Biden Aims to Put '720 Million' Women to Work. There's Just One Problem

Tyler O'Neil | 8:09 PM on September 17, 2019

Former Vice President Joe Biden responds to a question Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by ABC at Texas Southern University in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

On Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden said his childcare tax credit would put “720 million” women into the workforce. The problem? There were only 327.1 million people in America in 2018, according to the Census Bureau. The bureau’s “population clock” estimated the current population at 329.7 million as of Tuesday evening.

“If you get a tax break for a racehorse, why in god’s name couldn’t we provide an $8,000 tax credit for everybody who has childcare costs? It would put 720 million women back in the workforce,” Biden said at a “Workers 2020” summit put on by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO.

Despite US population of only 330 million, Biden says child tax credit would put 720 million women back into the workforcehttps://t.co/uLjAheL8Mj pic.twitter.com/cn5YoVJET3

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 17, 2019

Biden clearly misspoke, but these gaffes are becoming more frequent. The former vice president recently doubled down on a story about pinning a Silver Star on a war hero in Afghanistan that The Washington Post debunked.

In recent weeks, Biden: claimed the Heritage Foundation said Trump’s tax cuts didn’t work; claimed that he was vice president during the Parkland shooting last year; said that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids;” mixed up Margaret Thatcher with Theresa May and Angela Merkel; claimed that 40 students were shot at Kent State in 1970 — rather than the 13 who were shot; claimed that Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were killed in the 1970s — rather than in 1968; and more. He mixed up the locations of the tragic shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

While he remains the frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic nomination race, Biden’s gaffes and worries about his age may threaten his campaign. A Democratic pollster recently called his polling lead “deceptive.” Yet Democrats may be unable to rid themselves of this troublesome gaffetastic frontrunner. After all, Biden’s lead has been consistent.

It remains to be seen whether Biden will admit his “720 million” statement was a gaffe and explain just how many women would enter the workforce with his childcare tax credit.

Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.