Joseph Biden

President of the United States

• Born: November 20, 1942
• Place of Birth: Scranton, Pennsylvania

Joseph Biden was elected the forty-sixth president of the United States in November 2020, and inaugurated on January 20, 2021. He was previously elected the forty-seventh vice president of the United States in 2008 and reelected in 2012, serving under President Barack Obama. Biden's roles as president and vice president continued a lengthy career in politics and public service. He was first elected to the US Senate from Delaware in 1972 and served until 2009, earning a reputation as one of the most influential Democrats in Congress.

Biden is recognized for his role in shaping US foreign policy, crime and drug control measures, environmental protection, and education policy. He often described himself as a liberal from a conservative state who believed in a proactive role for government. He mounted unsuccessful presidential primary campaigns in 1988 and 2008 before his successful bid in the 2020 election.

Childhood

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His father was a sales manager for auto dealerships and later became a real estate agent. The family moved to Delaware in 1953. Biden attended Catholic schools, graduating from Archmere Academy in 1961.

Biden majored in history and political science at the University of Delaware, earning a bachelor's degree in 1965, and then went on to earn his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968. After graduation, he returned home to Wilmington, Delaware, where he practiced law until 1970 when he won election to the New Castle County Council.

In 1972, rather than pursue reelection to the county council, Biden decided to run for the US Senate. This was considered a brash move, given his youth, his limited political experience, and the record of his Republican opponent, incumbent J. Caleb Boggs, who had served six years in the House of Representatives, eight years as governor, and twelve years in the Senate. Boggs had won every race he had entered in Delaware.

Although he was only sixty-two years old, Boggs had reportedly considered retiring rather than running for a third Senate term, leaving the door open for a more motivated opponent. The Republican Party, under the leadership of President Richard Nixon, was beginning to sag under the weight of mixed opinion over the handling of the Vietnam War. Biden promoted his strong antiwar stance during the election.

Building Seniority in the Senate

Biden won the 1972 election and became one of the youngest senators in US history, but he almost refused the seat. Five weeks after the election, in December 1972, his wife, Neilia, and their infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in an automobile accident when a tractor trailer hit their car. The couple's two sons, Beau and Hunter, were seriously injured but survived the crash. After the accident, Biden at first said he did not want to join the Senate, but he was persuaded by then-majority leader Mike Mansfield to assume his seat. He was sworn in by the bedside of one of his injured sons.

As he worked his way up through Senate ranks where many believe that influence revolves around seniority, he won reelection by comfortable margins in both 1978 and 1984. He married the former Jill Jacobs in June 1977. In addition to raising Biden's sons from his previous marriage, the couple had one daughter, Ashley. As a senator, Biden commuted by train from Wilmington to his Senate offices.

Biden served on the Senate Judiciary Committee beginning in 1977, became ranking Democratic member in 1981, and was chair from 1987 to 1995. When the Republicans assumed control of the Senate in 1995, he again became the ranking member, serving in that post through 1997. He was the chair of the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, and cochaired the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. Among the many pieces of crime-related legislation Biden affected, he sponsored the original Violence Against Women Act in 1994, intended to help combat domestic abuse. As chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, he created the office of Drug Czar to oversee national drug control policy.

In 1987, Biden launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination in the presidential primary race. However, that fall, a member of Democratic rival Michael Dukakis's campaign accused Biden of plagiarizing British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock in his own campaign speeches. Biden withdrew his candidacy in September 1987 amid charges of plagiarism in his speeches as well as in a 1965 law school paper.

Chair of the Judiciary Committee

After dropping out of the race, Biden concentrated on his duties as chair of the Judiciary Committee, which was holding hearings on Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. The conservative judge, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, had written against the Roe v. Wade court decision legalizing abortion. Biden helped engineer the defeat of Bork's nomination in October 1987, and also chaired the nationally televised 1991 Supreme Court nomination hearings on Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexual harassment by Professor Anita Hill.

In 1988, Biden suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm. After two operations and seven months of recuperation, he returned to the Senate in September of that year. In 1990, he was reelected over M. Jane Brady by 63 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory ever accorded a US Senate candidate in Delaware.

Considered a constitutional law expert, Biden had been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law since 1991.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Biden left the Judiciary Committee in 1994 and became the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, to which he was first appointed in 1975. Considered one of the more liberal Democrats in the Senate, Biden would work closely with committee chair Jesse Helms, one of the most conservative Republicans. Both were first elected to the Senate in 1973 and both found common ground in trying to bring the Foreign Relations Committee back to national prominence, following its perceived decline in the post–Cold War era. During President Clinton's second term, they worked together to reorganize the foreign affairs bureaucracy, ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, and influence foreign policy regarding the United Nations and US foreign aid programs.

