Nonetheless, as time progressed, the law’s tough-on-crime provisions became controversial among criminal justice reform proponents and within the democratic party.
When asked about the legislation in 2019, Biden called his role in passing the law a “big mistake.” He has since been praised for modifying some of its worst provisions.
In 1987, Biden finally announced that he would be entering the Democratic nominee race in the 1988 presidential election.
However, people soon realized that parts of his speeches were plagiarized from the United Kingdom Labour MP and Margaret Thatcher challenger Neil Kinnock. As a result, Biden dropped out of the race.
From 1987 to 1995, Biden served as chair on the Committee on the Judiciary. He also served on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee from 2001 to 2003 and again in 2007 to 2009, twice as its chair.
In 1991, Biden opposed the Gulf War. Despite his opposition, he supported the NATO alliance intervention in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, as well as its expansion into Eastern Europe.
He further supported the resolution sanctioning the Iraq War in 2002, but opposed the entrance of US troops in 2007. He then proposed a partition plan as a way to keep a unified, peaceful Iraq.
While he was still a senator, Biden became a member of the International Narcotics Control Caucus. He was the lead senator in writing the legislation that established the “drug czar” office, a position that supervises the national drug-control policy.