Kamala Harris will make 'one hell of a president': Joe Biden

Washington, Aug 16 (PTI) US President Joe Biden has said that Kamala Harris will make "one hell of a president" as they appeared together in their first public event since she replaced him as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

Biden and Harris appeared on Thursday at Prince George's County Community College in Maryland, just outside Washington DC.

The Democratic Party event celebrated the Biden administration's newly announced deal to cut the cost of 10 common prescription drugs for millions of Americans.

The meeting also offered a glimpse of their dynamic, weeks into a realignment of the party ticket.

"I have an incredible partner in the progress we made," President Biden said.

"She's going to make one hell of a president," an untethered Biden said, praising his deputy who will be challenging the former president and the Republican Party's candidate Donald Trump in the November 5 election.

Harris, 59, became the first-ever woman of colour to be on the top of a presidential ticket of a major American political party when Biden withdrew from the race for the White House last month and backed her.

She is also the first ever Indian American to be nominated as presidential candidate of either the Republican or the Democratic Party. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her father, Donald Jasper Harris, a Jamaican; both immigrants to the US.

During the event, Biden, 81, brought the crowd to their feet multiple times.

"There's a lot of love in this room for our president," Harris said.

"Few leaders in our nation have done more, on so many issues, including to expand access to affordable healthcare, than Joe Biden," she said.

Two years ago, the Biden administration gave Medicare the authority to negotiate lower drug prices, allowing Medicare to go "toe to toe" with big Pharma to negotiate drug prices, Harris said.

It was Harris who cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which granted Medicare that authority, CBS News reported.

"Thank you, Joe!" she said, to resounding chants of, "Thank you, Joe," from the crowd.

The Biden administration's negotiations will lower the cost of these 10 drugs between 38 per cent and 79 per cent, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Biden said he could fly Americans to Canada or France to get the very same drugs for far cheaper than the "totally unaffordable" ones in the US.

"Kamala and I both get it. We know it isn't just about health care — it's about your dignity," Biden said, adding that he believes health care "should be a right, not a privilege in America." Harris, who vaulted to the top of the Democratic ticket less than a month ago when Biden announced he would not be seeking reelection, said in a statement that the administration isn't stopping here, with plans to select additional drugs for price negotiations each year.

Harris has drawn large crowds of supporters, marking a noticeable shift in energy in the presidential race.

A recent survey from the Cook Political Report suggests Harris is erasing former Trump's polling leads in the key battleground states of Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. PTI AKJ AKJ