Beau Biden Blasts GOP Position on Veterans

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the eldest son of vice president Joe Biden, slammed the GOP ticket on Oct. 4 for what he called a "different set of priorities" for the country's veterans.

Speaking to media at MaryAnn's Diner in Derry, Biden, an Iraq veteran, criticized Ryan's budget plan, which he said calls for a "20 percent ax" on everything other than defense, which would include Veteran Affairs.

"If you apply a 20 percent cut as Paul Ryan wants to do and I believe his math on it, it amounts to an $11 billion cut in year one to the VA, 85 percent of which goes to meet the healthcare needs of our veterans, who are 22 million (people) in America," Biden said.

Biden clarified that it's not about his father exploiting Ryan on foreign policy in next week's vice presidential debate in Kentucky, but rather laying out his plan as well as President Obama's plan for the next four years.

Four years ago, when the vice president debated Sarah Palin on the national stage, it was one day before that Beau Biden was deployed overseas.

He explained that veteran issues are extremely important to him, and are much of what he is campaigning on in New Hampshire and in other battleground states around the country.

Biden criticized Romney's plan to increase the defense budget by $2 trillion, something that was also attacked by President Obama during the first presidential debate, which Biden watched with his wife.

"That's $2 trillion dollars more than they have asked for," Biden said.

He accused Romney of not mentioning veterans during both the debate and the Republican National Convention speech. Biden also said that the 59-point plan that Romney has been pushing does not mention veterans at all.

Asked why Romney's "47 percent of Americans" comments from a private fundraiser earlier this year were not brought up by President Obama last night, Biden said that a lot depends on the moderator and the opportunities that he or she provides for the candidates.

But Biden didn't hesitate to blast the surreptitiously taped comments, which he said shows Romney calling those 47 percent "entitled."

"I know those people, they don't consider themselves victims (and) they don't consider themselves entitled," he said. "In fact, the veterans, the disabled veteras, they don't feel as though they are entitled to making sure that the VA provides benefits and provides for their healthcare. They are actually entitlements that they earned, that they in many cases shed blood for."

Biden said that whether or not the Romney comments come up when foreign policy is brought up in future debates, he will continue to talk about it.

Also boiling last night was the argument over what to do with Medicare, with Biden criticizing what he said was Romney's clear goal for "voucherization" or privitization of the program.

"I felt remarkable that Gov. Romney fully embraced the voucherization of Medicare and I think that's going to be an issue that is going to continue to be discussed in Florida, and New Hampshire and Ohio," Biden said.

"It's estimated that, if the voucherization of Medicare would take place as Romney and Ryan would want to, it would be a $6,000 cost to everyone that won't have Medicare to take advantage of, he added. "Direct hit. You know, $6,000 might not be that meaningful to Mitt Romney but it's meaninful to the middle class folks in my state and here in New Hampshire.

Biden said that he will start getting more involved with his father's preparations for next week's debate in the coming days.

This trip to New Hamphire is his first during the 2012 campaign season, although he came to Portsmouth earlier this year in his AG capacity. Biden will continue into Manchester and Exeter later today.