of drugs are totally unaffordable. A woman I -- you've all met, the nurse you just met, she paid $9,000 -- I mean, she'd be $900 a month.

Well, guess what, man? You're going to pay nowhere near that, 9,000. She's going to pay guess what? Beginning January, every single prescription drug she has, including, God forbid, if she needs a really expensive drug, regular cancer drug. Maximum she ever has to pay is $2,000, period.

[14:05:01]

That's right, the time I was in the Senate, I worked tirelessly to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, just like the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In fact, I was reminded by staff today, one of the first major bills I worked on was in 1973 I co-sponsored legislation led by Senator Frank Church to let negotiate -- let Medicare negotiate the cost of drugs. 1973 this fight's been going on.

You know, the VA pays, as they should, 50 percent less than Medicare, because VA can negotiate the prices. But for years, big pharma blocked Medicare for negotiating lower drug prices. The consequence they're able to maintain the exorbitant price increases in the profits are called for. Look, at this time we finally beat big pharma.

And I might add, with no help from Republicans, not a single Republican voted for this bill, period, not one in the entire Congress. The reason I say that not to make a political point about them, not --

if they've gotten the lesson, but guess what, they want to -- they -- the guy we're running against, what's his name? Donald Dump, or Donald, whatever.

They want to get rid of this, what we passed. They're fighting to get rid of what we've just passed. Now, I'm serious. No help from Republicans pass the Inflation Reduction Act thanks to the tie breaking vote of Kamala made it possible. Folks, it really matters.

For example, take the insulin needed to treat diabetes. A guy who got that insulin a hundred years ago didn't put a patent on because he want it to be available for everybody. He didn't even patent it.

Well, guess you know how much it cost those companies to make that insulin? $10.00 T-E-N, that's the God's truth. $10.00, number one.

Number two, to package it, ship it, you might get it up to $13.00 but they were charging up to $400 a month for it, but now they can't charge more than $35.00 a month. It's a big deal.

CROWD: Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Joe.

BIDEN: The a look, $35.00 a month, these guys still make enormous profits. That's three times what the cost of the making. The initial legislation kept the cost for everyone on who needed that insulin. How many of you know anybody needs insulin for diabetes? Raise your hand.

OK. Well, guess what? The next three months we got here, I'm not leaving here and Kamala, when she's president, we're going to make sure if we don't get it done, everybody should qualify for that $35.00 a month, every American. I mean it.

Folks that's not all, the same law I wrote -- we wrote, main started in January of this year. Every senior in the United States of America, no matter what their cost for drugs. And like I said, some of these cancer drugs are $12,000 a year. Every single penny they spend, they never have to spend more than $2,000 a year for all.

And we're going to fight to make sure everyone qualifies for that as well.

Look, altogether, our reforms not only save lives. But here's the point people don't talk enough about, it saves the taxpayers billions of dollars. What we've done so far will save the taxpayers over the next 10 years $160 billion taxpayers, lowering the debt, I mean it, because they don't have to pay the price, exorbitant price that Medicare had to pay before. They're going to pay $35.00 out of $400.

Folks, and their savings are only going to increase for American taxpayers, because it matters. Look, but that's not all the Inflation Reduction Act did. Last summer, I announced under that law, Medicare is going to select and it's only passed law, 10 drugs a year, going up to 20 till we get every single drug every year. Drugs treat from everything from heart failure, blood clots, kidney disease, arthritis, blood cancers, more. And today, I'm proud to announce the Medicare has reached agreement with all manufacturers on all 10 drugs selected in the first round of negotiations. The new lower prices for all 10 drugs will go in effect in January of 2026 not this January, next January, negotiations cut the price of these 10 drugs for Judy and others who are in Medicare, nearly 40 to 80 percent depending which drug it is.

[14:10:18]

Let me give you one example, non-insulin diabetes drugs cost $530 a month. Some of you may know that, guess what? It's now only going to cost $115.

And by the way, these new prices have 10 drugs repeatedly mean $1.5 billion less out of pocket for patients to the drug companies, lower co pays for many of the nine million seniors who take these drugs.

That's not all. We're also saving the American taxpayer because of the new changes, six billion a year because Medicare won't have to pay out. Imagine that, six billion a year.

But we can do that for childcare and healthcare and so much more. We're just getting started. Under law I signed, Medicare can negotiate lower prices for another 15 drugs next year, 15 the following and 20 after that, until every drug is covered. That's the law.