Biden was elected to his fifth term in the Senate in 1996. When Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republicans to become an Independent, giving Democrats control of the Senate in June 2001, Biden became chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. He was quick to focus on the national debate over the viability of a "Star Wars"-type defense shield for the US. He made clear his view, arguing that the "missile defense delusion" would damage global nonproliferation efforts. Prior to the September 2001 terrorist attacks, Biden stated: "This one issue alone promises to be the most important national security debate and decision in our lifetime, and it will have profound consequences for our children and generations to come."

Biden was reelected to a sixth term in November 2002, by a margin of 17 percentage points. However, he would lose the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee to Richard Lugar as the Republicans took back majority control of the Senate in 2003. He again became the ranking minority member of the committee. In mid-2003, Biden mulled over his prospects for another run at the presidency in 2004, but decided that he did not have enough time to prepare financially.

Vice Presidency

Biden declared his candidacy in the 2008 US presidential election on January 31, 2007. Biden managed to make news during the Democratic Party debate for his sense of humor and his use of one-liners to criticize both his colleagues and his Republican challengers. Nonetheless, Biden received only a small percentage of votes in the 2008 Democratic Party caucus in Iowa. He announced on January 3, 2008, that he was ending his campaign for the 2008 nomination.

On August 23, Senator Barack Obama, the 2008 Democratic Party nominee for president, announced that he had selected Biden as his running mate. Obama's campaign stressed Biden's experience in foreign policy when citing his credentials to be vice president.

The 2008 US presidential election was held on November 4. Senator Obama and Senator Biden defeated Republican Party nominees Senator John McCain of Arizona and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Biden was also reelected to his Senate seat. The governor of Delaware named Biden’s former chief of staff, Edward Kaufman, to fill Biden’s vacant Senate seat. Biden began serving as vice president on January 20, 2009.

Through July 2009, Biden held regular interviews with various media outlets to help inform the public of the White House strategy to improve the national economy following the 2008 financial crisis. In early 2010, Biden worked hard to promote President Obama's healthcare reform act. Biden attended the opening ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa. In 2011, Biden played a major role in negotiating a bipartisan agreement to raise the debt ceiling as part of a plan to reduce the budget deficit.

In 2012, Biden participated in Obama's reelection campaign, giving speeches in a number of key states and debating Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan. After their reelection, Obama named Biden as head of the Gun Violence Task Force, in which capacity Biden proposed legislation toward new gun control measures, though without success. In January 2014, the Obama administration formed the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, and Biden was named cochair along with senior presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett.

During his second term as vice president, Biden made preparations to run for the presidency in the 2016 election. In May 2015, however, his eldest son, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III, died after a battle with brain cancer. Five months later, Biden announced that he would not seek the democratic nomination for president in 2016. He noted in a speech given in the White House Rose Garden and surrounded by his wife and President Obama that processing his grief following Beau's death and helping his family process theirs did not allow him to run a successful campaign. Family, Biden explained, needed to come first before political aspirations. The following January, Biden admitted in a television interview that although he regretted every day his decision not to run for the nomination, the decision was in his family's best interest.

Biden, like President Obama, endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the presidency and spoke out against several of the policies of her rival, Republican nominee Donald Trump. However, Clinton and the Democrats lost to Trump and the Republicans in the election in November. In early January 2017, Biden was given a surprise honor when outgoing president Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor. In February, it was announced that he would be joining the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania as the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor and additionally serve as the leader of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

2020 Presidential Election

After several years of indecision, Biden announced his bid for president during the 2020 presidential campaign on April 25, 2019. When opponent Bernie Sanders withdrew from the race in April 2020, Biden became the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. He was officially nominated as the Democratic candidate in August at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Campaigning against Trump amid the challenges of the COVID-19 global pandemic, he sought to engage both progressives and moderates—including Republicans and independents dissatisfied with Trump—in a diverse coalition of supporters. On August 11, 2020, he named US Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate.

Throughout the campaign, a number of women—including former Nevada assemblywoman Lucy Flores and former congressional aide Jim Himes—accused Biden of inappropriate conduct; they noted that his actions had been non-sexual but inappropriate and uncomfortable. In March 2020, former Biden staffer Tara Reade accused him of a sexual assault that had taken place in 1993. Biden denied the assault allegation and apologized for not considering how his other accusers would react to his actions, but claimed that there was no improper intent behind them.

The 2020 US presidential election was held on November 3, though an unprecedented number of early and mail-in ballots had already been cast as many states expanded voting options due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This created some delays in declaring a victor in several key swing states, and some early leads for Trump gave way to leads for Biden as more ballots were counted. On November 7, 2020, Biden was announced the president-elect of the United States; the vote was confirmed by the General Services Administration later that month. Trump refused to concede, however, instead threatening legal action on ballot counting. By November 24, Trump announced that he was authorizing his staff to begin the transition process; however, he had still not conceded. During his acceptance speech, Biden promised to work to close the political division in the country.

Early Presidency

Biden was inaugurated as president of the United States on January 20, 2021. The inauguration was marked by heightened security, as two weeks earlier, on January 6, supporters of Trump had stormed the US Capitol Building and attempted to overthrow the government. On his first two days in office, Biden signed seventeen executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations on issues including the US's COVID-19 pandemic response, immigration, climate change, and the economy. Specifically, he instituted a mandatory mask mandate on all federal property; ended the Trump administration's so-called travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries; halted construction of the Mexican border wall; and stated the US's intention to rejoin the Paris climate accords.

On March 11, 2021—the one-year anniversary of the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic—Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus relief package. The act included direct payments to eligible American citizens, funds for vaccine distribution, and support for small businesses. Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress in April 2021. The same month, he announced his plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. In May, he announced that he had tasked the Intelligence Community to investigate the origins of COVID-19 in China, and also declared—as US vaccination numbers rose—that the US would donate 75 percent of its unused COVID-19 vaccines to the global vaccine sharing program COVAX. However, the Biden administration ultimately fell short of its goal of having at least 70 percent of US adults with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by July 4, as significant numbers of Americans continued to refuse the vaccine.

In June 2021, Biden attended his first G7 summit as president and met with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He also signed the Juneteenth Independence Day Act, making Juneteenth—which celebrates the day that the last enslaved African Americans in Texas were notified that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation and they were now free—a federal holiday. Continuing efforts to bring the American military efforts begun in Iraq and Afghanistan under the Bush administration to a close, in July Biden announced that, following a meeting with Iraq's prime minister, an agreement had been made for any American troops remaining in the country to officially cease their combat mission and transition fully to advising by the end of 2021.

Biden and his administration faced significant scrutiny and criticism later in August 2021 when the Taliban rapidly took control of most of Afghanistan before toppling the US-supported Afghan government. Biden acknowledged that his administration had not anticipated such a takeover happening so quickly but defended the withdrawal of US forces. His administration did redeploy some troops to assist in evacuating American personnel and Afghan allies, but the timing and execution of those efforts were also criticized by many. After authorizing drone strikes in the country against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targets in retaliation for a deadly attack, Biden once again defended his administration's Afghanistan policy following the withdrawal of the last US troops on August 31. In early September, the US announced negotiations with the Taliban to allow the remaining US citizens in Afghanistan safe passage out of the country. Negative opinions of the Afghanistan withdrawal contributed to a significant dip in Biden's public approval ratings.

Also in September 2021, Biden took the notable step of announcing several mandates intended to help push for wider vaccination against COVID-19. Although he had previously resisted the idea of vaccine mandates, he enacted policies requiring almost all federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated, as well as all health care workers involved in treatment of Medicare or Medicaid recipients. He also announced that under an emergency measure, any private business with over one hundred employees would have to require workers to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. Other initiatives included a push to offer more vaccine booster shots, policies aimed at preventing viral transmission in schools, and an increase in COVID-19 testing. Biden argued that these measures were necessary to help protect the population as a whole, especially as the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 drove cases up across the country, and signaled his frustration that tens of millions of eligible Americans had not yet been vaccinated. However, the mandates drew sharp criticism from many conservatives, who saw them as an overreach of federal power and an infringement on individual freedoms. Later that month, Biden also announced that the United States had arranged for the purchase of five hundred million more Pfizer vaccine doses to donate to other countries, part of the effort to increase vaccination globally to combat the pandemic and decrease the potential for other virus variants.

Climate change was another frequent focus for Biden. His administration supported efforts to reduce methane emissions by a third by 2030, promoting an agreement made with the European Union. Other environmental initiatives included a tightening of vehicle emissions standards aimed at promoting electric vehicles.

