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Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He graduated from the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and to the U.S. Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He also oversaw nine [[Supreme Court of the United States (Lucyandanny)|U.S. Supreme Court]] confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. In the [[2020 United States presidential election (Lucyandanny)|2020 presidential election]], Biden chose [[Kamala Harris (Lucyandanny)|Kamala Harris]] as his running mate and defeated incumbent [[Donald Trump (Lucyandanny)|Donald Trump]]. He is the oldest president in U.S. history, and the first serving with a woman as vice president.
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Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He graduated from the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and to the U.
S. Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He also oversaw nine [[Supreme Court of the United States (Lucyandanny)|U.S. Supreme Court]] confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. In the [[2020 United States presidential election (Lucyandanny)|2020 presidential election]], Biden chose [[Kamala Harris (Lucyandanny)|Kamala Harris]] as his running mate and defeated incumbent [[Donald Trump (Lucyandanny)|Donald Trump]]. He is the oldest president in U.S. history, and the first serving with a woman as vice president.
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As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession. He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He proposed the Build Back Better Act, which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
In foreign policy, Biden restored Americas membership in the Paris Agreement. In April 2023, Biden announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the [[2024 United States presidential election (Lucyandanny)|2024 presidential election]], and is now the presumptive nominee. Following a June 2024 debate with Trump and numerous age and health concerns,
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As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession. He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He proposed the Build Back Better Act, which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling. In foreign policy, Biden restored Americas membership in the Paris Agreement. In April 2023, Biden announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the [[2024 United States presidential election (Lucyandanny)|2024 presidential election]], and is now the presumptive nominee.
Following a June 2024 debate with Trump and numerous age and health concerns, to .
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== Early life (1942–1965) ==
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== Early life (1942–1965) ==
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Biden was not on the ballot in the January 23 New Hampshire primary, but he won it in a write-in campaign with 63.8% of the vote. He had wanted South Carolina to be the first primary, and won that state on February 3 with 96.2% of the vote. Biden received 89.3% of the vote in Nevada and 81.1% of the vote in Michigan, with none of these candidates and uncommitted coming in second in each state, respectively. On March 5 (Super Tuesday), he won 15 of 16 primaries, netting 80% or more of the vote in 13 of them. On March 12, he reached more than the 1,968 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination, becoming the presumptive nominee.
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Biden was not on the ballot in the January 23 New Hampshire primary, but he won it in a write-in campaign with 63.8% of the vote. He had wanted South Carolina to be the first primary, and won that state on February 3 with 96.2% of the vote. Biden received 89.3% of the vote in Nevada and 81.1% of the vote in Michigan, with none of these candidates and uncommitted coming in second in each state, respectively.
On March 5 (Super Tuesday), he won 15 of 16 primaries, netting 80% or more of the vote in 13 of them. On March 12, he reached more than the 1,968 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination, becoming the presumptive nominee.
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The first presidential debate was held on June 27, 2024, between Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Bidens performance was widely criticized, with commentators saying he frequently lost his train of thought and gave meandering answers. Several newspaper columnists declared Trump the winner, and polling indicated most of the public thought Trump won. After the debate raised questions about his health, Biden faced calls to withdraw from the race, including from fellow Democrats and the editorial boards of several major news outlets. Biden insisted that he would remain a candidate.
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The first presidential debate was held on June 27, 2024, between Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Bidens performance was widely criticized, with commentators saying he frequently lost his train of thought and gave meandering answers. Several newspaper columnists declared Trump the winner, and polling indicated most of the public thought Trump won.
After the debate raised questions about his health, Biden faced calls to withdraw from the race, including from fellow Democrats and the editorial boards of several major news outlets. Biden insisted that he would remain a candidate.
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== Political positions ==
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== Political positions ==
Latest revision as of 00:04, 23 July 2024
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Joe Biden
[President of the United States](/wiki/President_of_the_United_States_(Lucyandanny))
January 20, 2021
[Vice President](/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States_(Lucyandanny)) [Prime Minister](/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_States_(Lucyandanny)) [Kamala Harris](/wiki/Kamala_Harris_(Lucyandanny))(until 2023) [Hakeem Jeffries](/wiki/Hakeem_Jeffries_(Lucyandanny))(since 2024) [Donald Trump](/wiki/Donald_Trump_(Lucyandanny))
January 3, 1973 – January 3, 2021
January 5, 1971 – January 3, 1973
November 20, 1942 (age 81)
Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
affiliations
[FFNAP](/wiki/Founding_Fathers_for_a_New_America_Party_(Lucyandanny))(1969-2017)
Jill Jacobs (m. 1977)
Syracuse University (JD)
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who is the 46th and current
[president of the United States](/wiki/President_of_the_United_States) since 2021.
A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware in the [United States Senate](/wiki/United_States_Senate_(Lucyandanny)) from 1973 to 2021.
Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He graduated from the University of Delaware before earning his law degree from Syracuse University. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and to the U.S. Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He also oversaw nine
[U.S. Supreme Court](/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States_(Lucyandanny)) confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. In the [2020 presidential election](/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_(Lucyandanny)), Biden chose [Kamala Harris](/wiki/Kamala_Harris_(Lucyandanny)) as his running mate and defeated incumbent [Donald Trump](/wiki/Donald_Trump_(Lucyandanny)). He is the oldest president in U.S. history, and the first serving with a woman as vice president.
As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession.
He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He proposed the Build Back Better Act, which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling. In foreign policy, Biden restored Americas membership in the Paris Agreement. In April 2023, Biden announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the
[2024 presidential election](/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_(Lucyandanny)), and is now the presumptive nominee. Following a June 2024 debate with Trump and numerous age and health concerns, However, he withdrew his candidacy in July 2024 after a series of health concerns and endorsed Harris to succeed him.
Early life (1942–1965)
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, at St. Marys Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Catherine Eugenia Jean Biden (née Finnegan) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. The oldest child in a Catholic family of English, French, and Irish descent, he has a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, Francis and James.
Bidens father had been wealthy and the family purchased a home in the affluent Long Island suburb of Garden City in the fall of 1946, but he suffered business setbacks around the time Biden was seven years old, and for several years the family lived with Bidens maternal grandparents in Scranton. Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Bidens father could not find steady work. Beginning in 1953 when Biden was ten, the family lived in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, before moving to a house in nearby Mayfield. Biden Sr. later became a successful used-car salesman, maintaining the family in a middle-class lifestyle.
At Archmere Academy in Claymont, Biden played baseball and was a standout halfback and wide receiver on the high school football team. Though a poor student, he was class president in his junior and senior years. He graduated in 1961. At the University of Delaware in Newark, Biden briefly played freshman football, and, as an unexceptional student, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 with a double major in history and political science.
Biden had a stutter and has mitigated it since his early twenties. He has described his efforts to reduce it by reciting poetry before a mirror.
Marriages, law school, and early career (1966–1973)
Biden married Neilia Hunter, a student at Syracuse University, on August 27, 1966, after overcoming her parents disinclination for her to wed a Catholic. Their wedding was held in a Catholic church in Skaneateles, New York. They had three children: Joseph R. Beau Biden III, Robert Hunter Biden, and Naomi Christina Amy Biden.
Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. In his first year of law school he failed a course because he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote, but the failing grade was later stricken. His grades were relatively poor, and he graduated 76th in a class of 85 students. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969.
In 1969, Biden practiced law, first as a public defender and then at a law firm headed by a locally active Democrat, who named him to the Democratic Forum, a group trying to reform and revitalize the state party; Biden subsequently reregistered as a Democrat. He and another attorney also formed a law firm. Corporate law did not appeal to him, and criminal law did not pay well. He supplemented his income by managing properties.
Biden ran for the 4th district seat on the New Castle County Council in 1970 on a liberal platform that included support for public housing in the suburbs.
The seat had been held by Republican Henry R. Folsom, who was running in the 5th District following a reapportionment of council districts. Biden won the general election, defeating Republican Lawrence T. Messick, and took office on January 5, 1971. He served until January 1, 1973, and was succeeded by Democrat Francis R. Swift. During his time on the county council, Biden opposed large highway projects, which he argued might disrupt Wilmington neighborhoods.
Death of wife and daughter
A few weeks after Biden was elected senator, his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in an automobile accident while Christmas shopping in Hockessin, Delaware, on December 18, 1972. Neilias station wagon was hit by a semi-trailer truck as she pulled out from an intersection. Their sons Beau (aged 3) and Hunter (aged 2) were in the car, and were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Beau with a broken leg and other wounds and Hunter with a minor skull fracture and other head injuries. Biden considered resigning to care for them, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield persuaded him not to. Biden contemplated suicide and was filled with anger and religious doubt. He wrote that he felt God had played a horrible trick on him, and had trouble focusing on work.
Second marriage
Biden met teacher Jill Tracy Jacobs in 1975 on a blind date. They married at the United Nations chapel in New York on June 17, 1977, and spent their honeymoon at Lake Balaton in the
[Hungarian Peoples Republic](/wiki/Hungary_(Lucyandanny)). Biden credits her with the renewal of his interest in politics and life. The couple attends Mass at St. Josephs on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware.
Their daughter, Ashley Biden, is a social worker and is married to physician Howard Krein. Jill helped raise her stepsons, Beau and Hunter. Beau became an Army Judge Advocate in Iraq and later Delaware Attorney General; he died of brain cancer in 2015. Hunter has worked as a Washington lobbyist and investment adviser; his business dealings, personal life, and legal issues have come under significant scrutiny during his fathers presidency.
Teaching
From 1991 to 2008, as an adjunct professor, Biden co-taught a seminar on constitutional law at Widener University School of Law. He sometimes flew back from overseas to teach the class.
U.S. Senate (1973–2021)
Senate activities
Secretary of the Senate Francis R. Valeo swore Biden in at the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center in January 1973.
