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47th Vice President of the United States
Copyright Joe Biden. Used by Permission.
Birthname: Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
Age & Birthplace: November 20, 1942 (Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Political Party: Democratic
Spouse: Neilia Hunter (1966–1972), Jill Jacobs (1977–present)
Children: Beau Biden, Robert Biden, Naomi Biden, Ashley Biden
Residence: Number One Observatory Circle, Wilmington, Delaware
Alma Mater: University of Delaware, Syracuse University College of Law
Occupation: Lawyer
Religion: Roman Catholicism
Government Website: www.WhiteHouse.gov/VicePresident
Campaign Website: www.JoeBiden.com
The Issues
Abortion
“Strongly” supports Roe v. Wade, but opposes public funding for abortion. Voted yes to a federal ban on so-called partial-birth abortions. Voted against parental notification for minors who get out-of-state abortions.
Budget, Taxes & Economy
Wants to repeal the Bush tax cuts for top 1 percent of earners, extend middle-class cuts and freeze estate taxes at 2009 levels. Supports overhauling alternative minimum tax for the middle class but has voted against full repeal.
Opposes private savings accounts that substitute social security. Supports lifting the ceiling on Social Security payroll taxes, currently $102,000 a year.
Education
Voted in favor of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Energy & Environment
Wants to create a 5-year, $50 billion project for energy and climate change to finance research into discovering alternative energy sources and developing technologies. Opposes domestic drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Supports a mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. Opposes Keystone XL pipeline.
Foreign Policy
Refocusing on the Threat from al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Taken the fight to al Qaeda and eliminated Osama bin Laden. Ending the War in Iraq, bring troops home by end of 2011. Built an international coalition to stop a massacre in Libya, and to support the Libyan people as they overthrew the regime of Moammar Qadhafi.
Gay Rights
Opposes same-sex marriage and supports Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Gun Control
Introduced bill to renew ban on assault weapons and to close the so-called gun-show loophole by requiring gun show sales to have background checks.
Healthcare
Wants to insure all under age 21, allow families to buy into SCHIP, cover children in families up to 3 times the poverty level ($61,950 for family of 4), create a pool of private plans similar to that for federal workers.
Immigration
Supports a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants that includes learning English and paying fines. Wants to toughen penalties for employers who hire undocumented immigrants. Would create a guest worker program.
Jobs & Corporations
Proposed the American Jobs Act of 2011 along with President Obama. Cutting and suspending $245 billion worth of payroll taxes for qualifying employers and 160 million medium to low income employees. Spending $62 billion for a Pathways Back to Work Program for expanding opportunities for low-income youth and adults. Spending $50 billion on both new & pre-existing infrastructure projects. Spending $35 billion in additional funding to protect the jobs of teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Spending $30 billion to modernize at least 35,000 public schools and community colleges. Spending $15 billion on a program that would hire construction workers to help rehabilitate and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes and businesses. Creating the National Infrastructure Bank (capitalized with $10 billion), originally proposed in 2007, to help fund infrastructure via private and public capital. Creating a nationwide, interoperable wireless network for public safety, while expanding accessibility to high-speed wireless services. Creating additional regulations on businesses who discriminate against hiring those who are long-term unemployed. Loosening regulations on small businesses that wish to raise capital, including through crowdfunding, while retaining investor protections.
National Security,
Homeland Security,
& Defense
Voted for the 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war, but now says that was a mistake.Opposed 2007 troop buildup in Iraq, and proposed withdrawing most forces from Iraq by the summer of 2008, while leaving a small force behind.
Supported the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act. In 2007, Biden supported direct engagement with Iran “to exploit fissures within the government and between the government and the people.”
2008 position: Wants to close prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, restore habeas corpus and try detainees in federal courts, not military tribunals. Co-sponsored bill that would release all prisoners who have not been charged (nearly all of them).
Candidate Biography
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the first of four siblings. In 1953, the Biden family moved from Pennsylvania to Claymont, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School and served on the New Castle County Council. Then, at age 29, he became one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate.
Just weeks after the election, tragedy struck the Biden family, when Biden's wife, Neilia, and their 1-year old daughter, Naomi, were killed and their two young sons critically injured in an auto accident. Vice President Biden was sworn in to the U.S. Senate at his sons' hospital bedside and began commuting to Washington every day by train, a practice he maintained throughout his career in the Senate.
In 1977, Vice President Biden married Jill Jacobs. Jill Biden, who holds a Ph.D. in Education, has been an educator for over two decades and currently teaches at a DC-area community college. The Vice President has three children: Beau, Hunter, and Ashley. Beau serves as Delaware's Attorney General and recently returned home from Iraq where he served as a Captain in the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware National Guard. Ashley is a social worker and Hunter is an attorney. Vice President Biden has five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel ("Maisy"), Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
As a Senator from Delaware for 36 years, Senator Biden established himself as a leader on some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years, then-Senator Biden was widely recognized for his work on criminal justice issues including the landmark 1994 Crime Bill and the Violence Against Women Act. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 1997, then-Senator Biden played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He has been at the forefront of issues and legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.
Now, as the 47th Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden has continued his leadership on important issues facing the nation. The Vice President was tasked with implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, helping to rebuild our economy and lay the foundation for a sustainable economic future. He is also the chair of the administration’s Middle Class Task Force, a major White House initiative targeted at raising the living standards of middle class families in America. In addition, he is providing sustained, high level focus for the administration on Iraq policy and has traveled to the country multiple times since being elected as Vice President. Vice President Biden continues to draw on his vast foreign policy experience, advising the President on a multitude of international issues and representing our country to many regions of the world, including travel to Germany, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Spain, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Finland, Russia, and Moldova.
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