Biden's First Weeks in Office
Written By: Apurva Poddar
After tense pre-election debates, former President Trump trying to overturn the election results, and an attack on the Capitol building by a Pro-Trump mob, President Biden was inaugurated into the White House. As described in his inauguration speech, President Biden plans to tackle the six main, current crises the U.S. faces: the Coronavirus, climate change, inequality, racism, global standing, and attacks on truth and democracy. He has already gotten to work and here is some of what he has done so far:
- Signed an executive order that requires masks in certain places he can control
- Signed an executive order that will improve how the U.S. government handles the Coronavirus
- Put the U.S. back into the World Health Organization
- Put the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Agreement
- Signed an executive order that will improve how the U.S. government handles environmental regulations
- Extended student loan payments
- Ordered federal agencies to work on changing racially unequal policies
- Changed deportation policies on undocumented criminal immigrants
- Removed the Muslim Travel Ban
- Proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus coronavirus relief bill
- Signed an executive order that will prevent the recent uprise of hate crimes against East Asian Americans.
President Biden has also been starting to push the U.S. to full employment. His proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus coronavirus relief bill will help the U.S. get there. However, many critics believe the bill is unnecessary and may cause inflation. Blanchard of the Washington Post questions “Why force the Fed to in effect cancel some of the Biden package?” (Leonhardt, 2021). Even though there are many risks involved with this decision, President Biden still aims to get the bill passed and make full employment for the U.S. his number one goal. Heather Boushey of the Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers claims “The idea that we should pare back now, out of a future fear that maybe we might possibly do too much, just doesn’t seem consistent with the economic evidence we have in front of us. The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of perhaps doing a little bit too much.” (Leonhardt, 2021). Congress is also planning to approve the bill soon.
Regardless of what is happening currently, for the past two decades, the U.S. economy has been struggling to grow at an accelerating rate. This is partly because the people who make economic forecasts have made optimistic predictions about the U.S. economy that are higher than the actual forecasts. Officials in Congress and the White House say that “Due to these mistakes, policy makers have believed that the U.S. economy is more stable than it actually is and have done little to stimulate its growth.” (Leonhardt, 2021). This has resulted in a rise in unemployment.
Regardless of what is happening currently, for the past two decades, the U.S. economy has been struggling to grow at an accelerating rate. This is partly because the people who make economic forecasts have made optimistic predictions about the U.S. economy that are higher than the actual forecasts. Officials in Congress and the White House say that “Due to these mistakes, policy makers have believed that the U.S. economy is more stable than it actually is and have done little to stimulate its growth.” (Leonhardt, 2021). This has resulted in a rise in unemployment.
President Biden hopes to not make this mistake during his presidency and return the U.S. to a full employment state. Full employment will lead to difficult-to-achieve accomplishments such as lifting national income and mood, reducing poverty, limiting government spending, offering professional and personal development for workers, and opening new job opportunities for unemployed Americans. Boushey and Jared Bernstien of the White House Blog Post claim that “Getting back to full employment, as quickly as possible, will make a major difference in the lives of tens of millions of people, particularly those most at risk of being left behind.” (Leonhardt, 2021)
President Biden has only just begun his presidency, and he still has a long way to go. However, by signing multiple executive orders, changing policies, proposing new benefits, and creating new goals for the U.S., he has taken the first small steps needed to improve the U.S that will affect our future generation. We can only prepare for all the changes to come.
References:
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?uri=nyt://newsletter/15bd7d95-b575-51e0-abcb-ead3af9110ae&productCode=NN&abVariantId=0&te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20210218
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?abVariantId=1&campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210207&instance_id=26877&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN®i_id=149566434&segment_id=51209&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F39f65fed-74c7-53bb-a1bf-281edb21b4a5&user_id=cbed79c561e65aeaa6903869165e1e3c
President Biden has only just begun his presidency, and he still has a long way to go. However, by signing multiple executive orders, changing policies, proposing new benefits, and creating new goals for the U.S., he has taken the first small steps needed to improve the U.S that will affect our future generation. We can only prepare for all the changes to come.
References:
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?uri=nyt://newsletter/15bd7d95-b575-51e0-abcb-ead3af9110ae&productCode=NN&abVariantId=0&te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20210218
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?abVariantId=1&campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210207&instance_id=26877&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN®i_id=149566434&segment_id=51209&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F39f65fed-74c7-53bb-a1bf-281edb21b4a5&user_id=cbed79c561e65aeaa6903869165e1e3c