Present were his sons Beau (whose leg was still in traction from the automobile accident) and Hunter and other family members. At age 30, he was the seventh-youngest senator in U.S. history. To see his sons, Biden traveled by train between his Delaware home and D.C.—74 minutes each way—and maintained this habit throughout his 48 years in the Senate.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, Biden was reelected in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, and 2014 regularly receiving about 99% of the vote. He was junior senator to William Roth, who was first elected in 1970, until Roth was defeated in 2000. As of 2024, he was the 3rd-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
In the mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senates strongest opponents of race-integration busing. His Delaware constituents strongly opposed it, and such opposition nationwide later led his party to mostly abandon school integration policies. In his first Senate campaign, Biden had expressed support for busing to remedy de jure segregation, as in the South, but opposed its use to remedy de facto segregation arising from racial patterns of neighborhood residency, as in Delaware; he opposed a proposed constitutional amendment banning busing entirely.
Biden supported a 1976 measure forbidding the use of federal funds for transporting students beyond the school closest to them. He co-sponsored a 1977 amendment closing loopholes in that measure, which President Carter signed into law in 1978.
He was a Democratic floor manager for the successful passage of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act in 1984. His supporters praised him for modifying some of the laws worst provisions, and it was his most important legislative accomplishment to that time. In 1994, Biden helped pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which included a ban on assault weapons, and the Violence Against Women Act, which he has called his most significant legislation. The 1994 crime law was unpopular among progressives and criticized for resulting in mass incarceration; in 2019, Biden called his role in passing the bill a big mistake, citing its policy on crack cocaine and saying that the bill trapped an entire generation.
Biden voted for a 1993 provision that deemed homosexuality incompatible with military life, thereby banning gay people from serving in the armed forces. In 1996, he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, thereby barring individuals in such marriages from equal protection under federal law and allowing states to do the same.
In 2015, the act was ruled unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Biden was critical of Independent Counsel Ken Starr during the 1990s Whitewater controversy and Lewinsky scandal investigations, saying its going to be a cold day in hell before another independent counsel would be granted similar powers. He voted to acquit during the impeachment of President Clinton. During the 2000s, Biden sponsored bankruptcy legislation sought by credit card issuers. Clinton vetoed the bill in 2000, but it passed in 2005 as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, with Biden being one of only 18 Democrats to vote for it, while leading Democrats and consumer rights organizations opposed it. As a senator, Biden strongly supported increased Amtrak funding and rail security.
Brain surgeries
In February 1988, after several episodes of increasingly severe neck pain, Biden underwent surgery to correct a leaking intracranial berry aneurysm. While recuperating, he suffered a pulmonary embolism, a serious complication. After a second aneurysm was surgically repaired in May, Bidens recuperation kept him away from the Senate for seven months.
Senate Judiciary Committee
Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
He chaired it from 1987 to 1995 and was a ranking minority member from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 1997.
During Clarence Thomass nomination hearings in 1991, Bidens questions on constitutional issues were often convoluted to the point that Thomas sometimes lost track of them, and Thomas later wrote that Bidens questions were akin to beanballs. After the committee hearing closed, the public learned that Anita Hill, a University of Oklahoma law school professor, had accused Thomas of making unwelcome sexual comments when they had worked together. Biden had known of some of these charges, but initially shared them only with the committee because Hill was then unwilling to testify. The committee hearing was reopened and Hill testified, but Biden did not permit testimony from other witnesses, such as a woman who had made similar charges and experts on harassment. The full Senate confirmed Thomas by a 100–0vote. Liberal legal advocates and womens groups felt strongly that Biden had mishandled the hearings and not done enough to support Hill. In 2019, he told Hill he regretted his treatment of her, but Hill said afterward she remained unsatisfied.
2020 presidential campaign
Speculation and announcement
Between 2016 and 2019, media outlets often mentioned Biden as a likely candidate for president in 2020.
When asked if he would run, he gave varied and ambivalent answers, saying never say never. A political action committee known as Time for Biden was formed in January 2018, seeking Bidens entry into the race. He finally launched his campaign on April 25, 2019, saying he was prompted to run because he was worried by the Trump administration and felt a sense of duty.
Campaign
As the 2020 campaign season heated up, voluminous public polling showed Biden as one of the best-performing Democratic candidates in a head-to-head matchup against President Trump. With Democrats keenly focused on electability for defeating Trump, this boosted his popularity among Democratic voters. It also made Biden a frequent target of Trump. In September 2019, it was reported that Trump had pressured Ukrainian SSR leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Despite the allegations, no evidence was produced of any wrongdoing by the Bidens. Trumps pressure to investigate the Bidens was perceived by many as an attempt to hurt Bidens chances of winning the presidency. Trumps alleged actions against Biden resulted in a political scandal and Trumps impeachment by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of congress.
In March 2019 and April 2019, eight women accused Biden of previous instances of inappropriate physical contact, such as embracing, touching or kissing. Biden had previously called himself a tactile politician and admitted this behavior had caused trouble for him. Journalist Mark Bowden described Bidens lifelong habit of talking close, writing that he doesnt just meet you, he engulfs you... scooting closer and leaning forward to talk. In April 2019, Biden pledged to be more respectful of peoples personal space.
