Joe Biden has been a powerful force on the American political scene for more than three decades. Commuting from Wilmington to Washington each day, Biden is a leading voice for Democrats everywhere. In 2002, the people of Delaware entrusted him with a record sixth term in the U.S. Senate.
Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on November 20, 1942, Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. His father, Joseph Biden, Sr., was the manager of a car dealership and his mother Jean Finnegan was a stay at home mom. Biden was raised in a typical middle class family in the neighborhood of Mayfield. He attended Catholic school at Archmere Academy, where he played baseball and football.
After graduating from high school, Biden went on to the University of Delaware, earning a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science in 1965. The following year he enrolled in Syracuse University Law School and graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 1968.
Biden entered public life at the end of the turbulent 1960s. He returned home to Delaware and practiced law before winning a seat on the New Castle County Council in 1970. Despite the fact that he was a Democrat running in a predominantly Republican district, Biden won by a large margin.
In 1972, at the age of 29, Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate in an upset victory against a heavily favored incumbent Senator Caleb Boggs. Biden ran a positive campaign based largely on his opposition to the Vietnam War and a call for morality in government.
Since coming to Washington, Senator Biden has worked to become one of the Democratic party's leading voices on foreign policy, national security, and crime prevention issues. Currently the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden also chaired the Judiciary Committee where he served as a leader in defending individual liberties and maintaining an independent judiciary.
FOREIGN POLICY & NATIONAL SECURITY
As the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden is respected at home and abroad for his well-informed, common sense approach to the complexities of American foreign policy. Senator Richard Lugar, who currently chairs the committee, said: "Senator Biden has a very strong commitment to a bipartisan foreign policy and serves as a good example for everyone in Congress. He has a very broad, comprehensive view of the world. He's a good listener, but he's also a strong and effective advocate of his position."
WINNING THE PEACE IN IRAQ
In July, 2002, nine months before the Iraq war, Senator Biden convened hearings to begin the national dialogue on Iraq. He joined Senators Lugar and Hagel in urging President Bush to build a strong international coalition and a detailed plan to win the peace. He strongly supports the U.S. goal of achieving a stable, representative Iraq, but has provided constructive criticism of the Bush Administration and made specific recommendations to help U.S. policy succeed.
Combating Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction Starting in the mid-1990s, Biden proposed comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation. Before the 9/11 attacks, he warned that the Bush Administration's intense focus on missile defense might cause us to divert our attention from other, more likely threats. In a major speech on September 10, 2001, Senator Biden said that the new threat to the United States "would not come from an inter-continental ballistic missile with a return address" but in "the belly of a plane" or from a "vial smuggled in a backpack or a bomb in the hold of a ship." After the attacks of 9/11, he authored legislation to help foreign countries address the threats of bioterrorism and nuclear or radiological ("dirty bombs") terrorism.
PREVENTING GENOCIDE
Through his work on the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden has sought to promote the use of American power to stop dictators who commit crimes against humanity or genocide. In the mid-1990s, Biden was among the first to call for active American leadership to end Serbian aggression in Bosnia, and likewise urged U.S. action in Kosovo to stop Slobodon Milosevic's genocidal actions there. He has urged strong U.S. and international action to prevent genocide in Darfur, and authored legislation to pressure the Sudanese regime.
SAFEGUARDING OUR COMMUNITIES
Senator Biden spent 16 years as the Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A strong leader on anti-crime and drug policy, Biden has been instrumental in crafting virtually every major piece of crime legislation over the past two decades, from laws targeting violent drug gangs in the 1980s and 1990s to corporate fraud in the current Enron white collar scandals. Senator Biden is spearheading a new initiative to help former convicts transition from prison back into their communities and become productive members of society.
SECURING OUR HOMELAND
Senator Biden has long been a leader in protecting Americans from potential terrorist attacks. He has led the fight for resources to equip and train our first responders and to protect our rail, port and airport systems.
THE BIDEN CRIME LAW/COPS PROGRAM
The Biden Crime Law, which was signed by President Clinton in 1994, provided key federal resources for crime prevention, enforcement, and corrections. A critical component was the creation of the COPS Program, which helped put 100,000 additional police officers in communities across America.
PREVENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Senator Biden wrote the 1994 landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which is the first federal law to address gender-based crimes in a comprehensive way. These laws strengthened federal penalties for abusers, stalkers, and repeat sex offenders and provided $3.8 billion to states to fund battered women's shelters, train police, prosecutors and nurses, and established a national domestic violence hotline. Senator Biden is a leading voice in combating human and sex trafficking around the world. Biden also authored important DNA legislation in 2004 to help eliminate the national backlog of 500,000 untested rape kits, and get sex offenders off the streets. With the assistance of Microsoft, ESRI, AOL/Time Warner, IBM, Nortel, Sony Electronics, Dell, Verizon Wireless, and Intertel, Senator Biden is spearheading a private-public partnership to provide the National Domestic Violence Hotline with technology upgrades to allow it to handle the enormous volume of phone calls it receives from abused and battered women.
ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
Senator Biden authored the 1996 law establishing a national FBI database to track the whereabouts and movements of convicted sex offenders and requiring sexually violent predators and repeat offenders to register for life as sex offenders in their states of residence. He also wrote the law extending Children's Advocacy Centers, national centers to provide counseling and care to children victimized by sexual and physical violence.
HELPING OUR STUDENTS
To help Americans struggling to afford the rising costs of college tuition, Senator Biden has been a staunch supporter of college aid and loan programs and has offered legislation to allow families to deduct up to $10,000 per year in higher education expenses on their annual income tax returns. And to prepare today's students to meet the technology challenges of tomorrow, Biden has undertaken bold initiatives in the Senate to close the "digital divide" and ensure that all students have access to the on-ramp of the information super highway. His "Kids 2000" legislation establishes a public/private partnership to help provide computer centers, teachers, Internet access and technical training to young people across the nation, particularly to low-income and at-risk youth.
ENSURING AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY
Over the last two decades, Senator Biden has had a leading role in the Supreme Court confirmation process. Biden established the standard for the Senate's Constitutional duty to "advise and consent" in a series of influential 1987 speeches leading up to the historic confirmation hearing of Judge Robert Bork.
COMBATING DRUG TRAFFICKING AND ABUSE
As the Co-Chairman of the Senate Drug Caucus, Senator Biden has long been a national voice for effective drug control policies. He created the nation's Drug Czar Office to oversee the federal government's anti-drug strategy. Biden also helped create "drug courts" that combine intensive supervision, drug testing and treatment for non-violent first offenders.
FIGHTING CORPORATE FRAUD AND ABUSE
Senator Biden joined the fight in 2002 to clean up corporate America in response to the scandals at Enron, World Com, among others. Biden wrote the law requiring top corporate officers to certify the accuracy of their books, to stop accounting scams which led to the bankruptcy of these companies and the collapse of company pension plans.
PREVENTING HIGH-TECH PIRACY
Senator Biden has been a leader in fighting the domestic and international criminal piracy of movies, software and music. Biden wrote the 2004 law to outlaw the use of counterfeit labeling to pass off pirated high tech goods as legitimate. In his role as co-chair of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, Senator Biden has shone a spot light on the rampant piracy rates abroad and the danger this crime poses to the American economy.
Speech Transcripts
07/19/2006 FOUR STEPS TOWARDS ENERGY SECURITY
05/01/2006 THE WAY FORWARD IN IRAQ
In a speech in front of the Philadelphia World Affairs Council, Senator Biden lays out a 5 point plan for Iraq that gives Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds room to breath in their own regions
03/16/2006 TRIBUTE TO AN IRISH MOTHER
Senator Biden pays a tribute to his mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, at the American Ireland Fund's National Gala
02/23/2006 RECAPTURING THE TOTALITY OF AMERICA'S STRENGTH
Senator Biden talks about the range of tools available to achieve America's foregin policy goals, in addition to military power.
11/21/2005 TURNING THE CORNER IN IRAQ
Senator Biden describes how to change course in Iraq.
09/12/2005 SENATOR BIDEN'S OPENING STATEMENT AT THE CONFIRMATION HEARINGS FOR JOHN G. ROBERTS, Jr.
Senator Biden gives his opening statement at the Confirmation hearings for John G. Roberts, Jr. to become Chief Justice of the United States
07/29/2005 WHAT'S AT STAKE: THE CONSTITUTION AND THE SUPREME COURT
Senator Biden, Judiciary Committee Member, talks about the Supreme Court confirmation process at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy's national convention in Washington, DC.
06/21/2005 A NEW COMPACT FOR IRAQ
Senator Biden delivers remarks to the Brookings Institution urging the Bush Administration to level with the American public about Iraq
07/01/2003 EULOGY FOR STROM THURMOND
Senator Biden delivers the eulogy at the funeral of Senator Strom Thurmond.
09/10/2001 U.S. FOREIGN POLICY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: DEFINING OUR INTERESTS IN A CHANGING WORLD
The Speech Senator Biden gave the day BEFORE the attacks on 9-11