[184] Having won both races, Biden made a point of waiting to resign from the Senate until he was sworn in for his seventh term on January 6, 2009.[185] Biden cast his last Senate vote on January 15, supporting the release of the second $350 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program,[186] and resigned from the Senate later that day.[n 2]

Vice presidency (2009–2017)
See also: Presidency of Barack Obama
Biden being sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2009
First term (2009–2013)
First official portrait of Joe Biden as Vice President of the United States, 2009
Biden said he intended to eliminate some explicit roles assumed by George W. Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, and did not intend to emulate any previous vice presidency.[190] He chaired Obama's transition team[191] and headed an initiative to improve middle-class economic well-being.[192] In early January 2009, in his last act as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, he visited the leaders of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,[193] and on January 20 he was sworn in as the 47th vice president of the United States[194]‍—‌the first vice president from Delaware[195] and the first Roman Catholic vice president.