Early Record of Joe Biden

Panama Canal.

On March 16, 1978, and April 18, 1978, Senator Biden voted (respectively) for the Panama Canal “neutrality” and “transfer” treaties which removed the strategic waterway from U.S. ownership and control. Both of these giveaway treaties were passed by two-vote margins.

On July 26, 1979, the Senator voted for legislation required to implement the treaties . Prior to the roll call, the Senate considered a number of important amendments intended to protect the interests of our country. One would have required congressional approval before any U.S.-owned Panama Canal property could be transferred to Panama. Two others would have (1) withheld payments to Panama from Canal revenues unless the U.S. had first been reimbursed for its costs of implementing the 1978 treaties, and (2) withheld such payments if either the President or Congress determined that Panama was directly or indirectly interfering in the affairs of another nation. A fourth proposal would have precluded treaty mandated payments to Panama from Canal revenues if either Congress or our President determined that Panama’s Marxist-oriented regime was directly or indirectly interfering in the affairs of another nation. And, yet another amendment would have authorized the President to take appropriate actions to assure that the Canal remained secure and open, even if it meant overriding actions of the Panama Canal Commission. Senator Biden voted against each of these protective amendments.

On September 25, 1979, the Senate considered the final conference report on the bill to implement the Panama Canal treaties . It was the last opportunity for Senators to vote against the Canal giveaway, but Senator Biden voted for the conference report.

Friends And Foes.

Senator Biden’s record regarding legislation which in various ways assists our nation’s Marxist enemies, while undermining friendly non- or anti-Communist regimes, is disturbing. For instance:

September 27, 1973: Voted to cut off military assistance to South Vietnam and Laos at a time when neither had yet fallen into Communist hands.

May 29, 1974: Voted to kill an amendment intended to deny Export-Import Bank loans or credits to any Communist country.

June 11, 1974: Voted to kill an amendment to authorize the Secretary of Defense (subject to congressional and Presidential review) to halt the export of goods and technology to the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc nations if he determined that such exports would significantly increase the military capability of those countries.

October 1, 1974: Backed an amendment barring funds for military assistance to pro-U.S., anti-Communist Chile.

March 15, 1977: Voted to repeal the Byrd Amendment which had allowed importation of chromium ore from Rhodesia, contrary to the unprecedented  (and unprincipled) United Nations trade sanctions against the anticommunist nation. Today, thanks in large part to those Biden-supported U. N. sanctions, once pro- Western Rhodesia is led by a former terrorist who has moved the country (now called Zimbabwe) into the Marxist camp.

June 14, 1977: Voted to kill an amendment requiring U.S. representatives to international lending · institutions (such as the World Bank) to vote against loans to nations violating human rights and to oppose by voice and vote all loans to .the brutal Marxist regimes presently occupying Cuba, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

July 26, 1978: Voted to kill  an .amendment which would. have reversed a provision adopted in 1977 which requires ·the Secretary of State automatically to approve any application for a non-immigrant visa by a member of a Communist organization seeking to enter the United States of America.

July 31, 1978 : Voted to kill an amendment instructing the U . S . executive director of a proposed new International Monetary Fund facility to oppose loans to nations which provide aid or assistance to international terrorists and aircraft hijackers .

August 10, 1978: Voted to prohibit economic assistance to anti-Communist South Korea under the Food for Peace program.

January ‘ 24, 1980: Voted to grant lucrative Most Favored Nation trading ‘ status to the tyrants of Red China.

January 29, 1980: Voted for a bill to provide $75 million in foreign .aid to the Communist dictatorship in Nicaragua.

November 17, 1981: Voted against an amendment to prohibit foreign aid to Zimbabwe after January 31, 1982,.unless all North Korean military personnel were first removed from that Marxist state.

February 10, 1982: Voted against an amendment which would have prohibited the Commodity Credit Corporation  from ‘ paying debts owed . by Poland to American banks unless the Communist country were first declared to be in default on its loans as required by C.C.C. rules. In consequence, American taxpayers paid $71 million of Poland’s debt so the Communist dictatorship there could go right on borrowing money.

September 23, 1983: Voted to kill an amendment to require the United States to oppose loans by the International Monetary Fund to Communist dictatorships.

April 4, 1984: Voted to delete $21 million in covert aid to the anti-Communist Nicaraguan rebels seeking to free their country from Marxist oppression.

Abortion.

On June 28, 1983, Senator Biden voted against the proposed Constitutional Amendment which sought to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision (Roe v. Wade) which legalized abortion in the United States. And, on November 14, 1983, he also voted to scuttle an amendment which sought to make permanent a ban on the federal funding of abortion bar federal insurance coverage to. pay abortionists, encourage states to approve new anti-abortion laws, and grant expedited Supreme Court .review for challenges to new antic abortion laws.

Energy.

On August 2, 1977, Senator Biden voted to establish the Department of Energy, a gargantuan bureaucracy which spends billions each year to stifle energy production through paperwork and regulation, ·yet produces not so much as a drop of oil.

On May 18, 1977, the Senator even voted to kill an amendment which would have at least allowed Congress to review regulations promulgated by the Department and veto those which stifle production.

On November 13, 1973, Senator Biden was one of only five Senators to vote against legislation authorizing immediate construction of the Alaskan pipeline. This in the face of that year’s energy “crisis.” And, one month later (December 14, 1973) , he voted to kill an amendment which would have authorized trucks operating in interstate commerce to transport any property on return trips rather than squander oil by returning empty.

Amnesty And Education For Illegal Aliens: In May of 1983 the Senate approved the controversial Immigration Reform And Control Act which includes, among other things, a potentially disruptive proposal to grant .amnesty to most of the millions of illegal aliens who have shown contempt for our nation’s laws and boundaries, thereby placing them on a path leading toward full Welfare benefits, employment in jobs which could otherwise be filled by unemployed Americans, and eventual citizenship with full voting rights. On May 18, 1983, the Senate debated an amendment which would have eliminated the amnesty provision from the bill. Senator Biden voted against the amendment.

There are more details on the early Biden record in the downloadable copy of this article. See below…

Full Article (pdf)

Advertisement