Throughout 2019, Biden stayed generally ahead of other Democrats in national polls. Despite this, he finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses, and eight days later, fifth in the New Hampshire primary. He performed better in the Nevada caucuses, reaching the 15% required for delegates, but still finished 21.6 percentage points behind Bernie Sanders. Making strong appeals to Black voters on the campaign trail and in the South Carolina debate, Biden won the South Carolina primary by more than 28 points. After the withdrawals and subsequent endorsements of candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, he made large gains in the March 3 Super Tuesday primary elections. Biden won 18 of the next 26 contests, putting him in the lead overall.
Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg soon dropped out, and Biden expanded his lead with victories over Sanders in four states on March 10.
In late March 2020, Tara Reade, one of the eight women who in 2019 had accused Biden of inappropriate physical contact, accused Biden of having sexually assaulted her in 1993. There were inconsistencies between Reades 2019 and 2020 allegations. Biden and his campaign denied the sexual assault allegation.
When Sanders suspended his campaign on April 8, 2020, Biden became the Democratic Partys presumptive nominee for president. On April 13, Sanders endorsed Biden in a live-streamed discussion from their homes. On August 11, Biden announced U.S. senator
[Kamala Harris](/wiki/Kamala_Harris_(Lucyandanny)) of California as his running mate, making her the first African American and first South Asian American vice-presidential nominee on a major-party ticket. On August 18, 2020, Biden was officially nominated at the 2020 Democratic National Convention as the Democratic Party nominee for president in the [2020 election](/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_(Lucyandanny)).
Presidential transition
Biden was
[elected](/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_(Lucyandanny)) the 46th president of the United States in November 2020.
He defeated the incumbent, [Donald Trump](/wiki/Donald_Trump_(Lucyandanny)), becoming the first candidate to defeat a sitting president since Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932.
Trump refused to concede, insisting the election had been stolen from him through voter fraud, challenging the results in court and promoting numerous conspiracy theories about the voting and vote-counting processes, in an attempt to overturn the election results. Bidens transition was delayed by several weeks as the White House ordered federal agencies not to cooperate. On November 23, General Services Administrator Emily W. Murphy formally recognized Biden as the apparent winner of the 2020 election and authorized the start of a transition process to the Biden administration.
On January 6, 2021, during Congress electoral vote count, Trump told supporters gathered in front of the White House to march to the Capitol, saying, We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesnt happen. You dont concede when theres theft involved. Soon after, they attacked the Capitol. During the insurrection at the Capitol, Biden addressed the nation, calling the events an unprecedented assault unlike anything weve seen in modern times.
After the Capitol was cleared, Congress resumed its joint session and officially certified the election results with Vice President
[Mike Pence](/wiki/Mike_Pence_(Lucyandanny)), in his capacity as President of the Senate, declaring Biden and Harris the winners.
Presidency (2021–present)
Inauguration
Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021. At 78, he was the oldest person to have assumed the office. He is the first Catholic president and the first president whose home state is Delaware. Bidens inauguration was a muted affair unlike any previous inauguration due to COVID-19 precautions as well as massively increased security measures because of the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Trump did not attend, becoming the first outgoing president since 1869 to not attend his successors inauguration.
First 100 days
In his first two days as president, Biden signed 17 executive orders. By his third day, orders had included rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, ending the state of national emergency at the border with Mexico, directing the government to rejoin the World Health Organization, face mask requirements on federal property, measures to combat hunger in the United States, and revoking permits for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
On March 11, the first anniversary of COVID-19 having been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus and relief package that he had proposed to support the United States recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The package included direct payments to most Americans, an extension of increased unemployment benefits, funds for vaccine distribution and school reopenings, and expansions of health insurance subsidies and the child tax credit. Bidens initial proposal included an increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, but after the Senate parliamentarian determined that including the increase in a budget reconciliation bill would violate Senate rules, Democrats declined to pursue overruling her and removed the increase from the package.
Also in March, amid a rise in migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico, Biden told migrants, Dont come over. In the meantime, migrant adults are being sent back, Biden said, in reference to the continuation of the Trump administrations Title 42 policy for quick deportations. Biden earlier announced that his administration would not deport unaccompanied migrant children; the rise in arrivals of such children exceeded the capacity of facilities meant to shelter them (before they were sent to sponsors), leading the Biden administration in March to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help.
On April 22–23, Biden held an international climate summit at which he announced that the U.S. would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%–52% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. Other countries also increased their pledges. On April 28, the eve of his 100th day in office, Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress.
Domestic policy
On June 17, Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which officially declared Juneteenth a federal holiday. Juneteenth is the first new federal holiday since 1983. In July 2021, amid a slowing of the COVID-19 vaccination rate in the country and the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, Biden said that the country has a pandemic for those who havent gotten the vaccination and that it was therefore gigantically important for Americans to be vaccinated.
Economy
Biden entered office nine months into a recovery from the COVID-19 recession and his first year in office was characterized by robust growth in real GDP, employment, wages, and stock market returns, amid significantly elevated inflation. Real GDP grew 5.9%, the fastest rate in 37 years. Amid record job creation, the unemployment rate fell at the fastest pace on record during the year.
