Energy

As a presidential candidate, Senator Biden introduced a plan to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil by requiring all cars marketed in the United States to be able to use a gasoline mixture containing 85% ethanol by 2017, raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 40 mpg by 2017, and encouraging the use of energy efficient technologies by consumers and the federal government. Senator Biden also co-introduced the Fuel Economy Reform Act (S. 676), which requires a 4% annual increase in CAFE standards.

• Vice President Biden announced at a Missouri transformer factory that the Department of Energy will be given around $4 billion to make improvements on the electric grid. Biden spoke about the the stimulus is furthering wind energy and creating jobs for Americans. The electric grid for the wind energy site would be built with smart electric components, which allows consumers to adjust their electricity use from solar panels and home energy generators. He also announced that 100 ABB-bult transformers would be purchased from the facory for use at the wind power plant.^[1] The Departmnet on Enegy plans to use $615 million to demonstrate smart grid projects.

^[2]

Drilling

Biden is opposed to drilling in America as being the major solution for the country's energy crisis. In his Vice Presidential Debate with Sarah Palin, he said that "it would be a decade before any new domestically produced oil made it to US pumps and repeated that our country has but 3 percent of the world's oil yet uses 25 percent of it." ^[3]

Advanced Technology Vehicles

According to his Senate website, Biden plans to invest in technology that will allow domestic car manufacturers to build highly efficient plug-in hybrids. He plans to initiate this by doubling the current investment in research and development of lithium-ion batteries from $40 million a year to $100 million a year. Biden decision is based on a lesson from the Japanese, who dominate the market for lithium ion batteries that go into hybrids by investing millions in the technology for years. He believes the US should be a leader in the market and not be playing catch-up.^[4]

Environment

Biden is opposed to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). ^[5]

February 27, 2009 Vice President Joseph Biden led the first meeting of The White House Task Force on Middle Class Families. The task force discussed the effect of invsting in green jobs for middle class families. President Obama previously announced that $20 billion was to be spent on a "cleaner and greener economy"^[6] , with a half a million dollars to be invested in green job training. "At a time when good jobs and good wages are harder and harder to come by – it is critical we find new and innovative work opportunities for middle class families," stated Vice President Biden.^[7]The task force will hear from many experts on how to get people involved in green training and what the impact of this will be. The following is the knowledge established in the report so far on green jobs.

• • Green jobs are good jobs: they pay more – by 10 to 20 percent – depending what the job is, than others;
  • The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will put over $20 billion into green programs and investments, helping to create tens of thousands of high-quality green jobs across America;
  • Green jobs are also more likely to be unionized than other jobs, helping to strengthen middle class families and provide pathways into the middle class for disadvantaged workers; and
  • Successful green job models in cities and states across America require government leadership to get the engine of green job growth started.

^[8]

Evolution/Intelligent Design

On an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, Biden criticized teaching intelligent design in schools saying, "This is reversible, man. This is reversible. We don't have to go down this road. I refuse to believe the majority of people believe this malarkey!”

Global Warming

To combat climate change, Senator Biden calls for capping greenhouse gas emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050 through a cap and trade system. Biden also would like to negotiate a global climate change treaty with emitters worldwide—including China and India—to reduce the global impact of greenhouse gases.

In the Senate, Biden is a co-sponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007(S. 309), which calls for the United States to reduce emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.

Healthcare

Announced on October 23, 2007, Biden’s healthcare plan focuses on reducing costs through prevention and modernization, insuring all children, and lowering health care costs for employers. Biden has promised to, within six months of taking office as President, call a gathering of healthcare professionals—insurance companies, the American Medical Association (AMA), labor and business groups, etc.—to create a healthcare plan that will cover every American. Senator Biden also has developed a separate plan to improve Medicare.

In the Senate, Biden annually introduces and helps pass a resolution creating a “National Mammography Day” which encourages women to get mammograms to screen for breast cancer. Biden also supported the Medicare Prescription Drug Policy Negotiation Act of 2007 (S. 3), which would have required the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices for Part D of Medicare with pharmaceutical companies. The bill failed a cloture vote in April 2007.

Genetic Discrimination

According to his campaign website, “Biden has fought to prohibit an issuer of a Medicare supplemental policy, on the basis of genetic information, from denying or conditioning coverage, or discriminating in the pricing of the policy, including the adjustment rates, for an eligible individual.”^[9]

Women’s Health

Senator Biden has consistently defended Roe v Wade and supported Title X – the nations’ family planning program -- that provides information, services, support, and research for family planning. Biden also supports the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which would fund scholarships for nursing students, and promote public information programs to encourage people to enter the nursing profession and he is working to help train and employ 100,000 new nurses in the workforce.^[10]

Innovation

In order to improve US innovation in clean energy technology, Joe Biden supports creating a five-year, $50 billion investment in new incentives for research including: alternative fuel and energy sources, renewable energy, and carbon capture and sequestration technologies that will allow us to use coal cleanly. He would pay for this investment by: taxing oil companies’ windfall profits, repealing tax breaks for oil companies, auctioning carbon credits, collecting royalties for production of oil and gas on federal lands, and preventing price gouging.^[11]

Stem Cell Research

Biden supports expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (S. 5).

Speeches on Science and Health Policy Issues

No speeches have been posted to date.

SCIENCE IN THE DEBATES:

Vice-Presidential Debate, October 2, 2008

Moderator: Thank you, governor. Senator? [on health care]

Biden: Now, with regard to the -- to the health care plan, you know, it's with one hand you giveth, the other you take it. You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?

