President Biden has utilized the last few weeks of his presidential term to highlight a number of his notable achievements during his four-year tenure in the White House.
Despite being overshadowed by President-elect Trump’s win and his own unexpected exit from the 2024 election, the Biden White House has been quick to point out a number of accomplishments they believe will withstand scrutiny even after his term is over.
Here are five key milestones achieved during the tenure of the current US president.
Navigating the pandemic
The Biden administration has consistently brought up to voters the circumstances they faced when they first took office, particularly the challenges of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic that had started to worsen again at the beginning of 2021.
Although the Trump administration moved quickly to develop and clear vaccines for approval, it left most of the responsibility for distribution to the Biden administration, which took the reins of addressing the pandemic’s economic impact and steered the country through it. This plan often referred to by Biden as “shots in arms and money in pockets” was central to how they proceeded.
Jeff Zients, who later served as White House chief of staff, headed up the deployment of vaccines, and Joe Biden restored Dr. Anthony Fauci’s prominence after Fauci was removed from the spotlight and heavily criticized by many Republicans during the Trump presidency.
In March 2021, a $1.9 trillion relief bill was introduced, which included provisions for sending direct payments of $1,400 to many Americans, distributing vaccines, reopening schools, and providing more funding for state and local governments, as well as expanding the child tax credit, among other measures.
Biden and his supporters have claimed that the size of the spending package is what sparked a contentious debate over inflation and whether the economy became overstimulated, yet they have argued it was necessary for stabilizing the nation’s economy.
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Bipartisan bills
When President Biden took office, he vowed to bring the country together in unity, though realizing this goal posed a significant challenge, he did succeed in enacting many bipartisan laws.
The president’s first two years in office saw several bipartisan bills arrive on his desk, given that a 50-50 Senate had a Democratic majority in the House at the time.
In November 2021, the government implemented a law to improve many of the country’s roads, bridges, railways, and airports. This legislation served as a key issue in Biden’s presidential campaign, as he often emphasized the shortcomings of the previous administration’s “infrastructure week” efforts.
The new law provides a number of incentives for domestic companies to develop and produce semiconductors. Although the Biden administration has already finalized deals under this law, many of its economic benefits will not be felt until after President Biden leaves office.
In late 2022, that entrenched marriage equality, establishing federal safeguards for same-sex couples.
Even after Republicans took control of the House, Biden was still able to find common ground and make things work at key moments. One example was his successful negotiation with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in late May 2023, where they reached a deal to raise the debt ceiling for two years, along with implementing new limits on federal spending over the same period.
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s appointment replaces that of Stephen Breyer, the oldest Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at that time.
President Biden fulfilled one of his major campaign pledges by appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, marking a significant milestone as the first African American woman to sit on the country’s highest judicial body.
In his time in office, the president’s efforts to shape the judiciary were significant, particularly in selecting a single Supreme Court justice, but more notably in nominating hundreds of federal judges. Close to the end of his term, the White House highlighted the diverse background of his nominee pool.
President Biden recently expressed pride in replacing a federal judge, his 40th Black woman in the role, was confirmed by the Senate. White House communications director Ben LaBolt stated on their behalf that Biden is happy to have broadened the background of federal judges to more accurately reflect the nation as a whole, and acknowledged this progress will have positive effects for years to come.
At the same juncture in his first term as well, then-President-elect Donald Trump had a comparable scenario. This resulted in the incusion of a clear majority of officials of color among those named to various posts by President-elect Biden.
She has proposed a presidential agenda that prioritizes nominees with extensive experience working as public defenders to be appointed to circuit courts.
Student loans
One of Biden’s most widely publicized campaign commitments was to cancel student loan debt, and even though it faced numerous legal challenges, he still managed to provide debt relief to millions of Americans.
A plan to lower payments for millions of borrowers is reportedly being considered by the Biden administration.
President Biden has shifted focus to more selective and concentrated efforts.
For many employees in public service jobs, including teachers and firefighters, who have been diligently paying off their loans for over a decade.
White House chief of staff Zients announced in a memo that President Biden will make a final announcement about canceling student loans for borrowers, including those in public services, before leaving office in the final weeks of his term.
The government announced earlier this year that it would cancel the debt of approximately 35,000 individuals through its Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Federal student loan forgiveness is being offered to borrowers who attended the Art Institutes after it was found that the school “knowingly misled students into taking on debt”.
The mass student debt relief granted to borrowers by President Biden and potential plans to reverse some of the initiatives put in place by the current administration.
Economy
While the lingering economic concerns and inflation worries that were pivotal to Trump’s victory in November are pleased, Biden and his team take pride in the fact that the economic situation they’re leaving behind has greatly improved upon the one Trump was given.
Those who support Trump point out that millions of jobs were created over the last four years, significant investments were made in American manufacturing, and the U.S. economy came out strong compared to other countries following the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent months, even more cuts are likely in the future, as inflation has overall decreased substantially.
President Biden is challenging Americans and economists to see whether the current administration can achieve more in terms of job creation than the previous administration, or whether it can successfully reduce inflation or lower the unemployment rate before leaving office.
He expressed some optimism that future generations will view his administration’s economic record favorably, particularly when compared to Trump’s proposal to slash corporate tax rates and implement broad tariffs on imported goods.
In the end, I firmly believe that the American people will ultimately respond positively to a party that genuinely aims to help the average citizen,” Biden said in a recent interview with MeidasTouch. “I’m optimistic about the country’s future prospects over the long term.
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