Vice President Joe Biden attacked Mitt Romney and other Republicans’ views on education Sunday in a speech to the country’s second largest teachers union. Addressing about 2,500 delegates from the American Federation of Teachers at the group’s national conference in Detroit, Biden spoke of Romney as someone who would make cuts to education in favor of tax breaks for the rich, according to the Associated Press.
Specifically, Romney supports GOP plans to cut funding for college student loans and the Head Start preschool program, Biden said.
“We believe you rebuild a country from the middle out. [Republicans] think it has to come from the top down,” he said. “Unlike our Republican friends, we don’t see you as the problem. We see you as the solution.” The AFT has already endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election.
The Romney campaign argued back that Biden’s speech showed the Obama administration did not stand up to teachers unions. “Instead of putting students first, this administration has put the union bosses that fund their political campaigns ahead of what’s best for our children,” said spokesman Sean Fitzpatrick.
Governors at a Colorado gathering of the Republican Governors Association—some of whom are thought to be on the list of potential vice-presidential candidates for Romney—praised Romney and the GOP’s policies in general. As speculation of whom Romney will ultimately select for his ticket continues, some have pointed out that he has several options with a track record of prioritizing education reform, such as Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.
At the Colorado event, Jindal and Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico both discussed the improvements their states had made in education and voiced their support for Romney’s education platform.
“We cannot have the world’s greatest economy, we cannot have the world’s greatest quality of life and the world’s greatest military unless we reform our education systems,” Jindal said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
