Please welcome rosemary boland. [applause] good morning Everyone Welcome to scranton pennsylvania my name is rosemary boland. I am a teacher and president of the scranton teachers local. [applause] thank you for that. Thats not usually how i am greeted. [laughter] i would like to say i am a member of the American Federation of teachers perform on the executive board of the American Federation of teachers pennsylvania and Vice President of the aflcio pennsylvania so that tells you who i am. [applause] i am extremely proud and honored i was asked to do this introduction this morning. Im just a teacher from the south side of pennsylvania of south scranton and i am honored that this happened to me. I taught ten and 11 yearolds that these things could happen but i didnt think they would happen to me. [laughter] so the fact we are here and i can speak with you this morning is truly amazing to me. I like to say how much i am appreciative that joe biden entered this race. [applause] not just because he is friendly but because he appreciates education. Public education. [applause] my district in scranton is what they call is in financial recovery, which means we are broke. [laughter] if we were unique that would be all right. But we are not you have watched the television and you know how many teachers throughout this country have had to walk to get the salaries they deserve for the health care they deserve. What about our students . One of the things i am happy about with mister bidens plan is title i funding. He wants to triple that. [applause] those of us in Public Education depends on these funds we in the Scranton School district have a proud heritage with three and four yearold education we are unique in that and have been doing that almost 50 years. Our children deserve that throughout this country. This is not something i should have to negotiate but every parent and child in the United States deserves. How about that . How about the fact we have very needy children with special needs. How about if we correct the ida and fund it . What if we help our neediest children rather than not . [applause] its also time people paid attention to the fact that we and education are desperately in need we need more counselors. We have 38 spoken languages. Thirtyeight. We have to work with all of those families and all of those children with every School District across the country and for the last four years, the children in this country have been deprived. I read in the newspaper that the latest thing from the president is to cut funds for breakfast and lunch. Shame on him. They should realize that this is they are doing in their responsibility to help those who dont have what they have and this begins with three and four yearolds coming to our Public Schools and getting the educational star that they deserve. [applause] so with this Early Childhood education i spent most of my time with ten and 11 yearolds but i dont want to forget education Goes Beyond High School into the colleges and universities and Community Colleges which all by the way are friends of mine and i would like to say that maybe its time we invest with time and money and maybe its time we work in Public Service and maybe its time we work in Public Service so i want to take too much time from our next president. [applause] but i do want to say that representing the 900 members of teachers is one of my proudest accomplishments as long as he keep me working everything will be fine. But when i was a student at south scranton junior high school. [applause] see . Im not the only one that is still living. [laughter] i wore a pin that was about this time that said start packing mimi. So today i say milania, start packing. [applause] the bidens are coming. [applause] the next president of the United States of america, joe biden. [applause] rosemary, thank you very much for that very generous introduction. My name is joe biden im jills husband from North Washington avenue and im happen to be happy to be home. [cheers and applause] it is good to be home its presumptuous of me to say home but when you are a kid scranton climbs into your heart and occupies you so many people that you know are from scranton. My mother from North Washington avenue she live to age 92 thank god in the last ten years of her life she lived with me. And after my dad passed she moved in. But it was a struggle because when i was growing up in delaware in a split level home we always had a relative living with us either my grandpa for my great aunt or an uncle, there was always somebody in our home with us were kids and mom and dad its great for the kids. It really was. But the fact was my mother looking back those walls were pretty thin. [laughter] so after my dad passed away, i tried to get mom to move in with me into a home we just built i built a suite for my mom and dad my dad was in hospice the last five months of his life in our home. My mom wouldnt movein because she said shed never do that to me. I said youre not doing that to me youre doing that for us but she didnt want to be a burden but thats how my sister and brothers were raised that its all about family. Family is no burden. Even then she wouldnt actually move into our house she sold her house and asked me to build a little barn on the property and build her a house they are. At least every night i could kiss her good night she would say even with your mother i could smell i. C. E. Cream. [laughter] i could kiss her good morning as i would head to the train. But that satisfied her pride. Everything my sister and i learned came from scranton as it creeps into your heart but people would ask my mom where she was from and where she lived she would say im from scranton. Not a joke. My dad passed along those value values. Shes to say joe remember you are defined by your courage and redeemed by your loyalty. It was all about courage that the greatest virtue of all. Without courage you cannot love with abandon. I learned that here and i suspect most of you have learned the same thing. My dad lived here