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Joe Biden on Corporations
Former Vice President; previously Democratic Senator (DE)
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We bet on Detroit automakers in 2009, and we won!
It's a January morning in Detroit, and Joe Biden, whose carefree reputation belies an obsession with preparation, is laboring over the speech he will deliver at the nearby auto show. The show is a high point of the year for Detroit, a city that can't
even afford to maintain its streetlights.When the vice president finally speaks, offering up a 20-minute performance that is a classic Biden hodgepodge, he ends up with a ramble that includes a victory lap for the 2009 auto bailout he championed
("We and the American people placed a bet on all of you sitting in front of me. We won!"), an homage to American muscle cars ("I love that Cadillac ATS!")
and a bit of campaign rhetoric, ready-made to outflank Clinton in the industrial heartland ("This is going to be the American century in manufacturing!").
Source: Politico Mag profile, "Joe Biden in Winter"
, Mar 1, 2014
Same rules for Wall Street as for Main Street
BIDEN: Governor Romney said 47% of the American people are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. These people are my mom and dad, the people I grew up with, my neighbors. They are elderly people who in fact are living off of
Social Security. They are veterans and people fighting in Afghanistan right now who are "not paying any taxes." I've had it up to here with this notion that 47%--it's about time they take some responsibility here. And instead of signing pledges to
Grover Norquist not to ask the wealthiest among us to contribute to bring back the middle class, they should be signing a pledge saying to the middle class, we're going to level the playing field. We're going to give you a fair shot again.
We are going to not repeat the mistakes we made in the past by having a different set of rules for Wall Street and Main Street, making sure that we continue to hemorrhage these tax cuts for the superwealthy.
Source: 2012 Vice Presidential debate
, Oct 11, 2012
Auto bailout saved a million American jobs
Barack saved more than 1 million American jobs. In our first days in office, GM and Chrysler were on the verge of liquidation.We listened to Senators, Congressmen, advisors--we shouldn't step in, the risks were too high, the outcome too uncertain.
But the President didn't see it their way. He understood something they didn't: this wasn't just about cars. It was about the Americans who built those cars.
In those meetings, I often thought about my dad. My dad was an automobile man.
He would have been one of those guys selling American cars to the American people. I thought about what this crisis would have meant for the mechanics, the secretaries, the sales people who he managed. And I know for certain, that if my dad were here
today, he would be fighting for this President, who fought to save all those jobs, his job, and the jobs of all the people he cared about. He would respect Barack Obama for having the guts to stand up for the automobile industry, when others walked away.
Source: 2012 Democratic National Convention speech
, Sep 6, 2012
We bet on the auto industry; 400,000 new jobs means we won
The President and I made a simple bet. We bet on you [the auto industry]. We bet on American ingenuity. We bet on you and we won: Chrysler, fastest growing car company in America, General Motors has seen the largest profits in its history;
400,000 auto jobs lost before we took office; 200,000 new jobs since the rescue plan was in place. That's 200,000 people who had their dignity returned to them, reinstated, and a paycheck they can raise their family on.Remember what the headlines were
saying when you woke up a couple of years ago. "It's bankruptcy time for GM." Another headline--"Crunch time looms for Chrysler." A million good jobs were at stake on the assembly line, at the parts factories, at the automobile dealerships, right down
to the diners outside each of those facilities. We knew that resurrecting the industry wasn't going to be popular. We weren't going to give up on a million jobs and on the iconic industry America invented without a real fight.
Source: Automotive Industry speech in Toledo Ohio
, Mar 15, 2012
We’ve yielded to corporate America on trade
Q: Given the WTO guidelines, could you actually restrict trade with China?A: With the WTO guidelines, we could stop these [unsafe] products coming in now. This president doesn’t act. We have much more leverage on China than they have on us. The
idea that a country with 800 million people in poverty has greater leverage over us is preposterous. We’ve yielded to corporate America. We’ve yielded to this president’s notion of what constitutes trade, and we’ve refused to enforce the laws that exist.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Democratic debate
, Dec 13, 2007
OpEd: beholden to corporations because so many based in DE
Like all mainstream candidates, Biden is beholden to corporate interests who support his campaigns or dominate his state; in Biden’s case, he cast a noteworthy vote in favor of the controversial
2005 bankruptcy bill, which was a boon to credit card lenders, many of which are based in Delaware due to lax state regulations. Biden’s biggest single bloc of support is trial lawyers, who like his strong position against tort reform.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.180
, Nov 11, 2007
Take burden off corporations so jobs stay in US
Q: A lot of Americans are concerned with outsourcing of US jobs. What’s your solution?CLINTON: Well, outsourcing is a problem. We have to end the tax breaks that still exist in the tax code for outsourcing jobs.
BIDEN:
Eliminating the tax breaks is not going to keep jobs here in America. We’ve got to make it more attractive to have jobs here in America and for corporations to be here.
You’ve got to take the burden off the corporations with a health care system that’s universal, so we’re not at a competitive disadvantage. You’ve got to have a better education system to provide for the highest-tech jobs that we educate our folks for,
so we’re not importing 400,000 computer engineers to work in Silicon Valley. And you’ve got to deal with the innovation and infrastructure needs in this country--tunnels, bridges, etc.--which we haven’t done to make us more competitive.
Source: 2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University
, Jun 28, 2007
Voted YES on repealing tax subsidy for companies which move US jobs offshore.
Amendment to repeal the tax subsidy for certain domestic companies which move manufacturing operations and American jobs offshore.
Reference: Tax Subsidy for Domestic Companies Amendment;
Bill S AMDT 210 to S Con Res 18
; vote number 2005-63
on Mar 17, 2005
Voted YES on reforming bankruptcy to include means-testing & restrictions.
Amends Federal bankruptcy law to revamp guidelines governing dismissal or conversion of a Chapter 7 liquidation (complete relief in bankruptcy) to one under either Chapter 11 (Reorganization) or Chapter 13 (Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income). Voting YES would:- Declare a debtor eligible only for Chapter 13, as anyone financially capable of paying back their creditors at a rate that still allows them to earn above their state's median income
- Place domestic support obligations such as child support and alimony amongst the first priority claim category of non-dischargeable debts on a debtor filing for bankruptcy
- Require debtors to pay for and attend credit counseling prior to filing for bankruptcy
- Cap home equity protection at $125,000 if the debtor purchased a house within 40 months of filing for bankruptcy.
Reference: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005;
Bill S 256
; vote number 2005-44
on Mar 10, 2005
Voted YES on restricting rules on personal bankruptcy.
Vote to pass a bill that would require debtors able to repay $10,000 or 25 percent of their debts over five years to file under Chapter 13 bankruptcy (reorganization and repayment) rather than Chapter 7 (full discharge of debt).
Reference:
Bill HR 333
; vote number 2001-236
on Jul 17, 2001
Rated 32% by the US COC, indicating an anti-business voting record.
Biden scores 32% by US Chamber of Commerce on business policy
Whether you own a business, represent one, lead a corporate office, or manage an association, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of AmericaSM provides you with a voice of experience and influence in Washington, D.C., and around the globe.
Our members include businesses of all sizes and sectors—from large Fortune 500 companies to home-based, one-person operations. In fact, 96% of our membership encompasses businesses with fewer than 100 employees.
Mission Statement:
"To advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility."
The ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.
Source: COC website 03n-COC on Dec 31, 2003
Page last updated: Mar 15, 2019