Joe Biden

=== Senate activities ===
[[File:Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter.jpg|thumb|Biden with President [[Jimmy Carter]], 1979|alt=Scanned photo of Biden and Carter smiling at each other in the Oval Office. On the photo, Carter wrote: "Best wishes to my friend Joe Biden"]]
[[File:Biden-Church-Sadat.jpg|thumb|right|Biden (left) and [[Frank Church]] (middle) with [[president of Egypt]] [[Anwar Sadat|Anwar el-Sadat]] after signing the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]], 1979]]
[[Secretary of the United States Senate|Secretary of the Senate]] [[Francis R. Valeo]] swore Biden in at the [[Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center]] in January 1973.<ref name="ap-sworn">{{Cite news |date=January 6, 1973 |title=Oath Solemn |page=11 |work=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yadYAAAAIBAJ&pg=5556,1874966 |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103080828/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yadYAAAAIBAJ&pg=5556%2C1874966 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=93, 98}} Present were his sons Beau (whose leg was still in traction from the automobile accident) and Hunter and other family members.<ref name="ap-sworn" />{{sfn|Witcover|2010|pp=93, 98}} At age 30, he was the [[List of youngest members of the United States Congress#List of youngest U.S. senators|seventh-youngest senator in U.S. history]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosenwald |first=Michael S. |date=January 11, 2021 |title=Biden, once one of the nation's youngest senators, will be its oldest president |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/11/youngest-senators-joe-biden/ |access-date=January 4, 2023 |archive-date=March 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307043412/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/11/youngest-senators-joe-biden/ |url-status=live }}</ref> To see his sons, Biden traveled by [[Amtrak|train]] between his Delaware home and D.C.<ref name="family values">{{Cite news |last=Pride |first=Mike |date=December 1, 2007 |title=Biden a smart guy who has lived his family values |work=[[Concord Monitor]] |url=https://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/OPINION/712010307 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 4, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203001952/http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071201%2FOPINION%2F712010307 |archive-date=December 3, 2007}}</ref>—74 minutes each way—and maintained this habit throughout his 36 years in the Senate.<ref name="aap08-bio" />

Elected to the U.S. Senate in [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 1972|1972]], Biden was reelected in [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 1978|1978]], [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 1984|1984]], [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 1990|1990]], [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 1996|1996]], [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 2002|2002]], and [[United States Senate election in Delaware, 2008|2008]], regularly receiving about 60% of the vote.<ref name="aap08-366" /> He was junior senator to [[William Roth]], who was first elected in 1970, until Roth was defeated in 2000.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wald |first=Matthew L. |date=December 15, 2003 |title=William V. Roth Jr., Veteran of U.S. Senate, Dies at 82 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/us/william-v-roth-jr-veteran-of-us-senate-dies-at-82.html |access-date=January 4, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104010233/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/us/william-v-roth-jr-veteran-of-us-senate-dies-at-82.html |url-status=live }}</ref> {{As of|2024}}, he was the [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service|19th-longest-serving senator]] in U.S. history.<ref name="26 Aug 2018">{{cite web |title=Longest Serving Senators |url=https://www.senate.gov/senators/longest_serving_senators.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919101452/https://www.senate.gov/senators/longest_serving_senators.htm |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |access-date=August 26, 2018 |website=[[United States Senate]] |publisher=United States Senate}}</ref>

During his early years in the Senate, Biden focused on consumer protection and environmental issues and called for greater government accountability.<ref name="time-200-fut">{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1974 |title=200 Faces for the Future |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879402-6,00.html |access-date=August 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813045404/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879402-6,00.html |archive-date=August 13, 2013}}</ref> In a 1974 interview, he described himself as liberal on civil rights and liberties, senior citizens' concerns and healthcare, but conservative on other issues, including abortion and [[military conscription]].<ref name="The Washingtonian-June-1974">{{Cite news |last=Kelley |first=Kitty |date=June 1, 1974 |title=Death and the All-American Boy |work=[[Washingtonian (magazine)|Washingtonian]] |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/1974/06/01/joe-biden-kitty-kelley-1974-profile-death-and-the-all-american-boy/ |access-date=March 8, 2020 |archive-date=November 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110162757/https://www.washingtonian.com/1974/06/01/joe-biden-kitty-kelley-1974-profile-death-and-the-all-american-boy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Biden was the first U.S. senator to endorse [[Jimmy Carter]] for president in the [[1976 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1976 Democratic primary]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 29, 2021 |title=Biden and Carter, longtime allies, reconnect in Georgia |url=https://apnews.com/article/politics-georgia-health-coronavirus-voting-rights-0940cfedf2e7d58612ff58f4ca9a04f4 |access-date=May 13, 2023 |work=Associated Press News |archive-date=May 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513235651/https://apnews.com/article/politics-georgia-health-coronavirus-voting-rights-0940cfedf2e7d58612ff58f4ca9a04f4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Carter went on to win the Democratic nomination and defeat incumbent Republican President [[Gerald Ford]] in the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 election]]. Biden also worked on [[arms control]].<ref name="nyt-foreign" /><ref name="cby-45">''Current Biography Yearbook 1987'', p. 45.</ref> After Congress failed to ratify the [[SALT II]] Treaty signed in 1979 by [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet general secretary]] [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and President [[Jimmy Carter]], Biden met with Soviet foreign minister [[Andrei Gromyko]] to communicate American concerns and secured changes that addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's objections.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Salacuse|first=Jeswald W.|url=https://archive.org/details/leadingleaders00jesw|title=Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich and Powerful People|publisher=[[American Management Association]]|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8144-0855-1}} p. 144.</ref> He received considerable attention when he excoriated Secretary of State [[George Shultz]] at a Senate hearing for the Reagan administration's support of South Africa despite its continued policy of [[apartheid]].<ref name="dmn-87" />