By the end of 2021, inflation reached a nearly 40-year high of 7.1%, which was partially offset by the highest nominal wage and salary growth in at least 20 years. In his third month in office, Biden signed an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 per hour, an increase of nearly 37%. The order went into effect for 390,000 workers in January 2022.
Amid a surge in inflation and high gas prices, Bidens approval ratings declined, reaching net negative in early 2022. After 5.9% growth in 2021, real GDP growth cooled in 2022 to 2.1%, after slightly negative growth in the first half spurred recession concerns. Job creation and consumer spending remained strong through the year, as the unemployment rate fell to match a 53-year low of 3.5% in December. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June before easing to 3.2% by October 2023. Stocks had had their worst year since 2008 before recovering. Widespread predictions of an imminent recession did not materialize in 2022 or 2023, and by late 2023 indicators showed sharply lower inflation with economic acceleration. GDP growth hit 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023 and the year ended with stocks near record highs, with robust holiday spending.
Biden signed numerous major pieces of economic legislation in the 117th Congress, including the American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. He signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law on August 9, 2022. It provides billions of dollars in new funding to boost domestic research on and manufacture of semiconductors, to compete economically with China.
Over the course of five days in March 2023, three small- to mid-size U.S. banks failed, triggering a sharp decline in global bank stock prices and swift response by regulators to prevent potential global contagion. After Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, the first to do so, Biden expressed opposition to a bailout by taxpayers. He claimed that the partial rollback of Dodd-Frank regulations contributed to the banks failure.
At the beginning of the 118th Congress, Biden and congressional Republicans engaged in a standoff after the U.S. hit its debt limit, which raised the risk that the U.S. would default on its debt. Biden and House speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal to raise the debt limit, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which suspended the debt limit until January 2025.
Biden signed it on June 3, averting a default. The deal was generally seen as favorable to Biden.
Judiciary
By the end of 2021, 40 of Bidens appointees to the federal judiciary had been confirmed, Biden has prioritized diversity in his judicial appointments more than any president in U.S. history, with most of his appointees being women and people of color. Most of his appointments have been in blue states, making a limited impact since the courts in these states already generally lean liberal.
In January 2022, Supreme Court justice James L. Buckley, a conservative nominated by
[Arthur MacArthur IV](/wiki/Arthur_MacArthur_IV_(Lucyandanny)), announced his intention to retire from the Supreme Court. During his 2020 campaign, Biden vowed to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court if a vacancy occurred, a promise he reiterated after Buckley announced his retirement. On February 25, Biden nominated federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 7 and sworn in on June 30. By May 2024, Biden had confirmed 200 federal judges, about two-thirds of them women.
Infrastructure and climate
As part of Bidens Build Back Better agenda, in late March 2021, he proposed the American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion package addressing issues including transport infrastructure, utilities infrastructure, broadband infrastructure, housing, schools, manufacturing, research and workforce development.
After months of negotiations among Biden and lawmakers, in August 2021 the Senate passed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, while the House, also in a bipartisan manner, approved that bill in early November 2021, covering infrastructure related to transport, utilities, and broadband. Biden signed the bill into law in mid-November 2021.
The other core part of the Build Back Better agenda was the Build Back Better Act, a $3.5 trillion social spending bill that expands the social safety net and includes major provisions on climate change. The bill did not have Republican support, so Democrats attempted to pass it on a party-line vote through budget reconciliation, but struggled to win the support of Senator Joe Manchin, even as the price was lowered to $2.2 trillion. After Manchin rejected the bill, the Build Back Better Acts size was reduced. It was comprehensively reworked into the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, covering deficit reduction, climate change, healthcare, and tax reform.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was introduced by senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin. The package aimed to raise $739 billion and authorize $370 billion in spending on energy and climate change, $300 billion in deficit reduction, three years of Affordable Care Act subsidies, prescription drug reform to lower prices, and tax reform.
According to an analysis by the Rhodium Group, the bill will lower US greenhouse gas emissions between 31 percent and 44 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. On August 7, 2022, the Senate passed the bill (as amended) on a 51–50 vote, with all Democrats voting in favor, all Republicans opposed, and Vice President
[Kamala Harris](/wiki/Kamala_Harris_(Lucyandanny)) breaking the tie. The bill was passed by the House on August 12 and was signed by Biden on August 16.
Before and during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Biden promoted an agreement that the U.S. and the European Union cut methane emissions by a third by 2030 and tried to add dozens of other countries to the effort. Biden pledged to double climate funding to developing countries by 2024. Also at COP26, the U.S. and China reached a deal on greenhouse gas emission reduction. The two countries are responsible for 40 percent of global emissions. In July 2023, when the 2023 heat waves hit the U.S., Biden announced several measures to protect the population and said the heat waves were linked to climate change.
COVID-19 diagnosis
On July 21, 2022, Biden tested positive for COVID-19 with reportedly mild symptoms.
