“I Did Not Oppose Busing.” Nice Try.

The take

At the June 27, 2019 Democratic debate, after Kamala Harris challenged his record, Joe Biden said: “I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.” (PolitiFact)

The receipts

The Department of Education didn’t exist yet. It was created in 1979. The busing fights Biden was in happened earlier in the 1970s. (PolitiFact)

His own words, 1975. “I oppose busing. It’s an asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me,” he told the Washington Post. The same year: “I’ve gotten to the point where I think our only recourse to eliminate busing may be a constitutional amendment.” (Salon)

On the Senate floor. “Busing is a bankrupt concept,” per the Congressional Record. (PolitiFact)

His votes. In 1975 Biden proposed barring federal funds from being used to assign students or teachers by race. The Senate passed it 50–43. A second, narrower Biden amendment aimed at busing also passed. Both were dropped in the House-Senate conference. (PolitiFact)

He went after court-ordered busing too. In a March 25, 1977 letter to fellow senators he wrote: “My bill strikes at the heart of the injustice of court-ordered busing.” (CNN via WLOS) In 1978 the Washington Post called his amendment “the most far-reaching antibusing measure to receive serious consideration in the Senate.” (Salon)

He asked a segregationist for help. On June 30, 1977 he wrote to Sen. James Eastland of Mississippi: “I want you to know that I very much appreciate your help during this week’s committee meeting in attempting to bring my anti-busing legislation to a vote.” On August 22, 1978: “I want to personally ask your continued support and alert you to our intentions… Your participation in floor debate would be welcomed.” The letters are in Eastland’s archives at the University of Mississippi. (CNN via WLOS)

And he remembered him fondly. At a June 18, 2019 fundraiser, Biden said Eastland “never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son,’” and of working with Eastland and Herman Talmadge: “At least there was some civility… We got things done.” (Education Week)

The fact-checkers agreed. PolitiFact rated his debate claim Mostly False and concluded he opposed busing repeatedly from the mid-1970s. (PolitiFact)

The other side’s best point

Biden’s record is not one-sided, and it’s fair to say so:

• In May 1974 he voted to table an anti-busing amendment from Sen. Edward Gurney (R-Fla.), which was tabled by one vote. (PolitiFact)
• He drew a line between segregation by law, where he backed desegregation “by any legal means at hand – including busing,” and segregation caused by where people lived, where he opposed it. He also supported the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. (PolitiFact)
• In 1982 he worked to extend the Voting Rights Act for 25 years, and Rep. John Lewis defended him in 2019. (Education Week)
• Busing had Black critics too. Wilmington activist Bebe Coker called it “the biggest sham.” (PolitiFact)

Opposing busing in the 1970s didn’t make someone a segregationist. Plenty of people, of every color, opposed it.

The verdict (opinion)

Opposing busing was a position you could argue for in 1975. Biden argued for it, loudly, and asked James Eastland to help. The problem is 2019, when he said he never did, and blamed a department that didn’t exist yet.

If a Republican had said “I did not oppose busing” with that paper trail, it would have been a scandal for a week. For Biden it was a bad debate night. That’s not a moral high ground. That’s a free pass.

You don’t have to think he was a bad man to see it. You only have to read what he wrote.

Nice try.