.png)
By Ford McCracken
Joe Biden has officially won the 2020 Presidential Election, so it is time to discuss the policy initiatives that he stands for and consider what he will achieve in his first 100 days in office, beginning on January 20, 2021. While the party taking control of the US Senate is still undecided, Republicans currently stand at an advantage, having secured 50 seats already. Democrats will have to win both Georgia seats at the upcoming runoff in order to tie with the Republicans. In the scenario in which they achieve this, although Democrats would still not have the clear majority, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be able to break tie votes. This uncertainty in the Senate will certainly affect key policy initiatives, so President-Elect Biden could be revising his first 100 days plan over the coming weeks to meet more moderate standards. Either way, his plan aims to focus mostly on the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy, issues he has campaigned throughout this year.
Covid-19
Biden’s Task Force
President-Elect Joe Biden is set to assemble a coronavirus task force on day one, as President Trump has right now. He has already named a number of key officials to be on this task force, including appointing Dr. David Kessler, a former FDA commissioner. The task force’s main priority will most likely be vaccine development, especially as countries are inching closer to finding a vaccine Pfizer has recently reported a major breakthrough in their vaccine development, but the timeline and equity of its distribution will all be on the shoulders of this Biden task force.
Covid-19 Legislation
Biden has promised over and over that he will get Congress to pass a new relief package for Covid-19, including creating the Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force proposed by Kamala Harris. This aid package he has promised also includes a proposed cancellation of student loan debt accumulated by students during the pandemic. Not only has he promised aid, but he has also said he will get Congress to invoke the Defense Production Act to create more personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Importance of Science in the Biden Administration
Joe Biden repeatedly told supporters on the campaign trail that he believed the fight to beat the Covid-19 pandemic needed to be a collaborative effort led by experts and scientists, and he was deeply critical of President Trump’s statements that appeared to contradict health experts. Biden has confirmed that Dr. Anthony Fauci will remain a key advisor in his administration and the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Biden has also advocated for cooperating with other countries in a global health response, with the first step being the US rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Economy
One of the earliest accomplishments of the Trump administration was the GOP’s corporate tax cut at the beginning of 2017. Biden has said he will reverse this on day one, and in his first 100 days, he aims to enact his new tax plan, which pledges not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year.
Other economic promises include the creation of 5 million new jobs through investments. This includes putting $400 million into domestic manufacturing and $300 million into research and development.
Healthcare
On the campaign trail, Biden has continuously praised the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, a major accomplishment of the Obama administration that made healthcare more accessible to everyone, including guaranteed coverage of preexisting conditions. The new Biden plan, or “Bidencare” as he sometimes refers to it, would include adding a public option to the ACA. This has been consistently targeted by Republicans in the past, but a Republican majority in the Senate would be narrow at most. Moderates such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) or Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) are two senators that could do as John McCain did in 2017 and allow the ACA, or presently Biden’s version, to remain. Unfortunately for the Biden administration, they cannot make any major decisions about a healthcare plan until the Supreme Court rules on the Trump administration’s legal challenge to Obamacare. If the Supreme Court rules against Trump, Bidencare would have the green light, but if they rule with Trump, some major revisions would have to be made to Biden’s plan to make it less like the ACA.
Immigration
The Biden administration has pledged to reverse Trump-era policies in the first 100 days, and this starts with making the DACA program, which allows people brought to the country illegally as children to stay and be granted citizenship, permanent, especially with all of the legal challenges Trump has made to it in the past four years. Other priorities concerning immigration include ending the separation of families at the border, halting the construction of the wall at the US-Mexico Border, and reversing Trump’s travel restrictions on Muslim countries.
Criminal Justice Reform
Police Reform
The Biden administration has promised major police reform, especially after the monumental events that have taken place this year. While many people on the left have made calls to ‘defund the police’, Biden has consistently stayed in opposition to the idea. But Biden has made other calls to reform police departments, including the creation of a national police oversight commission to investigate incidents of police brutality across the country.
SAFE Justice Act
This act, proposed by Sen. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), would invest in lowering the rate of recidivism (people who had previously been in prison that return for a different reason), reducing mandatory minimums, and other reforms aimed at repairing the prison system.
Racial Inequality
Voter suppression has long been an issue in the United States, but it has been in the conversation increasingly more as Democrats in states such as Georgia have reported mass disenfranchisement of black Americans trying to vote. Stacey Abrams (D-Georgia) was very outspoken about this issue in her 2018 Governor bid, and while she did not win the position, she revealed an unfortunate reality in her state. Democrats have officially flipped the state of Georgia in the presidential election for the first time since 1992, and with both Senate seats in runoffs, they will be sure to focus on the state in the coming months. Beyond this, the Biden administration has declared that they hope to take steps on the federal level to reduce or even criminalize voter suppression to make sure that people of every race have the equal opportunity to vote in US elections. His administration will accomplish this by adding to the Voting Rights Act, which has already been passed by the House. This will of course require Democrats to win back the Senate, which is not impossible but will be very difficult as things stand today.
Addressing Climate Change
President-Elect Joe Biden has promised throughout the campaign that if elected, the US would rejoin the Paris Climate Accords. This will almost certainly be accomplished in the first 100 days, if not on day one. Other climate initiatives include investing in renewable and clean energy sources to achieve the ultimate goal of the US being net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Many progressive Democrats had hoped that Biden would support the Green New Deal, but while Biden has stated he is against that policy initiative. However, he believes it to be a good start, and the deal will certainly influence much of his administration’s climate policy.
Overall, President-Elect Biden appears to have an ambitious first 100 days ahead of him, but if he were able to address all of these early on in his administration, it would be keeping his campaign trail promises that carried him to victory in the Democratic primary. Biden is going to have to walk a fine line between being a moderate that can work across the aisle and being a President that pleases his party, especially the quickly-growing progressive wing. The moves Biden makes in the first 100 days will have major effects on the 2022 midterm elections, given that these elections typically favor the party that does not control the White House. If the Biden administration is able to walk this fine line, he may be able to keep his approval rating high enough to avoid a congressional disaster such as the one faced by Democrats in the 2014 midterms or by Republicans in 2018. It will all stem from these first 100 days, so we will have to wait until then to find out what kind of a President Joe Biden will be.
Discussion Questions
How would a Republican-controlled Senate hamper the Biden administration’s ability to pass key policy initiatives?
What role will moderates such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Virginia) or Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) have in Biden’s first 100 days?
If Joe Biden does not run for a second term, does he still have electoral consequences?
Sources Used
Further Reading
Comments