Joe Biden on Welfare & Poverty Former Vice President; previously Democratic Senator (DE)

Sub-sections under Welfare & Poverty:
• Voting Record
• Other issues under Welfare & Poverty

$880M for SNAP food stamps; let's increase to $3B

PROMISE KEPT: (CNN March 6, 2021): The Senate and House plans both extend the 15% increase in food stamp benefits through September, instead of having it expire at the end of June. They also contain $880 million for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, to help increase participation and temporarily improve benefits, among other measures. Biden called for investing $3 billion in the program.

$20 billion for moratorium on evictions and foreclosures

PROMISE KEPT: (CNN March 6, 2021): Send roughly $20 billion to state and local governments to help low-income households cover back rent, rent assistance and utility bills. About $10 billion would be authorized to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages, utilities and property taxes. The bills would provide $5 billion to help states and localities assist those at risk of experiencing homelessness and another $5 billion for emergency housing vouchers for those who are homeless.

Expand the earned income tax credit

PROMISE MADE: (Darla Mercado on CNBC Jan 14 2021): The president-elect sought a one-year expansion of the earned income tax credit, a refundable credit available to low-income workers. Biden wants to raise the maximum earned income tax credit for childless adults to close to $1,500. He also wants to raise the income limit for the credit to approximately $21,000 from about $16,000. Finally, the president-elect wants to make the credit available to older workers, so he's proposing the elimination of the 65-year age cap.

PROMISE KEPT: (CNN March 6, 2021): [In the Senate stimulus plan]: The bills also enhance the earned income tax credit for workers without children by nearly tripling the maximum credit and extending eligibility to more people. The minimum age to claim the childless credit would be reduced to 19, from 25, and the upper age limit would be eliminated.

Equalize home tax rates for red-lined minority neighborhoods

Help minorities buy homes, start businesses, amass wealth

I fought red-lining and now I fight race-based home pricing

Sen. Elizabeth WARREN: It is not enough to talk about housing neutrally and just be race-blind. It is important to recognize the role that the federal government played for decades in discriminating against African-Americans having an opportunity to buy homes. I have a housing plan, and what it has in it specifically is a piece to deal with the effects of red-lining.

BIDEN: My first effort I had as a councilman was doing away with red-lining in the county. [In my current plan], I provide for the opportunity for first-time home buyers to be able to have a $15,000 tax credit so they can get the mortgage at the front end and be able to keep it. Look, right now if you live in a black neighborhood and you have the same exact house as the guy across the street in a white neighborhood has, your house is valued significantly less than the white, the same exact house. We've got to deal with the institutional racism.

I first got involved in politics to fight red-lining

2005 Bankruptcy bill was flawed, but my input made it better

Biden's camp, needless to say, has a different view--seeing the 2005 legislation as an admittedly flawed effort to tackle a real problem that was made better thanks to the participation of Biden and other Democrats. "Because it was a certainty that the Republican-controlled Congress and White House would turn the bankruptcy bill into law," a Biden spokesperson said, "then-Senator Biden fought for and won important concessions for middle class families in it, including protecting access to Chapter 7 forgiveness for working people, making child support and alimony the number one priority for debt payments--in front of big banks and credit card companies--and forcing credit card companies to warn borrowers about their interest rates."

Defining issue as Obama VP: restoring the middle class

"Yes," he said. "I really mean it." I believed him. I was convinced he was an honest and thoroughly honorable man who kept his word. I was also convinced that he could be a really good president.

Middle class makes us strong, give hope to poor

Americans don't want handouts, just to be given a chance

"Middle class means you get to own your home. It means you get to send your kid to a decent school, that if they do well and they want to go to college, you can afford to send them to college. It means being able to take care of your parents if they get sick. It means maybe being able to save enough so you hope your kids never have to take care of you."

The vice president responded to "pollsters" who he said claim the middle class no longer cares about owning a home or sending their kids to college: "The American people have not stopped dreaming. The American people have not walked away from what they believe they are entitled to. Just give them a chance--no handout, just give them a chance," Biden said. "Once you give Americans a chance they have never, never, never, never ever let their country down."

It's not "culture of dependency"; it's acquiring skills

Folks, that's not how we look at it. Americans have never looked at it that way. These men and women aren't looking for a handout. They're just looking for a chance to acquire the tools and the skills to provide for their families--so they can hold their heads high and lead independent lives with dignity.

The choice is stark. Two different visions. Two different value sets. And at its core, the difference is, we have incredible faith in the decency, and the hard work of the American people. And we know what has made this country great--its people.

No faith-based initiative; it ain’t broke, so don’t fix it

We’re no longer certain our kids will be better off than us

Gave up on $15 minimum wage in Congressional bills

PROMISE BROKEN: (CNN March 6, 2021): The Senate bill does not include an increase in the federal minimum wage, which House Democrats proposed raising to $15 an hour. The parliamentarian ruled in late February that increasing the hourly threshold does not meet a strict set of guidelines needed to move forward in the reconciliation process.

OnTheIssues ANALYSIS: Progressives have said they will continue to fight for the increase, and the Biden White House continues to support a raise to $15/hour, including the "Raise the Wage Act" introduced in 2021.

Voted YES on welfare block grants.

Voted YES on eliminating block grants for food stamps.

Voted NO on allowing state welfare waivers.

Voted YES on welfare overhaul.

Fully fund AmeriCorps.

To: President George W. Bush

Dear President Bush:

We write to express our strong support for AmeriCorps and recognize the leadership you have shown on this issue over the years. We know you agree that AmeriCorps is an outstanding program which has proven successful in addressing our homeland security needs, leveraging volunteers, and improving the quality of services available to a broad range of Americans.

Unfortunately, as you know, the Corporation for National Service officially announced yesterday unprecedented and drastic funding cuts, from 50 to 95 percent in every state. These cuts mean that under the State Competitive funding stream the Corporation will only fund 2,036 volunteers, compared with 11,236 last year. Many states will see their volunteer allocations under the competitive stream drop by as much as 90 percent and 16 states are shut out completely.

In your 2002 State of the Union address, you called for every American to dedicate 4,000 hours to community service throughout their lives. In your 2004 budget request, you proposed increasing the number of AmeriCorps volunteers from 50,000 to 75,000. Unfortunately, due to serious errors made by the Corporation, fewer than half this number of Americans will be allowed to serve their country through service.

We should support, not oppose, efforts to encourage more Americans to enter public service. We should do everything in our power to reward the American men and women who have chosen to serve the country and their communities in the hope of meeting the nation's critical education, safety, health, and homeland security needs.

We urge you to request additional funding in the supplemental appropriations bill to ensure that AmeriCorps remains a strong and vital program today and in the future.

Develop a strategy to eliminate extreme global poverty.

A BILL to require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.

Congress makes the following findings:
1. More than 1 billion people worldwide live on less than $1 per day, and another 1.6 billion people struggle to survive on less than $2 per day.
2. At the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, the US joined more than 180 other countries in committing to work toward goals to improve life for the world's poorest people by 2015.
3. The year 2007 marks the mid-point to the Millennium Development Goals deadline of 2015.
4. The UN Millennium Development Goals include the goal of reducing by 1/2 the proportion of people that live on less than $1 per day, & cutting in half the proportion of people suffering from hunger and unable to access safe drinking water and sanitation.

REQUIREMENT TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY: The US Government shall develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the US foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by 1/2 the proportion of people worldwide who live on less than $1 per day. The strategy shall include specific and measurable goals, efforts to be undertaken, benchmarks, and timetables to achieve the objectives.