MORE: Former Vice President Joe Biden looks to clarify position on busing after tense exchange with Kamala Harris: 'I know you know I fought my heart out ensure that civil rights, voting rights, equal rights are enforced everywhere.'
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday tried to clarify his views on forced school busing after his tense exchange with Sen. Kamala Harris at Thursday night's Democratic debate in Miami.
"Before I start, I'd like to say something about the debate we had last night, and I, I heard and I listened to and I respect Senator Harris. But you know, we all know that a 30 seconds to 60 seconds on a campaign debate exchange can't do justice to a lifetime committed to civil rights," Biden said, deploying some damage control at the top of a speech in Chicago at the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition conference.
"I've always been in favor of using federal authorities to overcome state-initiated segregation. In fact, I cast a deciding vote in 1974 against an amendment called the Gurney Amendment, which would have banned the right of the federal courts to be able to use busing as a remedy. And you might guess, in the middle of the most extensive busing order in American history in my city and my state, it wasn't what you would call the most popular vote in the country at the time,” he said.
Biden's comments on Friday came after Harris took on Biden over his recent remarks on working alongside segregationist Democrats as a young senator, despite disagreeing with their views, in order to find compromise and get legislation passed.
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