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Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) was first elected to the United States Senate to represent Delaware in Congress in 1972 and re-elected every time he has run, most recently in November 2002. He is the top Democrat on both the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, and is a central player on some of the most important issues facing the nation, from crime prevention and constitutional law to international relations and arms control.
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.
Sen. Biden is one of the most respected voices on national security and civil liberties, and has earned national recognition as a policy innovator, effective legislator and party spokesman on a wide range of issues. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, Biden is currently serving his sixth six-year term in office.
A strong leader on anti-crime and drug policy, Sen. Biden has been instrumental in crafting virtually every major piece of crime legislation over the last decade, including the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, also known as the Biden Crime Law. He is also the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 2000, which contains a broad array of groundbreaking measures to combat domestic violence and provides billions of dollars in federal funds to address gender-based crimes.
As chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, Sen. Biden also wrote the laws that created the nation's "Drug Czar" who oversees and coordinated national drug control policy. Sen. Biden continues to work to stop the spread of new drugs such as Ecstacy, Ketamine, Rohypnol, and other date rape drugs.
Sen. Biden has been a staunch supporter of college aid and loan programs and has crafted legislation to allow families to deduct up to $10,000 per year in higher education expenses on their annual income tax returns. His enacted "Kids 2000" legislation established a public/private partnership to help provide computer centers, teachers, Internet access, and technical training to young people across the nation, particularly to low-income and at-risk youth.
In 2003, Biden was urged by many of his supporters to join the Democratic field of candidates for president. However, Biden declined the offer, deciding to devote his time to the senate rather than the campaign trail. Biden had made one previous attempt for the presidency, in 1988. Biden dropped out of the race amidst controversy, as he was found to have plagiarized a speech from British Labour party leader Neil Kinnock, and then was found to have also engaged in plagiarism in law school.
Some experts and pundits initially considered Biden to be a possible running mate for presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election. However, Biden had expressed interest in a Kerry-John McCain ticket. On July 5, 2004, Biden expressed to CNN that he was uninterested in contention for a vice-presidential nomination. The next day, Kerry picked Senator John Edwards as his running mate.
A resident of Wilmington, Delaware, Sen. Biden is married to the former Jill Jacobs, and is the father of three children.