President/VP
US President Joe Biden
“WE ARE LIVING THROUGH A BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF THIS NATION.”
JOE BIDEN, APRIL 25, 2019
President Biden's Biography: President Biden graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School. He served on the New Castle County Council. President Biden represented Delaware for 36 years in the U.S. Senate before becoming the 47th Vice President of the United States. At age 29, President Biden became one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate. Just weeks after his Senate election, tragedy struck the Biden family when his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi were killed, and sons Hunter and Beau were critically injured, in an auto accident. Biden married Jill Jacobs in 1977, and in 1980, their family was complete with the birth of Ashley Blazer Biden. A lifelong educator, Jill earned her doctorate in education and returned to teaching as an English professor at a community college in Virginia.Beau Biden, Attorney General of Delaware and Joe Biden’s eldest son, passed away in 2015 after battling brain cancer with the same integrity, courage, and strength he demonstrated every day of his life.
As a Senator from Delaware for 36 years, President Biden established himself as a leader in facing some of our nation’s most important domestic and international challenges. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 16 years, Biden is widely recognized for his work writing and spearheading the Violence Against Women Act — the landmark legislation that strengthens penalties for violence against women, creates unprecedented resources for survivors of assault, and changes the national dialogue on domestic and sexual assault. As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, Biden played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He was at the forefront of issues and legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and ending apartheid.
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The 47th Vice President of the United States:
As Vice President, Biden continued his leadership on important issues facing the nation and represented our country abroad. Vice President Biden convened sessions of the President’s Cabinet, led interagency efforts, and worked with Congress in his fight to raise the living standards of middle-class Americans, reduce gun violence, address violence against women, and end cancer as we know it.
Biden helped President Obama pass and then oversaw the implementation of the Recovery Act — the biggest economic recovery plan in the history of the nation and our biggest and strongest commitment to clean energy. The President’s plan prevented another Great Depression, created and saved millions of jobs, and led to 75 uninterrupted months of job growth by the end of the administration. And Biden did it all with less than 1% in waste, abuse, or fraud — the most efficient government program in our country’s history.
President Obama and Vice President Biden also secured the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which reduced the number of uninsured Americans by 20 million by the time they left office and banned insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
He served as the point person for U.S. diplomacy throughout the Western Hemisphere, strengthened relationships with our allies both in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and led the effort to bring 150,000 troops home from Iraq.
In a ceremony at the White House, President Obama awarded Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction — the nation’s highest civilian honor.
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A New Chapter:
After leaving the White House, the Bidens continued their efforts to expand opportunity for every American with the creation of the Biden Foundation, the Biden Cancer Initiative, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, and the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware.
On April 25, 2019, Biden announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Biden’s candidacy was built from the beginning around 3 pillars: the battle for the soul of our nation, the need to rebuild our middle class — the backbone of our country, and a call for unity, to act as One America. It was a message that would only gain more resonance in 2020 as we confront a pandemic, an economic crisis, urgent calls for racial justice, and the existential threat of climate change.
Source: paraphrased from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-biden/
Presidential Salary:
The president's salary currently sits at $400,000 annually plus a $50,000 expense account. This amount was set by Congress in 2001, with the passage of a provision in the treasury appropriations bill. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/03/20/how-much-does-the-president-make-salary/10550977002/
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Presidential Retirement Pension:
What is the retirement pay for a US president? Pension. The Secretary of the Treasury pays a taxable pension to the president. Former presidents receive a pension equal to the pay that the head of an executive department (Executive Level I) would be paid; as of 2020, it is $219,200 per year. ​https://www.thoughtco.com/presidential-retirement-benefits-3322200
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Presidential Term Limit: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once. http
s://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxii
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Executive Orders and Actions issued by Biden: As of December 13, 2023, President Joe Biden (D) had signed 126 executive orders, 164 presidential memoranda, 540 proclamations, and 108 notices. Each of these presidential documents is different in authority and implementation. Executive orders are directives written by the president to officials within the executive branch requiring them to take or stop some action related to policy or management. They can be found in the Federal Register
https://www.federalregister.gov/
https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden%27s_executive_orders_and_actions
Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden%27s_executive_orders_and_actions
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Memoranda issued by Biden: Presidential memoranda are similar to executive orders, but they are neither numbered nor have the same publication requirements. Biden's Memoranda organized by month follow the tab under Memoranda issued by Biden: https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden%27s_executive_orders_and_actions
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Proclamations issued by Biden: Proclamations are executive directives that typically relate to private individuals or ceremonial events, such as holidays and commemorations. To see Proclamations issued by Biden and organized by month follow the tab under Proclamations issued by Biden.
https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden%27s_executive_orders_and_actions
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Notices issued by Biden: Notices issued and organized can be found at this link under the Notices tab. https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden%27s_executive_orders_and_actions
For an overview of the Biden administration including
Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden_presidential_administration#Key_legislation​
Vice President Kamala Harris
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“MY MOTHER WOULD LOOK AT ME AND SHE'd SAY, ‘KAMALA YOU MAY BE THE FIRST TO DO MANY THINGS BUT MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT THE LAST.’”