In the mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senate's 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.<ref name="Gadsden">{{Cite news |last=Gadsden |first=Brett |date=May 5, 2019 |title=Here's How Deep Biden's Busing Problem Runs |work=[[Politico]] |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/05/joe-biden-busing-problem-226791 |url-status=live |access-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505123922/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/05/joe-biden-busing-problem-226791 |archive-date=May 5, 2019}}</ref> In his first Senate campaign, Biden had expressed support for busing to remedy ''[[de jure]]'' [[Racial segregation|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.{{sfn|Gadsden|2012|p=214}} Biden supported a 1976 measure forbidding the use of federal funds for transporting students beyond the school closest to them.<ref name="Gadsden" /> He co-sponsored a 1977 amendment closing loopholes in that measure, which President Carter signed into law in 1978.<ref name="Raffel1998">{{Cite book |last=Raffel |first=Jeffrey A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gA1JljCpxzEC&pg=PA90 |title=Historical Dictionary of School Segregation and Desegregation: The American Experience |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-313-29502-7 |page=90 |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930184823/https://books.google.com/books?id=gA1JljCpxzEC&pg=PA90 |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:President Ronald Reagan meeting with Senators Joe Biden and William Cohen.jpg|thumb|Biden shaking hands with President [[Ronald Reagan]], 1984|alt=Photo of Biden shaking hands with Reagan in the Oval Office]]