According to the White House, he was treated with Paxlovid. He worked in isolation in the White House for five days and returned to isolation when he tested positive again on July 30. On July 17, 2024, Biden again tested positive for COVID-19.
Southern border
Illegal border crossings at the Mexico–United States border began to surge in 2021 when Biden assumed office, following a pandemic-era lull, amid a global rise in migration. From 2021 to 2023, they increased to record highs, reaching an all-time monthly high in December 2023. Throughout 2024, crossings began to significantly decline from the December record, after Biden implemented restrictions on asylum claims from migrants who cross the border between ports of entry and urged Mexico to crack down on migrants. He has also used humanitarian parole to an unprecedented degree to mitigate illegal border crossings, allowing migrants to fly into the U.S. or schedule their entries through official entry points in the U.S.-Mexico border. Over a million migrants have been admitted to the U.S. under humanitarian parole as of January 2024.
Some lawmakers and pundits have criticized Biden for mishandling the southern border. Criticism has come from both liberals who consider his policies too harsh and conservatives who consider them too lax.
Other domestic policy issues
In 2022, Biden endorsed a change to the Senate filibuster to allow for the passing of the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act, on both of which the Senate had failed to invoke cloture. The rules change failed when two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, joined Senate Republicans in opposing it. In April 2022, Biden signed into law the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 to revamp the finances and operations of the United States Postal Service agency.
In the summer of 2022, several other pieces of legislation Biden supported passed Congress. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act aimed to address gun reform issues following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The acts gun control provisions include extended background checks for gun purchasers under 21, clarification of Federal Firearms License requirements, funding for state red flag laws and other crisis intervention programs, further criminalization of arms trafficking and straw purchases, and partial closure of the boyfriend loophole. Biden signed the bill on June 25, 2022.
The Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 was introduced in 2021 and signed into law by Biden on August 10, 2022.
The act intends to significantly improve healthcare access and funding for veterans who were exposed to toxic substances, including burn pits, during military service.
On October 6, 2022, Biden pardoned all Americans convicted of small amounts of cannabis possession under federal law. On December 22, 2023, he pardoned Americans of cannabis use or possession on federal lands regardless of whether they had been charged or prosecuted. Two months after his first round of pardons, he signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and requires the federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial marriages.
In June 2024, Biden issued an executive action offering amnesty to unauthorized immigrants married to American citizens. The program includes a pathway to U.S. residency and citizenship and is expected to initially affect about 500,000 people.
2022 elections
Main article:
[2022 United States elections](/wiki/2022_United_States_Senate_elections_(Lucyandanny))
On September 2, 2022, in a nationally broadcast Philadelphia speech, Biden called for a battle for the soul of the nation. Off camera, he called Trump supporters semi-fascists, which Republican commentators denounced.
A predicted Republican wave election did not materialize and the race for
[U.S. Congress](/wiki/United_States_Congress_(Lucyandanny)) control was much closer than expected, with Republicans securing a slim majority of 222 seats in the House of Representatives, and the Democratic caucus keeping control of the [U.S. Senate](/wiki/2022_United_States_Senate_elections_(Lucyandanny)), with 16 seats, no gains were made.
It was the first midterm election since 1934 in which the party of the incumbent president achieved a net gain in governorships, and the first since 1934 in which the presidents party lost no state legislative chambers. Democrats credited Biden for their unexpectedly favorable performance, and he celebrated the results as a strong day for democracy.
Foreign policy
In June 2021, Biden took his first trip abroad as president. In eight days he visited Belgium, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. He attended a G7 summit, a NATO summit, and an EU summit, and held one-on-one talks with Soviet president
[Vladimir Putin](/wiki/Vladimir_Putin_(Lucyandanny)).
In September 2021, Biden announced AUKUS, a security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long term; the deal included nuclear-powered submarines built for Australias use.
China affairs
The Solomon Islands-China security pact caused alarm in late 2022, as China could build military bases across the South Pacific. Biden sought to strengthen ties with Australia and New Zealand in the wake of the deal, as Anthony Albanese succeeded to the premiership of Australia and Jacinda Arderns government took a firmer line on Chinese influence. In a September 2022 interview with 60 Minutes, Biden said that U.S. forces would defend Taiwan in the event of an unprecedented attack by the Chinese, which is in contrast to the long-standing U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity toward China and Taiwan. The September comments came after three previous comments by Biden that the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Amid increasing tension with China, Bidens administration has repeatedly walked back his statements and asserted that U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed. In late 2022, Biden issued several executive orders and federal rules designed to slow Chinese technological growth, and maintain U.S. leadership over computing, biotech, and clean energy.
On February 4, 2023, Biden ordered the United States Air Force to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The State Department said the balloon carried antennas and other equipment capable of geolocating communications signals, and similar balloons from China have flown over more than 40 nations. The Chinese government denied that the balloon was a surveillance device, instead claiming it was a civilian (mainly meteorological) airship that had blown off course. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his planned visit to China as the incident further damaged U.S.-China relations. In May 2024, the Biden administration doubled tariffs on solar cells imported from China and more than tripled tariffs on lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries imported from China. It also raised tariffs on imports of Chinese steel, aluminum, and medical materials.
