http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2342 www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org Date: 8/28/2008 11:09:14 AM
JOE BIDEN
Joseph Biden, Jr. is a senior U.S. Senator from Delaware. He has served as Chairman of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law since 1991. On August 23, 2008, Barack Obama announced that Biden would be his running mate for that year's U.S. presidential election.
Biden was born in November 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in New Castle County, Delaware. He graduated from Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware in 1961. In 1965 he earned his undergraduate degree (with majors in history and political science) from the University of Delaware in Newark, and in 1968 he earned his Juris Doctor degree from Syracuse University College of Law. Biden then found work as a public defender in Wilmington, Delaware.
In 1972 Biden ran successfully for one of Delaware’s seats in the U.S. Senate, beating Republican incumbent J. Caleb Boggs. Prior to his swearing in, Biden’s then-wife Neilia Hunter and the couple's three children were involved in an automobile accident. Neilia and daughter Naomi died from the injuries they sustained, while Biden’s two sons, Beau and Hunter, eventually made full recoveries. When Biden was sworn in to office at his son’s hospital bedside in Wilmington, Delaware on January 5, 1973, he became the fifth-youngest senator in American history. (Biden would win each of his reelection bids -- in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002 -- with relative ease, becoming the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Delaware’s history.)
Biden became a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January 1975, and of the Senate Judiciary Committee two years later.
On June 17, 1977, Biden married schoolteacher Jill Tracy Jacobs.
In 1979 Senator Biden shared President Jimmy Carter's belief that the fall of the Shah in Iran and the advent of Ayatollah Khomeini’s rule represented progress for human rights in that country. Throughout the ensuing 444-day hostage crisis, as Khomeini's extremist followers routinely paraded the blindfolded American diplomats in front of television cameras and threatened them with execution, Biden opposed strong action against the mullahs and called for dialogue.
Throughout the 1980s, Biden opposed President Ronald Reagan's proactive means of dealing with the Soviet Union. Biden instead favored détente -- which, in practice, meant Western subsidies that would have enabled the moribund USSR to remain solvent much longer than it ultimately did.
Biden first ran for U.S. President in 1987. He was considered a strong contender for the Democratic Party’s nomination, but in April of that year controversy descended on Biden’s campaign when he told several lies about his academic record in law school. In an April 3, 1987 appearance on C-SPAN, a questioner asked Biden about his law school grades. In response, an angry Biden looked at his questioner and said, “I think I have a much higher I.Q. than you do.” He then stated that he had gone “to law school on a full academic scholarship -- the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship”; that he had “ended up in the top half” of his law school class; and that he had “graduated with three degrees from college.”
But each of those claims proved to be untrue. In reality, Biden had attended law school on a half scholarship that was based on financial need; he had graduated 76th in a class of 85; and he had earned only two college degrees -- in history and political science. “I exaggerate when I'm angry,” Biden would later concede, “but I've never gone around telling people things that aren't true about me.”
Then, in August 2007 Biden plagiarized a portion of a speech made by British politician Neil Kinnock. Before long, revelations surfaced that Biden also had plagiarized extensive portions of an article in law school and consequently had received a grade of “F” for the course. (He eventually was permitted to retake the course, and the failure was removed from his transcript.)
As a result of these embarrassing examples of dishonesty, Biden withdrew from the presidential campaign on September 23, 1987 and resumed his duties as a U.S. Senator.
In 1990 Biden found it difficult to support President George H.W. Bush's decision to forcibly drive Saddam Hussein's army of occupation out of Kuwait.
Following is an overview of Biden’s policy positions and his voting record on key pieces of legislation during his years in the Senate.
Education
Senator Biden has received a 91 percent rating from the National Education Association (NEA), indicating that more than nine-tenths of his votes have been satisfactory to America’s largest labor union. Like the NEA, Biden opposes merit pay for teachers and he stands against a voucher system which would permit parents to redirect a portion of their tax dollars away from the public schools and toward private school tuition for their children. He voted “No” on a voucher proposal in 1997.
Environment
Biden believes that global warming is caused by industrial and automotive pollution, and that broad and immediate action must be taken to curb its effects. “The science is clear,” he says, “and the physical consequences of global warming are obvious in shrinking polar ice caps, retreating glaciers, stronger storms, and changing rainfall patterns. We can expect rising sea levels, spreading diseases, and unpredictable, abrupt climate shifts.... The poorest nations will be hit the worst and will have the fewest resources with which to respond. This is a recipe for global resource wars, and even great[er] resentment of our [American] wealth by those less fortunate -- a new world disorder. We must act.”
In 2007 Biden co-sponsored the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, perhaps the most stringent climate bill in the history of the Senate. Labeling the U.S. as the world's “largest emitter of greenhouse gases,” the bill sought to implement a cap-and-trade system requiring the U.S. to reduce its emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Biden also has called for the raising of fuel-economy standards for automobiles to an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2017.
Energy
Biden has consistently opposed all bills seeking to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. In 2006 he voted against a bill “providing for exploration, development, and production activities for mineral resources in the Gulf of Mexico.” And in 2007 he voted against a bill that would have allowed for natural gas exploration and extraction off the coast of Virginia.
