Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States. Biden represented the Delaware constituency for 36 years before becoming the 47th Vice-President under President Barack Obama. In his illustrious and ongoing political career of over 40 years, he has passed landmark bills on bipartisan infrastructure law, medicare and climate change.
President Biden is making headlines for reportedly
favouring cancellation of student debt up to $10,000 under $125,000 a year.
This news comes right before the student-loan
payment pause is set to expire.
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Who is Joe Biden?
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., was born in
Pennsylvania in 1942 to Catholic parents, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and
Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr. Being the oldest child in the family of four
siblings, Biden pursued a double major in History and Political Science in the
University of Delaware and graduated in 1961. He also earned a Juris Doctor from
Syracuse University College of Law and later practised law in the Delaware bar.
At an early age, Biden was challenged with stuttering which affected his performance in the 2020 Democratic Party Presidential Debates. However, Biden said that he has improved his oration by practising poetry elocution before a mirror.
President Biden was one of the youngest senators
ever elected at the age of 29. Tragedy struck when his wife Neilia and daughter
Naomi were killed and his sons Hunter and Beau suffered fatal injuries in a car
accident. Beau Biden passed away in 2015 after battling brain cancer for
several years.
Joe later married Jill Jacobs, a professional
educator who gave birth to Biden’s second daughter Ashley Blazer Biden.
As a Senator from Delaware, Biden was challenged with significant domestic and international issues. He got massive support for drafting a poignant act such as the Violence Against Women Act which consolidated penalties for gender-based violence and shed limelight on graver domestic issues.
Biden served as the Ranking Member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee and played a pivotal role in shaping US foreign
policies. He played a leading role in developing policies and laws pertaining
to terrorism, WMDs, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and
the abolition of apartheid.
Joe Biden served as the Vice-President for three
consecutive terms under President Obama. During his tenure, he passed several
landmark acts such as Recovery Act which prevented the US economy from slipping
into depression and Affordable Care Act which prevented insurance companies
from denying Medicare expenses.
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He also played a crucial role in developing
defence strategies with the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding
military unrest in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Joe Biden was also conferred with the highest
honorary award in the US, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2017.
Biden declared his intention to run for President of the United States on April 25, 2019. Biden started his race for the Presidential election against the incumbent Republican President Donald J Trump, thus becoming the first candidate to win against a President since Bill Clinton defeated George Bush in 1992. He was also endorsed by influential Democrats including Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders. The three foundational pillars of his electoral campaigns included fighting institutional racial injustice, rebuilding the middle class and recovering the American economy in the post-Trump era.
