President Biden’s remarkable record of accomplishment under nearly impossible circumstances
Rob Schofield 11/9/2021 Top Story,Weekly Briefing
The Democratic Party’s “big tent” may be smaller today than it was even a half-century ago when it made room for civil rights and anti-war activists, big city union hardhats, and southern segregationists, but make no mistake, 21st century party leaders must still attempt to herd an extremely unwieldy assemblage of cats.
[This has been] a time in which the nation’s new leader has sought to respond to a long and hugely daunting list of unprecedented global and national crises, all while his party has clung to congressional majorities that have constantly wobbled between razor thin and nonexistent.
Remind yourself for a moment of the scale and scope of the challenges Biden faced when he took office:
- Forty-one weeks ago, our nation had just survived a violent attempted coup d’état and
- the outgoing president who had spurred it on by refusing to acknowledge the fact of his defeat was about to be impeached for a second time.
- Meanwhile, daily deaths from a global pandemic were peaking at their highest levels,
- the national economy remained a mess,
- and a dire, worsening, and largely unaddressed environmental emergency continued to place the planet in an ever-tightening grip.
Only Abraham Lincoln and possibly Franklin Roosevelt entered their presidencies under more difficult circumstances.
What’s more, unlike Lincoln and Roosevelt who took office at a time in which their parties enjoyed large congressional majorities, Biden entered the oval office with no such advantage. Indeed, it was only thanks to two near-miraculous come-from-behind wins in a pair of January Georgia Senate runoffs that Democrats wield any authority at all on Capitol Hill.
Now add to all this the fact that the impossibly narrow Democratic Senate “majority” (51-50 thanks to the presence of Vice President Harris) includes determined ideological conservatives like West Virginia’s Manchin and Arizona’s Sinema, and that the antiquated Senate filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass almost anything meaningful, and it’s a marvel that the nation has not descended into complete political gridlock and chaos.
Instead, under the President’s coherent, sober, and science-based leadership, the nation has aggressively locked horns with the pandemic by undertaking one of the largest and most successful mass vaccination campaigns in human history – a campaign that, despite persistent sabotage efforts from some on the political right, has saved millions of lives.
Meanwhile, thanks in large measure to Biden’s aggressive and on-the-mark stimulus policies, the economy has revived at a record pace and huge strides have been made in slashing poverty – especially child poverty.
And then there is the climate emergency, where, thanks to the President’s vision and simple common sense, the U.S. has rapidly transformed its role from that of science and reality-denying roadblock to a global leader. There are still miles to travel in this realm, but the massive infrastructure legislation finally approved by small bipartisan majorities in both house of Congress further cements this vitally important policy 180.
Now add to all this the literally thousands of talented and diverse appointees Biden has named to the judiciary, the ambassadorial corps, and the leadership of numerous regulatory agencies – most of whom have already effected huge and positive federal policy shifts in everything from student loans to toxic chemicals to human rights – and the magnitude of his administration’s accomplishments in less than 300 days looms even larger.
Has the Biden presidency been perfect? Of course not. Like all of his predecessors, Biden has made his share of mistakes. Like Barack Obama, he’s likely wasted too much time in search of imaginary common ground with ideological conservatives determined to undermine him at every turn. While necessary, the Afghanistan withdrawal could have proceeded more smoothly. And as with many other presidents, one also yearns at times for a leader with the kind of rhetorical gifts that would enable him to easily skewer and deflate his adversaries and inspire widespread support for the kind of wholesale progressive changes the nation needs.
But, in the end, this is quibbling. In light of the huge political challenges under which he’s been forced to operate (and especially in comparison to the lawless corruption and intellectual vacuity of his predecessor that inspired night terrors in millions – maybe even billions – of humans), Joe Biden has achieved a remarkable record of accomplishment. Whatever the future holds, our nation will be forever in his debt.
Yes, yes, this writer is a fan, obviously. But what he says is truthful and written with eyes open to the accomplishments and flaws of our current President. But he’s not the only one: To begin with, Tim Rowland, a Herald-Mail columnist, reminds us,
“Joe Biden has not raped public lands. He has not separated children from their parents. He has not funneled taxpayer money into his own private properties. He has not tried to undermine the U.S. census. He has not lied about the weather. He has not tried to strip millions of Americans of health care. He has not tried to overthrow election results.“
Beyond that low bar set before him, he has managed to achieve a few things. Here is an abbreviated list thanks to Oliver Willis, a long-time political blogger:
- Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, providing over $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending in every state in the country
- Biden enacted an action plan to alleviate supply chain problems at ports and waterways
- Biden issued comprehensive guidelines for military and veteran suicide prevention strategies
- Biden signed a law providing a cost-of-living adjustment for veterans disability benefits
- Biden signed the K-12 Cybersecurity Act which protects sensitive information maintained by schools across the country
- Biden restarted posting White House visitor logs after Donald Trump had stopped doing so
- Biden ordered multiple agencies to enact policies that will increase the supply of affordable homes in America
- Biden signed a law expanding access for veterans to therapy dogs and service dogs
- Biden cancelled student loan debt for more than 300,000 Americans with severe disabilities (over $5.8 billion worth of debt)
- Biden canceled $55.6 million in student debt for students of for-profit schools
- Biden has the narrowest pay gap between women and men in the White House of any president
- The Biden administration released rules that protect patients from unexpected medical bills.
- Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (aka COVID-19 Stimulus) providing $1.9 trillion of relief to the American economy
- Biden (and Vice President Kamala Harris) released their 2021 tax returns, after Trump refused to release his for his entire four-year term.
- Biden increased the minimum wage for thousands of federal contractors to $15/hr
- Stimulus payments from the American Rescue Plan were sent via direct deposit just 24 hours after the plan was signed into law
- Biden directed $2.5 billion in funding to specifically address America’s mental illness and addiction crisis
- The American Rescue Plan restores funding to veterans programs, including programs to assist veterans’ mental health, that had been cut under Trump
- American Rescue Plan provides money to the airline industry, preventing tens of thousands of aviation jobs who will no longer be furloughed
- Socially disadvantaged (including Black, Latino, Asian-American, and Native American) farmers will get $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan in debt relief, while another $1 billion will create a racial equity commission.
- Biden revoked a Trump executive order mandating stricter work rules on people seeking welfare help.
- Biden restored labor rights to workers at the Department of Defense.
- Biden got rid of a Trump order that used COVID as an excuse for deregulation.
- Biden undid a Trump-era mandate that said federal buildings had to be constructed in classical style.
- Biden revoked a Trump order that suspended federal funds from going to purported “anarchist jurisdictions.”
- Biden issued an executive order requiring political appointees to take an ethics pledge.
- Biden signed pension relief, keeping more than 100 pension plans solvent and providing retirement benefits to millions.
- Biden terminated a 2018 Trump agreement that put up roadblocks to families trying to help undocumented immigrant children
- Biden revoked a Trump executive order suspending the issuing of visas that used the pandemic as an excuse to do so.
- Biden canceled the National State of Emergency which had allowed Trump to divert federal funds to his border wall project.
- Biden allocated $5 billion from FEMA for communities affected by climate-related disasters
- Biden returned the United States to the Paris Climate Accord
- Biden revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline
- Biden blocked drilling at the Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
- Biden ordered a stop to the issuing of new leases for oil and gas exploration on public lands
- Biden signed legislation increasing the amount that can be spent providing assistance to Americans returning from Afghanistan from $1 million to $10 million
- Biden had the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) recognize that laws forbidding sex discrimination in health care also apply to LGBTQ+ people, reversing a Trump’s policy
- Biden rejoined the United Nations Human Rights Council, after America left it under Trump.
- Biden had the Department of Defense double the number of military health teams assisting hospitals with COVID-19.
- Biden expanded COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs.
- Biden ordered the TSA to double fines for travelers who refuse to mask.
- Biden instructed the Department of Education to pay teachers or school officials who had their pay withheld for instituting mask mandates.
- Biden is requiring that the staffs of nursing homes are vaccinated or they will lose their federal funding.
- Biden extended the pause on student loan repayment until January 31 2022 due to COVID-19
- Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate vaccine development. This led to enough vaccine being produced to have supply for every adult American by May 2021 instead of the original date of July 2021.
- Biden secured 200 million extra doses of vaccine for a total of 300 million available vaccine doses by July 2021.
- 37,000 people were evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, by the US military in 8 days
- Biden signed legislation awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol Police who responded to the January 6 attack on the Capitol
- Biden told Russian president Vladimir Putin the United States would no longer “roll over” for his aggressive actions.
- Biden rescinded the Trump administration’s decision to designate Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as a terrorist group. The designation was widely criticized by international organizations at the time.
- Biden threw out 32 last-minute nominations offered by the Trump administration. Included in the rejections were judicial appointments supported by conservatives.
- Biden expanded the Bears Ears national monument (reversing Trump), restored the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and restored protection of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
- Biden ended large-scale logging at Tongass National Forest in Alaska
- Biden ended the 20-year long war in Afghanistan, evacuating over 120,000 people from the country
- Biden had the United States rejoin the World Health Organization (WHO)
- Biden levied sanctions against Russian officials in retaliation for the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
That’s a list of less than HALF of Joe Biden’s accomplishments in his first year in office. For the complete list, go to Oliver Willis.com
Oliver Willis, a Senior Writer for The American Independent and former Research Fellow at Media Matters for America.
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