Political positions of Joe Biden

Social issues

Abortion

In a 2019 article about Biden's record on abortion, his press secretary Jamal Brown said that when Biden arrived in the Senate in 1973 he thought Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, but now "firmly believes that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and should not be overturned". In 1981, he voted for a failed constitutional amendment allowing states to overturn Roe v. Wade. In 1982, he voted against the same failed constitutional amendment allowing states to overturn Roe, and in 2006, he stated in an interview that "I do not view abortion as a choice and a right. I think it's always a tragedy[.]" He now says he would consider codifying the Roe precedent into federal law in case the United States Supreme Court overturns the ruling. He pledged that he would appoint United States Supreme Court justices who shared his beliefs in upholding Roe.

From 1976 to June 5, 2019, Biden supported the Hyde Amendment. On June 6, 2019, Biden reversed his support and now supports repealing the Hyde Amendment. In 1981, he voted to end federal funding for abortion for victims of rape and incest. Biden previously supported the Mexico City policy, but now supports repealing it.

Despite voting for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, he opposed the 2007 United States Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart which upheld the act. He later clarified that he agreed with the decision but not the court's reasoning.

Busing and affirmative action

In the mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senate's leading 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 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. In May 1974, Biden voted to table a proposal containing anti-busing and anti-desegregation clauses but later voted for a modified version containing a qualification that it was not intended to weaken the judiciary's power to enforce the 5th Amendment and 14th Amendment.

Later, Biden was heckled at a meeting of Delaware anti-busing parents over his opposing vote on a Senate bill that would have created criteria for busing mandates that restricted their use to only certain situations, such as to remedy de jure and not de facto segregation, and "that would have permitted jurisdictions facing [busing] to return to court and possibly have their busing mandate vacated" if the mandate didn't meet those criteria. Biden believed it would be better for the courts, instead of a law, to define such criteria for busing mandates. Despite this, the prospect of a busing plan in Wilmington, along with his opposition to busing requirements outside of de jure segregated areas, led Biden to align himself with anti-busing senators. In 1975, he supported a proposal that would have prevented the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from cutting federal funds to districts that refused to integrate; he said busing was a "bankrupt idea [violating] the cardinal rule of common sense" and that his opposition would make it easier for other liberals to follow suit. At the same time he supported initiatives on housing, job opportunities, and voting rights.

In 1977, Biden co-sponsored an amendment to a spending bill that closed loopholes in a measure forbidding the use of federal funds for transporting students beyond the school closest to them. Around that time, he made the remark that if busing integration was done too disorderly and without forethought, his children might grow up in a "racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point". The measure was passed along with the bill, which President Jimmy Carter signed into law in 1978.

Capital punishment

Since June 20, 2019, Biden opposes capital punishment. Biden supports legislation to eliminate capital punishment at the federal level and incentivize states to abolish capital punishment. He supports individuals on death row instead serving life sentences without probation or parole. Prior to June 20, 2019, he had supported capital punishment. He originally wrote the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The Act included Title VI, the Federal Death Penalty Act, creating 60 new death penalty offenses under 41 federal capital statutes, for crimes related to acts of terrorism, murder of a federal law enforcement officer, civil rights-related murders, drive-by shootings resulting in death, the use of weapons of mass destruction resulting in death, and carjackings resulting in death. However, he voted against limiting appeals in capital cases and also opposed rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals.

On December 23 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The exceptions are Dylann Roof, Robert Gregory Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who received death sentences for terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder-related crimes, as well as all four prisoners on US Military death row

Crime

Biden helped author the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which deployed and trained more police officers, increased prison sentences, and built more prisons. The bill led to a decrease in crime rates while also introducing the Violence Against Women Act. Part of the bill was an assault weapon ban and additional money was redirected towards crime prevention programs. Some critics say that the law had the unintended by-effect of creating a financial incentive for jailing people and keeping them there for longer periods of time; this had a disproportionate impact on minorities.

In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, a slogan of "defund the police" arose, which some interpreted to mean the abolition of police departments. Biden stated in a June 2020 opinion piece, "While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating people's rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police." President Donald Trump and his allies have claimed that Biden supports "defunding police"; the Trump campaign spent at least $20 million in July 2020 on campaign ads promoting the falsehood. As a senator, Biden had long forged deep relationships with police groups and was a chief proponent of a Police Officer's Bill of Rights measure which was supported by police unions but opposed by police chiefs. As a 2020 presidential candidate, Biden faced criticism from some on the left for his proposal to double federal spending for community policing programs, to $300 million. He called for racial justice while speaking at George Floyd's funeral service. In September 2020, he condemned the institutional racism in the United States and police violence against African American communities.

Drugs

Biden earned a reputation for being a "drug warrior", leading efforts in the war on drugs. During the 1980s crack epidemic when both Democrats and Republicans were "tough on crime", Biden was the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee that passed numerous punitive measures against drug offenders. In 1986, Biden sponsored and co-wrote the Anti-Drug Abuse Act which caused a large disparity between the sentencing of crack cocaine and powder cocaine users. Black drug users were more likely than whites to use crack and hence were incarcerated in larger numbers. He later acknowledged the negative consequences of the legislation and in 2010 supported the Fair Sentencing Act. The bill eliminated the five-year mandatory minimum prison term for first-time possession of crack cocaine, and aimed to reduce the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses.

