Biden: Republicans tear apart generations

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COCONUT CREEK, Fla., March 23 (UPI) -- Republicans are tearing at the bonds that connect the generations and would dismantle Medicare, Vice President Joe Biden told Florida seniors Friday.

Speaking at Wynmoor Village in Coconut Creek, Fla., the vice president said Republicans are committed to the original budget plan of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which Biden said would "dismantle Medicare."

"We believe in strengthening Medicare, they don't. Make no mistake about it, if the Republicans in Congress -- and their amen corner of Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich -- if any one of them gets their hands on the White House, the keys of the White House, I promise you will see Medicare ended as you know it. …

"A plan like the one that Governor Romney has introduced would cut Social Security benefits for your kids and your grandkids -- it would cut by $2,400 a year the typical worker in their 40s would get by the time they get it, and it would cut by $4,700 a year the Social Security coverage anyone working in their 20s would get by the time they retire," Biden said.

"Today's new Republican Party is fixed on one thing: additional tax cuts for the very wealthy. These guys won't budge a single inch on a trillion dollar problem. Look, we know we have to bring our budget back into balance. It was a Democratic president who last balanced the budget, I'll remind you all of."

Biden said Republicans are "making it even harder for the middle class at a time when we know if we were -- if we want our economy to be strong, the middle class has to be strong. They're tearing the bonds that connect us, generation to generation at the very moment we should be strengthening those bonds.

"When you look at (President) Barack (Obama) and me, when you look at our opponents, take our measure. … But look us over, and look into your heart. Look into your heart, and ask yourself the question after all the speeches are done: Who do you believe? Who do you believe is genuinely committed to preserving the dignity of people in terms of their healthcare and their basic, basic ability to live?"