Now, there's another really big deal. It means that Americans can save more money and for life saving medications they need and deserve. And bring peace of mind. It's hard to explain. Kamala and I are going to keep fighting to lower the provision of costs for everyone, not just seniors. It's a fight that we have to continue.

But guess what? Surprise, surprise, big pharma doesn't want this to happen at all. The pharmaceutical industry last year spent $400 million lobbying to Congress to stop this. 40 million, worked pretty well. They didn't get one Republican voted against them. They all voted for him.

Republican allies stuck with him. And the ability the federal government negotiate lower drug prices was tried to be stopped. But Kamala and all in this room, we're going to keep standing up for big pharma. I fought too damn hard to yield now. We're not backing down.

And get this, you may have heard about the MAGA Republican Project 2025 plan. They want to repeal Medicare's power to negotiate drug prices, let big pharma back to charge whatever they want.

Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is, beat the hell out of them. I mean it.

In January '25 total percentage costs will be capped at 2000 no matter how expensive they are. And some expenses are 12 a year -- 12,000 a month, I should say.

Kamala Harris and Democrats in Congress will make sure that $2,000 cap covers everyone, not just seniors, as well. Insulin costs that's 35 for everyone, not just seniors. Our project '25 will low particular cost for you, your families, instead of handing big pharma a big blank check.

And look and in the process, this is what we don't talk enough about, I don't think. In the process, we're going to save the taxpayer. The budget is going to be reduced by hundreds of billions of dollars. Hear me, hundreds of billions of dollars just the first year, the first thing we passed is $160 billion less that the government's going to have to pay out to farmers.

But guess what? You can pay off education, can pay off for health care, can pay off so much more, or it can just simply reduce the deficit he has exploded.

Folks, that's what I call a win. Folks, there's more. My predecessor and his MAGA friends in Congress tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is different, Obamacare. They tried to repeal it over 50 times. We stopped it.

Along the way, I made the Affordable Care Act even stronger, protecting million more American refrigerant conditions. And guess what, over 40 million MAGA Republicans in Congress don't want to cut Medicare, and so they want to cut Medicare and Social Security.

Why? They want to give another -- here's what they're proposing. Just so you know what the budget is. They're proposing another $5 trillion tax cut for the mega wealthy.

[14:15:04]

By the way, this guy we're running against, when he was president, he gave a $2 trillion tax cut to super wealthy. You know what that was? He generated the largest deficit any president has in American history.

I love his Republicans talking about cutting spending. You know, we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what their average tax they pay is? 8.2 percent. Introduced a bill to say that you have to pay a minimum of 25 percent, you know what that would raise? $500 billion over the next 10 years. Imagine what we could do with that. Imagine the taxes being cut for ordinary people.

Well, look, Kamala and I (INAUDIBLE), we're going to protect Medicare and Social Security to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share.

And by the way, that means making a tax code fair. Look, in addition, we also announced steps to crack down an anti-competitive practice in health care. How many of you know we've been going after things called junk fees, junk health insurance plans, ones that look affordable. When you take the cover off, you find out there's a number of hidden costs. We're going after them and trying to get rid of them.

We're also cracking down on surprise medical billing. For example, when a patient goes in the hospital for surgery, if it turns out his anesthesiologist is not in his network, you're going to get a surprise bill for another $1,000 but we're stopping that too. We're protecting a million health care -- we're protecting one million Americans every month from unexpected medical bills. We're working a bad use of medical debt on credit reporting.

Years ago, I had two cranities (ph) because I had aneurysms. My bill, if I didn't have insurance was hundreds of thousands of dollars. Well, guess what? It matters. It matters whether or not if I didn't have insurance the rest of my life, I couldn't do anything, I wouldn't be able to buy anything, wouldn't be able to have a credit, wouldn't be able to -- now, we're going to get rid of health care costs being on you, yet to still owe it, but you don't get your credit (INAUDIBLE).

Look, I'm a capitalist. I have no problem with companies making money, but not by price gouging seniors and working families. I grew up in a family where my dad used to say, Joe, your job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect.

And I really mean this, this is what he would say. My dad was a well- read guy, never got a chance to go to college, he talked about what we needed to do for ordinary, working -- hardworking people. We changed the whole way we look at the economy. It used to be his idea of trickledown economics. Even Democrats accepted it. Some Democratic presidents accepted it that if the wealthy makes a lot of money, you'll trickle down on the rest of us.

Well, I didn't notice a single penny trickle down on my dad's kitchen table. But guess what now? We measure everything the following way. We bill from the middle out and the bottom up and that they do well, everybody does well, not a joke.

And any money I get to spend as president, I spend it on being made in America by Americans. Americans don't like being played for suckers. We believe we should be patient, but there should be reasonable profits, not unreasonable.

Let me close with this. It's all about health care. It's about lowering costs for families, it's about fairness and security. It's about the dignity of people like Judy and millions of Americans all across the country. That's exactly what we're doing.

There's more we can do for everyone, we can't give up. They told me, every major piece of legislation we passed to give us the strongest economy in history and the strongest economy in the world, we got more to do for working people.

By the way, everybody does better when there's more unions. But we're finally getting it done. We can't stop now, they just have to remember who the hell we are. We're the United States of America. And there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity in this country if we work together, nothing, nothing, nothing.

I'll tell you what, I thank God that in the last three months I'm president of the United States, I was able to finally get done what I've tried to get done when I was a young senator, 30 years old. Thank you God, thank you. God bless you all and may God protect our troops.

[14:20:23]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have been listening to President Joe Biden flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris, their first joint appearance since Biden exited the presidential race last month. This is a White House event that felt like a campaign rally. Biden's biggest applause lines coming when he talked about Harris saying, "She's going to make one hell of a president." And also when he attacked former President Donald Trump, his onetime rival for the White House, mocking his name, calling him Donald Dump and then saying, "Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is, beat the hell out of them."

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Yes, it certainly felt it had some campaign rally effects to it for sure, and interesting to watch this dynamic play out as we've seen Vice President Kamala Harris on the road for her own campaign, the center of the attention, the center of the stage, back to being vice president, serving under President Biden for his the remainder of his term.

Again, this is the first time we're seeing them together since he exited the race.

I want to go now to CNN's MJ Lee who is in Maryland, with more on how the White House is touting this as a winning message for Harris in her bid for president. And MJ, for President Biden's legacy as well.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I can definitely confirm what you guys were just saying about the vibes in this room being very much that of a campaign rally, even though it is an official White House event.

Seeing on stage for the first time the retirement lame duck President Joe Biden alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now, of course, the new Democratic nominee for president, and actually the single longest pause line of the entire event was when actually Vice President Harris introduced President Biden, and in turn, we of course, heard President Biden describing to the crowd his vice president as making one hell of a president someday.

Now, the topic of this event, as you mentioned, very politically interesting, the idea of lowering the prices of prescription drugs. This is an idea that is, of course, quite popular, particularly important for the senior and elder community, a group that actually President Biden tends to do well with and I think this event gave us a pretty good preview of how the vice president is going to try to juggle the issue of the economy.

She is the face of the Biden-Harris administration and its record, but at the same time, she is going to have to pick and choose specific policy prescriptions that will help her tell a compelling economic story and a message.

And to that end, we of course, heard her today in her remarks, saying that people shouldn't have to choose whether to sort of ration out their medication, because medication is so expensive. We are going to see her continuing on that theme tomorrow with an event that is going to talk about a federal ban on price gouging that is aimed at lowering grocery prices.

Of course, as we talked about so much, that is such a big part of the psychology for a lot of Americans, when they are thinking about whether the economy is doing better for them.

SANCHEZ: The economy certainly a top issue come November. MJ Lee live in Maryland. Thank you so much.

Let's discuss with our panel of experts. We have CNN Political Director David Chalian with us, along with the folks that have been patiently waiting alongside us watching the speech.

David, as Kamala Harris was introducing President Biden, she was effusive in her praise. There was about a minute long ovation of folks clapping for him. She said, few leaders have done more on so many issues. There was a thank you Joe chant, and then she said, I am eternally grateful, it is a great honor to introduce you an extraordinary human being, obviously being very deferential to the president.

I am curious, though, how do you expect her campaign is going to use him moving forward as we get closer to election day?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I think this is just a little appetizer, a little taste of what we're going to see Monday night in Chicago with the Democratic National Convention, which will be Biden appreciation night, if you will, at the convention.

And remember, when Biden stepped off the ticket and bowed out of the race on July 21st, you know, Kamala Harris was scheduled and continued with her schedule to be in Wisconsin, and she did a couple other stops as she was coalescing the party render, and the whole first portion of her remarks was a complete thank you to Joe Biden.

So, this deference to him, this thanking him is not new. She was making sure that they were seen as in lockstep and ad then, of course, she named her own running mate and what have you.