Biden favored increased funding for anti-drug efforts. He frequently criticized President Ronald Reagan in this regard, stating in 1982 that the administration's "commitment is minuscule in terms of dollars". He also criticized President George H. W. Bush's anti-drug strategy as "not tough enough, bold enough or imaginative enough", stating that "what we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam, not a limited war, fought on the cheap". In 1982, Biden advocated for the creation of a drug czar, a government official overseeing all anti-drug operations. This led to the establishment of the Office of National Drug Control Policy by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. Biden also supported increased penalties against those caught selling drugs within 1,000 feet of schools.

Biden advocated for increased use of civil asset forfeiture by law enforcement agencies. Biden played a key part in the passage of the Comprehensive Forfeiture Act in 1983, partnering with Strom Thurmond, a conservative Republican. A Washington Post article described Biden's role in the negotiations: "He got the Democrats to agree to strengthen forfeiture laws and allow judges to hold more defendants without bail; he persuaded the Republicans to drop such controversial provisions as a federal death penalty, and he made sure Thurmond got most of the credit. Civil liberties groups said the measure could have been far worse without Biden."

In the early 2000s, Biden was critical of raves, describing most of them as "havens" for use of ecstasy and other illegal drugs. He was the sponsor of the bipartisan Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE) Act in 2002; the bill's successor, the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, was later enacted as part of a broader 2003 crime bill that became law. The legislation, an expansion of the existing 1986 federal anti-"crack house" statute, provided for civil and criminal penalties for event promoters and property owners/managers who knowingly allowed their property to be used for sale or consumption of drugs. The legislation was opposed by the ACLU and electronic dance music enthusiasts who viewed it as overly broad. Responding to criticism, Biden said that the statute would not target law-abiding promoters, saying on the Senate floor: "The reason I introduced this bill was not to ban dancing, kill 'the rave scene' or silence electronic music—all things of which I have been accused. In no way is this bill aimed at stifling any type of music or expression. It is only trying to deter illicit drug use and protect kids." Although the law has been rarely used, advocates such as Drug Policy Alliance and DanceSafe argue that it discourages event producers from engaging in harm reduction efforts and have sought to clarify the law.

Education

Biden was a major author of the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and voted in favor of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. He voted in favor of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, but in 2007 called for the legislation to be scrapped or overhauled. He supports class size reductions and investment in early childhood education. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden has proposed tripling Title I funds (which go to low-income schools) to pay for increases in student supports and teacher salaries; doubling the number of school guidance counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses; providing for universal prekindergarten, and fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act within a decade. Biden also supports federal infrastructure legislation providing funding for school buildings; allowing high school students to use Pell Grants for dual enrollment; and expanding career and technical education through school/community college/employer partnerships. Biden opposes federal funding for for-profit charter schools (which make up a small percentage of charter schools) and opposes "private school vouchers and other policies that divert taxpayer–funded resources away from the public school system." He supports allowing parents and students to choose between traditional public schools, magnet schools and "high-performing" charter schools.

Biden's plans have been praised by the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, the major U.S. teachers' unions, which both endorsed Biden in 2020. In April 2020, Biden proposed forgiving student debt from public colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions, for people earning up to $125,000 per year.

Gun control

Throughout his career, Biden has supported gun control measures. Although he voted for the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act, a bill supported by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) that passed the Senate 79–15, Biden also authored the 1993 federal assault weapons ban, and is a longtime supporter of universal background checks, and received "F" ratings from the NRA while he was in Congress. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence endorsed Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.

Biden supported the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which established five-day waiting periods for handgun purchases and background checks. He had a central role in the passage of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which banned the manufacture, transfer, or possession of certain firearms classified as assault weapons (with a grandfather clause excepting guns owned prior to its implementation). After the ban expired in 2004, Biden voted in favor of renewing it in a 2007 Senate vote. The Obama/Biden administration also unsuccessfully pressed for renewal of the ban. Biden voted against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) of 2005, which immunizes firearm manufacturers from lawsuits based on gun violence.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012, Obama named Biden to lead a task force on gun violence and community safety. Biden and the administration proposed universal background checks (with an exception for gun transfers between family members), resumption of public health research on gun violence, and reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban. Proposals requiring legislative action were killed in the Republican-controlled Congress amid opposition from the NRA. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden's proposals on gun violence include universal background checks for gun sales, repeal of PLCAA, reinstatement of the assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines, and incentives for states to adopt red flag laws.

Biden owns two shotguns.

Homeland security

After the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, a domestic terrorist attack, Biden drafted anti-terrorist legislation, which was ultimately defeated. He later claimed publicly on several occasions that the USA PATRIOT Act, which eased restrictions on the Executive branch in the surveillance and detention of those suspected of terrorism or facilitating it, was essentially a duplicate of the anti-terrorist legislation he had drafted years earlier. Biden supported the PATRIOT Act but voted to limit wiretapping on the bill. He supports implementing the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to fight terrorists but voted to preserve habeas corpus rights to the alleged terror suspects serving in Guantanamo Bay. In the 1990s, he voted in favor of 36 vetoed military projects and supports efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. He was given a 60% approval rating from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reflecting a mixed voting record on civil rights issues. During a debate on November 15, 2007, Biden clarified the PATRIOT Act's effect, his continued support for it, and his opposition to racial profiling.

On the war on terror, Biden voted in favor of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001.

