Joe Biden
Running for: US President
In 2021 Joe Biden was the oldest American ever to be sworn in as president, at age 78. From day one of his presidency there was speculation he would step down for a younger Democrat rather than seek reelection. After Democrats outperformed expectations in the midterms, however, Biden supporters gained momentum. In April 2023 Biden announced he will run for reelection as president.
Position on Issues
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Candidate's Website, 2019
"Decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions. Biden believes no one should be in jail because of cannabis use. As president, he will decriminalize cannabis use and automatically expunge prior convictions. And, he will support the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes, leave decisions regarding legalization for recreational use up to the states, and reschedule cannabis as a schedule II drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts."
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Candidate's Website, 2019
Biden's plan for health insurance reform includes a public option alongside private insurance."If your insurance company isn't doing right by you, you should have another, better choice. Whether you're covered through your employer, buying your insurance on your own, or going without coverage altogether, the Biden Plan will give you the choice to purchase a public health insurance option like Medicare. As in Medicare, the Biden public option will reduce costs for patients by negotiating lower prices from hospitals and other health care providers. It also will better coordinate among all of a patient's doctors to improve the efficacy and quality of their care, and cover primary care without any co-payments. And it will bring relief to small businesses struggling to afford coverage for their employees."
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Candidate's Website, 2019
"If your insurance company isn't doing right by you, you should have another, better choice. Whether you're covered through your employer, buying your insurance on your own, or going without coverage altogether, the Biden Plan will give you the choice to purchase a public health insurance option like Medicare. As in Medicare, the Biden public option will reduce costs for patients by negotiating lower prices from hospitals and other health care providers. It also will better coordinate among all of a patient's doctors to improve the efficacy and quality of their care, and cover primary care without any co-payments. And it will bring relief to small businesses struggling to afford coverage for their employees."
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Biden has harshly criticized the Trump adminstration's immigration policy, including the attempt to tie the DREAM Act (granting citizenship to immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children) to border wall funding. However, in 2006 Biden supported a border fence, and said, "I voted unlike most Democrats - and some of you won't like it - I voted for 700 miles of fence. People are driving across that border with tons, tons - hear me - tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin. And it's all coming up through corrupt Mexico."
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When asked by Rolling Stone about implementing a carbon tax in 2013, Biden said, "You should be attacking the carbon emissions, period, and whether it's cap-and-trade or carbon tax or whatever, that's the realm in which we should be playing. ... The truth is, right now, ... we know [a carbon tax] will go nowhere. Look, one of the things we are doing, and the president is asking me to kind of get ahead of here, is that we have a real chance, both in this hemisphere and with China, to enter into joint ventures on renewable energy and on cleaner-burning natural gas."
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"Today, Senator Feinstein, with whom I worked with to pass the last Assault Weapons Ban in 1994, has once again introduced an Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazine Ban in the Senate, as well as legislation raising the age to purchase them to 21. These measures have been cosponsored by Senators Murphy, Blumenthal, and others. In the 10 years that the Assault Weapons Ban was on the books, mass shootings went down. After Republicans let the law expire in 2004 and those weapons were allowed to be sold again, mass shootings tripled.
"I urge both chambers of Congress to act quickly and deliver this Assault Weapons Ban to my desk."
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Biden has not taken a clear position on qualified immunity for law enforcement. He has urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which includes limits on qualified immunity. In his 2023 State of the Union address he said, "Let’s come together and finish the job on police reform." However, he has never explicitly called for an end to qualified immunity.
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In 2022 Biden proposed a new wealth tax that would require households worth over $100 million to pay a 20% tax on their income and unrealized capital gains.
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Biden paused leases to drill on public land in 2021, but that was challenged in court. The Biden administration has since opened up some leases as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Administration has also proposed new leasing rates that face criticism from the oil industry.
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In 2022 Biden announced a plan "to cancel $10,000 of student debt for low- to middle-income borrowers." The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that plan. Since then Biden has announced alternative student debt relief programs.
"My Administration has worked hard to secure the largest increases to Pell Grants in a decade, fixed broken loan programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and created a new income-driven repayment plan that will cut undergraduate loan payments in half and bring monthly payments to zero for low-income borrowers. And, when the Supreme Court made the wrong decision, I immediately announced a new plan to open an alternative path to relief for as many borrowers as possible, as soon as possible."
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As president Biden issued an executive order prioritizing racial equity. His administration has also supported grants for education programs that cover bias and discrimination.
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When asked about term limits Biden said, "it’s not a problem if you just vote ‘em out of office!"
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