when he was a senior in high school and went to st. Thomas mount prep with all my extended family as well including some relatives that are here today the most important thing my father taught me to be raised in those same tradition that everybody has the same notion every Single Person the matter who they are joe we will be treated with dignity. I think that word is used more here in scranton than anywhere else. No matter your station in life for your background, everybody is entitled to be treated with dignity. [applause] my dad is a gentleman and would say remember you have to be a man of your word without your word you will not be a man. Its about honor. And family. Island that in my Kitchen Table here in greenwich he would say the beginning the middle and the end the more i learned to admire my dads courage and resilience. When scranton fell on hard times the early fifties. If you listen to barack obama he always says scrappy joe biden from scranton people resented that because i represented them over 40 years. [laughter] i was in a parade in a little town where my son passed away one of my favorite parades the kids would go to. I am walking down the parade route and three guys looking like you i played ball with in school somewhat about scranton i thought you were from delaware. [laughter] that my dad if you listen to barack you think out of climbed out of a coal mine in a lunch bucket. [laughter] there wasnt a lot of work out here in the early fifties i remember him taking the longest walk that he had to make thats to your childs bedroom to tell them you cannot play in Little League anymore because dad doesnt have a job. Dad has to move i remember dad doing that a matter of fact going back to my ancestral home and it just brings back memories. He said now we have to move. But its only 157 miles away. And im home every weekend. He might as well said he was going to the moon. But not until i got later that i realized his pride having to walk into the kitchen and say can i leave jean in the kitchen with you . I will pay you back for quite promise it takes a lot of pride for a man and a woman to do that to take care of things. And although it was hard for him i didnt think it was hard for my grandpa because its family. And i have nothing but great memories about scranton climbing that 10foot stone wall or the flagpole. My generation eating all the candy that candy and going down to the matinee just trying to walk across that pipe because thats what the heroes did. But more than the memories what i think about the most is the values instilled in me appear. The point is that i look back and this is what i learned about loyalty and patriotism and what friendship is and family and faith that help me get through a lot of tough times in my life for a lot of you have been through tougher times than i have. Faith sees best in the dark. We all go through dark times because of the faith instilled in me here we have been able to traverse it. When my dad made that walk up the stairs he told me everything will be okay once we settle in delaware we will be together for and it was my dad then believed everything will be okay. The middle class still has a fighting chance it became okay. We moved to delaware that is no longer a steel town we rented an apartment and finally got to move into a suburban neighborhood not far from there and as the town was being developed threebedroom splitlevel house in a safe neighborhood with four kids and are relative. But from that time every time someone a relative in delaware or a friend lost a job or a neighbor lost a job because of a recession or a company went under, my dad would say job is a lot more about your paycheck progress but your dignity, your place in the community, who you are, look your child in the eye and say it will be okay. And mean it. Thats how we were raised. Im guessing this is how you were raised here in scranton. We were raised to believe family and loyalty treated with dignity is what we should do. A lot of us knew what it was like not to be treated with dignity with those who thought they were not quite the equals. I used to stutter badly when i was a kid my mom would say remember joey, nobody is better than you. But everybody is your equal. My dad would say not a joke the measure for success its not if you get knocked down to how quickly you get up so get the hell up. [applause] as he got older he would be angry let them know if you were come in manners to my dad were a big deal. One day he was over at our house and the house that i had built and looking over a little pond in delaware i was feeling sorry for myself and talking about my deceased wife he said come on and left and went up to the hallmark store i have it on my desk to this day you know you can get a little saying on it he came back and gave me a card and its been over 25 years. Thats not true. Nineteen years. Im not a big funny paper guy but my dad was in the used to be a cartoon called hager the heart horrible for go there are two frames in the picture and it reminds me of the resilience of the people in scranton. s viking ship has crashed on the rocks the mast is down he is shaking his fist to heaven and saying why me god . The voice from heaven says why not . Why not you . Folks from a lot of people here in scranton and all across america over the last decade and even now have had to make that longest walk. But today too many workingclass folks cannot look at their kids in the eye to say it will be okay and mean it. Thats why i am running. I am running to rebuild the backbone of this country that is the middle class. [applause] you have to bring everybody along regardless of your race or ethnicity or disability everybody has to come along. [applause] lets get something straight. Wall street did not build america. Investment bankers did not build america. [applause] hard work middleclass built america. The unions built the middle class. [applause] all this talk i have an interview for 60 minutes 60 minutes for 90 minutes. [laughter] so just go back to your old