Immigration

While in the Senate, Biden voted in favor of the 1986 immigration bill (which passed) and the 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill (which failed). In a 2007 Democratic presidential primary debate, Biden said that it would be impractical and expensive to deport every unauthorized immigrant in the U.S. and proposed an earned path to citizenship, saying: "Get a background check on all of them, take out the criminals, get them back, and provide for a means by which we allow earned citizenship over the next decade or so. Folks, being commander in chief requires you to occasionally be practical." Biden voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized and partially funded the construction of fencing along the Mexican border, mostly as a means to combat cross-border drug trafficking. During the same campaign, Biden said that would not allow sanctuary cities to ignore federal law. In 2007, Biden said that illegal immigration would not stop unless U.S. employers stopped hiring undocumented workers, saying: "All the rest is window dressing."

As vice president, Biden supported the 2013 bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, a bill crafted by the Gang of Eight (four Democratic, four Republican senators) that would have created a 13-year pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants with security checks, devoted unprecedented resources to border security, created a new work visa program, and established a mandatory employment verification system to ensure that persons hired are authorized to work in the U.S. As president of the Senate, Biden personally presided over the Senate when the bill passed 68–32. The legislation failed, however, in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

In 2015, Biden spoke at a White House summit for "Countering Violent Extremism." In it, he spoke about how Americans of European descent were predicted to soon become a minority in the United States by stating "fewer than 50 percent of the people in America ... will be white European stock," as well as opining that such a fact is "not a bad thing."

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden issued his "Biden Plan for Securing Our Values as a Nation of Immigrants," in which he pledged to "secure our border, while ensuring the dignity of migrants and upholding their legal right to seek asylum. ... enforce our laws without targeting communities, violating due process, or tearing apart families," "ensure our values are squarely at the center of our immigration and enforcement policies," and create a "fair and humane immigration system." Biden's proposals would undo Trump's immigration policies, which Biden has criticized as immoral, inhumane, ineffective, economically damaging, and unconstitutional. Biden said he would raise the annual ceiling for refugees from 15,000 (the historically low level set under the Trump administration) to 125,000 (higher than the Obama-era ceiling). He pledged a reversal of the Trump administration's family separation policy, travel/refugee bans, and severe restrictions on asylum, calling these policies "cruel and senseless" and "un-American." If elected, he pledges to reverse Trump's public charge rule and "so-called National Emergency," which diverted money from the Defense Department to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden criticized Trump's promotion of a border wall, noting that smuggling through legal ports of entry, rather than simple illicit border-crossing, is the dominant method by which illicit drugs enter the U.S., and that "sophisticated criminal organizations" can easily circumvent physical barriers through "border tunnels, semi-submersible vessels, and aerial technology." Biden has called for better security along the border and at ports of entry through technology and infrastructure (such as "cameras, sensors, large-scale x-ray machines, and fixed towers") as well as through improved coordination between federal agencies, as well as Mexican and Canadian authorities.

Internet privacy and file sharing

In 2006, in its Technology Issues Voter's Guide, CNET.com gave Biden a score of 37.5% on his Senate voting record. Biden was a co-sponsor of the Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2007.

Biden also sponsored two bills, the Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act (SB 266) and the Violent Crime Control Act (SB 618), both of which contained language seen as effectively banning encryption. Crypto notes Biden wrote that language into the text of SB 266. Phil Zimmermann, the creator of Pretty Good Privacy, has said it was SB 266 that "led [him] to publish PGP electronically for free that year, shortly before the measure was defeated after vigorous protest by civil libertarians and industry groups." He later stated in a Slashdot article that he was not specifically criticizing Biden, that he would consider the Senator's "whole body of work" when considering whether to vote for him on the Democratic ticket in 2008 and that "considering the disastrous erosion in our privacy and civil liberties under the (Bush) administration, I feel positively nostalgic about Biden's quaint little non-binding resolution of 1991".

LGBTQ issues

While in the Senate, Biden voted in 1993 for a broad defense bill that included the "don't ask, don't tell" law on LGBT service in the U.S. military, after voting to remove the amendment. As vice president, Biden supported the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which repealed the prohibition on open service by gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in the U.S. military.

In 1996, Biden voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act which prohibited the federal government from recognizing any same-sex marriage, barring individuals in such marriages from equal protection under federal law, and allowing states to do the same. In the Senate, Biden was an outspoken critic of congressional Republicans' efforts in the 2000s to adopt a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage; in arguing against the proposal in 2004, Biden cited his position that same-sex marriage was an issue for states to decide. During the lead up to the 2008 US presidential election he said "In an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple" and that they both opposed "redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage".

In a May 2012 Meet the Press interview, Vice President Biden reversed his previous position and publicly supported same-sex marriage, saying he was "absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that." Prior to Biden's statement on Meet the Press, the Obama administration endorsed civil unions, but not same-sex marriage. Biden's decision reportedly forced Obama's hand, pressuring Obama to accelerate his own public shift to support same-sex marriage. In 2013, Section 3 of DOMA was ruled unconstitutional and partially struck down in United States v. Windsor. The Obama Administration did not defend the law and congratulated Windsor.

Biden supported the U.S. Supreme Court's 5–4 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which held that same-sex couples have a federal constitutional right to marry and shortly after he officiated a gay wedding Biden issued a statement saying that the ruling reflected a principle that "all people should be treated with respect and dignity – and that all marriages, at their root, are defined by unconditional love." In an event with the group Freedom to Marry, Biden described the decision as "the civil rights movement of our generation" and as consequential as Brown v. Board of Education.

