October 15, 2019

Biden Snaps At Warren: My Help Secured Your Signature Legislative Achievement

Biden interrupted, “You did a hell of a job in your job.”

Win McNamee/Getty

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

When Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) explained her role in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate, she inadvertently touched a nerve with former Vice President Joe Biden.

“I had an idea for a consumer agency that would keep giant banks from cheating people, and all of the Washington insiders and strategic geniuses said ‘don’t even try because you will never get it passed,'” Warren said. “We need to get out there and fight for the things that touch people’s lives.”

Seemingly out of the blue, Biden shot back, “I agreed with the great job she did!”

Turning to Warren while jabbing the air with his hand, he said in a raised voice, “I went on the floor and got you votes. I got votes for that bill. I convinced people to vote for it! So let’s get those things straight too.”

Warren, at first appearing taken aback, replied (with not a little debate stage shade), “I am deeply grateful to President Obama, who fought so hard to make sure that agency was passed into law.” Both the audience and Biden laughed. She continued, “And I am deeply grateful to every single person who fought for it and who helped pass it into law, but understand—.”

Biden interrupted, “You did a hell of a job in your job.”

Warren simply replied, “Thank you.”

Watch the full exchange below:

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate