THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s good to be with you, Andrew. Good to see everyone.
So, most of the setup of that question related to the economy, so we can to discuss that first. But there are many factors that the American people consider during election cycles. And the midterms and then recently in Ohio and Virginia prove that point.
When we look at the economy, I appreciate you recognizing that we have accomplished quite a bit, especially when we reflect on where we started in January of ’21, when we, of course, were looking at record unemployment, we were looking at a crisis that was global in proportion.
Fast forward to today, we have actually dealt with inflation in a better way than most advanced economies, we have had record unemployment for an extended period of time, wages have surpassed inflation in many ways. So, we’ve seen great progress.
And I think the American people know it on some level. But these are also macroeconomic measures and don’t necessarily connect with the heart and the experience and the feelings of the American people.
For many Americans, prices are still too high. And we still have work to do to address that. And we’ve been doing that in a number of ways, capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month, what we are doing in terms of student loan debt, over $120 billion in forgiveness, what we’re doing to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
MR. SORKIN: Right.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, the work is happening. And frankly, when you look at polls, I will tell you: If you poll insulin at $35 a month, if you poll Medicare negotiating drug prices, if you poll what we have done with a historic investment in an existential crisis, which is the climate crisis, when you poll on you have done on gun safety — polls incredibly.
MR. SORKIN: So, that’s so interesting. So, on individual issues, you’re absolutely right —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And our challenge is just to let folks know who brung it to them. That’s a big part of our challenge. It’s all these individual accomplishments —