Religious faith

Biden has mentioned Catholic social teaching as an influence on his personal political beliefs.

At a November 2011 campaign event, in response to a question about how Biden viewed Mitt Romney's Mormon faith in November 2011, Biden said, "I find it preposterous that in 2011 we're debating whether or not a man is qualified or worthy of your vote based on whether or not his religion ... is a disqualifying provision. It is not. It is embarrassing and we should be ashamed, anyone who thinks that way." Biden cited the anti-Catholic prejudice encountered by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.

Women's rights

In 1991, Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when it held confirmation hearings on Republican president George H. W. Bush's nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. During the nomination process, Thomas was accused of a consistent pattern of sexual harassment, to which Anita Hill testified before the committee. During the hearing, Biden referred to an inconclusive FBI report on the accusations by Hill as "he said, she said." Biden refused to call other women who were willing to testify against Thomas as corroborating witnesses. He voted against Thomas's confirmation both in the committee and on the Senate floor. In 2017, Biden apologized to Hill over her treatment in the hearings, stating: "Let's get something straight here, I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas... I am so sorry that she had to go through what she went through. Think of the courage that it took for her to come forward." Speaking in 2018, Biden expressed regret about not being more firm in preventing Senate colleagues on the committee from engaging in what he called "character assassination" of Hill, saying: "Anita Hill was vilified when she came forward, by a lot of my colleagues, I wish I could have done more to prevent those questions and the way they asked them....Under the Senate rules, I can't gavel you down and say you can't ask that question, although I tried. And so what happened was she got victimized again during the process."

In 1994, Biden drafted the Violence Against Women Act; some suggest this was drafted in light of criticism Biden had received following the treatment of Anita Hill. This law provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of the violent crime perpetrated against women, increased pre-trial detention of the accused, provided for automatic and mandatory restitution of those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the VAWA on Constitutional grounds in United States v. Morrison.

Biden has said, "I consider the Violence Against Women Act the single most significant legislation that I've crafted during my 35-year tenure in the Senate. Indeed, the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 was the beginning of a historic commitment to women and children victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault. Our nation has been rewarded for this commitment. Since the Act's passage in 1994, domestic violence has dropped by almost 50%." He has also said that the Act "empower[s] women to make changes in their lives, and by training police and prosecutors to arrest and convict abusive husbands instead of telling them to take a walk around the block".

Economic issues

Agriculture and rural issues

Biden supported the 2008 farm bill, calling it a "responsible compromise." When he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden identified agricultural development and global food prices as major issues.

While in the Senate, Biden called for strong action against invasive species, citing the economic and environmental risks associated with them, including displacement of native shipping, the introduction of disease, and interference with shipping.

In the Senate, Biden paid particular attention to issues affecting the poultry industry, which is economically important to Delaware, especially in the Delmarva peninsula. In the 1990s, Biden criticized the Russian government for threatening to ban imported U.S. chicken, and in 2008 criticized the Russian government for banning imports of chicken from 19 poultry processing plants in the United States, Biden stated that "Russia is once again using non-tariff barriers as an excuse to close its markets to American poultry. ... Russia has repeatedly shown that it is not ready to abide by the rules of international trade." Biden described the Russian action as "part of a bigger picture in which Russia has failed to behave as a responsible member in the international community" and called for the U.S. to block Russia's application to join the World Trade Organization. Biden also worked to promote funding to research avian influenza.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden has outlined a rural and agricultural policy broadly similar to that of the Obama administration. The plan aims to obtain net zero emissions for agriculture (making the U.S. the first nation to do so) via incentives and permitting farmers to join carbon markets. The plan also calls for changes in trade policy to encourage U.S. agriculture exports; expansion of broadband Internet in rural areas; renewable energy investment; promotion of local and regional food; and an expansion of the USDA Conservation Stewardship Program to encourage farmers to adopt carbon sequestration and other environmental practices.

Banking and financial regulation

In 1999, Biden voted in favor the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act which partially repealed Glass–Steagall legislation.

During the 2000s, Biden sponsored bankruptcy legislation, which was sought by MBNA, one of Delaware's largest companies and Biden's largest contributor in the late 1990s, and other credit card issuers. He fought for certain amendments to the bill that would indirectly protect homeowners and forbid felons from using bankruptcy to discharge fines. He also worked to defeat amendments which would have protected members of the military and those who are pushed into bankruptcy by medical debt. Critics expressed concern that the law would force those seeking bankruptcy protection to hire lawyers to process the required paperwork, making it more difficult for students to execute education-related debt. The overall bill was vetoed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, but then finally passed as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in 2005, with Biden supporting it. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden moved to the left on the issue, endorsing Senator Elizabeth Warren's bankruptcy reform proposal, which would roll back many aspects of the 2005 law.

During and after the Obama/Biden administration, Biden strongly supported the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Dodd-Frank Act implemented new financial regulations designed to prevent a reprise of the 2008 financial crisis. The Act also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also supported the pro-consumer Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act.

Environment and climate change

Biden has been credited with introducing the first climate change bill in Congress. Biden's initial bill, the Global Climate Protection Act, was introduced in 1986; it died in the Senate, but a version was included in a bill signed into law by President Reagan as an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act in December 1987.