Biden also earned attention for taking historic action in terms of racial and ethnic discrimination in the United States. He issued a presidential proclamation marking the observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day as well as Columbus Day on October 11, 2021. This was noted for directly acknowledging the atrocities inflicted upon the Indigenous peoples of America, while also recognizing the contributions made by Italian Americans.

Domestically, Biden faced a notable setback in late September and early October 2021 when a congressional vote on his proposed $1 trillion infrastructure bill was postponed due to divisions within his own party. Though the bill reportedly had general bipartisan support, a group of liberal Democrats threatened to oppose it unless moderates agreed to, in turn, support a more progressive bill tackling socioeconomic policy and climate change. Biden directly took part in negotiations between the two sides in an effort to reach a compromise, acknowledging that the two bills were effectively linked. After tense discussions, the House of Representatives finally passed the infrastructure bill in early November 2021, with thirteen Republicans voting in favor, although six Democrats opposed it. The $1.2 trillion bill, signed into law by Biden on November 15, was seen as a significant policy win at a time when Biden's approval ratings remained low.

Biden's struggles in the polls were widely linked to Democratic infighting and successful Republican messaging on culture-war issues such as cancel culture and the teaching of critical race theory, as well as economic concerns such as rising inflation. Another factor was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and controversies around his administration's response. More details on federal vaccine mandates, including for the private sector, were released by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in early November 2021. The Biden administration also encouraged parents to vaccinate children between five and eleven years old after the Pfizer vaccine received emergency authorization for that age group. However, such policies faced ongoing backlash from the growing anti-vaccination movement and many conservatives. In December 2021, as scientists warned of yet another COVID-19 wave caused by the highly mutated Omicron variant, Biden outlined further plans for combating the pandemic while attempting to keep the economy open, including measures such as expanded at-home testing. However, in January 2022, his vaccine-or-test mandate pertaining to large businesses was blocked by the Supreme Court.

In foreign relations, Biden announced in December 2021 that the United States would not have government officials at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in protest of continued human rights abuses occurring in China. He also headed a new virtual summit gathering allied world leaders to discuss the importance of renewing and defending democracy through dedicated initiatives against threats such as authoritarianism, corruption, and human rights abuses. Notably, he held multiple talks with Putin regarding mounting tensions with Russia over its military buildup on the Ukraine border, and into early 2022 he warned of the potential for economic sanctions, even against Putin personally, if Russia invaded Ukraine.

On the domestic front, Biden began 2022 with a forceful speech on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol attack. He condemned ongoing efforts by Trump and his Republican allies to downplay that insurrection and undermine the democratic system. Soon after, he delivered another significant speech, expressing support for changes to the Senate filibuster rules in order to pass voting rights legislation amid partisan division. However, the Senate failed to approve such changes or pass the proposed voting rights bills. Meanwhile, continuing his predecessors' fight against the persistent threat of ISIS, Biden announced that a US special forces operation in Syria in early February led to the suicide death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of ISIS since 2019. In another notable move that same month, Biden outlined a plan for $7 billion in assets of the Afghan central bank that the US had frozen after the Taliban takeover, dividing it between the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a fund for Afghan aid.

On February 25 Biden announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (whom he had previously appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in 2021) as his nominee to replace retiring justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court; she would ultimately go on to be confirmed by the Senate in early April. Also in February, Biden and his administration faced a major international challenge when Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. Biden issued a statement formally condemning the action and also indicated that he had spoken with and promised continued assistance and support to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. The US quickly imposed new sanctions against Russia, and after conferring with the other G7 nations Biden soon held a public address to declare even stricter sanctions regarding technology exports, financial institutions, and more as a punitive response.

Biden began March 2022 with his first State of the Union address, in which he emphasized united opposition to Russian aggression and efforts to control inflation as top national priorities and expressed cautious optimism on the COVID-19 outlook. Many commentators noted how his speech sought to establish a moderate platform, pushing back on some left-wing proposals like defunding the police as well as Republican partisanship. In what was considered another significant domestic move later that month, Biden signed an executive order directing the US government to provide an analysis of the risks and benefits as well as the potentials for regulation associated with digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. He also announced a ban on oil, natural gas, and coal imported from Russia, as well as enhanced military aid to Ukraine, as the Russia-Ukraine war continued. Attempting to at least temporarily address the drastic rise in oil prices countrywide, on the final day of March he declared an unprecedentedly large release of oil from domestic reserves, amounting to about 180 million barrels over six months.

