Biography: Joe Biden
Personal Information
Senator Biden grew up in New Castle County, Delaware. He graduated from the 
University of Delaware in 1965, and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. Prior to his election to the Senate, Biden practiced law in Wilmington, Delaware and served on the New Castle County Council from 1970 to 1972. Since 1991, Biden has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar on constitutional law. He is a proud graduate of Archmere Academy, class of 1961.
Senator Biden lives in Wilmington, Delaware and commutes to Washington, DC when the Senate is in session. He is married to Dr. Jill Biden, the former Jill Jacobs, an educator in Delaware's schools for over twenty years. She currently is a professor teaching at Delaware Technical Community College. Senator Biden is the father of three children: Beau, Hunter and Ashley. Beau serves as Delaware's Attorney General, Ashley is a social worker and Hunter is a lawyer. The Bidens also have five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel, Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
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More Information About Joe Biden:
Joe Biden has represented the state of Delaware in the United States Senate since 1972, when he was elected at the age of twenty-nine. Senator Biden is recognized as a leader in foreign policy, as well as one of the nation's most influential voices on terrorism, drug policy, and crime. Nationally, Senator Biden has earned a reputation for working on a bipartisan basis with Republican colleagues and bringing real results that matter to Americans.
Throughout Senator Biden's career in public service, the people of Delaware have remained his first priority. From preserving White Clay Creek and miles of Delaware's coastline, to putting hundreds more cops on the state's streets, to fighting to cover healthcare costs for all of Delaware's children, Senator Biden is working to improve the lives of Delawareans.
Senator Biden's legislative initiatives often have an immediate impact in Delaware. For example, Delaware was one of the first states to take advantage of the federal resources made available by Senator Biden's Adam Walsh Act, which helps protect children against predators. And fourteen years after Senator Biden first wrote and passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), its programs are still caring for, training, and providing for victims in Delaware.
Agriculture remains Delaware's biggest industry and Senator Biden is committed to preserving Delaware's farming tradition. He believes that the term "family farm" should never become a Delaware legend.
As the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Biden's top foreign policy priority is bringing home American troops without leaving chaos behind in Iraq. Senator Biden and Les Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, have offered a five-point plan that offers a political solution to ending the war - a plan overwhelming endorsed by his Senate colleagues by a 75-23 vote.
His leadership was also widely hailed for helping to bring stability and peace to the Balkans. In 1999, Senator Biden authored a Senate-passed resolution endorsing air war in Kosovo. Today, Senator Biden is again leading the Congressional effort to end genocide, this time in Darfur, Sudan.
Senator Biden is committed to taking care of the men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect our country through military service. Ensuring that all veterans have top-notch medical treatment in a fully-funded VA health care system is a key priority.
As a long-standing member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Biden is a strong leader on crime and drug policy and has been instrumental in crafting almost every major piece of crime legislation over the past two decades. His Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 - also known as the Biden Crime Bill - put more than 100,000 cops on America's streets and increased dramatically federal support for innovative criminal justice prevention and rehabilitation. The 2007 Biden Crime Bill goes further by addressing the 21st century crime problems such as computer hacking, on-line child exploitation and teenage prescription drug abuse. As the Co-Chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, Senator Biden was the first in Congress to propose a "Drug Czar," a cabinet level office to coordinate all federal agencies responsible for drug-related programs and devise a strategy to combat illegal drug use and trafficking in America.
One of Senator Biden's longstanding priorities is making college more accessible and affordable for students and their families. Recently, he introduced the College Affordability and Creating Chances for Educational Success for Students (ACCESS) Act which would increase tax incentives, expand Pell grants, and begin college planning as early as the eighth grade.
Over the last thirty-four years, Senator Biden has shown prescience and leadership on the most critical issues facing Delaware and our country. From his instrumental role in passing the bipartisan initiative to create a Commission on Civil Rights in 1983, to introducing the 1986 Global Climate Protection Act, to establishing an annual National Mammography Awareness Day, and to authoring the Rail Security Act of 2007 to regulate the transportation of hazardous materials on American railways, Senator Biden consistently works to tackle America's toughest challenges.
To learn about more of Senator Biden's work, please visit our Issues and Legislation page.
Personal Information
Senator Biden grew up in New Castle County, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965, and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. Prior to his election to the Senate, Biden practiced law in Wilmington, Delaware and served on the New Castle County Council from 1970 to 1972. Since 1991, Biden has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar on constitutional law. He is a proud graduate of Archmere Academy, class of 1961.
Senator Biden lives in Wilmington, Delaware and commutes to Washington, DC when the Senate is in session. He is married to Dr. Jill Biden, the former Jill Jacobs, an educator in Delaware's schools for over twenty years. She currently is a professor teaching at Delaware Technical Community College. Senator Biden is the father of three children: Beau, Hunter and Ashley. Beau serves as Delaware's Attorney General, Ashley is a social worker and Hunter is a lawyer. The Bidens also have five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel, Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
-- Source: Biden.senate.gov
August 1, 2007 - Joe releases his memoir, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics
Key Summary of Biden's Career Accomplishments:
- Like Barack Obama, Biden has been an outspoken critic of Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq.
- Biden’s leadership was instrumental in helping to bring stability and peace to the Balkans. In 1999, Biden wrote a resolution endorsing the air war in Kosovo that was passed by the Senate.
- Biden is a leader on the congressional effort to end genocide in Darfur.
- In the late 1990s, Biden led the effort in the Senate to bring Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO and to pass the Chemical Weapons Treaty.
- Biden has been instrumental in crafting almost every major piece of crime legislation over the past two decades. His Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 put more than 100,000 police officers on America’s streets and has been credited with bringing down crime rates to the lowest in a generation.
- In 1996, Biden authored legislation to create a national registry of sex offenders, which tracks people convicted of sex crimes involving violence or committed against minors.
- Biden authored and passed the landmark Violence Against Women Act, the strongest legislation to date that criminalizes domestic violence and holds batterers accountable.
- Biden was a strong supporter of the Family and Medical Leave Act, cracked down on deadbeat dads, and has been a consistent champion for equal pay.
- Biden was one of the first to introduce legislation to address global warming and he co-sponsored the most aggressive piece of climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate.
- Biden is a champion on the issue of making college more affordable by using the tax code to reduce costs.
- Biden was successful in passing a provision that prevents budget cuts to military facilities while the nation is at war, one of his key priorities, ensuring that all veterans have top-notch medical treatment in a fully-funded VA health care system.
