Vice President Joe Biden came to Denver Tuesday afternoon to make a case for the Obama administration’s post-recession economic policies and affordable education as a key component of the nation’s economic recovery. He also touted the White House’s push for free community college education.

“Six out of 10 jobs in the next decade require something beyond high school,” Biden said at a roundtable discussion at the Community College of Denver’s new Advanced Manufacturing Center. “The idea that you can graduate from high school and live a middle-class life in 2020, 2025 or 2030 is not probable.”

The panel also featured Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, employers and CCD students and staffers.

Biden used his Denver stopover, which was part of a cross-country tour highlighting post-recession emergency measures such as the auto industry bailout and the stimulus package, to also deliver a message of hope. “After six and a half years, we have gone from crisis to recovery, and if we – Democrats and Republicans – act smart, then we are on the verge of resurgence.”

But to get there, Biden said, the country needs to invest more heavily in a modern workforce and infrastructure.

“The President and I believe keenly that any country that out-educates us will out-compete us,” he told the invitation-only crowd of about 50.

Earlier this year, in his State of the Union address, President Obama pitched his plan for free community college tuition so long as a student maintains a 2.5 GPA. Unlike similar state programs, the administration’s proposal wouldn’t only cover recent high-school graduates but also so-called nontraditional students, who make up a large part of the typically older community college student body. To further increase access for those seeking specific additional job skills, the plan – dubbed America’s College Promise – only requires students be enrolled part-time, which applies to 60 percent of those who attend two-year colleges, according to the American Association of Community Colleges.

During his remarks Tuesday, Biden praised the new CCD facility in north Denver, which gives a hands-on home to the college’s manufacturing programs to train workers who can then go on to address complaints of a shortage of skilled job applicants.

CCD was part of a consortium of community colleges that received money from the Colorado Helps Advanced Manufacturing Program, an overall $26 million federal grant to increase the number of manufacturing degree and certificate holders in the state. The program is also intended to better coordinate the needs of potential employers with the skills offered by those entering the manufacturing industry’s workforce. CCD alone, one of 13 community colleges in Colorado, received $3.5 million in CHAMP money for its Advanced Manufacturing Center, set to open this fall.

Just before the hour-long roundtable, Biden – his wife, Jill, is an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College – took a brief tour of the facility with CCD manufacturing director Tony Rubino. The vice president also met with two students enrolled in the program, Wilma Harp, 29, who works at the U.S. Mint in Denver, and Luke Irick, 23, an aerospace machinist.

According to a pooled White House press report, Biden accompanied Hancock to Denver’s LoHi neighborhood west of downtown after the CCD event and stopped at the Little Man ice cream shop for about 15 minutes. Wearing his trademark aviator sunglasses, Biden snapped photos of the landmark – a giant silver milk jug – as “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” played on outdoor loudspeakers. Biden ordered a scoop of Salted Oreo ice cream and posed for photos with residents, including Angel Cruz, who wore a “High Times U.S. Cannabis Cup” T-shirt. There was a brief flurry of Biden sightings and selfies featuring the vice president on Denver social media.

Biden’s visit to Denver also included a stop at a private fundraiser in Cherry Hills Village for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is working to re-elect Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, whose seat is one of the top Republican targets in 2016. Bennet, who headed the DSCC last cycle but has yet to draw a prominent Republican opponent, did not attend.

After his stop in Denver, Biden traveled to Los Angeles and San Francisco for more events about the economy, the White House said.

In a statement, Colorado GOP Chairman Steve House took aim at the vice president, saying, “It’s clear that Vice President Biden is worried about Sen. Bennet’s chances of reelection. After all, Sen. Bennet practically has the same voting record as former Sen. Mark Udall. Just as Coloradans voted against the Obama-Udall agenda, they will also vote against the Obama-Bennet agenda that is hurting hardworking Coloradans.”

– info@coloradostatesman.com