In April and May 2022 the Russia-Ukraine war remained a focus. Biden characterized alleged Russian actions as war crimes, and his administration approved additional aid packages to Ukraine. COVID-19 issues also continued to draw attention, especially after a federal judge struck down the government mandate requiring face masks on public transportation on April 18. Two major mass shootings in May, one a racially motivated attack in Buffalo, New York, and the other at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, led Biden to specifically condemn White supremacy and express support for stronger gun control. Inflation continued to be another central concern, and he accused oil companies of price gouging and called on them to increase production.

Following the Supreme Court's overturning of the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) that June, Biden issued executive orders aimed at protecting abortion access, including the establishment of an interagency task force focused on reproductive health-care access as well as a plan to aid in pregnant individuals' travel expenses for the procedure. Other executive actions included efforts to increase funding for and bolster existing climate change programs in response to congressional gridlock. On July 21 it was reported that Biden had tested positive for COVID-19 but was only mildly symptomatic.

Commentators noted a significant uptick in Biden's overall approval rating by mid-August 2022, attributing it to such developments as decreasing gas prices, an operation that resulted in the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the passage of several major laws. Most notably, he signed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a budget reconciliation bill that focused on reigning in inflation and included spending on climate change, clean energy, Affordable Care Act subsidies, and prescription drug pricing reform, among other areas. Later that month, Biden announced a plan to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt for students who had received Pell Grants, and up to $10,000 of federal student loan debt for all other students. The plan received mixed responses and, in late October, the cancelation was paused as a lawsuit led by Republicans against the plan awaited ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. On the COVID-19 front, he issued a statement in early September urging Americans to get the updated vaccine boosters targeting the Omicron variant, which had just been approved by the FDA. Later that month he stirred controversy by stating in an interview that the pandemic was over; he soon clarified that he meant to point out the progress that had been made and acknowledged that many people continued to be impacted by the disease.

Much focus was placed on Biden and his administration's response to the devastation experienced in Florida from Hurricane Ian in late September 2022. Biden visited the state in early October. That month he also issued a pardon for all previous federal convictions for simple marijuana possession, a move that was seen as a significant step toward federal decriminalization of the drug.

Midterm

Midterm elections were held in early November 2022, and drew increased scrutiny due to ongoing Republican false claims of voter fraud. While the party of an incumbent president typically sees significant losses in the midterms, Biden's Democrats fared better than widely expected, retaining control of the Senate and losing the House by only a narrow margin. Biden remarked at a press conference that the high voter turnout and minimal interference in the election process illustrated the country's democratic strength. He also took the opportunity to address voter concerns and policy focus for the remainder of his term. In December, he hosted French president Emmanuel Macron for his administration's first state dinner. Later that same month, he notably signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, which voided the Defense of Marriage Act and federally codified the validity of marriages regardless of sex, race, or ethnicity.

In January 2023 Biden was surrounded by controversy after it was announced that classified documents from his time as vice president had been found at a Washington, DC, office he used occasionally between 2017 and 2020, potentially violating rules on the handling of sensitive material. The discovery was made by Biden's lawyers, who immediately reported it to the National Archives and Records Administration, which then took possession of the documents. Biden himself said he was cooperating fully with a Justice Department investigation into the matter. Days later it was reported that other classified documents had been found at Biden's home in Delaware. Many observers compared the situation to the widely publicized scandal over the discovery of classified documents at former president Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, and Trump and his Republican allies were quick to criticize Biden. However, Biden's supporters argued that there were notable differences between the two incidents, including the prompt return of the documents in Biden's case versus Trump's lengthy failure to comply with National Archives requests. On January 12, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a special counsel investigation of Biden's handling of classified material. In February the FBI conducted additional searches of locations linked to Biden, but his attorneys reported that no further classified documents were found.

In late February Biden also made a notable trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, his first time visiting that country since it was invaded by Russia. He continued to offer vocal support for Ukraine and back the provision of US military aid in the ongoing war. That same month the Biden administration released rules around approximately $50 billion in federal subsidies to the semiconductor industry under the CHIPS and Science Act (2022), part of a major push to stimulate US-based research and manufacturing. March 2023 was also busy for Biden and his administration. He controversially approved a planned oil extraction project, referred to as the Willow project, on federal land in Alaska; issued an executive order designed to bolster background checks for gun purchases and guarantee compliance with gun control and gun violence laws; and announced an official agreement to supply Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines.

