Joe Biden slams Trump on jobs, economy ahead of president's visit to Western Pa.

Former Vice President Joe Biden went on the offensive Tuesday, attacking President Donald Trump on jobs and the economy as the president prepared to travel to the Pittsburgh region for his fourth visit to Pennsylvania in the past four weeks.

“Four years ago, candidate Donald Trump promised the hardworking people of Pittsburgh he would bring jobs back to the region. But since then, President Trump has only brought Pittsburgh economic turmoil under his watch,” the Democratic presidential candidate said.

Trump failed to bring back jobs, Biden said.

“Instead, his tax breaks for the super wealthy, his reckless trade wars, and his refusal to act to stop covid-19 from spreading — even when he knew how dangerous the virus was — has led to the worst jobs crisis in close to a century and 200,000 deaths,” Biden said in a statement released early to the Tribune-Review. “Pittsburgh now faces an unemployment rate of nearly 15% and has lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump took office.”

The emphasis on Pennsylvania voters could not be more apparent in the state, where both candidates have campaigned repeatedly.

Trump, who won Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes out of more than 6 million cast in 2016, trails by about four points in recent polls. He visited Scranton on Aug. 20, Latrobe on Sept. 3, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville on Sept. 11. He plans to visit the Harrisburg area on Saturday for a rally.

The president has a campaign rally scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a private hangar outside Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay.

Biden, who makes frequent references to his Scranton roots, launched his campaign in Pennsylvania.

The former vice president, who has lashed out at Trump’s plan to push a Supreme Court appointment through the Senate before the election, has reminded voters the Affordable Care Act is on the line in the high court, where a new justice could swing the balance.

“The stakes of this election could not be higher,” Biden said. “To pull ourselves out of President Trump’s economic mess, we need a government with a plan to help communities like Pittsburgh, who built this country, recover and rebuild stronger.”

“We need a leader in the White House who understands the dignity of work and will create good-paying jobs with health care and the option to join a union, so families aren’t an accident or illness away from bankruptcy. As president, I will fight for working families, enact middle-class tax cuts so Pittsburgh families finally get a fair shot, and create the jobs Trump promised four years ago but decimated with his failed leadership.”