Vice President Joe Biden knows a thing or two about the nation’s educators.
His wife, Jill Biden, still teaches at Northern Virginia Community College, a fact he touted at the American Association of Community Colleges’ annual convention in Washington on Monday.
Biden announced a new administration initiative meant to bolster the workforce called the Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium. The program will make it easier for students to earn college credit for apprenticeship training that they can also transfer to any community college they attend in the future.
In his remarks, the vice president praised teachers as “the best kept secret in America.”
“Jill is probably right,” he added, according to CNN. “I think I’d have the same attitude…did I not sleep with a community college professor every night.”
As laughter erupted across the 2,000 gathered faculty, staff and administrators, Biden attempted to clarify.
“Oh, the same one, the same one,” he said, waving his hands around. “The same one.”
Republicans issued a statement responding to the new initiative by attempting to highlight the Affordable Care Act.
“As colleges cut hours for professors as a result of ObamaCare’s employer mandate, it’s students who will pay the price for the disastrous policies of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress,” said Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
This post has been updated.