Biden became [[ranking minority member]] of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] in 1981. 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 law's worst provisions, and it was his most important legislative accomplishment to that time.<ref name="cby-44">''Current Biography Yearbook 1987'', p. 44.</ref> In 1994, Biden helped pass the [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act]], which included [[Federal Assault Weapons Ban|a ban on assault weapons]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Fifield |first=Anna |date=January 4, 2013 |title=Biden faces key role in second term |newspaper=[[Financial Times]]|url=https://www.ft.com/content/412f47b0-5694-11e2-aad0-00144feab49a |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=July 20, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210720074130/https://www.ft.com/content/412f47b0-5694-11e2-aad0-00144feab49a|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="time-cov-0113">{{cite news |last=Scherer |first=Michael |date=January 16, 2013 |title=America's New Gunfight: Inside the Campaign to Avert Mass Shootings |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| url=https://swampland.time.com/2013/01/16/americas-new-gunfight-inside-the-campaign-to-avert-mass-shootings/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103081050/https://swampland.time.com/2013/01/16/americas-new-gunfight-inside-the-campaign-to-avert-mass-shootings/ |archive-date=January 3, 2021}} Cover story.</ref> and the [[Violence Against Women Act]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Finley|first=Bruce|date=September 19, 2014|title=Biden: Men who don't stop violence against women are "cowards"|newspaper=[[The Denver Post]]|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2014/09/19/biden-men-who-dont-stop-violence-against-women-are-cowards/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013133013/http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_26568257/vice-president-biden-denver-discuss-domestic-violence-issues|archive-date=October 13, 2015|access-date=August 29, 2021}}</ref> which he has called his most significant legislation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Domestic Violence|url=https://biden.senate.gov/issues/issue/?id=975b0cf4-ce25-42cc-b63d-072fb81e8618|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822144642/http://biden.senate.gov/issues/issue/?id=975b0cf4-ce25-42cc-b63d-072fb81e8618|archive-date=August 22, 2008|access-date=September 9, 2008|publisher=[[United States Senate|Biden senate website]]}}</ref> The 1994 crime law was unpopular among progressives and criticized for resulting in mass incarceration;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Herndon |first=Astead W. |date=January 21, 2019 |title=On King Holiday, Democrats Convey Hope, Remorse and Invective Against Trump |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/us/politics/biden-crime-bill-regrets.html |access-date=January 21, 2019 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110162903/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/us/politics/biden-crime-bill-regrets.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first1=Jonathan|last1=Martin|first2=Alexander|last2=Burns|date=January 6, 2019|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/06/us/politics/joe-biden-2020-president.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110163104/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/06/us/politics/joe-biden-2020-president.html|title= Biden in 2020? Allies Say He Sees Himself as Democrats' Best Hope|url-status=live|archive-date=November 10, 2020|access-date=August 29, 2021|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schor |first1=Elana |last2=Kinnard |first2=Meg |title=Biden says he regrets 1990s crime bill, calls it a 'big mistake' at MLK Day event |url=https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/01/21/biden-says-he-regrets-1990-s-crime-bill-calls-big-mistake-mlk-day-event/2639190002/ |access-date=July 20, 2021 |newspaper=[[The News Journal]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=January 21, 2019 |archive-date=July 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704120222/https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/01/21/biden-says-he-regrets-1990-s-crime-bill-calls-big-mistake-mlk-day-event/2639190002/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Biden voted for a 1993 provision that deemed homosexuality incompatible with military life, thereby banning gays from serving in the armed forces.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Epstein |first1=Reid J. |last2=Lerer |first2=Lisa |date=September 20, 2019 |title=Joe Biden Has Tense Exchange Over L.G.B.T.Q. Record |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/us/politics/lgbt-forum-2020.html |access-date=April 15, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416100800/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/us/politics/lgbt-forum-2020.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Del Real |first=Jose A. |title=Sanders attacks Biden's record on gay rights and women's issues |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-calls-biden-my-friend-then-he-goes-on-the-attack/2020/03/08/20a23f86-60d0-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html |date=March 8, 2020 |access-date=April 15, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-date=March 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308233903/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-calls-biden-my-friend-then-he-goes-on-the-attack/2020/03/08/20a23f86-60d0-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Nagourney |first1=Adam |last2=Kaplan |first2=Thomas |date=June 21, 2020 |title=Behind Joe Biden's Evolution on L.G.B.T.Q. Rights |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/us/politics/biden-gay-rights-lgbt.html |access-date=January 4, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601215617/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/us/politics/biden-gay-rights-lgbt.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2015, the act was ruled unconstitutional in ''[[Obergefell&nbsp;v. Hodges]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=de Vogue |first1=Ariane |last2=Diamond |first2=Jeremy |title=Supreme Court rules states must allow same-sex marriage |url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-ruling/index.html |date=June 27, 2015 |access-date=June 12, 2019 |publisher=[[CNN]] |archive-date=June 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627065146/https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-ruling/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Biden was critical of [[United States Office of the Independent Counsel|Independent Counsel]] [[Ken Starr]] during the 1990s [[Whitewater controversy]] and [[Lewinsky scandal]] investigations, saying "it's going to be a cold day in hell" before another independent counsel would be granted similar powers.<ref>''Almanac of American Politics'' 2000, p. 372.</ref> He voted to acquit during the [[impeachment of President Clinton]].<ref>{{cite news |date=February 12, 1999 |title=How the senators voted on impeachment |publisher=[[CNN]] |url=https://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/senate.vote/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103081326/https://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/senate.vote/ |archive-date=January 3, 2021}}</ref> During the 2000s, Biden sponsored bankruptcy legislation sought by credit card issuers.<ref name="aap08-bio" /> Clinton vetoed the bill in 2000, but it passed in 2005 as the [[Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act]],<ref name="aap08-bio" /> with Biden being one of only 18 Democrats to vote for it, while leading Democrats and consumer rights organizations opposed it.<ref>{{cite news |last=Pilkington |first=Ed |date=December 2, 2019 |title=How Biden Helped Create the Student Debt Problem He Now Promises to Fix |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/02/joe-biden-student-loan-debt-2005-act-2020 |access-date=March 8, 2020 |archive-date=March 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200306071514/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/02/joe-biden-student-loan-debt-2005-act-2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> As a senator, Biden strongly supported increased [[Amtrak]] funding and rail security.<ref name="aap08-366" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Verma|first=Pranshu|date=October 24, 2020|title=Biden, an Amtrak Evangelist, Could Be a Lifeline for a Rail Agency in Crisis|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/biden-amtrak-covid.html|access-date=November 19, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119015056/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/biden-amtrak-covid.html|url-status=live}}</ref>