Biden Says 'Not A Single, Solitary Republican' Helped Him And Harris Save Workers' Pensions

The president visited the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania to talk about Democrats' pension rescue and how it's helping retirees.

President Joe Biden reminded Pennsylvanians on Friday that he, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats safeguarded more than 1 million people’s pensions without any help from the GOP.

Visiting a union hall in Philadelphia, Biden and local union leaders highlighted the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and how it funded union pension plans that were facing insolvency. The pensions of an estimated 1.2 million workers and retirees have been protected from cuts due to the legislation.

It was no accident that the event took place in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical of battleground states for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and for her opponent, former President Donald Trump. Democrats have worried about Harris’ strength with the kind of blue-collar union voters whose pensions were backstopped by the bill.

Biden made sure anyone listening knew that the pension rescue got no Republican backing when Democrats muscled it through Congress over three years ago as part of a larger, pandemic-era stimulus package. It passed on a party-line vote in the Senate, with Harris casting a tie-breaker at a critical juncture for the bill.

The president said the vote underscored the hyperpartisan nature of Congress these days.