Joe Biden

The Democrats have a big field of candidates running for President in 2020. Each of them brings their own unique strengths to the table in a bid to take our country in a very different direction than the one we’re on today.

But as we well know from 2016, the media (and especially social media) gets fixated on non-substantial issues that take up all the oxygen. Plus, they don’t give the candidates the same treatment or the same amount of airtime.

In order to help voters get to know the Democratic candidates, I’ve gathered quotes and information about what the candidates have said or done in regards to the 7 issues that midterm voters identified as the most important. I hope that these guides serve as a helpful starting point for you as you look into which candidates (or how many candidates!) you are interested in supporting in their bid to become our next President.

Today, let’s get to know Joe Biden!

Career Highlights

✦ Former Vice President of the United States, 2009-2017
✦ Former U.S. Senator from Delaware, 1973-2009

Healthcare

Medicare for All: “Mr. Biden has not endorsed “Medicare for all” … His campaign website says he wants to “defend and build upon” the Affordable Care Act.” Source

Pro-Choice: “Mr. Biden supports abortion rights and the Roe v. Wade decision, though he has gone back and forth on abortion in the past and has publicly struggled to reconcile his political positions with his Catholic faith. As recently as 2008, he said he believed life began at conception, though he emphasized that this was a personal view and that he did not think it was appropriate to impose it on others through abortion restrictions.” Source 

Mental Health:“A main pillar of our work has been supporting the needs of service members, veterans, and their families — particularly in the areas of military spouse employment, support for military connected children, and mental health and well-being. By championing partners who support this brave and resilient community and using our platform to raise awareness of the challenges they face, we hope to drive progress in the area of mental health support.” Source 

Climate Change

Paris Climate Accord: “As vice president, he helped orchestrate the Paris climate accord, which he has called the “best way to protect our children and global leadership.” Source

Green New Deal: Biden has not yet commented on the Green New Deal. (As of May 9.)

Climate Policy: “As a senator, he supported tax credits for renewable energy and had an 83 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters.” Source

Regulations: “[A]s vice president, he supported a series of emission reduction regulations that Mr. Obama established but Mr. Trump is reversing.” Source 

Environmental Record: “Mr. Biden’s advocacy for government action on climate change goes back more than 30 years: He introduced the Senate’s first climate change bill in 1986.” Source 

Civil Rights

LGBTQ Rights: “Serving as vice president of the United States between 2008 and 2016, Biden earned a reputation as a solid supporter of LGBT+ rights, advocating for equal rights in the US and around the world.” Source

Women’s Rights: “As vice president, Biden appointed the first White House advisor on Violence Against Women to prevent gender-based violence worldwide. In the Senate, he authored the Violence Against Women Act and led the charge to pass it.” Source

Equal Rights Amendment: Biden is supportive of the Equal Rights Amendment and has actively campaigned for it. Source

Evolved Stance on Marriage Equality: “In a 5 May 2012 Meet the Press interview Vice President Biden publicly reversed his previous position, stating he was “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.” Source

Transgender Rights: “Joe Biden has said the struggle for transgender equality is the “civil rights issue of our time.” Source

Criminal Justice Reform: “One of the most contentious elements of Mr. Biden’s record is his involvement in the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act… But in discussing criminal justice at an event in January, he acknowledged, “I haven’t always been right.” Mr. Biden’s campaign website says he wants to “reform the criminal justice system,” and that he would work to “eliminate racial disparities at every stage” and “get rid of sentencing practices that don’t fit the crime.” Source

Gun Reform

Gun Reform: “Biden has long supported greater gun control measures, including an assault weapons ban, a ban on high-capacity magazines, and universal background checks.” Source 

Legislation: “As a senator, Biden authored the assault weapons ban legislation that passed in 1994, seven years after he first introduced it. The law lapsed in 2004 and has not been reinstated. Biden also voted in 1993 for the Brady Bill, which established waiting periods for handgun purchases and created the current background check system.” Source

Voting Record: Biden has consistently received a score of F from the NRA for his voting record. Source

Voting Rights

Voting Rights: “Calling it one of the most important actions Congress will take this year (2006), U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. today praised the Senate for passing legislation that would renew key sections of the landmark Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, a bill that banned discriminatory practices such as literacy tests and poll taxes, designed to deny African Americans the right to vote.” Source

Voter ID: “Biden criticized recent bills introduced in states that would require tougher voter identification standards.” Source  

Expanding Voting Rights: “In a new online video, Vice President Joe Biden blasts ongoing Republican efforts to make voting more difficult, and urges supporters to join the growing effort to push back.” Source 

Economic Inequality

Taxes: “Biden identifies a tax code that is excessively friendly to investors rather than workers as a central problem and calls for higher taxes on rich business owners’ passive income in order to finance things like a tripling of the Child Tax Credit and other benefits for middle class working people.” Source 

Philosophy: “A strong middle class breeds opportunity,” former Vice President Joe Biden said at a Brookings event on May 8, yet “if we have a weak middle class, we have a fractured country.” … “The first of five ideas he proposed was to address income inequity, a “yawning” gap that is “having the effect of pulling us apart.” One way to do this is to address a tax code that, he said, is “wildly skewed” in the way it favors investors over workers.” Source

Minimum Wage: He supports raising the minimum wage to $15/hr. Source 

Equal Pay: “Equal pay for equal work. It’s common sense. It’s also overdue. Let’s close the gap & let’s do it now.” Source

Automation: “‘The bargain has been broken,’ Biden said. ‘Folks in the middle class are in trouble. It’s not just their perception.’ The impact of automation and technology on jobs, for example, will only deepen that inequality, Biden said, and demands a policy response.” Source

Workers’ Rights: “He calls for “laws that allow labor unions to flourish and fight for basic worker protections” but also for a suite of new kinds of protections that operate outside the scope of traditional union-focused labor law. Biden wants a ban on non-compete agreements, a suite of measures to ensure that workers can discuss their pay without fear of retaliation, and stronger measures against wage theft.” Source

Foreign Affairs

Russia: “Biden has voiced concerns about Russia alleged backsliding on democratic reforms. In August 2008, Biden criticized Russia’s military action in Georgia. “By acting disproportionately with a full-scale attack on Georgia and seeking the ouster of Georgia’s democratically elected President Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow is jeopardizing its standing in Europe and the broader international community—and risking very real practical and political consequences.” Source 

North Korea: “He characterized the first summit between Trump and Kim, last year in Singapore, where the two signed a four-point agreement calling for peace on the Korean peninsula and the denuclearization of North Korea, as a “great gift” to Kim. “He was legitimized,” Biden said, according to the Journal Star. “This guy is a thug.” Source

China: Recently, Biden has downplayed the competition that China presents to the U.S., which has been criticized on many fronts. Source

Iran: “As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Biden has been a prominent voice calling for “hard-headed diplomacy” with Iran. … He also has called for the implementation of “coordinated international sanctions” on Iran, adding “we should complement this pressure by presenting a detailed, positive vision for U.S.–Iran relations if Iran does the right thing.” Source

Saudi Arabia: “Former Vice President and current 2020 candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday called for the United States to end its support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.” Source 

Campaign website: Joe Biden for President

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Check out all of our 7 Issues Guides: Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jay Inslee, John Hickenlooper, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, John Delaney, Joe Biden, Eric Swalwell

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Categories: 2020 Candidates

Tags: 2020 Democratic candidates, 2020 Democratic primary, 2020 presidential election, 7 issues, civil rights, climate change, economic inequality, featured, foreign affairs, gun reform, healthcare, Joe Biden, voting rights