False Narratives
Many Americans buy into the story. Bumbling, old, Joe Biden; stumbling around the White House, somehow just not able to get anything done. If you’re politics are “right-er”, you might believe he’s being manipulated by the “Progressive/left”, maybe even the Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic Party. If you’re politics are “left-er”, you know for sure that’s not true. You see Biden as the proverbial fence sitter, with a leg on each side, incredibly uncomfortable in the middle.
We like to think in generalizations, like the “untouchable” Donald Trump, who is never accountable for anything he did wrong. Or the constantly scheming Hillary Clinton, willing to do anything to win. Of course, neither is true. Trump was the only President of the United States called to task by impeachment not just once, but twice. He spent four years in office under extreme scrutiny, and now that he’s out, the “heat” is even greater.
And if Hillary was such a great “schemer”, maybe she should have done exactly what her opponent did. It wouldn’t take much persuasion to convince her voters that the 2016 election was “rigged”, just as Trump did in 2020. I’m sure there were people around her that wanted to. And they had to be smarter than the clown-car of lawyers around Trump. But she didn’t.
Legislation Done
There is an old saying (no – not another one of those essays!) – the proof is in the pudding. So, with a little less than two years “in the saddle”, what’s the win/loss record for the Biden Administration?
The easiest place to start is in the Congress. The President signs “bills” into “laws”, but he has a much greater role in passing legislation. Biden brings one talent to the table that no other President since Lyndon Johnson can claim. Biden knows how to get things passed through the Senate.
Let’s start with the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, a spending bill that didn’t add to our current inflationary issues. Remember the “joke of the month” of the Trump Administration – “it’s infrastructure week”? They said it again and again, but infrastructure never even got onto the floor for debate. Biden took less than eight months to push it through. And it wasn’t just roads and bridges. Included were upgrades to our power grids and the essential basics for transitioning to electric-powered cars, and vast improvements in our port capacities.
More Jobs, More Security
And that was after the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. We Americans can gripe about inflation costing us our pay raises in an economy with unemployment down to 3%. It’s easy to forget the 15% unemployment and huge shortages of the Covid pandemic just a few months before. But the American economy came out of Covid almost as quickly as we went into it. Biden was a big part of that. Sure gas prices were half of what they are now. But there was nowhere to go, so gas supplies were high and demand low. Honestly, inflation was inevitable, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, but it was also a tradeoff to avoid a pandemic depression.
And now Congress has passed the Chips Act to increase production of computer chips here in the United States. That’s not just “another jobs” bill. It protects the US national security, by lowering our dependence on Chinese chip production. And just this week, the PACT Act, will not only increases veteran health benefits, but recognize their unique sacrifices in exposure to chemical hazards.
Legislation Coming
Coming up: perhaps a diminished Build-Back-Better, but still the biggest climate change law proposed in American history. And the bill more than pays for itself, making every corporation worth more than a billion dollars pay a minimum of 15% on its income. And finally, Congress is doing the obvious. Every private insurance company in the United States negotiates “deals” for purchasing drugs. As a user of daily prescription drugs, the difference between my “out of pocket” (about $50) and the monthly retail cost (over $600) is amazing.
Private insurance companies spend 42% of prescription drug costs. The second biggest spender is Medicare, at 33%. Add Medicaid, and the US Government spends 44% of total drug costs (KFF). But, by law, Medicare and Medicaid are prevented from negotiated the same kind of drug “deals” that the private companies get. They have to take what the drug companies give them.
This “baby” Build-Back-Better includes allowing the US Government to make its own deal for drug prices, at a huge savings to the American people. The current plan “on the table”, pays for all of this, and adds hundreds of billions to pay down on the US National Debt.
Legislation Missing
What’s missing from the Biden scorecard? Incredibly important voting rights legislation, reaffirming the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond. While the current majorities in both the House and the Senate are in favor of that, two Democratic Senators are unwilling to “break” the Filibuster in the Senate to get it passed. What is possible on the voting front? A bipartisan “repair” bill to fix some of the worse faults revealed after the 2020 election. That’s the new electoral vote certification act, that already has enough Senate votes to end a filibuster.
And the affirmation legislation, necessitated by the now radically right Supreme Court majority. What we thought was settled law about abortion and contraception; gay marriage and LGBTQ rights, now all seems “up in the air”. Congress could pass laws making those rights nationally guaranteed, in fact, that is exactly what the Supreme Court is demanding. The House has put forward women’s health rights legislation, including legalizing abortions, but the sixty votes in the Senate aren’t there. There might be some hope for Senate passage of gay marriage legislation, but that’s nowhere near a “done deal”.
In The World
Biden has led the revitalization of NATO, much in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And in Ukraine, the United States is the biggest supporter of the Ukrainian forces, holding the line against Russian aggression.
As ugly as it was, President Biden also ended America’s longest war and got our remaining troops out of the impossible situation in Afghanistan. Last week, he demonstrated that America’s withdrawal didn’t end America’s involvement in the region. An “over the horizon,” incredibly precise strike against Al Qaeda killed their leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, on the balcony of a luxury apartment in Kabul. There were no other casualties, no “collateral damage”.
And Biden skillfully this week let China know that while we still respect the “One China” principle, the United States supports Taiwan’s autonomy. His friend, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, demonstrated that resolve in her visit to Taiwan in spite of Chinese protests.
Early Summary
It’s been eighteen months since Joseph R Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. His ceremony was surrounded by 20,000 National Guard troops. It was a show of force to protect against further Insurrection. And much of America’s attention is focused on the ongoing efforts to undermine our national tradition of free elections. Congress, and the Department of Justice, are deepening their investigations into what happened before, and what is happening now.
But that’s not been Biden’s problem. Despite the political upheaval and the riveting testimony in the January 6th Committee hearings – Biden’s gotten a lot done. But there is plenty more to do, And he’s not even halfway through his first four years.
