Statement by Vice President Joe Biden on the Retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens

“In 1975, as a first-term Senator from Delaware, I had the privilege of voting for the first time to confirm a nominee to serve on the United States Supreme Court.  Last year, I was honored when that nominee — Justice John Paul Stevens — administered the oath of office as I was sworn in to serve as Vice President of the United States.  Today, I called Justice Stevens to thank him for his service to our country, after he announced his retirement.  Throughout this span of years, all Americans have benefitted from Justice Stevens‘s commitment to our core Constitutional values and to the fair and restrained application of the law to all parties before the Court.  His legacy as a Justice will endure, beyond the confines of a particular judicial ideology, because it reflects the profound humanity he brought to bear to the task of judging.

“Justice Stevens’s service to our Nation began well before his elevation to our highest Court.  A member of the Greatest Generation, the last still serving on the Court, he enlisted to serve our country the day before the Pearl Harbor attack.  He returned after the war to attend law school, clerk on the Supreme Court, and become an expert in antitrust law in private practice, before being appointed a judge.  He accumulated wisdom from this rich life experience and approached judging as much more than an academic exercise.  He saw how the law shapes the lives of ordinary people in real and practical ways, and he talked about and explained the law in ways that made sense to all Americans.

“Justice Stevens is famous for his work ethic — both on the Supreme Court and the tennis court — even as he turns 90 later this month.  His service to our Nation has been long, distinguished, and an inspiration to generations of Americans, and for that we are deeply grateful.”

Vice President Biden Hosts Conference Call with Mayors and County Officials to Discuss Recovery Act Implementation

Earlier today, the Vice President hosted a conference call with Mayors and county officials from across the country to discuss implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The following elected officials participated:

• Mayor David Bieter (D-Boise, ID)
• Mayor Donald Plusquellic (D-Akron, OH)
• Mayor Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta, GA)
• Mayor Mike Winder (R-West Valley City, UT)
• County Chairman John Eaves (D-Fulton County, GA)
• County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef (R-Rockland County, NY)

Informe Sobre las Llamadas de Vicepresidente a Irak

El Vicepresidente habló hoy con el embajador de Estados Unidos en Irak, Chris Hill, el comandante general de las tropas estadounidenses en Irak Ray Odierno, el Presidente de Irak Jalal Talabani y el Primer Ministro de Irak Nouri al-Maliki sobre lo ocurrido recientemente en Irak. En su llamada con Talabani y al-Maliki, el Vicepresidente expresó su pesar y condolencias por las víctimas de los recientes ataques. El Vice Presidente aseveró su confianza en la capacidad de las Fuerzas de Seguridad Iraquíes, reiteró la disposición de Estados Unidos de proporcionar todo el apoyo necesario y su total certeza de que, no obstante estos intentos de intimidación, nada disuadirá a los iraquíes de seguir avanzando. El Vicepresidente también manifestó su respeto por la soberanía de Irak durante el proceso de formación gubernamental que está teniendo lugar ahora y alentó a todas las partes a que trabajen juntas para formar un gobierno que incluya y represente a todos.

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Op-Ed by Vice President Joe Biden: "A Comprehensive Nuclear Arms Strategy"

The following op-ed by Vice President Joe Biden was published in today’s Los Angeles Times:

A Comprehensive Nuclear Arms Strategy

The administration's Nuclear Posture Review outlines the means to achieve greater security from worldwide nuclear dangers. Nonproliferation and counter-terrorism are central to the strategy.

By Joe Biden
April 7, 2010

When I joined the Senate in 1973, crafting nuclear policy meant mastering arcane issues like nuclear stability and deterrence theory. With the end of the Cold War and a new relationship between our country and Russia, thankfully these subjects no longer dominate public discourse. Today, the danger of deliberate, global nuclear war has all but disappeared, but the nuclear threats we face from terrorists and non-nuclear states seeking to acquire such weapons are graver than ever.

On Tuesday, President Obama took an important step toward addressing these threats by releasing a plan that will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy while ensuring that our nuclear arsenal remains safe, secure and effective for as long as it is needed. The Nuclear Posture Review outlines a strategy, supported unanimously by the national security cabinet, for greater security from nuclear dangers and implements the agenda that President Obama first outlined in Prague just over a year ago to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to pursue the peace and security of a world without them.

This new strategy, a sharp departure from previous Nuclear Posture Reviews released in 2001 and 1994, leaves Cold War thinking behind. It recognizes that the greatest threat to U.S. and global security is no longer a nuclear exchange between nations, but nuclear terrorism by extremists and the spread of nuclear weapons to an increasing number of states. From now on, decisions about the number of weapons we have and how they are deployed will take nonproliferation and counter-terrorism into account, rather than being solely based on the objective of stable deterrence.

The review contains a clear rationale for the reductions called for under the New START treaty -- a 30% reduction from the previous agreement. Because of advances in conventional capabilities and technologies such as missile defense, we need fewer nuclear weapons to deter adversaries and protect our allies than we did even a decade ago. Under the new review, we will retain only those weapons needed for our core requirements.

The plan also establishes a policy that the United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, as long as they are party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and in compliance with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations. This approach provides additional incentive for countries to fully comply with nonproliferation norms. Those that do not will be more isolated and less secure.

The completion of a Nuclear Posture Review that is grounded in a commitment to American security will better protect us and our allies from nuclear threats. So will the signing of the New START treaty Thursday. And the unprecedented Nuclear Security Summit the president will host next week -- with its focus on securing vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years -- will advance these goals still further.

At the same time, the president is determined to ensure that our nuclear weapons remain absolutely safe, secure and effective. That is why he has asked Congress to increase funding for our nuclear complex by $5 billion over the next five years, allowing us to upgrade aging facilities and recruit and retain the highly skilled scientists and engineers needed to sustain our arsenal. Our plan reverses a decade-long erosion in support for the national laboratories. This commitment will ensure that our arsenal remains ready.

We can achieve these objectives while upholding this country's nearly two-decade moratorium on nuclear tests and continuing our efforts to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. And although we will not develop new warheads or add military capabilities as we manage our arsenal for the future, we will pursue needed life-extension programs so the weapons we retain can be sustained. This approach has broad support, and, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates states in his preface to the Nuclear Posture Review, it is a "credible modernization plan necessary to sustain the nuclear infrastructure and support our nation's deterrent."

The president and I made a promise to the American people to protect them from nuclear risks. We have no higher obligation. Our strategy delivers on that promise and tackles the most immediate threats our planet faces.