Joe Biden picked as Obama's VP




Here are the Democratic Vice President's stance on the issues.

Domestic issues

Crime
Joe Biden has been given a 71% approval rating from Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) indicating a pro-rehab record on crime. He voted in support of funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. He voted for the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which greatly increased the number of federal capital crimes, but also voted against limiting death penalty appeals. He voted for heavier punishments for hate crimes and supports a Federal Bureau of Investigation registry for sex offenders. The Violence Against Women Act was drafted by Senator Joseph Biden, which enhanced the investigation and prosecution of violent crime perpetrated against women, increased pre-trial detention of the accused, provided for automatic and mandatory restitution of those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.


Education
Biden received a 91% voting record from the National Education Association (NEA) showing a pro-teacher union voting record. He supports abstinence education, is against student vouchers and affirms the Constitutional right to voluntary prayer in school.[1] He voted in favor of Educational Savings Accounts. In regard to the No Child Left Behind Act Biden stated,

Classrooms are too big; we need smaller classrooms, period. A lot of teachers are going to be retiring. We need a program where we attract the best and brightest students coming out of our colleges to be teachers, and pay them.[2]

He voted in favor of the Act in 2001, but has subsequently called that vote "a mistake."[3] He feels that the program is underfunding the education system.

He also supported the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which abolished education grants for prisoners.[4]


Energy
Biden opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and supports governmental funding to find new energy sources.[5]

Biden believes action must be taken on global warming. He supports the creation of a new treaty on climate change that would require emissions reductions from developing countries such as Brazil, India, China, and Mexico. He has also stated his support for investment in technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the creation of a "cap and trade" system. Biden supports the promotion of renewable energy, including biodiesel fuels but not ethanol.

While campaigning for president in 2007, Biden said that, if elected, his top priority would be "energy security." He has also been quoted as saying "If I could wave a wand, and the Lord said I could solve one problem, I would solve the energy crisis."[6]


Environment
He co-sponsored the "Sense of the Senate" resolution calling on the United States to be a part of the United Nations climate negotiations and the "Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act", the most stringent climate bill in the United States Senate.[7] He voted "Yes" on a $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas and "No" for drilling in ANWR on national security grounds and defunding renewable and solar energy.[8]


Gun issues
Biden was given an "F" by the National Rifle Association (NRA) showing an anti-gun ownership voting record.[9] He supports reinstating the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and voted against prohibition of lawsuits against gun manufacturers. He has voted to ban assault rifles and to end the "gun show loophole", stating that no one should be able to walk into a gun show and buy a gun more easily than they could at a normal store.


Immigration
Biden supported the 2007 Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill. He supports guest-worker visas, and the building of a wall along the border as a deterrent to drug trafficking. He voted to provide Social Security to illegal immigrants and supports a path to citizenship.


Homeland Security
After the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a domestic terrorist bomb attack that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Biden drafted anti-terrorist legislation, which was ultimately defeated. He later claimed publicly on several occasions that the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 — which eased restrictions on the Executive branch in the surveillance and detention of those suspected of terrorism or facilitating it — was essentially a duplicate of the anti-terrorist legislation he had drafted years earlier.[10] Biden, naturally, supported the PATRIOT Act but voted to limit wiretapping on the bill. He supports implementing the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to fight terrorists but voted to preserve habeas corpus rights to the alleged terror suspects serving in Guantanamo Bay. In the 1990s he voted in favor of 36 vetoed military projects and supports efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. He was given a 60% approval rating from the American Civil Liberties Union reflecting a mixed voting record on civil rights issues. During a debate on November 15, 2007 Biden clarified the effect of the PATRIOT Act and his continued support for it and his opposition to racial profiling.[11]


Internet privacy and file sharing
CNET.com gave Biden a 37.5 in its Technology Issues Voter's Guide.[12]They referred to Biden as "Pro-RIAA" and "Pro-FBI" in his file sharing and privacy stances. Biden sponsored a bill that would make it a felony to record internet radio,[13] and signed a letter that urged the Justice Department to prosecute file sharers.[14] Biden also sponsored two bills, the Comprehensive Counter Terrorism Act and the Violent Crime Control Act, both of which contained language effectively banning encryption.[15] Phil Zimmerman, creator of PGP, has said it was Biden's legislation (SB 266) that "led me to publish PGP electronically for free that year, shortly before the measure was defeated after vigorous protest by civil libertarians and industry groups."[16]


Economic issues
Biden is against the Bush administration's tax cuts and would "take back one year of the tax cuts for Americans who make over a million dollars a year, and put this money in a dedicated Homeland Security and Public Safety Trust Fund to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations and invest in law enforcement."[17][dead link] Biden supports a balanced budget amendment.

Biden was given a 32% approval rating from the United States Chamber of Commerce. He favors taking burdens off corporations to prevent outsourcing.[vague] He voted yes on repealing tax subsidies for companies that outsource jobs and yes on restrictions on personal bankruptcy.

Biden cites high health care and energy costs as two major threats to the prosperity of American businesses, and believes that addressing these issues will improve American economic competitiveness.[18][dead link]

Biden was given a 100% approval rating from AFL-CIO indicating a heavily pro-union voting record. However, he was one of the Democrats to vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993.[19] Biden was given a 42% approval rating from the Cato Institute, revealing a mixed record on free trade. He opposed the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) but supports normalizing relations with China, Vietnam and the Andean nations. He opposes free trade agreements with Oman, Singapore, and Chile.

Biden was given a 100% approval rating from the American Public Health Association (APHA). He supports funding for health care to allow all people access. Biden is opposed to the privatization of Social Security and was given an 89% approval rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), reflecting a pro-senior citizen voting record. Voted in support of welfare block grants and supports welfare reform.