KAMALA HARRIS, JANUARY 28, 2019
Vice President Harris's Biography: Kamala D. Harris is the Vice President of the United States of America. She was elected Vice President after a lifetime of public service, having been elected District Attorney of San Francisco, California Attorney General, and United States Senator. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of Law.
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Years of Public Service "For the People"
In 1990, Vice President Harris joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. She then served as a managing attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and later was chief of the Division on Children and Families for the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.
She was elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2003. In that role, Vice President Harris created a ground-breaking program to provide first-time drug offenders with the opportunity to earn a high school degree and find employment. The program was designated as a national model of innovation for law enforcement by the United States Department of Justice.
In 2010, Vice President Harris was elected California’s Attorney General and oversaw the largest state justice department in the United States. She established the state’s first Bureau of Children’s Justice and instituted several first-of-their-kind reforms that ensured greater transparency and accountability in the criminal justice system.
As Attorney General, Vice President Harris won a $20 billion settlement for Californians whose homes had been foreclosed on, as well as a $1.1 billion settlement for students and veterans who were taken advantage of by a for-profit education company. She defended the Affordable Care Act in court, enforced environmental law, and was a national leader in the movement for marriage equality.
In 2014, she married Douglas Emhoff. They have a large blended family that includes their children, Ella and Cole.
In 2017, Vice President Harris was sworn into the United States Senate. In her first speech, she spoke out on behalf of immigrants and refugees. As a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, she fought for better protections for DREAMers and called for better oversight of substandard conditions at immigrant detention facilities.
On the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, she worked with members of both parties to keep the American people safe from foreign threats and crafted bipartisan legislation to assist in securing American elections. She visited Iraq, Jordan, and Afghanistan to meet with servicemembers and assess the situation on the ground. She also served on the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her tenure on the committee, she participated in hearings for two Supreme Court nominees.
As Senator, Vice President Harris championed legislation to combat hunger, provide rent relief, improve maternal health care, and address the climate crisis as a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Her bipartisan anti-lynching bill passed the Senate in 2018. Her legislation to preserve Historically Black Colleges and Universities was signed into law, as was her effort to infuse much-needed capital into low-income communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senate Committee Assignments:
2019-2020
Harris was assigned to the following committees:
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Committee on Intelligence (Select)
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Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
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Senate Committee on Budget
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Committee on the Judiciary
How she voted on key issues see: https://ballotpedia.org/Kamala_Harris​
2017-2018
At the beginning of the 115th Congress, Harris was assigned to the following committees:
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Committee on Intelligence (Select)
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Committee on the Budget
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Committee on Environment and Public Works
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Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
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Committee on the Judiciary
Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Kamala_Harris​
How she voted on key issues see: https://ballotpedia.org/Kamala_Harris​
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Campaign themes (her platform she ran on)
Source:: https://ballotpedia.org/Kamala_Harris​
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Triumphing many firsts she is Nominated to be Vice President
On August 11, 2020, Vice President Harris accepted President Joe Biden’s invitation to become his running mate and help unite the nation. She is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected Vice President, as was the case with other offices she has held. She is, however, determined not to be the last.
As Vice President, Kamala Harris has worked in partnership with President Joe Biden to get America vaccinated, rebuild our economy, reduce child poverty, and pass an infrastructure law that will lift up communities that have been left behind. She has led the Administration’s efforts in rallying broad coalitions to protect the freedom to vote, expand workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain, and stand up for women’s rights — supporting women in our workforce, addressing the maternal health crisis, and defending reproductive rights. The Vice President has also played a key role in engaging world leaders and strengthening our nation’s alliances and partnerships. In everything she does, she remains focused on the people of our nation—and our collective future.
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Service Academy Nominations
The Vice President is authorized to nominate individuals to the United States Military, Naval, and Air Force Academies.
Source: Paraphrased from https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-harris/
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