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:

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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