So, what you see in this they did appear jointly at Joint Base Andrews a couple weeks ago with the hostage release in their official capacity, but this is their first sort of public speaking event together, and she wants to make sure that there's no separation and no daylight between them, when she needs to separate from him on a specific policy or whatever, she will.

[14:25:16]

But what she wants to do, and what she sees to her own political benefit, is to be very thankful to him for the work. This is -- what you saw there. OK, I think in that one display we saw why Democrats are so thrilled that Joe Biden is not their candidate anymore, just from his performance and his ability to complete thoughts and it was a fine -- I'm not suggesting he had a meltdown. I'm just saying you see the 81-year-old man that they are relieved is no longer their standard bearer for the election going forward for the future. But you also see the appreciation they have for really popular

policies such as lowering prescription drugs, something Democrats have been talking about on the campaign trail for about on the campaign trail for years, and now he got it done.

So there's the real appreciation and the real satisfaction that they don't need to be rallying around him for this campaign season.

DEAN: And Kate, out to you, just David mentions the prescription drugs. Look, every Democrat we have on the show or that I interview somehow finds a way to talk about insulin caps. It's something that clearly does very well with voters, something that they're very proud of. And this was an event, as MJ was talking about, that they feel like sets the vice president up really well in her campaign, but also is good for President Biden's legacy, as David just noted, he was able to get something done they've been talking about for a long time.

Do you see this as calls continue for her to have more policy to explain more about what she's going to do? Do you see them leaning more in to issues like this? This seems like something they really want to be talking about?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE: Yes, I do for two reasons. One, because it is a tangible -- it has a tangible impact in people's lives. You can explain it to people they'd understand. They say, OK, making this drug that I need less expensive, that helps me, that helps you know, as I'm -- my family's planning our family budget, that's important.

So, having a really tangible accomplishment like that is a great thing to be able to talk about.

But then secondly, it also sets up this broader narrative, which you heard her lean into in her introduction, and then also President Biden very much lean into in his remarks. It sets up this broader narrative where, you know, big special interests, big pharma is the foil, and it tells you who Kamala Harris is fighting on behalf of, she's fighting on behalf of you. She's fighting, you know, against the big moneyed special interests on your behalf.

So, it helps sort of set this broader narrative that will be, I would imagine, will continue to be a really powerful one for her in the duration of this campaign. And it's also a great contrast for the Democrats in their messaging against Trump, because then, you know, they also get to say, look who Donald Trump's fighting for. He's fighting for billionaires. He's fighting for, you know, tax cuts for the richest people in this country. He's fighting for himself. He's not fighting for you.

So, this issue, this insulin cap issue, is, you know, it's a terrific issue for both those reasons.

SANCHEZ: Jasmine, expanding on something that David alluded to, and that is the vice president seeking to differentiate herself from President Biden on key specific issues. What have you been hearing from folks about what those issues might be, where she sees ground and opportunity to separate herself?

JASMINE WRIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, NOTUS: Yeah, well, one thing that I've heard from Harris allies is that they know that there are two policy places that Republicans will hit them on, that is immigration and that is the economy.

And so, I think that's why you're going to see her tomorrow in North Carolina lay out how she views at least part of her economic policy going forward, we're going to hear her talking about price gouging.

Now, this is something that President Biden has talked about while in office. It's something that he focused on, and say the union he's talked about since then, but it just did not resonate in the way that Harris allies are hoping that it resonates when she talks about it tomorrow.

She's going to talk about rent stabilization. She's going to talk about other parts of the care economy. I'm sure we're going to hear her also talk about some lowering health care prices, the same thing we heard her say from today.

But these are all things that are not necessarily very different than what President Biden has put in place in his last three years. But they're hoping that people hear it differently from her. They're hoping that they feel it or hear it, at least, more empathetically than we heard from President Biden.

Because at the end of the day, they recognize that people don't necessarily know how the vice president would govern in office, and it's something that they are actively trying to combat by putting out positive, futuristic looking messages, not just to contrast former President Trump, although I think when you see her really staying on message, reading off the teleprompter, hoping to look presidential tomorrow versus what we saw for President Trump yesterday, that contrast will be visible they believe, but also just making a message that people can understand, that people can hear and try to see playing out in their own lives.

DEAN: And Aaron, all of this happening is Republicans in the Trump campaign want absolutely to tie the vice president to Biden's policies and the ones that have been unpopular, the fact that the majority of Americans see former President Trump is better equipped to handle the economy than they did President Biden.