Biden makes bizarre joke about how 'thin' his mom and dad's walls were

President Joe Biden told a creaky joke about the 'thin walls' of his childhood home and got a laugh from a crowd in Westchester County.

He made the odd comment in a speech in Valhalla, New York where he blasted the Republican negotiating position and said it risked running the U.S. into default. 

 'We lived in a three bedroom split level home in a housing development that was a nice area that was when they were developing suburbia,' Biden recounted.

'With four kids and a grandpop living with us. I look back on it and wonder how thin those walls were for my mom and dad, but at any rate ...' he dead-panned, drawing laughs.

It was difficult to tell how the crowd took the remark, but in the past Biden has spoken of the thin walls growing up to make points about economic uncertainty. (The president grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania before moving to Claymont, Del.) 

President Joe Biden flew to Westchester County, New York, where he tore into Republicans and said their posture risked a national default. He told a story about growing up in a home with 'thin walls'

Back in March, while speaking on the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, he also recalled growing up in the house.

'I can remember we lived in a three-bedroom, split-level home, and my bedroom was up against the wall where my parents' bedroom was in the — and my dad's headboard was there. And I — I remember one — I was, like, 14 years old. And I remember my dad — I could see he — you could hear he was just restless. And I asked my mom the next morning when he went to work, 'What's the matter?' She said, 'Well, his company just told him they're not going to pay for health insurance anymore.'

'How many people lie in bed awake wondering?

He made a similar point that same month while speaking about the budget – a topic that along with the debt limit was the topic of his Wednesday speech. 

'My dad would probably be mad my telling it were he alive. We lived in a three bedroom split-level home. I mean, it was a nice home. We were a middle class family with four kids and a grandpop, and the bed, my headboard was against in the room with myself and my two brothers was against the wall of my dad's,' he recounted.

Biden often speaks about growing up in Scranton, Pa. and Claymont, Del. and his family's struggles

The RNC tweeted about the incident

'My dad was really restless. You could hear it one night. You could hear the bed and I asked my mom the next morning, 'What's wrong with Dad?' She said, 'His company said no more health insurance. They weren't going to pay for it.'

'Well, guess what? A lot of people are lying in bed at night wondering what they're going to do. They're going to have to sell the house? What do they have to do if one of them gets really sick?' he said. 

He also told what may have been a racier version while in Las Vegas in 2012.

'It was wonderful for children. By the way - having your grandpop living with you, having your great aunt, your uncle, for real. Those walls were awful thin. I wonder how the hell my parents did it. But that's a different story. I know you don't know anything about that. I know none of you in your families have done the same thing.' 

When Biden completed his remarks Wednesday, he walked away from a podium, then paused to wait for an official who might direct him. He looked to the man, pointed to a door for confirmation, then followed him while a recording played 'Stars and Stripes Forever.'

It was just one of the times the president sought guidance looking for the right exit at an event. 'Biden once again gets lost as he attempts to exit the stage,' tweeted the Republican National Committee's research arm. 

The odd moments came as Biden took his drive to try to force House Republicans to raise the debt limit on the road Wednesday – where he lauded a member of the House GOP who voted for a budget plan that Biden slammed for having devastating cuts.

Biden flew to Westchester County north of New York City Wednesday, where he immediately called attention to Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who defeated Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney last year.

'He's on the other team, Biden said.  He called him one of 'the kind of Republicans I used to deal with' when he was a lawmaker for 36 years.

'He's not one of these MAGA Republicans,' Biden said.

He kicked off his speech about the risks posed by budget cuts that House Republicans are demanding as a price for increasing the nation's statutory debt limit.

But Lawler himself, who won the seat with just 51 per cent of the vote, voted for the House GOP budget that raised the debt limit for a year and had just a 1 per cent spending increase – below inflation and a return to prior year levels. 

Lawler has called for avoiding default by raising the debt ceiling, but also urged BIden to negotiate with Republicans.

He represents a Hudson River Valley district and is one of five Republicans who carried blue districts in order to flip the House to GOP control in November 2022. 

'I welcome him obviously,' Lawler said before Biden's trip. 'I'm willing to listen to what he has to say.  But we have to engage in a good faith negotiation and I think just taking the tack that we're not going to negotiate is wrong and frankly hypocritical.'

Biden wasn't so generous to McCarthy, or what he called the 'very extreme wing' of the Republican Party.

'Now they refer to themselves as the MAGA Republicans,' he told a crowd in White Plains. 

'They've taken control of the House. They have a speaker who has his job because he yielded to the MAGA element of the party,' Biden said.

Although Biden and Republicans didn't appear to make ground with a Tuesday meeting, they agreed to talk again Friday, with the country risking potential default within weeks as Treasury runs out of 'extraordinary measures' to avoid crossing the debt limit. 

That came a day after Biden brought up the close vote McCarthy had to overcome to seize the gavel, including cutting deals with members of the arch conservative members of the House 'Freedom Caucus.' 

Valhalla I am coming: Biden blasted 'MAGA Republicans' during remarks in Valhalla, New Yor,, as he called for the GOP to raise the debt limit to avoid a default

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) attended the event where Biden ripped the House GOP budget plan he voted for

Biden took on the House GOP budget after meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky at the White House

'They are literally … holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation's debt that we've already incurred … unless we give into their threats and demands of what they think we should be doing regarding the budget,' Biden said.

He said bringing spending levels back to 2022 funding would amount to a severe cut to veterans' benefits, teachers, and law enforcement. 

'The speaker and the Republicans don't like that I point that out,' Biden said. 'But that's not my opinion, it's just basic math.'

He said the cuts, which protect defense spending, would lead to the loss of 11,000 FBI officers, 2,000 Border Patrol agents, plus DEA officers. 

'They'd have to cut that many law enforcement officers,' he said.

He said the cuts would risk shutting down 375 air traffic control towers, and eliminate 30 million veterans' health visits by wiping away a $22 billion increase.

'There's not enough personnel,' he said. He even said the cuts could drive up veteran suicides by cutting back on assistance. 'They want to go back to cut those folks that now provide that kind of help,' said Biden. 

The speech is part of a running public effort to try to persuade Republicans to back off their demands.

Biden previously tweeted images of 217 House Republicans who voted for the budget, saying the voted to 'undermine veterans' healthcare.'