In a further effort toward meeting his climate agenda, in April 2023 Biden announced proposed automobile emissions restrictions designed to, among other goals, boost the adoption of electric vehicles. Later that month he officially announced that he would pursue reelection in 2024. The Biden administration then oversaw a significant milestone as the national state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended in May 2023. That month Biden focused heavily on negotiations to avoid defaulting on the federal debt ceiling, helping to reach a compromise deal passed by Congress that he signed into law on June 3, just before the deadline.

Later Presidency

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court heard arguments challenging Biden's controversial student loan forgiveness plan, and in late June 2023 the court struck down the program as an overreach of executive power. Biden promptly announced he would pursue other options for reducing the burden of student debt. By July his administration had begun to implement an alternative plan that relied on a process known as negotiated rulemaking to provide student loan forgiveness based on the borrower's income level.

Biden also continued to prioritize climate change action. In early September 2023 it was announced that his administration would cancel oil drilling leases previously granted under Trump on federal land in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and would also prohibit drilling on 13 million acres in the state's National Petroleum Reserve.

In September 2023, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into Biden—without having a formal vote by the House—focusing on allegations that Biden had profited from his son Hunter's business ventures in Ukraine while Biden served as vice president from 2009 to 2017. Hunter's business activity had been under several federal investigations since 2018 and he was indicted on federal charges related to gun possession in 2023, fueling Republican attacks on the entire Biden family. Some critics argued that President Biden may have interfered in the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter, but no evidence of such interference was immediately made apparent and Attorney General Garland strongly denied claims of impartiality. Many Democrats criticized McCarthy's move as unjustified and politically motivated. Biden himself stated that he was unconcerned about the impeachment inquiry and would continue focusing on other national issues. For example, he offered support for workers after the United Auto Workers union launched a major strike that same month, becoming the first sitting US president to join a picket line. However, polls increasingly indicated declining support for Biden in the 2024 election, with issues such as his age and economic challenges prominent among voter concerns.

The Biden administration faced a significant geopolitical crisis after the militant Islamist group Hamas launched a major terrorist attack on Israel in early October 2023, sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East with global repercussions. Biden officially condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with Israel, even visiting the country later that month, while also working to recover any Americans held hostage by Hamas. His initial response received bipartisan praise, but the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas quickly generated divisions among fellow Democrats. Some progressives urged Biden to more strongly pressure Israel to limit its retaliatory actions in the Gaza Strip amid humanitarian concerns.

Late in October, Biden issued a much-discussed executive order on artificial intelligence. The broad order sought to encourage beneficial and responsible use of the technology while establishing standards regarding safety and security risks, including privacy and civil rights protections.

As the primary season for the 2024 presidential election began, Biden easily won the initial Democratic Party contest in New Hampshire that January despite needing a write-in campaign (he did not officially appear on the ballot due to a scheduling dispute between the state and the Democratic National Committee). In February 2024, the special counsel investigation into Biden's handling of classified materials released a report that strongly criticized the president's actions regarding various sensitive documents, but did not call for criminal charges. The report also earned much attention for its focus on Biden's age and memory. Biden rebutted the report's depiction, but misspoke during his speech, driving further scrutiny of his mental competency. Still, he continued to enjoy a mostly uncontested Democratic primary campaign over the following months, setting him up as the party's presumptive nominee for a rematch against Trump in the 2024 election.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration continued to deal with intense debate over issues such as border security, the war in Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war. The latter conflict in particular showed signs of growing into a larger-scale crisis, especially as Iran supported Hamas and other militant groups throughout the Middle East, including some that attacked US ships and services members in the region. Biden faced mounting domestic criticism from multiple angles over the fighting in Gaza. Many pro-Palestinian protesters argued that he was not doing enough to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while some pro-Israel observers criticized his response as controversial protests overtook several prominent universities. Seeking to maintain a moderate stance, Biden acknowledged the right to protest while also sharply condemning antisemitism, and reiterated general support for Israel while also halting the delivery of weapons to the country in May 2024 in an attempt to deter Israel from invading the city of Rafah.

Following a June debate against Trump viewed largely as a significant loss for Biden, the president drew even greater criticism and concerns regarding his ability to serve for another term, including from prominent members of the Democratic Party. Though Biden initially defended his continued candidacy, in late July, only weeks before the Democratic National Convention and upon the news that he had once again tested positive for COVID-19, he ultimately announced that he had decided to end his reelection campaign. Shortly after, he endorsed Harris.

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