![]() ![]() A modest gun-safety bill expanded background checks (although not universally), made it easier to prosecute illegal gun trafficking, and provided federal funding for so-called red-flag laws. history and allows Medicare to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs for the first time.īeyond those headline bills, Biden more quietly amassed a bevy of smaller legislative wins, often with bipartisan support. The politically named Inflation Reduction Act is actually the largest climate bill in U.S. The legislation sent $1,400 checks to Americans across the country, nearly doubled the child tax credit, shored up state budget accounts, and funded testing, treatment, and vaccines to fight the pandemic. The initial pandemic bill, also known as the American Rescue Plan, was about the size of Barack Obama’s two biggest legislative achievements-his initial economic stimulus package and the 2010 Affordable Care Act-combined. The signing of just three enormous bills-the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, and this summer’s climate-and-health spending bill-made Biden’s first two years among the most productive of any president in the past half century. The view from Democrats and independent voters is more complex: Will they conclude that Biden’s legislative successes-a record infusion of funds to fight climate change, a major infrastructure bill, action to lower prescription-drug prices, modest gun reform-outweigh his failure to enact promises such as paid family leave, universal pre-K, far-reaching voting-rights legislation, and a ban on assault weapons? In the past few months, Biden has bolstered his progressive record without the help of Congress, unilaterally forgiving student-loan debt for millions and pardoning thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession. Many blame his high-spending policies for exacerbating inflation. Most conservatives, of course, never gave him a chance. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the prolonged pandemic. But Biden has also failed to achieve many of his most progressive priorities, which have fallen victim to a combination of lockstep GOP opposition and crucial defections in his own party.īiden’s approval ratings have languished far below 50 percent for more than a year the end of his presidential honeymoon coincided with the messy U.S. ![]() Some of his legislative moves, on infrastructure and clean-energy manufacturing, for example, have even been bipartisan victories. Biden has accomplished quite a lot of them-perhaps more than most political observers expected with such narrow Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill. Domestically, he’s pursued nothing less than a transformation of the American social safety net, with an agenda comprising a dizzying number of progressive policy goals. In less than two years, Biden has chaotically ended the war in Afghanistan while struggling to bring the nation fully out of a two-and-a-half-year pandemic. ![]() Forgive them if their views about the president’s record so far are a bit complicated. The order also directed agencies to purchase American-made, zero-emission vehicles in an effort to create union jobs as part of Biden’s “Buy American” agenda, suspend new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and conserve at least 30 percent of federal lands and waters by 2030.Īdditionally, the order established the Office of Domestic Climate Policy and a national climate task force, as well as a working group to assist communities impacted by coal mining and power plants and an environmental justice council to “address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.”Īccording to Biden’s memorandum, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will review agency policies on scientific integrity, and agencies that oversee research must designate a senior employee to “ensure agency research programs are scientifically and technologically well-founded and conducted with integrity.Voters will render a midterm verdict on President Joe Biden as they decide whether to keep Democrats in control of Congress. to determine its target for emissions reduction and directed federal agencies to incorporate climate considerations into their international plans. In accordance with the Paris Agreement on climate change, Biden’s plan to tackle climate change called for the U.S. ![]()
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