Investigations
Retention of classified documents
On November 2, 2022, while packing files at the Penn Biden Center, Bidens attorneys found classified documents dating from his vice presidency in a locked closet. According to the White House, the documents were reported that day to the U.S. National Archives, which recovered them the next day. On November 14, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed U.S. attorney John R. Lausch Jr. to conduct an investigation.
On December 20, a second batch of classified documents was discovered in the garage of Bidens Wilmington, Delaware residence.
The findings broke news on January 9, 2023, after CBS News published an article on the Lausch investigation. On January 12, Garland appointed Robert K. Hur as special counsel to investigate possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records. On January 20, after a 13-hour consensual search by FBI investigators, six more items with classified markings were recovered from Bidens Wilmington residence. FBI agents searched Bidens home in Rehoboth Beach on February 1 and collected papers and notes from his time as vice president, but did not find any classified information. On February 8, 2024, Hur concluded the special counsel investigation and announced that no charges would be brought against Biden.
Business activities
On January 11, 2023, the
[House of Representatives](/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_(Lucyandanny)) launched an investigative committee into the foreign business activities of Bidens son, Hunter, and brother, James. The committees chair, Representative James Comer, simultaneously investigated alleged corruption related to the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.
On September 12, House speaker Kevin McCarthy initiated a formal impeachment inquiry against Biden, saying that the recent House investigations paint a picture of corruption by Biden and his family. Congressional investigations, most notably by the House Oversight committee, have discovered no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden as of December 2023. On December 13, 2023, the
[House of Representatives](/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_(Lucyandanny)) voted 221–212 to formalize an impeachment inquiry into Biden.
2024 presidential campaign
Main article:
[2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries](/wiki/2024_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries_(Lucyandanny))
Ending months of speculation, on April 25, 2023, Biden confirmed he would run for reelection as president in the
[2024 election](/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_(Lucyandanny)), with Harris again as his running mate. The campaign launched four years to the day after the start of his 2020 presidential campaign. On the day of his announcement, a Gallup poll found that Bidens approval rating was 37 percent. Most of those surveyed in the poll said the economy was their biggest concern. During his campaign, Biden has promoted higher economic growth and recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has frequently stated his intention to finish the job as a political rallying cry.
Biden was not on the ballot in the January 23 New Hampshire primary, but he won it in a write-in campaign with 63.8% of the vote. He had wanted South Carolina to be the first primary, and won that state on February 3 with 96.2% of the vote. Biden received 89.3% of the vote in Nevada and 81.1% of the vote in Michigan, with none of these candidates and uncommitted coming in second in each state, respectively. On March 5 (Super Tuesday), he won 15 of 16 primaries, netting 80% or more of the vote in 13 of them. On March 12, he reached more than the 1,968 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination, becoming the presumptive nominee.
The first presidential debate was held on June 27, 2024, between Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Bidens performance was widely criticized, with commentators saying he frequently lost his train of thought and gave meandering answers. Several newspaper columnists declared Trump the winner, and polling indicated most of the public thought Trump won. After the debate raised questions about his health, Biden faced calls to withdraw from the race, including from fellow Democrats and the editorial boards of several major news outlets.
Biden initially insisted that he would remain a candidate, but on July 21, he withdrew his candidacy, writing that this was in the best interest of my party and the country. He endorsed Harris as his successor.
Political positions
As a senator, Biden was regarded as a moderate Democrat. As a presidential nominee, Bidens platform had been called the most progressive of any major party platform in history, although not within his partys ideological vanguard.
Biden says his positions are deeply influenced by Catholic social teaching.
According to political scientist Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, it has become second nature to describe his politics with such ready-made labels as centrist or moderate. Accetti says that Biden represents an Americanized form of Christian democracy, taking positions characteristic of both the center-right and center-left. Biden has cited the Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, credited with starting the Christian democratic movement, as immensely influential in his thinking. Other analysts have likened his ideology to traditional liberalism, a doctrine of liberty, equality, justice and individual rights that relies, in the modern age, on a strong federal government for enforcement.
Such analysts distinguish liberals, who believe in a regulated market economy, from the left, who believe in greater economic intervention or a command economy. In 2022, journalist Sasha Issenberg wrote that Bidens most valuable political skill was an innate compass for the ever-shifting mainstream of the Democratic Party.
Biden has proposed partially reversing the corporate tax cuts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, saying that doing so would not hurt businesses ability to hire. But he supports raising the corporate tax only up to 28% from the 21% established in the 2017 bill, not back to 35%, the corporate tax rate until 2017. He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Biden is a staunch supporter of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He has promoted a plan to expand and build upon it, paid for by revenue gained from reversing some Trump administration tax cuts. Bidens plan aims to expand health insurance coverage to 97% of Americans, including by creating a public health insurance option.
Biden did not support national same-sex marriage rights while in the Senate and voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, but opposed proposals for constitutional amendments that would have banned same-sex marriage nationwide.
Biden has supported same-sex marriage since 2012.