Abortion
His Roman Catholic beliefs notwithstanding, Biden believes that abortion should remain legal in the United States, and that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision should not be overturned. “The best policy for our country on the question of abortion is a policy of government neutrality,” he says. “Put another way: I do not believe that the government should be involved in making judgments on whether a woman can, or should have an abortion, or -- if she chooses to do so -- in paying for that abortion.”
In 1997 Biden voted against the continuance of a policy stipulating that federal health insurance plans would not pay for abortions except in cases where the woman's life was in danger or the pregnancy was the result of incest or rape.
In 2004 Biden voted against a bill that would have attached criminal penalties to the killing or injuring of a fetus while carrying out a violent crime on a pregnant woman.
In July 2006 he voted against parental notification laws and against punishing those who would transport minors across state lines to get an abortion.
In 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2003, Biden voted in favor of bills to prohibit the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion.
Gun Rights
Biden has received an “F” rating from the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, for his consistent record of voting to limit the rights of gun owners and manufacturers. He also has voted in favor of exposing the firearms industry to potentially crippling lawsuits.
Welfare Reform
In 1996 Biden voted in favor of the Welfare Reform Act which was designed to move large numbers of people off of public assistance and into paying jobs.
Counter-Terrorism
In 2007 Biden voted against a bill permitting the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General “to authorize foreign intelligence acquisition concerning those reasonably believed to be outside of the U.S., provided that written certification is presented that the procedure does not constitute electronic surveillance under existing law, the surveillance is made with the assistance of a communications provider, and the significant purpose of the acquisition is to obtain foreign intelligence information.”
Immigration
Biden has voted “Yes” on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security, and “Yes” on allowing more foreign workers into the U.S. for farm work.
In 2006 he voted in favor of erecting a fence on the U.S./Mexico border, but later explained that for him, the vote was an anti-drug trafficking vote, not one aimed at curbing illegal immigration. “I voted for the fence related to drugs,” Biden said. “A fence will stop 20 kilos of cocaine coming through that fence. It will not stop someone climbing over it or around it.”
In 2007 Biden voted against a bill to prohibit illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes -- such as aggravated felonies, domestic violence, stalking, violation of protection orders, crimes against children, or the illegal purchase or sale of firearms -- from gaining legal status.
That same year, he voted to scrap a point-based immigration system (i.e., a system which seeks to ensure that people with skills that society needs are given preference for entry into the United States). He advocates instead a system focusing on the reunification of family members, even if that means permitting the foreign relatives of illegal aliens to join the latter in America.
In 2008 Biden voted against a bill: (a) urging “an expansion of the zero-tolerance prosecution policy for undocumented immigrants to all 20 border sectors”; (b) calling for the completion of 700 miles of pedestrian fencing along the border between the U.S. and Mexico; (c) allowing for the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard members to the southern border of the United States; and (d) encouraging the identification -- and eventual deportation -- of illegal immigrants who are currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons.
Biden also has voted in favor of continuing to send federal funds to sanctuary cities; against requiring a photo ID from people registering to vote; and “No” on declaring English the official language of the United States.
Biden has received an 8 percent rating from the U.S. Border Control (a nonprofit lobbying organization dedicated to ending illegal immigration and securing our America’s borders), signifying that his voting record reflects an open-borders stance.
Taxes
Throughout his Senate career, Biden has, with few exceptions, generally supported higher taxes, though he has voted against specific tax increases which were advanced by Republican presidents.
When President Reagan pushed for across-the-board-tax cuts in 1981, Biden twice voted for bills that would have watered down Reagan’s proposal. When the full Reagan tax cuts came up for a final vote, however, Biden voted in favor of them, as did 88 of his 99 Senate colleagues.
In 1982 Biden and 35 fellow Democrats voted against a $98.3 billion tax increase advocated by President Reagan.
In March 1983 Biden voted for a $40 billion increase in Social Security taxes.
In June 1986 Biden supported Democrat Senator George Mitchell’s effort to raise the top income tax rate to 35 percent.
In October 1990 Biden voted against President George H.W. Bush’s proposed 5-year, $164-billion tax hike. That same year, he supported an amendment sponsored by then-Senator Al Gore to raise the income-tax rate on middle-class Americans (i.e., married couples earning more than $78,400 a year and individuals earning more than $47,050) from 28 percent to 33 percent.
In August 1993 Biden voted in favor of Bill Clinton’s proposed $241 billion in new taxes over five years.
In May 2001 Biden voted against both of President George W. Bush’s major tax cut proposals -- one for $350 billion and another for $1.35 trillion over a ten-year period.
In all but three of the 16 years spanning 1992 to 2007, the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) -- which grades each member of Congress on taxing and spending issues -- gave Biden an “F”. In 2007, NTU gave him a 4 percent rating and ranked him 94th out of 100 senators.
Iraq War
Prior to the Iraq War, Biden consistently spoke out about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. “He’s a long-term threat and a short-term threat to our national security,” Biden said of Hussein in 2002. “… We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.” Also in 2002, Biden said: “Saddam must be dislodged from his weapons or dislodged from power.”
