Election 2020: Looking At The Record

 I have held back on posting anything about this years presidential election for months now. My reason for this was grounded in the fear of becoming just another hack throwing in their two cents about political issues. There are already way to many people writing opinion pieces laced with political bias. 

I didn't want to do that. I'm interested in facts, which in today's political theater are kind of hard to sort out. Let me tell you that trying to find some non biased information on either candidate is like trying to find a unicorn in New York using Google Earth.

Good luck!

In an attempt to provide some real information that voters could use to make up their mind on which candidate to vote for on Tuesday I have opted to post the actual accomplishments of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Let's start with President Trump. Finding this information was pretty straight forward because the information comes from his one term in office.

Here is a partial list:

Signed an order calling for work requirements for welfare. 

• Nominated the first woman to lead the CIA. 

• Collected record taxes in first month under tax cuts; ran surplus in January 2018. 

• Proposed largest civil service change in 40 years – “Hire the best and fire the worst.” 

• Signed bipartisan bill to combat synthetic opioids. 

• Decreased federal bureaucracy by 16,000 positions and slashed government regulations. 

  Decreased black and Hispanic unemployment to a record low. 

• Decreased jobless claims at the lowest level since 1969. 

• Increased black business ownership by 400 percent. 

• Increased consumer confidence to the highest level in 18 years. 

• Decreased youth unemployment to 52-year low. 

• Increased median income to highest in history. 

• Increased business investments 39 percent. 

  Decreased food stamp use by 500,000 in one month 

• Increased homebuilding permits to the highest since 2007. 

• Increased oil production to 10 million barrels a day for the first time since 1970. 

• Increased the stock market to an all-time high.

 • Added more than 7 million jobs to the economy while the unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in a half century – 3.5 percent. 

• Surpassed Congressional Budget Office’s projection for creating new jobs by more than 5 million.

 • Lifted Americans who had been left behind, with millions of Americans coming off the sidelines and back into the workforce. 

• Lead the Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ to have all repeatedly hit record highs. 

• Reversed decades of calamitous trade policies and securing deals that will positively affect American workers. 

• Renegotiated existing deals and leaving deals that would harm American workers. 

• Put an end to NAFTA and negotiated USMCA to take its place, a true victory for American workers, businesses, and farmers. 

• Stood up to China after decades of other administrations looking the other way while the nation’s trade deficit soared and jobs were shipped overseas. 

• Renegotiated the United States-Korea trade agreement and withdrew from the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

• Created hottest economy in the world and will do so again following the interruption caused by Coronavirus. 

• Passed historic tax cuts providing needed relief for American families and putting American businesses on a level playing field. 

• Created opportunity zones to spur investment and job creation in forgotten communities. 

• Restored American manufacturing, putting in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas. 

• Cut regulations at a historic pace to free up American businesses – meeting and far exceeding the promise to cut two regulations for every new one. 

• Ended the Obama Administration’s war on coal as promised, rolling back the so-called Clean Power Plan, WOTUS, stream protection rule, and other overregulation. 

• Replaced Obama Administration’s disastrous CAFE standards and rolled back burdensome Dodd-Frank provisions, as promised. 

• Put in place policies to lift working families, including releasing the first presidential budget in history to include a national paid family leave plan. 

• Invested in workforce development to ensure American workers are prepared to gain high-paying, family-supporting jobs. 

• Promoted school choice to ensure all families have access to quality education for their children. 

• Freed American energy producers to conduct their business, leading to record oil and natural gas production and expanded energy exports. 

• Followed through on the promise to approve new pipelines, including the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. 

• Withdrew from the job-killing Paris agreement. 

  Rebuilt our military with historic investments in our defense and provided our troops the largest military pay raise in a decade. 

• After years of neglect by past administrations, President Trump is rebuilding our military. 

• Withdrew from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and reimposed all sanctions. 

• Followed through and stood up to the president of Syria, Bashar Hafez al-Assad, and his regime’s horrific use of chemical weapons against its own people. 

• Defeated ISIS’ territorial caliphate and brought terrorist leaders to justice, including ISIS’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 

• Restored American leadership in space and established the Space Force. 

• Took action to ensure America leads the way on the technologies of the future like AI and 5G. 

• Stopped $230 million in rebuilding payments to Syria. 

• Brought back soldiers’ remains from the Korean War. 

• Secured release of American prisoners from North Korea. Expanded access to more affordable coverage options, like Association Health Plans and short-term, limited duration insurance plans. 

• Increased healthcare transparency and empowering patients. 

• Lowered drug prices for American patients, including working to stop Americans from paying far more than patients in other countries. 

• Ended the burdensome Obama-era individual mandate penalty. 

• Took action to protect and strengthen Medicare for seniors and reduced Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D premiums. 

• Ensured Americans with pre-existing conditions they would be protected. 

  Signed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 into law which targets online sex trafficking and subjects websites to federal criminal and civil liability when users misuse online personals. 

• Shut down two major websites used for prostitution and sex trafficking. 

• Allocated more than $35 million in Justice Department grants to 73 organizations in 33 states that provide safe housing for victims of human trafficking. 

• Rescued 39 previously missing children in ages from 3 to 17 at risk for sex trafficking, abuse and exploitation in Georgia, as part of a two-week mission by the U.S. Marshals Service. 

 Read The Full List - Here

One it comes to Joe Biden things get a little more murky. I had to try to weed through a ton of articles and websites that went to great lengths to paint the former Vice President as a "good guy" and a "natural leader". Stuff that was long on fluff and short on actual facts;

I did find a list, which I still think is laced with bias, but it was the best I could find.

Here is a list of Joe Biden's accomplishment's while serving in nearly five decades of public service:

  

1973-2009: U.S. Senator from Delaware, initially focussing on consumer protection, environmental issues, government accountability, and arms control. In his 6 terms as a senator, Joe Biden sponsored or co-sponsored 348 pieces of legislation that became law.  

1981-97: Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years.  

1986: Introduced his Global Climate Protection Act, one of the first bills aimed at addressing climate change. 

1990s: Authored every major piece of crime legislation this decade, including the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. 

1992-1995: Strongly guided Balkans policy in the mid-1990s during the Bosnian War, producing a successful NATO peacekeeping effort. 

 1994: Spearheaded the Violence Against Women Act, criminalizing violence against women and creating unprecedented resources for survivors of assault, which was followed by a 64% drop in domestic violence from 1993 to 2010. 

 1997-2009: Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, leading legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. 

 1997: Led the Senate to approve ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. 1998: Led the Senate to approve NATO enlargement and passage of bills to streamline foreign affairs agencies and punish religious persecution overseas. 

 1999: Co-sponsored the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on President Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over Yugoslav actions in Kosovo. 2000: Sponsored the Kids 2000 Act, establishing a public-private partnership to provide computer centers, teachers, Internet access, and technical training to young people, particularly low-income and at-risk youth.

You can read the entire list - Here

One statement in the list caused my potential bs meter to go off. I doubt that Biden actually "Authored every major piece of crime legislation this decade ...". 

Luckily for anyone who wants to put in the time and effort all of this is a matter of public record that can be verified through congressional records: https://www.congress.gov/member/joseph-biden/B000444 

I found this list to be really interesting. It lists every issue that Biden has either introduced or co-sponsored. Be careful to take note of which items he actually authored compared with the items he only sponsored. Also take note of which of these items actually were passed and became law.

I think you will find the number of items that are introduced versus the number of things that get passed fascinating. 

I hope that this information will be helpful in aiding undecided voters figure out who to cast their vote for.

No matter which candidate you choose it is your civic duty to vote!