In 2008, Biden was the lead sponsor of a "Sense of the Senate" resolution calling on the U.S. to be a part of the United Nations climate change negotiations and was a co-sponsor of the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, at the time the most stringent climate bill in the Senate. The legislation would have created a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse-gas emissions and required a reduction in U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. He strongly opposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, although when he became president, he only called for a temporary moratorium instead. In 2007–2008, during his presidential campaign, Biden called for a gradual increase in automobile fuel-economy standards to 40 miles per gallon by 2017, called for increase production of renewable energy, and identified energy security and resolving the energy crisis as key priorities.

In June 2019, Biden's presidential campaign unveiled a $1.7 trillion climate policy plan aiming to eliminate U.S. net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The proposal incorporated elements of the Green New Deal proposal but lacked many key aspects, such as less funding, no healthcare expansion, no guaranteed jobs or benefits, less guaranteed housing, and no bans on fracking. Biden's plan would eliminate fossil fuel subsidies; halt issuance of new permits for oil and gas extraction on public land and water; step up Clean Air Act enforcement; strengthen fuel economy standards to promote a shift to electric vehicles; regulate methane pollution; and create "aggressive" energy efficiency standards for appliances and buildings. Biden also promised that he would re-enter the Paris Agreement (from which Trump pulled the U.S.) on his first day in the White House and called for "a major diplomatic push to raise the ambitions of countries' climate targets." To pressure countries failing to meet their climate obligations, Biden also called for "carbon adjustment fees" to be levied on goods imported from countries that failed to meet emissions targets. The plan also won considerable support from the fossil fuel industry.

Biden's Green New Deal plan is incorporated in his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, which would in part lead to the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps. In November 2021, Biden promised to end and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030, in the COP26 climate summit's first major agreement.

Transportation

During the Obama administration, Biden was the lead figure promoting the administration's proposal to spend $53 billion over six years toward construction of a national intercity high-speed rail network, in furtherance of Obama's goal (outlined in the 2011 State of the Union Address) to extend high-speed rail access to 80% of the American population over a quarter-century. Republicans in Congress rejected the proposal, which did not advance.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden released a $1.3 trillion infrastructure improvement plan, which would follow up on Obama administration priorities. The plan calls for $50 billion investment in repairs to existing roads and bridges in his first year in office; $10 billion over a decade to transit construction in high-poverty parts of the U.S.; doubling funding for BUILD and INFRA grants, and more funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The plan also includes proposals for investments in high-speed rail, public transit, and bicycling, as well as school construction, replacement of water pipes and other water infrastructure, and expansion of rural broadband. The plan also specifically calls for the rebuilding of the Hudson River Tunnel and the expansion of the Northeast Corridor, as well as rail investments in California and the Midwest and West. Biden proposed funding the plan through tax increases on high-income Americans and corporations; the campaign stated that "reversing the excesses of the Trump tax cuts for corporations; reducing incentives for tax havens, evasion, and outsourcing; ensuring corporations pay their fair share; closing other loopholes in our tax code that reward wealth, not work; and ending subsidies for fossil fuels" would provide the revenue for the plan, making it deficit-neutral.

A long-term rider and advocate of Amtrak, during his 2020 campaign, Biden said that, if elected, his administration would "spark the second great railroad revolution" and move to electrify Amtrak trains. He also voiced support for 2,000 Amtrak workers furloughed due to Trump administration budget cuts, although he did not take a specific position on Amtrak personnel and service reductions.

Trade policy

In the Senate, Biden consistently supported "a U.S.-led, rules-based international order with an emphasis on reducing trade barriers and setting global trade standards." He had a mixed record on specific free trade agreements; he voted in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and Morocco–U.S. Free Trade Agreement, but voted against free-trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Oman, and the Dominican Republic and Central America (CAFTA), viewing their labor and environmental protections as insufficient. He voted in favor of fast track trade promotion authority in 1998 and in favor of permanent normal trade relations with China in 2000. During the Obama administration, Biden was a strong advocate for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing that the U.S. withdrawal from the TPP "put China in the driver's seat" by allowing it to "write the rules of the road for the world" in the absence of U.S. participation.

Biden has been critical of Chinese trade tactics, including "dumping" of steel and Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property. He believes the US, rather than China, should write the rules that govern trade, in which "workers, the environment, transparency, and middle-class wages" are protected. He has criticized the Trump trade war with China for failing to "resolve the issues at the heart of the dispute"; for the trade war's negative effect on U.S. agriculture and manufacturing; and for Trump's unilateral approach. Biden also criticized Trump for labeling Canada and the European Union as "national security threats," arguing that this undercuts multilateral efforts with allies to combat Chinese trade abuses. He supports pressuring China on environmental issues and supports the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.

Healthcare

Biden is a staunch supporter of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama administration's signature health care reform legislation. He has condemned the Trump administration's attempts to strike down the ACA in court, including in California v. Texas. Biden supports the ACA's protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions as well as the ACA's minimum standards for health insurance plans; he has pledged to preserve these protections.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden has promoted a plan to expand and build upon the ACA, paid for by revenue gained from reversing some Trump administration tax cuts. Biden's plan is to create a public option for health insurance, with the aim of expanding health insurance coverage to 97% of Americans. He does not support single-payer health care proposals such as Medicare for All. Under Biden's proposal, "no one would be required to pay more than 8.5 percent of their income toward health insurance premiums."

Under Biden's plan, all those on the individual insurance market would qualify for tax credits on premiums (a change from existing law, which caps premium tax credits at four times the federal poverty level, or under $50,000 for an independent). To reduce prescription drug prices, Biden proposes allowing import of prescription drugs and authorizing Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices. In April 2020, Biden proposed lowering the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 60.

Biden supports an end to surprise billing.

Labor unions

Biden was given an 85% lifetime approval rating from AFL–CIO. and was a cosponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act.

As stated during his 2020 presidential campaign, the Biden administration intended to fight laws "that exist only to deprive unions of the financial support they need to fight for higher wages and better benefits" and sought to end or curtail the enforcement of the so-called 2020 Trump Rule which was the Department of Labor's (DOL) heightened oversight of union financial disclosure requirements. The so-called "Trump Rule" still exists, the Biden administration announced on March 29 that it will not be enforcing the heightened union reporting requirements to the DOL concerning strike funds, apprenticeship programs, and other union-related “trust fund” information.

While he describes himself as pro-labor, Biden has also supported legislation that would impose unpopular contracts on workers, forcing them to work without sick leave and using the Railway Labor Act to prevent workers from striking. Worker unions have voted against the proposal, citing quality of life concerns. In particular, it would penalize employees for medical visits, a policy that has been blamed for worker deaths and was a major issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Railroad companies have seen sizeable profits under this policy and have been unwilling to negotiate, praising Biden for his proposed government intervention, which would compel workers to accept their terms.

Tax

Biden opposed the George W. Bush administration's tax cuts enacted mostly in 2001 and 2003, noting that most of the benefits of the tax cuts went to the very wealthiest U.S. families, and arguing that the cuts did not help working-class and middle-class Americans. The Obama/Biden administration advocated keeping the cuts in place for 98% of U.S. taxpayers but letting them expire on income over $250,000 earned by couples (or income over $200,000 for individuals).

After the Republicans took control of Congress in the 2010 election, Biden was designated as the administration's chief negotiator with congressional Republicans—specifically, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—regarding the Bush tax cuts, which were about to expire. The administration opposed extending Bush tax cuts for the wealthy but also did not want to trigger tax increases for non-wealthy Americans when the economy was continuing to recover from the Great Recession. The result was a deal: "Biden and McConnell hashed out a deal that extended all the Bush tax cuts until after the 2012 election, while injecting another $300 billion as an economic stimulus, including a new payroll tax cut for workers, extended unemployment benefits for victims of the recession and expanded tax credits for college students and the poor. By reopening the Senate, the deal also enabled the historic vote to repeal the ban on gay people in the military."

Social Security

Biden opposes privatizing or means-testing of Social Security. He was given an 89% approval rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), reflecting a pro-senior citizen voting record. Biden has called for an expansion of Social Security, including by increasing payments to the oldest Americans (persons who have been receiving retirement benefits for at least 20 years); setting a minimum guaranteed benefit (equal to at least 125% of the federal poverty level) for all Americans with at least 30 years of work; and increasing monthly survivor benefits for widows and widowers by about 20%. Biden has proposed to fund the expansion, and to make the Social Security Trust Fund solvent over the long-term, through tax increases on the highest income-earners. Biden has condemned Trump for waging "a reckless war on Social Security" by signing an executive order in 2020 that deferred the collection of the payroll tax that funds Social Security, and for Trump's comments suggesting that he might seek to forgo the tax. Biden said that Trump's move will "undermine the entire financial footing of Social Security."

Welfare

Biden voted for the 1996 bipartisan welfare reform compromise legislation.

COVID-19 response plan

Biden pledged a large federal government response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic akin to the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt following the Great Depression. This would include increased COVID-19 testing, ensuring a steady supply of personal protective equipment, distributing a vaccine once available, and securing money from Congress for schools and hospitals under the aegis of a national "supply chain commander" who would coordinate the logistics of manufacturing and distributing protective gear and test kits, distributed by a "Pandemic Testing Board" (similar to Roosevelt's War Production Board). Biden also pledged to invoke the Defense Production Act more aggressively than Trump in order to build up supplies, as well as the mobilization of up to 100,000 Americans for a "public health jobs corps" of contact tracers to help track and prevent outbreaks.

Foreign and military policy

In general

Biden has said that "The United States will always reserve the right to defend itself and its allies, by force, if necessary. But force must be used judiciously to protect a vital interest of the United States, only when the objective is clear and achievable, with the informed consent of the American people, and where required, the approval of Congress." He has emphasized "returning the United States to its traditional role as the leader of a world order based on promotion of democracy, multilateralism, alliance-building and diplomatic engagement" and pledged in 2020 that if elected, he would reinvigorate the U.S.'s traditional alliances, including with countries alienated by Trump, and would convene a summit of major heads of state.

Biden opposes military action aimed at regime change, but has said that "it is appropriate for us to provide nonmilitary support for opposition movements seeking universal human rights and more representative and accountable governance." With respect to humanitarian intervention, Biden has said the U.S. has "a moral duty, as well as a security interest, to respond to genocide or chemical weapons use" but that such cases "require action by the community of nations, not just the United States."

Biden has said that he plans to restore U.S. membership in key United Nations bodies, such as UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization, and possibly the Human Rights Council.

Africa

Biden opposed U.S. government funding of abstinence-only sex education programs in Africa, and in 2007, cosponsored the HIV Prevention Act which would end President George W. Bush's mandate that one-third of all funds be earmarked to abstinence-only programs. Biden favors greater U.S. engagement with Africa to counter growing Chinese influence on the continent.

