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Vice President Joe Biden

Vice President of the United States (2009-2017)

Friday, November 30th, 2018

As a senator from Delaware for 36 years, Vice President Biden was a leading architect of domestic policy on some of the most pressing issues facing the country. Then-Senator Biden served as Chairman or Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years, Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, and was a preeminent voice on criminal justice issues, including authoring both the landmark 1994 Crime Act and the Violence Against Women Act. Vice President Biden has worked relentlessly since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 to change the culture around domestic violence and sexual assault, and protect and strengthen victims’ rights.

 

As the 47th vice president of the United States, VP Biden oversaw the implementation of the American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was integral to rescuing the economy from the brink of another

Great Depression. The Recovery Act added 2 million jobs to the economy and made an unprecedented

investment in America’s infrastructure. According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office,

under former Vice President Biden’s oversight, more than $800 billion dollars were injected into the

economy with less than two tenths of one percent waste, fraud or abuse – making it one of the most

efficient government programs in history.

As vice president, VP Biden also chaired the Middle-Class Task Force, an administration-wide effort to improve

the everyday lives and livelihoods of working men and women, and oversaw the administration’s Skills

Initiative to improve federal workforce training programs. He authored “Ready to Work: Job-Driven Training

and American Opportunity, a report to the president on how best to ensure American workers are trained

for the jobs of the 21st century.

Vice President Biden also led the administration’s efforts to implement meaningful reforms to reduce gun violence in this

country, which resulted in federal actions aimed at strengthening the background check system and

addressing mental health issues linked to gun violence, among others.

In January, President Obama awarded Vice President Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with Distinction — the

highest civilian honor in the U.S.

Vice President Biden is an alumnus of the University of Delaware, Class of 1965.

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