He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.

And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.

So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."

Moderator: Senator, what is true and what is false about the causes? [on global warming]

Biden: Well, I think it is manmade. I think it's clearly manmade. And, look, this probably explains the biggest fundamental difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and Sarah Palin and Joe Biden -- Gov. Palin and Joe Biden.If you don't understand what the cause is, it's virtually impossible to come up with a solution. We know what the cause is. The cause is manmade. That's the cause. That's why the polar icecap is melting.

Now, let's look at the facts. We have 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. We consume 25 percent of the oil in the world. John McCain has voted 20 times in the last decade-and-a-half against funding alternative energy sources, clean energy sources, wind, solar, biofuels. The way in which we can stop the greenhouse gases from emitting. We believe -- Barack Obama believes by investing in clean coal and safe nuclear, we can not only create jobs in wind and solar here in the United States, we can export it.

China is building one to three new coal-fired plants burning dirty coal per week. It's polluting not only the atmosphere but the West Coast of the United States. We should export the technology by investing in clean coal technology. We should be creating jobs. John McCain has voted 20 times against funding alternative energy sources and thinks, I guess, the only answer is drill, drill, drill. Drill we must, but it will take 10 years for one drop of oil to come out of any of the wells that are going to begun to be drilled.In the meantime, we're all going to be in real trouble.

Moderator: On clean coal.

Biden: Oh, on clean coal. My record, just take a look at the record. My record for 25 years has supported clean coal technology. A comment made in a rope line was taken out of context. I was talking about exporting that technology to China so when they burn their dirty coal, it won't be as dirty, it will be clean. But here's the bottom line, Gwen: How do we deal with global warming with continued addition to carbon emissions? And if the only answer you have is oil, and John -- and the governor says John is for everything.

Well, why did John vote 20 times? Maybe he's for everything as long as it's not helped forward by the government. Maybe he's for everything if the free market takes care of it. I don't know. But he voted 20 times against funding alternative energy sources.

Moderator: Probably the biggest cliche about the vice-presidency is that it's a heartbeat away, everybody's waiting to see what would happen if the worst happened. How would -- you disagree on some things from your principles, you disagree on drilling in Alaska, the National Wildlife Refuge, you disagree on the surveillance law, at least you have in the past. How would a Biden administration be different from an Obama administration if that were to happen.

BIDEN: God forbid that would ever happen, it would be a national tragedy of historic proportions if it were to happen. But if it did, I would carry out Barack Obama's policy, his policies of reinstating the middle class, making sure they get a fair break, making sure they have access to affordable health insurance, making sure they get serious tax breaks, making sure we can help their children get to college, making sure there is an energy policy that leads us in the direction of not only toward independence and clean environment but an energy policy that creates 5 million new jobs....

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MSNBC Democratic Debate, April 27, 2007

Question: Senator Biden, a quote from Tom Friedman in The New York Times: "Unfortunately, today's presidential hopefuls are largely full of hot air on the climate-energy issue. Not one of them is proposing anything hard." What would you propose for the average American that would be hard?

Biden: …We have to make a -- the equivalent of what Friedman has been talking about, and that is, a Manhattan Project. We have to fundamentally shift the way we do it.

We started off -- Barack and I have a bill to make sure that every automobile made or sold in the United States has to be a flex- fuel automobile; that every gas station in America by the year 2009 has to have 10 percent of their pumps pumping e-85 ethanol.

We also have legislation in requiring that we invest $100 million a year the next couple of years while this president's president in order to be able to find lithium battery technology to be able to -- to power our cars. We also have legislation talking about capping emissions. Cap them now, not wait. Cap them where they are now. Time's running out. But you have to be willing to make multi-billion-dollar investments over the next 10 years and set hard goals in order to be able to get to the point where we're no longer dependent.

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Endnotes

1. ↑ Lieb, Daviv A. "Biden touts smart energy in Missouri." Delaware Online. 17 Apr. 2009. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090417/NEWS02/904170356>.
2. ↑ Lieb, Daviv A. "Biden touts smart energy in Missouri." Delaware Online. 17 Apr. 2009. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090417/NEWS02/904170356>.
3. ↑ David Beard. Palin, Biden clashed on energy policy. October 2, 2008. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/10/palin_biden_clashed_on_energy.html
4. ↑ Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s Priorites. 2008. http://www.bidenforsenate.com/issues
5. ↑ Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s Priorites. 2008. http://www.bidenforsenate.com/issues
6. ↑ Office of the Vice President. "Middle Class Task Force Holds First Meeting in Philadelphia-Focus is on Green Jobs." The Briefing Room. 27 Feb. 2009. The White House. 4 Mar. 2009.
7. ↑ Office of the Vice President. "Middle Class Task Force Holds First Meeting in Philadelphia-Focus is on Green Jobs." The Briefing Room. 27 Feb. 2009. The White House. 4 Mar. 2009.
8. ↑ Office of the Vice President. "Middle Class Task Force Holds First Meeting in Philadelphia-Focus is on Green Jobs." The Briefing Room. 27 Feb. 2009. The White House. 4 Mar. 2009.
9. ↑ Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s Priorites. 2008. http://www.bidenforsenate.com/issues
10. ↑ Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s Priorites. 2008. http://www.bidenforsenate.com/issues
11. ↑ Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s Priorites. 2008. http://www.bidenforsenate.com/issues