Joe Biden On The Record
August 24th, 2008 at 10:52 am | posted by Virginia SimmonsBack in December, ONE members got all the presidential candidates to go on the record with their plans to fight global poverty. You can watch short video clips of Senator Biden discussing his plans on ONE’s “On The Record” microsite.
This was his response to the question: “If elected president, what would you want your legacy to be to Africa and the world’s poor?”
Below are his written replies to 5 questions from ONE:
On reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis:
“As President, I have pledged that I will provide at least $50 billion by 2013 to combat HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Millions of lives are at stake. We must make an investment that matches the scale of the epidemics.”
On eradicating malaria:
“Over one million people die yearly from malaria, a preventable disease. I have long supported efforts to develop a vaccine for malaria, and as President, I would expand these efforts. And I would make it a priority to increase access to prevention tools — we know they work. In the 21st century, no one should be dying from mosquito bites.”
On improving child and maternal health:
“The health and welfare of women and children are the foundation of every family, community, and nation. As a senator, I have introduced legislation to safeguard women and children in refugee and IDP camps and I am the author of the International Violence Against Women Act. As president, I would build on these efforts to address the interlinked health needs and human rights of women and children.”
On achieving universal primary education:
“I co-sponsored the Education for All Act and I have long supported universal primary education. Its the foundation of democracy, an investment in the future and the most powerful tool we have to empower women. Universal primary education is, simply put, a fundamental need.”
On cutting in half the number of people without clean water or enough food:
“Water born diseases are one of the leading killers of children under five. Hunger and malnutrition threaten the health and well being of millions more. Global warming will just make these problems worse. As Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I have seen the consequences of unsafe water and inadequate food around the world. As President, I would invest in helping countries tackle these challenges as part of a comprehensive health and development strategy.”
On additional commitments to the world’s poor:
I am proud to have partnered with Bono on Jubilee 2000 debt relief. We kept at it and the result was the G-8 debt relief actions at Glen Eagles in 2006. I see it as a moral and economic obligation to keep money in countries that have such great need instead of paying off what are often the long ago acquired debts of dictators. As the world’s richest country, we have a moral obligation to increase our share of the effort to eliminate poverty. It’s also strategically smart because it’s in our national security interest to help prevent states from failing. The countries that we help have an equal responsibility to invest these funds in their own people.”
-Virginia Simmons
August 24th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Ginny, i hope it’s okay if i list his voting record on the issues important to us, at least the ones in the current senate. they reflect the support of legislation relevant to the above statements:
He has cosponsored the Stop TB Now (non-domestic TB bill S 968)) but not the domestic one, the Comprehensive TB one (S 1551). but concerning the world’s poorest, he ha supported major funding for them.
He, as the democratic ranking member of the Foreign Relations committee, along with his republican counterpart Senator Lugur, were invaluable in the promotion of and passage of PEPFAR 2008, major funding for non-domestic treatment of AIDS,malaria, and TB. i’ll copy and past this 6/24 entry ONE blog posted, a quote from Senator Reid: “The global AIDS bill, the PEPFAR — I spoke to Senator Biden before lunch today. He asked me if I could wait for another 24 hours before I brought a unanimous consent request to pass this. He said almost all the problems are worked out.” sounds like an atrtibute i’d like in a vice president, imho.
he has yet to cosign on the Child Survival Act (S 1418) Act. unknown reasons, unknown to me anyway.
He has cosponsored S 1259, Education For All.
The Global Povery Act (S 2433) would be making a bill for a strategy to be developed in support of the Millennium Development Goals. That covers the last two. and yes, he has cosponsored the Jubilee Act, very good.
so these may or may not be bills that will be voted on this year, but if they are carried over to the 111th Congress, if this senator becomes our vice president, these current actions could maybe reflect the support the white house could give.
just my muse.
staying close,
sammi in seatlte =)
August 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Sen. Biden is an EXCELLENT friend to our movement to end AIDS and extreme poverty and always has been. I haven’t seen anybody in this blog allege otherwise.
The only question that should be important to OBJECTIVE observors of Presidential politics is whether or not an openly liberal candidate from the North East of the USA can mobilize enough VOTES in “chancy” areas of the USA in past elections for Democrats (the South, the SouthWest, the Mountain States, etc) in order that Obama wins the election. (This is just a hypothetical discussion. I’m sure this discussion will repeat itself after the Republican convention.)
It hasn’t worked in the recent past. We’ll see after Election Day if it worked this time around.
ALWAYS FOREVER, ONE - debbie
www.mpwn-uganda.org
August 24th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I don’t care what Senator Biden’s politics are, or Senator Obama’s or Senator McCain’s. I do care what their commitments are to helping ONE in the fight against poverty. So far, I do not doubt the integrity of any of them. I believe they would each be committed to the fight.
August 24th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Their stances on the ONE On The Record site:
http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/compare.html?c=13&c=8&c=4
an awesome tool provided by ONE here that i send folks to often, and fortunately Senator Biden is a former presidential candidate who has his stance on the record for us. this is where Virginia extracted his comments that she listed above. this link is a side-by-side-by-side chart of the comments by the two presidential and now one vice-presidential candidates, charted next to ONE’s position. i’ve sent a few dozen to print to use at tabling and to pass out at meetings of the groups i’m in here in seattle . . . . i’ll update it when Senator McCain announces his running mate.
take care, stay close,
sammi =)
August 25th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Joe Biden is very genuine and getting all the candidates on the record before the primaries came to a close was an excellent idea. No matter how we feel about individual candidates in the two major parties, we must treat them equally until we have a president. Actually, being public officials who will continue to make decisions on the behalf of US citizens, we must hold the ALL to their word on our most important issues.
Nice Job ONE!