In 2011, during the Obama administration's internal debate on the Libyan Civil War, Biden opposed the U.S. intervention. Biden stated he was "strongly against going to Libya" due to the instability it would cause after Muammar Gaddafi was deposed, recounting to Charlie Rose later: "My question was, 'OK, tell me what happens.' He's gone. What happens? Doesn't the country disintegrate? What happens then? Doesn't it become a place where it becomes a petri dish for the growth of extremism? And it has." Biden publicly defended the Obama administration's ultimate decision to participate in the Libya intervention, saying in 2011, "NATO got it right. In this case, America spent $2 billion and didn't lose a single life. This is more the prescription for how to deal with the world as we go forward than it has in the past."

Biden favored an American deployment of troops to Darfur during the War in Darfur, saying that 2,500 U.S. troops could stop the violence in the region.

West Asia

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

In 2007, Biden voted against a measure to declare the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. He wrote in December 2007 that "War with Iran is not just a bad option. It would be a disaster." Biden threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Bush if he had started a war with Iran without Congressional approval. In an interview in September 2008, Biden stated that the IRGC was a terrorist organization and that the Bush administration already had the power to designate it as one. He stated that he voted against the measure out of concern that the Bush administration would misuse the measure to justify a military attack against Iran.

As vice president, Biden vigorously defended the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration between Iran and the U.S. and other global powers. Biden has criticized Trump's withdrawal from the agreement and the Trump administration's Iran strategy as "a self-inflicted disaster," saying in 2019 that Iran had "only gotten more aggressive" since Trump "unilaterally withdrew from the hard-won nuclear agreement that the Obama-Biden Administration negotiated." Biden said, "I have no illusions about Iran. The regime has long sponsored terrorism and threatened our interests. It continues to detain American citizens. They've ruthlessly killed hundreds of protesters, and they should be held accountable for their actions. But there is a smart way to counter them, and a self-defeating way. Trump's approach is demonstrably the latter. The only way out of this crisis is through diplomacy – clear-eyed, hard-nosed diplomacy grounded in strategy, that's not about one-off decisions or one-upsmanship." If elected president, Biden said he would reenter and strengthen the nuclear agreement once Iran is in compliance.

In 1990, after Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Biden voted against the first Gulf War, asking: "What vital interests of the United States justify sending Americans to their deaths in the sands of Saudi Arabia?" In 1998, Biden expressed support for the use of force against Iraq and urged a sustained effort to "dethrone" Hussein over the long haul. In 2002, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he stated that Hussein was "a long-term threat and a short term threat to our national security" and that "We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world. He must be dislodged from his weapons or dislodged from power." Biden also supported a failed resolution authorizing military action in Iraq only after the exhaustion of diplomatic efforts. Biden subsequently voted in favor of the 2002 resolution that authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying, "I will vote for this because we should be compelling Iraq to make good on its obligations to the United Nations. Because while Iraq's illegal weapons of mass destruction program do not – do not – pose an imminent threat to our national security, in my view, they will, if left unfettered. And because a strong vote in Congress, as I said, increases the prospect for a tough, new U.N. resolution on weapons of mass destruction, it is likely to get weapons inspectors in, which, in turn, decreases the prospects of war, in my view."

South Asia

Biden was a strong supporter of the War in Afghanistan, saying, "Whatever it takes, we should do it."

In 2008, Pakistan awarded the Hilal-e-Pakistan (Crescent of Pakistan) to Joe Biden and Senator Richard Lugar "in recognition of their consistent support for Pakistan". This was after Biden passed a bill authorizing $7.5 billion in non-military aid to Pakistan as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In a 2008 interview, Biden criticized Bush for presenting Iraq as the primary front against terrorism, saying the U.S. should "urgently shift our focus" from Iraq to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, which Biden described as "the real central front on the so-called war on terrorism," noting that "The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is where the 9/11 attacks were plotted... It's where most attacks on Europe since 9/11 have originated. It's where Osama bin Laden lives and his top confederates still enjoy safe haven, planning new attacks. Biden said that "the outcome of that battle is going to be determined less by bullets than by dollars and determination" and that the U.S.'s "original sin was starting a war of choice [the intervention in Iraq] before we finished a war of necessity [the war in Afghanistan]."

During the Obama administration's internal debates, Biden argued strongly against the 2009 surge of troops to Afghanistan, putting him on the opposite side of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Biden argued that rampant corruption and ineffectiveness in the Afghan government, military, and police made the U.S. strategy unworkable, and was "agnostic" about the survival of the Kabul-based government. In 2012, speaking to West Point graduates, Biden argued that the Obama administration's drawdown of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq allowed the U.S. "enabled us to replace and rebalance our foreign policy" to focus on other challenges. In 2020, during his presidential campaign, Biden pledges to bring home the remaining U.S. combat forces in Afghanistan during his first term in office, and that "any residual U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would be focused only on counterterrorism operations."

East Asia

With respect to Asia, Biden favors restoring the "traditional U.S. stance supporting the presence of American troops in Japan and South Korea."

In 2016, Biden described the Trans-Pacific Partnership as an agreement that was as much about geopolitics as economics. Being part of the Obama administration, he supported the agreement in an attempt to "rebalance towards Asia" against a stronger and bolder Chinese foreign policy in the region.

