HAMPTON, N.H. — Joe Biden was forced to rebut skeptical comments about his record during his first public 2020 campaign event in New Hampshire Monday, defending his 1994 crime bill and his posture on climate change.
As a senator, the former vice president helped craft and advance the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which created mandatory life sentences for repeat offenders and increased prison funding by about $10 billion. Criminal justice reform advocates have condemned the law.
The Democratic presidential front-runner brought up the crime bill at an event at a pizzeria in response to a question from an attendee about what he would do to combat drug addiction, noting that President Trump had called New Hampshire a “drug-infested” state.
“Look folks, there is a lot that can be done,” Biden said. “There’s a whole lot of talk about, you know, Biden and the crime bill.”
The crime bill, Biden said, had “three big things in it. One, one-third of it, $10 billion was for prevention. Some of you aren’t old enough, I got made fun of, because they said, ‘Biden’s spending money not fighting crime, [but] on prevention.’”
He also said it provided “rational gun policy” that did not violate the Second Amendment.
“And the third thing was the Violence Against Women Act. And, but in the process of that, we also set up drug courts, so that we could divert people. They should be in treatment, not in jail,” Biden said. A portion of the crowd applauded in response.
Biden denied suggestions he lacks religion on climate change.
“And folks, you know, some of you may have read, they’re peddling an article that was written about ‘Biden takes the middle ground on environment,’” Biden said.
A Mother Jones headline published Saturday read “The Planet Is Heading to Catastrophe and Joe Biden Apparently Wants to Take the ‘Middle Ground.'” The article said Biden’s expected climate change policies, unlike the Green New Deal, would “maintain a role for fossil fuels.”
Biden directed attendees to find a PolitiFact article about his record on this issue, which found that Biden accurately stated that he was one of the first politicians to take action on climate change, with a 1987 bill.
“Look what we did when Barack and I got in, the fundamental change we made,” he said, referencing investments in renewable energy and changes in mileage standards for automobiles.
Biden said that he would lay out “a major speech in detail by the end of the month” on the specifics of his environmental policy positions.
“We need an environmental revolution,” he said. “I said back in 1987 … when they passed one of my bills on this, I said we have an existential threat. We are in a situation where if we don’t act quickly, we’re going to basically lose almost everything we have.”
[Read more: Biden to challenge Democratic climate hawks with ‘meat and potatoes’ approach]
