Joe Biden’s 100 days in office: Promises fulfilled or abandoned?

President Joe Biden entered the White House amidst a lot of expectations from a country reeling under a widespread wave of coronavirus. His election became even more historic after the Capitol Hill siege incident. Biden promised to accomplish a lot of things in his first 100 days in office during his poll campaigns.

While he managed to tick off some of his poll promises, some remain to be fulfilled. His extensive promises included taming the coronavirus, reshaping the economic recovery, revamping climate policy, and rethinking the power of tech companies.

As he finishes 100 days in office, here’s a look at how much has been achieved and how much still needs to be done:

Covid-19 pandemic

America’s position in the tally of the world’s most numbers of Covid-19 cases was one of the biggest challenges Biden’s administration faced when he took charge as the President. It was also on his priority list in his poll promises.

After Trump fell short of his goal to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of 2020, Biden joined the office pledging to provide 100 million vaccine shots by his 100th day in office. However, the Biden administration reached its 100 million shots goal in mid-March, almost 40 days ahead of the schedule. The administration reached 200 million vaccine doses on April 21 which is a week ahead of Biden’s updated timetable!

The President signed the Defense Production Act with Pfizer and Moderna, also a deal with pharmaceutical rivals Merck and Johnson & Johnson. However, Johnson’s vaccine delivery was later temporarily stopped by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

One of Biden’s biggest accomplishments is that he pushed for immediate legislation for tackling Covid-19, by signing off a $1.9 trillion relief bill. Also, his promise of rejoining the World Health Organisation after Trump left the organization abruptly in 2020, was fulfilled.

Economy

With an economy that was facing a downturn amid the widespread pandemic, Biden put out a massive economic relief proposal, days before his inauguration. Biden asked Congress to approve $1.9 trillion to provide Americans with stimulus checks, help for the unemployed, support for small businesses, and help schools reopen safely.

Something Biden has not been able to realize is rolling back Trump’s policy of corporate tax cut. Biden had promised to roll back a portion of what Trump did by imposing tax increases on corporations to pay for his approximately $2 trillion infrastructure plan. However, Biden’s American Families Plan could be considered a step towards achieving that. Through this plan, he plans to impose tax hikes on wealthy individuals and lay off taxes of individuals earning less than $400,000.

Till now, the Biden administration has provided more than 160 million stimulus payments worth up to $1,400 per person and released more than $80 billion to support state education agencies. He has ramped up the Affordable Care Act subsidies on the federal exchange.

Environment

Joe Biden’s one of the most hyped poll promises included his take on climate change and re-joining the Paris Climate Agreement, which again, Trump left midway.  Biden joined the Paris Climate Agreement just after joining the office.

He also fulfilled his pledge of hosting a global climate summit within his first 100 days in office. During the summit, he committed the US to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% below its 2005 emissions levels by the year 2030. He also urged other countries to follow the United States’ lead in reducing their contributions to global warming. However, a detailed plan as to how the goals will be met has not been charted out yet.

Immigration

In his initial days in office, Biden signed various executive actions aiming for Trump’s rigid immigration policies. He rolled back Trump’s travel ban targeting the majority of Muslim countries and strengthened the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program after Trump’s efforts to undo protections for people brought into the country as minors.

Biden also formed a task force to help recognize children separated from their parents and reunite them with their families.

Something Biden did on the first day in office was, taking away funding for continuing the construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border. It was one of the issues Biden has promised to resolve. He suspended Trump’s emergency declaration that had supported the funding in the construction of a border wall.

Racial equity

A Presidential election that was held amidst a racially charged America, expected a whole lot from the new President in terms of racial equality. Biden commenced his Presidentship by listing the most racially diverse Cabinet in US history.

He passed executive orders that would help bridge the gap in homeownership between people of color and White people. However, his promise of passing the Extend Voting Rights Act and SAFE Justice Act has still not been achieved.