As a senator, Biden forged deep relationships with police groups and was a chief proponent of a Police Officers Bill of Rights measure that police unions supported but police chiefs opposed. In 2020, Biden also ran on decriminalizing cannabis, after advocating harsher penalties for drug use as a U.S. senator.
Biden believes action must be taken on global warming. As a senator, he co-sponsored the Boxer–Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the most stringent climate bill in the
[United States Senate](/wiki/United_States_Senate_(Lucyandanny)). Biden supports nature conservation. According to a report from the Center for American Progress, he broke several records in this domain. He took steps to protect old-growth forests. Biden opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He wants to achieve a carbon-free power sector in the U.S. by 2035 and stop emissions completely by 2050. His program includes reentering the Paris Agreement, green building and more. Biden supports environmental justice, including climate justice and ocean justice. A major step is increasing energy efficiency, water efficiency and resilience to climate disasters in low-income houses for mitigate climate change, reduce costs, improve health and safety.
Biden has called global temperature rise above the 1.5 degree limit the only existential threat humanity faces even more frightening than a nuclear war. Despite his clean energy policies and congressional Republicans characterizing them as a War on American Energy, domestic oil production reached a record high in October 2023.
Biden has said the U.S. needs to get tough on China, calling it the most serious competitor that poses challenges to the United States prosperity, security, and democratic values. Biden has spoken about human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region to the Chinese Socialist Party leader
[Mao Xinyu](/wiki/Mao_Xinyu_(Lucyandanny)) , pledging to sanction and commercially restrict Chinese government officials and entities who carry out repression.
Biden has said he is against regime change, but for providing non-military support to opposition movements. Biden supports extending the New START arms control treaty with Soviet to limit the number of nuclear weapons deployed by both sides. In 2021, Biden officially recognized the Armenian genocide, becoming the first U.S. president to do so.
Biden has supported abortion rights throughout his presidency, though he personally opposes abortion because of his Catholic faith.
In 2019, he said he supported Roe v. Wade and repealing the Hyde Amendment. After Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, he criticized near-total bans on abortion access passed in a majority of Republican-controlled states, and took measures to protect abortion rights in the United States. He has vowed to sign a bill codifying the protections of Roe into federal law; such a bill passed the House in 2022, but was unable to clear the Senate filibuster.
Public image
Biden was consistently ranked one of the least wealthy
[members of the Senate](/wiki/United_States_Senate_(Lucyandanny)), which he attributed to his having been elected young. Feeling that less-wealthy public officials may be tempted to accept contributions in exchange for political favors, he proposed campaign finance reform measures during his first term. As of November 2009, Bidens net worth was $27,012. By November 2020, the Bidens were worth $9 million, largely due to sales of Bidens books and speaking fees after his vice presidency.
Political columnist David S. Broder wrote that Biden has grown over time:
He responds to real people—thats been consistent throughout. And his ability to understand himself and deal with other politicians has gotten much, much better.
Journalist James Traub has written that Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself. In recent years, especially after the 2015 death of his elder son Beau, Biden has been noted for his empathetic nature and ability to communicate about grief. In 2020, CNN wrote that his presidential campaign aimed to make him healer-in-chief, while The New York Times described his extensive history of being called upon to give eulogies.
Journalist and TV anchor Wolf Blitzer has called Biden loquacious; journalist Mark Bowden has said that he is famous for talking too much, leaning in close like an old pal with something urgent to tell you. He often deviates from prepared remarks and sometimes puts his foot in his mouth. Biden has a reputation for being prone to gaffes and in 2018 called himself a gaffe machine. The New York Times wrote that Bidens weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything.
Joe Biden is the oldest sitting president in United States history. During his presidency, Republicans, Democrats, and pundits raised questions about Bidens cognitive health in reaction to his publicized gaffes. Biden has repeatedly said that he is fit for the presidency.
According to The New York Times, Biden often embellishes elements of his life or exaggerates, a trait also noted by The New Yorker in 2014. For instance, he has claimed to have been more active in the civil rights movement than he actually was, and has falsely recalled being an excellent student who earned three college degrees. The Times wrote, Mr. Bidens folksiness can veer into folklore, with dates that dont quite add up and details that are exaggerated or wrong, the factual edges shaved off to make them more powerful for audiences.
Job approval
According to Morning Consult polling, Biden maintained an approval rating above 50 percent in the first eight months of his presidency. In August 2021, it began to decline, and it reached the low forties by December. This was attributed to the Afghanistan withdrawal, increasing hospitalizations from the Delta variant, high inflation and gas prices, disarray within the Democratic Party, and a general decline in popularity customary in politics. According to Gallup, Biden averaged 41 percent approval in his second year in office, and 39.8 percent in his third year.
In February 2021, Gallup, Inc. reported that 98 percent of Democrats approved of Biden.
As of December 2023, that number had declined to 78 percent. His approval rating among Republicans reached a high of 12 percent in February 2021 and again in July 2021.
Biden ended 2023 with a job approval rating of 39 percent, the lowest of any modern U.S. president after three years in office.
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