neighborhood. Asked them how they are doing they are troubled that used to be a basic bargain in america that if you contribute to the wellbeing then you got the shared benefits. Corporate america is doing incredibly well the last 15 years. Those problems coming out exponentially with that relationship between productivity the difference between the corporation and salary and then the productivity wages went up 95 percent since then productivity has gone up 60 percent. What happened . What happened to that bargain . Were not having it anymore. Study show middleclass families half of them think their children will never have as good of a situation you were raised to believe if you worked hard and be on youd be better off than your parents but not today. [applause] study show if you have an unexpected expense 400 or more you cannot pay it you have to sell something for the ladies and gentlemen we have to rebuild the middle class. They will tell you the middle class is 51852 that is a value set what about sending your children to a park and wanting them to come home safely or going Public School because if they do well they can go beyond school. [applause] and then to find a way to pay for it. And hope your children never have to take care of you. That middle class. Just a little bit of breathing room. Its hard for a family today to maintain their dignity if they dont have healthcare. I cannot imagine to say sorry kid there is nothing i can do for you. I cannot help you. Look. To say i can imagine what it would be like for people how many of you have lost someone to cancer or had cancer yourself or have lost a close Family Member . I cant imagine and my son beau veteran attorney general the state of general volunteered to go to iraq and was there for a year he comes home and is diagnosed with terminal cancer. I can imagine lying in that bed when they wouldve said im sorry weve run out of coverage. I cannot fathom it. How can a family maintain their dignity if they have a child and it Goes Beyond High School . And then they look at them and cant get there . My dad got to delaware the first good job he could get after several years and it being a manager for an automobile dealership. The great thing about that is that you always get a new car for the prom. [laughter] i remember going down to the dealership that he ran we lived about 25 minutes from there i went to school at claymont and the time i went down to my baseball uniform in the plymouth convertible with beach towels for seat covers and would park it in the one spot and ran in and said wheres dad because i was going to get a car to go to the senior prom and she said hes out in the alley my dad was pacing back and forth he looked at me and said joey im so sorr sorry. Im so damn sorry for i thought something happened to mom is in whats the matter . He said it went to the bank to finance all the car loans i spoke to the Vice President they wont let me the money to get you the car. Its so devastating im ashamed. How many people set at the Kitchen Table today and had a conversation to say have to drive on those four tires another 10000 miles who will tell her she cant come back . We just dont have the money. What will we do about insurance . This administration has no idea what hard work and decent ordinary americans are going through. How many of you talk to their grandchildren the first day of school that they have to learn how to duck and cover . They say the way you get behind this i spoke to the Psychiatric Association the greatest degree of anxiety in america is kids between seven and 20 years old. The greatest fear is to be shot in school. Not a joke. To be shot in school. You saw all the pictures going back to school in kids maybe thats because we dont have the nerve to take on the nra. There is no reason. [applause] there is no need for this. I have shotguns if you hunt for geese you cannot have more than three shells in your shotgun. To protect the geese. We have federal laws that protect geese. [laughter] think about it. Why in gods name should anybody have a clip that holds 100 rounds . The administration keeps doing their bidding. I am not against the Second Amendment it says it is not absolute that my friends on the far right talks about the blood of patriots guess what . You need an f15 and hellfire missiles but you cant have them. You can have bazookas. We never argue there are certain weapons that people cant own. Theres never been a time that anybody can own a weapon. Those where the groundwater is polluted or whether or not those are put in 1960 and for all i know that the water in the schools is not safe . Look. We all want the same thing. Is somebody get sick theres a little breathing room. A Better Future and with all due respect i dont think donald trump is capable of understanding that progress never talked about a person like this he has no apathy at all for people. [applause] i have not seen that. Unlike any other president we have worked with. Im not sure he has an idea what im talking about when i talk about the longest walk. The longest walk was 400 million dropped off in his trust account. [laughter] i will tell you why i running. Thinking about healthcare nine years ago we fought like hell to get obama care pass generations of tried to do that healthcare is more than just those that can afford it it is a right. [applause] for dignity and we want to be as a country. It in those eight years president obama getting it done generations making that promise real its a very big deal. Thank god my mother was not around. But the law saved lies lives. And we got as much as we could get done with 20 Million People on the rolls 160 Million People had preexisting conditions covered. We have to finish the job that every single american has a choice to be covered by a public option. Youre free to stick with your insurance and then to give pay raises to get thorough coverage on coverage under my plan you can keep it but if you dont like it or are not sure you can sign up for public option my plan reduces outofpocket