46¼ - A bi-partisan assessment

January 20, 2021, on the West Front of the United States Capitol, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States as he took the oath of office. In what has been a turbulent year for both America and the world, let us take a look at what the Administration has, or hasn’t, done right on domestic affairs.

Overall, if based purely on the limited number of laws Congress has passed, one can come to an immature conclusion that Biden has failed to produce. In contrast, whilst the Democrats have regained control of both the Senate and House, there’s not much the President can do given how increasingly partisan Capitol Hill has become. 

Thus, early on in his presidency, Biden has reluctantly turned to unobjectionable executive actions. It is the norm for newly sworn-in presidents to revoke their predecessors’ stratagems. Yet, President Biden dished out executive orders at an unprecedented rate, trumping the previous 3. His executive orders, 52 to be exact, predominantly went towards reinforcing America’s enduring fight against those microscopic annoyances, all the while overturning many of President Trump’s immigration and economic bills. 

Inheriting the office amidst a global crisis from arguably the most politically controversial figure in modern history, it can be argued the reforms and their critics were a long time coming, regardless of who Democrats chose. The Dems will commend their President to the tune of universal condemnation from the Republicans - that much is unquestionable.

However, we need to remember how candidate Biden, the “quintessential centrist” candidate, ran on a firm platform of uniting what he calls “the soul of America”. If anyone can achieve bipartisanship, they say, it’s Joe Biden. 

And thus he produced, for the first 100 days, it seemed. As of April 27, a combined 56% of all Americans approve of their Commander in Chief. Yet, his approval rating has the largest gap between Democrats and Republicans of any recent president in his first hundred days in office, as the figure below shows. 

Problems arose as the months went on. 

Domestically, Biden came under criticism for both parts of his so-called Build Back Better plan. The first half of the package, the $2-trillion American Jobs Plan, all-paid through “taxing the rich and wealthy”, centered around boosting the country’s ageing infrastructure and fighting climate change. The rest of the proposal, the American Families Plan, is an additional $2 trillion bill for big-ticket programs regarding, among other things, universal preschool and free community college.

Yet, the bills were flawed from the get-go, argues Prof. Robert Krol of George Mason University. Such a plan, he says, “is not designed to speed up recovery out of a recession because there are not that many shovel-ready projects”. Krol went on, claiming each state could be more efficient, targeted, and flexible in funding their own priorities. He also presented his displeasure regarding the use of personal wealth tax, suggesting that “you really want users of roads or bridges or a transit system [to be] the ones paying for it”. 

Giving credit where it’s due, the Infrastructure Bill was passed by the Senate in an abnormally bipartisan decision, 69 to 30. It even scored a yes from the Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell - to former President Donald J. Trump’s condemnation.

But, this has not been reflected in his approval ratings, as polls dating back to late August 2021 presented an increasing distaste in the Biden Administration following his flimsy approach overseas regarding the Afghanistan - Taliban situation.

All-in-all, with more than twelve hundred days to spare, it remains to be seen the true results of Joe Biden’s presence in the White House. But, from a domestic perspective, one can grade his, upon completion, the first year in presidency a solid B-minus.

(edited by Phong Nguyen Tien)