What you should know about Joe Biden.

Here's where Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., stands on the issues.

Abortion: Biden believes that life begins at conception, opposes public funding for abortion and supports a ban on late-term abortions, but does not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned.

Climate/Energy: Biden favors legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 by imposing a cap and trade system. He favors requiring that at least 20 percent of the country’s electricity comes from renewable sources such wind, solar, biomass and geothermal. And he would seek to raise fuel economy standards so that the U.S. reaches a 40-mpg average by 2017.

Guns: In response to the shootings at Virginia Tech, Biden said, "We should not have let the assault weapons ban lapse. We should close this so-called gun show loophole. ... We have let the country down in the way in which we have not focused on mental illness

Health: Biden wants to expand health insurance to cover all children and to make catastrophic care available for everyone. He favors allowing states to look for ways to provide universal coverage. He believes that information technology can raise efficiency, cut costs and reduce costly errors, and supports investing $1 billion a year in converting all health care systems in the country to digital medical records systems.

Immigration: Biden has voted in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, establishing a guest working program, allowing illegal immigrants to participate in Social Security if they have paid into the system, giving guest workers a path to citizenship, and allowing more foreign workers into the U.S. for farm work. He has voted against making English the official language of the United States.

Marriage: Biden voted for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex marriage under federal law. He voted against a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and also voted in favor of expanding the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation.

Taxes/Economy: "We are giving people tax breaks who don't need it,” Biden said at the July 23, 2007, Democratic debate. "The top 1 percent got an $85 billion-a-year tax break. It is not needed." In the Senate, Biden voted in favor of taking some annual tax cuts for the top 1 percent of earners. He voted against repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax, raising estate tax exemption to $5 million and permanently repealing the estate tax.

Iraq: Biden originally supported President George W. Bush on the Iraq invasion, but now says that support was a mistake. "President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq,” Biden says. "His strategy is to prevent defeat and to hand the problem off to his successor." Howqever, "We can't just pull out now. ... The truth of the matter is: If we started today, it would take one year, one year to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq, logistically."

U.S.-Vietnam deportation plan needs 2nd look. United States has served as a model for freedom and democracy and Immigration officials should tread carefully in order to uphold those ideals



For years, America has offered a beacon of hope and freedom for people from all over the world. That's one big reason the United States has more than 1 million immigrants from Vietnam, many of whom fled war and oppression in their homeland.

So it's disturbing that U.S. immigration officials, under a new Washington-Hanoi repatriation pact, soon will begin deporting undocumented Vietnamese back to the authoritarian country they left. This reversal of longstanding practice is troubling on political and humanitarian grounds. Officials should hold off on the deportations until Congress can review the situation more closely, as Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, and 12 other lawmakers have suggested.

To be sure, many of the illegal immigrants who could be sent back have criminal convictions in the United States. Those who have committed serious felonies, such as murder, kidnapping or child sexual abuse should not be given refuge here. But those convicted of lesser crimes, have already completed jail time or simply overstayed their visas are another matter. It makes sense to take a closer look at these individual cases.

The pact signed in late January affects about 1,500 Vietnamese nationals who arrived here on or after July 12, 1995, and are in deportation proceedings or have received a final deportation order. The pact doesn't affect those who arrived earlier, since the United States did not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam then
Overall, there are about 8,000 Vietnamese nationals facing deportation; about 7,000 of them have criminal convictions.
The United States has repatriation agreements with many countries, but most of them are not authoritarian. Vietnam is unique because of its legacy of war and persecution, the U.S. role in Vietnam's history and the poor human rights record of the communist government in Hanoi. Its unsatisfactory record has been recently documented by the U.S. State Department, among others.

Returnees would likely face abuse or discrimination from a government that doesn't look kindly on their leaving in the first place. Lofgren, who chairs a House subcommittee on immigration, notes that the United States doesn't send illegal Cuban immigrants back to Fidel Castro's regime.

The United States has long been respected for welcoming foreigners, who enrich and strengthen American society. And the United States has served as a model for freedom and democracy. Immigration officials should tread carefully in order to uphold those ideals