Consequently, in October 2002 Biden voted “Yes” on authorizing the use of military force against Iraq. He continued to express his resolve on the matter in 2004, emphatically stating: “I voted to give the President the authority to use force in Iraq. I still believe my vote was just.”
In 2005 Biden said this to the Brookings Institution: “We can call it quits and withdraw from Iraq. I think that would be a gigantic mistake. Or we can set a deadline for pulling out, which I fear will only encourage our enemies to wait us out -- equally a mistake.”
In April 2007 Biden told the late newsman Tim Russert:
“
f Saddam was left unfettered, which I said during that period, for the next five years with sanctions lifted and billions of dollars into his coffers, then I believed he had the ability to acquire a tactical nuclear weapon…. I also believed he was a threat in that he was -- every single solitary U.N. resolution which he agreed to abide by, which was the equivalent of a peace agreement at the United Nations, after he got out of -- after we kicked him out of Kuwait, he was violating. Now, the rules of the road either mean something or they don’t. The international community says ‘We’re going to enforce the sanctions we placed’ or not. And what was the international community doing? The international community was weakening. They were pulling away. They were saying, ‘Well, wait a minute. Maybe he’s not so bad. Maybe we should lift the no-fly zone. Maybe we should lift the sanctions.’ That was the context.”
Biden also made clear that whatever role Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) played, they were not a distraction or a bad-faith ploy by the Bush administration. In the same interview with Russert, Biden defended Vice President Dick Cheney and the international community’s assessment of Saddam’s WMD program. “[E]veryone in the world thought he had them [WMD]… This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream.”
But later in 2007, while running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden said that his 2002 vote authorizing the use of force against Iraq “was a mistake” that he regretted. “I vastly underestimated the incompetence of this administration,” Biden said during a 2007 Democratic primary debate in Carson City, Nevada.
Civil Rights
Biden is a defender of affirmative action (i.e., race-, ethnicity-, and sex-based preferences) in academia and the business world. He was also a supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The 9/11 Attacks
Shortly after 9/11, Biden told his staff that America should respond to the worst act of terrorism in its history by showing the Arab world that the U.S. was not seeking to destroy it. “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran,” he said. (The world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran has given an estimated $1 billion to Hezbollah, and has provided considerable material support to the Taliban.)
America’s Moral Standing in the World
In 2004 Biden told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the U.S. had no moral authority to preach about the need for democracy in the Middle East. “We don’t have much of a democracy ourselves,” he said mockingly. “Remember our own presidential election; remember Florida!” -- a reference to the disputed ballot recount in 2000.
Miscellaneous
Biden voted against a ban on human cloning, and he remains adamantly opposed to tort reform to curb nuisance lawsuits, including lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
On a few issues, Biden’s positions are in agreement with those generally held by conservatives. For example, he opposes (as noted earlier) the practice known as partial-birth abortion; he opposes federal funding for abortion; he opposes gay marriage (though not civil unions); he backs the Cuban trade embargo; he voted to recognize the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks; and he spoke out against Hugo Chavez’s crackdown on free speech in Venezuela.
Bid for the Presidency
As early as June 2005, Biden first made public his intention to seek the nomination for U.S. President in 2008. On January 31, 2007 he officially entered the presidential race. His campaign failed to gain any traction, however, and on January 3, 2008 he withdrew from the race, which by then was being dominated by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Prior to his selection as Barack Obama’s running mate in August 2008, Biden had been consistently effusive in his praise of John McCain, the Republican Senator who was running for President against Obama.
In a March 2004 appearance on Chris Matthews’ MSNBC program Hardball, Biden suggested that “maybe it is time to have a guy like John McCain -- a Republican -- on the ticket with” the then-Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry.
In two separate television interviews later that spring, Biden stated that Kerry ought to select McCain as his running mate. “I think John McCain would be a great candidate for Vice President,” Biden told Tim Russert of NBC's Meet the Press on one occasion. “I'm sticking with McCain,” Biden added. “I think the single most important thing that John Kerry has to do is … to say ... that guy could be President, or that woman could be President.”
“The only guy on the other [Republican] side who’s qualified [to be President] is John McCain,” Biden said in October 2007. “John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off ...”
Conversely, Biden had often been critical of Barack Obama and his judgment on matters of import:
In a February 2007 interview with the New York Observer, Biden expressed doubts that American voters would elect “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate.” “I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic,” Biden added.
Around that same time, Biden, in an interview with the Huffington Post, said: “The more people learn about them [Obama and Hillary Clinton] and how they handle the pressure, the more their support will evaporate.”
In August 2007, Biden was asked during a debate if he stood by his previous criticism of Obama’s inexperience when he said that “the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” Biden responded, “… I stand by that statement.”
Assessing Obama’s Iraq plan, Biden said on September 13, 2007: “My impression is [Obama] thinks that if we leave, somehow the Iraqis are going to have an epiphany [of diplomatic coexistence among the warring factions]. I’ve seen zero evidence of that.”
In December 2007, Biden said in a campaign ad: “When this campaign is over, political slogans like ‘experience’ and ‘change’ [the latter was Obama’s signature slogan] will mean absolutely nothing. The next president has to act.”
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