Foreign policy
The Council on Foreign Relations reported on Biden's political positions.[20]


Iraq
As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2002 he stated that Saddam Hussein was "a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security" and that United States has "no choice but to eliminate the threat".[21] After the Bush Administration rejected his effort to pass a resolution authorizing military action in Iraq only after the exhaustion of diplomatic efforts,[22] Biden voted in favor of the invasions of Iraq in 2003. Biden has since said that he believes it was a mistake to support the Iraq war because it has been mismanaged by the Bush Administration. Regarding his belief that Iraq maintained stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, Biden stated in 2007 that inspectors had seen and cataloged the existence of the materials required to make such weapons prior to their expulsion from Iraq and pondered why Hussein didn't tell the international community that he had disposed of them.[21]

Biden is a leading advocate for partitioning Iraq.[23] He supports a "five-step plan" towards removing troops from Iraq. In November 2006, Biden and Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, released a comprehensive strategy to end sectarian violence in Iraq. Rather than continuing the present approach or withdrawing, the plan calls for "a third way": federalizing Iraq and giving Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis "breathing room" in their own regions.[24][dead link] The key points include:

Giving Iraq's major groups a measure of autonomy in their own regions. A central government would be left in charge of interests such as defending the borders and distributing oil revenues.
Guaranteeing Sunnis — who have no oil rights — a proportionate share of oil revenue and reintegrating those who have not fought against Coalition forces.
Increase, not end, reconstruction assistance but insist that Arab Gulf states fund it and tie it to the creation of a jobs program and to the protection of minority rights.
Initiate a diplomatic offensive to enlist the support of the major powers and neighboring countries for a political settlement in Iraq and create an Oversight Contact Group to enforce regional commitments.
Begin the phased redeployment of U.S. forces in 2007 and withdraw most of them by 2008, leaving a small follow-on force for security and policing actions.
The plan, named The Biden-Brownback Resolution, passed on the Senate floor 75-23 on September 25, 2007, including 26 Republican votes.


Africa
Biden favors an American deployment of troops to Sudan. In support of this, Biden said senior U.S. military officials in Europe told him that 2,500 U.S. troops could "radically change the situation on the ground now".

Biden is opposed to American financing of abstinence only programs to combat HIV-AIDS in Africa. In 2007, he cosponsored the HIV Prevention Act which would end President Bush's mandate that one third of all funds be earmarked to abstinence only programs.

Israel
Biden is highly supportive of Israel and favors a two-state solution to the Palestinian Conflict. He stated that "the Arab nations have known that there is no daylight between us and Israel." Biden sponsored the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006.


North Korea
Biden favors open dialogue with North Korea and describes them as a "paper tiger", unable to directly cause harm to America. However, in June 2008, he called the situation one of the "the three most important things that the next president is going to have to deal with", along with Iran and Iraq.


Iran
Biden favors direct diplomacy with Iran but supports strategically placed sanctions on the regime if it does not comply with American demands. He stated, "we should complement this pressure by presenting a detailed, positive vision for U.S.-Iran relations if Iran does the right thing." In 2007 Biden voted against a measure to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.


Cuba
Biden strongly opposes the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba and supports the continuation of the trade embargo as well as the democratization of the island after the dictator's death. In 2006, Biden stated, "We should be putting together a plan as to how we are going to play a positive role in moving that country, after the Castros are gone, to—more toward democratization and liberalization in their society."


Social issues

Abortion, stem cell research, cloning
Joe Biden believes that the Roe v. Wade decision should remain intact. He is quoted as saying, "The best policy for our country on the question of abortion is a policy of Government neutrality. Put another way: I do not believe that the government should be involved in making judgments on whether a woman can, or should have an abortion, or – if she chooses to do so – in paying for that abortion."[citation needed]

He voted in favor of a 1999 bill to ban in most circumstances "partial birth abortion"[25] and on the 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.[26] Biden has defended these votes as recently as April 2007.[27][dead link] He has also stated his opposition to federal funding of abortions.[28][dead link]

He has joined with Democrats in voting against parental notification and a ban on abortions on military bases. Biden's record on abortion is pro-choice, receiving a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America in four of the last five years, although he received a 36% as recently as 2003. Biden pledged that he would appoint Supreme Court justices that share his beliefs.[29][dead link] He has also stated his opposition to the Mexico City Policy, and voted in favor of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994. Biden supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and voted to expand development and voted against a 1998 ban on cloning.


Drug law
Biden favors diverting drug offenders out of the nation's prison system. He is ostensibly against making stricter laws for drug offenses, but helped in the creation of a Drug Czar, a government official overseeing all anti-drug operations. According to his campaign website, he is for increased penalties against those caught selling drugs within 1000 feet of schools.[30] He voted against restrictions on children obtaining violent videos and supports funding for the Boys and Girls Clubs in underprivileged areas. He was the drafter and chief sponsor of the RAVE Act, a law that aimed to crack down on MDMA-fueled raves but which was criticized by some as being too broad in scope.[31] The law, which was later renamed the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003, was additionally controversial because it was passed without public hearing or debate in Congress, attached to an unrelated child protection bill. Critics of the law assert that it has since been used by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration to intimidate those organizing rallies and fund-raisers to support drug-law reform.[32]


LGBT issues
Biden voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act[33] and against the Federal Marriage Amendment.[34] He supports states rights to establish civil unions and favors adding sexual orientation to the criteria for a hate crime.[35]


The above information was found Wiki, here is Biden's stance on various issues.