How Joe Biden’s Policies Have Harmed ‘Poor Kids’
Kaley LaQuea
Joe Biden’s most recent gaffe occurred at a campaign event in Iowa, where, speaking on education, he commented that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” The presidential candidate later said he misspoke, and while that might be true, he can’t as easily explain away his troubling record of policy decisions that have harmed children in poverty, particularly in communities of color.
As a senator in Delaware, Biden opposed racial integration in schools through busing, calling it a “bankrupt concept,” going so far as introducing an unsuccessful provision in 1975 to allow cities to reject federal funds for busing. Research shows that integrated schools improved graduation rates and decreased poverty rates among black students.
Biden also supported the 1994 crime bill, the effects of which decimated black communities through disproportionate sentencing for crack and powder cocaine convictions. Crack, which carried harsher penalties, was more available in the black community while powder cocaine was more commonly used by whites. Distributing 5 grams of crack carried a five-year-minimum federal sentence while 500 grams of cocaine — 100 times as much — had the same penalty. Extreme drug sentences for crack-related offenses left many black children without the consistent presence of one or both parents, increasing their odds of behavioral problems and expulsion.
The 1996 welfare reform bill Biden championed also shattered low-income and working-class families. That year, the magazine New Republic ran a cover story about the legislation called “Day of Reckoning” with an image of a black mother holding a baby and smoking a cigarette. Here’s an excerpt from that story:
Why, after all, do we care about welfare? Not for fiscal reasons; Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the main welfare program, consumes only about 1 percent of the federal budget. We care because welfare is implicated in America’s gravest social problem, the existence of isolated, depressed neighborhoods, the vast majority either black or Hispanic, where intact families and working fathers are practically nonexistent. You can argue about welfare’s role in creating this underclass, but there is little doubt that welfare sustains it.
Negative connotations about black welfare recipients took root and steered policy debate even though between 1983 and 1995 AFDC handled roughly an equal number of cases for white and black families. Following the bill’s passage, from 1996 to 2011, the number of children living in extreme poverty rose over 150%. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded: “The largest single reason that the safety net protected fewer children against deep poverty in 2005 than in 1995 was the loss of cash assistance following the 1996 welfare overhaul.”
Growing up in poverty has lasting negative consequences on a person’s education, health, and professional success. Data shows that effective policy responses include integrating schools better to improve education equity and helping families gain financial resources — not slashing social safety nets and sending more American kids into poverty.
