The New York Times reported Wednesday that Biden had earned $200,000 for an October speaking engagement in Benton Harbor, Michigan, three weeks before the midterm elections. During that speech, Biden gave a glowing commendation to Rep. Fred Upton, a powerful Republican who joined with Biden to increase funding for cancer research and, separately, helped forge legislation to gut the Affordable Care Act.
In Washington Thursday, Biden offered a forceful defense of his supportive remarks about Upton, signaling that he has no intention of blunting his instinct toward bipartisanship and compromise in the event he runs for president. The former vice president has told allies in recent weeks that he is leaning toward running against President Donald Trump in 2020.
“I read in The New York Times today that I — that one of my problems is if I ever run for president, I like Republicans,” Biden said, according to a video posted by the public-affairs network C-Span.
He joked: “OK, well, bless me Father, for I have sinned.”
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“Fred Upton, I went out and spoke at an event, and he was there, and I praised him about the fight against cancer,” Biden continued, citing Upton’s role in passing the 21st Century Cures Act. “It mattered, saved people’s lives, and he stepped up, he and three other Republicans stepped up and helped us pass it. So I acknowledged that and now I’m — I don’t know what I am.”
Biden did not mention the speaking fee he received for his trip to Michigan, or address Upton’s role in the drive to repeal the Obama administration’s signature health care law, two dimensions of his Benton Harbor appearance that complicate Biden’s depiction of his remarks as a case study in old-school conciliation.
Upton described Biden’s praise for him as a surprise and an “immense honor.”
Upton ultimately won re-election by 4 1/2 percentage points, the narrowest margin of his career, defeating Matt Longjohn, a Democrat who was a national YMCA health official.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.