Biden hits Trump on economy and response to pandemic

Addressing a plumbers' union in his native Pennsylvania, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday slammed President Donald Trump's pandemic response and promised more jobs, funded by higher taxes on the wealthy.

"We lose anywhere from 700 to a 1,000 people a day, dead," said Biden, addressing the United Association labor union. "More than 7.5 million Americans have been infected and counting ... 175,000 cases right here in Pennsylvania."

Biden said his Build Back Better plan would create "18.6 million jobs" in four years, funded by raised taxes.

"I'm not going to raise taxes on anybody making less than 400 grand. But you won't pay a penny more," he said.

"Ninety-one of the Fortune 500 companies today pay zero tax. ... (Billionaires are) paying a lower tax rate than you pay if you have a job as a plumber."

Trump won narrowly won Pennyslvania in 2016.

Erie, where Biden was speaking, is in one of the most populous counties nationally that flipped to Republican Donald Trump in 2016.

Trump won the county by about 1.5 percentage points.

Democratic President Barack Obama won Erie County by 20 points and 16 points in his two national victories.

Erie will be especially critical for Biden as he focuses on winning more white voters beyond the state’s Democratic core in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

It’s Biden’s seventh trip to the state since the start of September.