Official White House records undercut a claim Joe Biden made during the fourth Democrat presidential primary debate of whipping votes for legislation that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
During the Democrat debate on Tuesday, Biden and his two main competitors, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT), traded barbs about who was best prepared to be commander in chief and what sort of vision was required to defeat President Donald Trump. Warren, in particular, cited her tenure, pushing for creation of the CFPB as proof she knew how to use “executive authority” to further her political agenda.
Biden, who earlier in the debate claimed to be the “only one on this stage that has gotten anything really big done,” attempted to counter the argument by highlighting his own role in the creation of the CFPB.
“I agreed with the great job she did, and I went on the floor and got you votes. I got votes for that bill. I convinced people to vote for it,” the former vice president said. “So let’s get those things straight, too.”
Despite the rhetoric, however, official scheduling records from the Obama-era White House dispute Biden’s claims of having rallied support for the legislation. In fact, as the Intercept has reported, on the day of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—which created the CFPB—the former vice president’s schedule notes he was not on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Records show that on the day the bill passed by a vote of 60-39, Biden only had one meeting with a member of Congress’s upper chamber, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). It is unlikely, though, that Biden was attempting to sway Graham’s vote on the bill because, at the time, the senator was one of the bill’s leading opponents. Biden’s schedule for the rest of the day shows meetings regarding issues such as Iraq and the then-stimulus spending program, but nothing about Dodd-Frank:
Joe Biden told @ewarren: "I went on the floor and got you votes." Okay, well, here's his schedule from the day the CFPB passed. He wasn't in the Senate. So when did this happen? (Unless this 2 1/2 hour meeting with Lindsey Graham was a failed effort to win his vote.) pic.twitter.com/sdEund4cMZ
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 17, 2019
As the Intercept noted, not only is there scant evidence to back up Biden’s claim of going to the “floor,” but several of those involved in Dodd-Frank’s passage also have no recollection of the former vice president playing a role. Former Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), who helped author the bill, even went so far as to say he “cannot recall ever hearing” Biden’s name mentioned as Dodd-Frank moved through Congress:
I talked to Michael Barr once or twice, and had maybe a bootleg conversation or two with Eric Stein, whom I had known for almost 25 years but who was not approved to talk to Congress. I had no contact with Biden and cannot recall every hearing his name mentioned by anyone.
— Brad Miller (@BMillRep) October 16, 2019
This is not the first time the former vice president has inflated his role in a particular event for political gain. As Breitbart News reported in August, Biden has repeatedly inflated his role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
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