Biden first visited China in April 1979, where met with then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping on the first U.S. congressional delegation to China since the 1949 revolution. In 2000, he voted in favor of normalizing trade relations with China and supported China's entry into the World Trade Organization. Over the years, Biden has frequently criticized the Chinese government for its human rights abuses, while also acknowledging the need to gain Chinese cooperation on issues such as climate change, Iran and North Korea. Biden was outraged by the Chinese government's violent repression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and in the Senate introduced legislation to create the democracy-promoting Radio Free Asia, which opened in 1996 and continues to operate. In June 2019, Biden wrote, "China's continuing oppression of its own people, especially the abuse and internment of more than one million Uyghurs, is one of the worst human rights crises in the world today. It can't be ignored." Biden termed the Chinese actions against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province a genocide. Also in 2020, Biden expressed support for Hong Kong's protests.

In 2018, Biden said he had spent more time in private meetings with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping than any other world leader. He has criticized Xi as "a guy who doesn't have a democratic – with a small d – bone in his body. This is a guy who is a thug." Biden pledged, if elected, to sanction and commercially restrict Chinese government officials and entities who carry out repression. In 2019, Biden said that China is "not competition" for the United States, drawing criticism from prominent members of both parties. In 2021, Biden called China America's "most serious competitor". On February 10, Biden spoke to Xi for the first time after taking office as U.S. president and told a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, "If we don't get moving, they are going to eat our lunch."

Speaking in 2006, Biden described North Korea as a "paper tiger" that lacked the capacity to directly cause harm to America, but condemned North Korean nuclear testing as a "deliberate and dangerous provocation." He proposed a requirement, included in the 2007 national defense authorization act, for the Bush administration to appoint a special coordinator on North Korea, and described Korean Peninsula tensions as one of "the three most important things that the next president is going to have to deal with" (along with policy on Iraq and Iran).

Europe

In the 1990s, Biden was involved in efforts to stop the Bosnian genocide by Bosnian Serb forces. He supported the "lift and strike" policy of lifting the arms embargo, training Bosnian Muslims and supporting them with NATO air strikes, and investigating war crimes. Biden supported sending in the American airforce to blow up "all of the bridges on the Drina" and to take out their oil supplies. Biden has called his role in affecting Balkans policy in the mid-1990s his "proudest moment in public life" related to foreign policy.

During the Kosovo War (1999), Biden supported US military intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). He was strongly critical of Serbia, saying that Serbs are "illiterates, degenerates, baby killers and rapists". He co-sponsored a resolution with John McCain for use of force by the US to halt Yugoslav military actions toward Kosovo Albanians. Biden has pressed Serbia over the issue of missing persons and war crimes. He supports the independence of Kosovo and considers it "irreversible". In 2010 he referred to the Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as "the George Washington of Kosovo".

In his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden supports an agreement of mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia, and for Kosovo to attain EU visa liberalisation. He also supports Albania's territorial security and its reform agenda aimed toward becoming a future EU member. Biden supports Bosnian territorial integrity and sovereignty, its multi-ethnic society and future membership in NATO and the EU.

During his campaign for the presidency, Biden has called for restoring friendly U.S. relationship with fellow NATO member states, which have been strained by insults and antagonism from Trump, as well as by criticism by Trump of NATO and other multilateral alliances. Biden criticized Trump's decision to withdraw 9,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany. Biden has criticized Trump for treating NATO as "a protection racket" rather than "the most significant military alliance in the history of the world" and Biden advisors have identified a strengthened NATO as a key component of countering a rising China.

According to European diplomats and trade experts, a Biden presidency would likely lead to a boost in the U.S.-British "special relationship"; repair alliances broken during the Trump administration; and enhance the likelihood of a trans-Atlantic trade agreement. Biden is a staunch supporter of the European Union (EU).

North America

As part of the Obama Administration, Biden supported the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) to combat drug cartels and strengthen law enforcement in Central America. Between 2008 and 2011, the Department of State provided $361.5 million to Central American countries. The State Department stated five main goals to CARSI:

Create safe streets for the citizens in the region.

Disrupt the movement of criminals and contraband within and between the nations of Central America.

Support the development of strong, capable and accountable Central American governments.

Re-establish effective state presence and security in communities at risk.

Foster enhanced levels of security and rule of law coordination and cooperation between the nations of the region.

When Biden met with Central American leaders in Honduras in 2012, he reiterated the Obama Administration's pledge of $107 million in aid for the region. The Administration would work with Congress to provide the funds under CARSI. These initiatives were part of a larger effort for institutional reform in the region to counter drug trafficking.

During the 2014 Central American child-migrant crisis, Biden supported a $1 billion economic aid package to affected Central American countries. In an op-ed for The New York Times, he wrote, "the security and prosperity of Central America are inextricably linked with our own." He also supported further institutional reforms to combat corruption in those countries, so they can provide their people with safer living conditions.

While in the Senate, Biden voted for the Helms-Burton Act and supported the U.S. embargo against Cuba; in 2006, Biden called for the U.S. to be "putting together a plan as to how we are going to play a positive role in moving that country, after the Castros are gone ... more toward democratization and liberalization." As vice president, Biden supported Obama's Cuban thaw and reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. Biden stated that the lifting of U.S. trade and travel restrictions removed an "ineffective stumbling block to our bilateral relations with other nations in the hemisphere" and made it easier for the U.S. to engage on issues around human rights.