Biden-Harris speech today: Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden hold first joint event since he dropped out

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held their first joint event since Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed her to take his place atop the Democratic ticket.

The two emerged together to cheers to deliver a speech onstage at Prince George’s County Community College in Maryland about the economy and what his administration has done to ease costs for Americans.

That includes the administration’s announcement Thursday morning that the Department of Health and Human Services has reached an agreement on price negotiations for 10 commonly used drugs that it says will save Medicare enrollees $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs when the new prices take effect in 2026.

“We know it’s not just about health care, it’s about dignity,” Biden said of the policy. “It’s about peace of mind, it’s about security, it’s about taking care of your family, it’s about giving people a little more breathing room. That’s it. I think health care should be a right and not a privilege in America.”

MORE | The White House says deals have been reached to cut prices for popular Medicare drugs that cost $50 billion a year

Harris spoke first at the event and took a moment to praise Biden for his work on the issue, as the crowd erupted in chants of “Thank you, Joe!”

“I could talk all afternoon about the person I’m standing on stage with,” she said. “Our extraordinary president, Joe Biden. And he’s going to speak in a minute, but there’s a lot of love in this room for our president. And I think it’s for many, many reasons, including that few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including expanding access to affordable health care than Joe Biden.”

When it was Biden’s turn, he returned the applause.

“Folks, I have an incredible partner,” he said of Harris. “We’ve made great strides. She’s going to be an extraordinary president.”

The Medicare Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allows the government to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers for the first time in the history of the Medicare program. In addition to the 10 drugs negotiated for 2026, the government can select 15 more drugs to negotiate for in 2027 and another 15 drugs for 2028, and up to 20 more drugs for each year thereafter.

Biden said they were “just getting started” and that he and Harris “will continue to take on Big Pharma.”

“I’ve fought too hard to give up now. We’re not going to back down,” he said defiantly.

Harris said she was “proud” to have cast the deciding vote to get the bill passed in the Senate.

“We deeply believe that all seniors in our nation should be able to live with security, stability and dignity,” she said. “That’s why, in the United States of America, no senior should have to choose between buying prescription drugs or paying rent. That’s the issue today.”

In another show of unity, Biden and Harris joined hands and raised them in the air in front of the crowd before leaving the stage together.

While Harris is aligning herself with Biden’s cost-cutting agenda on Thursday, it comes a day before she is set to make campaign remarks in North Carolina about her own economic platform to deal with rising living costs, which will be her first major policy launch since becoming the party’s nominee.

As Biden left the White House for Thursday’s event, he said he doesn’t think Harris will try to back away from his economic policies when asked by a reporter if he would mind if she did so for political reasons.

“He won’t,” Biden responded.

On Friday, Harris will propose a federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries, her campaign announced. She will also call for giving the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general the power to investigate and punish companies that violate the new rules.

“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know that price fluctuations are normal in free markets,” the campaign said in a press release. “But there is a big difference between fair prices in competitive markets and excessive prices that are unrelated to the costs of doing business. Americans can see that difference on their grocery bills.”

Harris has also recently called for eliminating a tax on tips for service sector workers, a plan that former President Donald Trump had floated weeks ago. Her campaign also said her economic agenda will include elements to reduce health care and housing costs.

Trump, in his own remarks Wednesday that were also intended to focus on the economy, criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s record and briefly outlined his proposal to eliminate the tip tax and taxes on Social Security benefits for seniors.

Trump’s criticisms often included falsehoods about the state of the economy and his own record, such as when he criticized Biden and Harris over inflation.

“With four more years of Harris, your finances will never recover, they’re never going to recover. Our country will never recover, frankly, more importantly, it will be unrecoverable,” he said. “Vote for Trump and your income will skyrocket, your savings will grow, young people will be able to afford housing, and we will bring back the American dream bigger, better, and stronger than ever.”

Biden attacked Trump in his remarks Thursday, criticizing the former president and Project 2025. Project 2025 is a sweeping plan to overhaul the federal government proposed by a closely aligned conservative group that Trump has sought to distance himself from.

“They want to repeal Medicare’s power to negotiate drug prices,” Biden said. “Let Big Pharma go back to charging whatever they want. Let me tell you what our 2025 Project is. They need to get their asses kicked. I mean it.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.