By Sharon Williams
In less than two years into his first term in office, President Joe Biden has achieved more than any other President in American history. He has been able to do this with the “bottom up middle out” strategy—meaning helping the lower and middle classes first— instead of top-bottom, which typically benefits the wealthy and expects the benefits to trickle down to lower classes. Here are some of the historic accomplishments President Joe Biden has achieved with the help of the Democrat-controlled House and Senate so far:
- Chose the first Black Woman Vice President, Kamala Harris.
- Passed the American Rescue Plan Act, which sent 167 million checks of $1,200 and more to American families.
- Combatted COVID-19 with a free vaccination program, which fully vaccinated over ⅔ of American adults and children.
- Boosted economic recovery by creating a historical 6.5 million jobs in 2021. Unemployment has dropped below 4%, and our economy has grown faster than the global economy.
- Expanded food, energy, homeowner, and rental assistance.
- Provided financial help to boost small businesses.
- Expanded Child Tax Credit to decrease child poverty like never before in American history.
- Successfully and safely opened up 99% of public schools to in-person learning.
- Created diversity in the Federal Judicial System by nominating and getting the first African American Woman confirmed to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown-Jackson. President Biden also appointed women to 80% of the available judicial seats, and 53% of his appointments were people of color.
- Expanded healthcare for millions of Americans by expanding eligibility, extending access to healthcare enrollment period, bringing down costs on premiums and medical bills by strengthening consumer protection rules, and increasing price transparency.
- Passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to repair bridges, roads, replace lead pipes, and improve public transportation, ports, airports, and Amtrak services. Also, the law protects Americans against drought, fire, flooding, and other natural disasters.
- Brought manufacturing jobs back home by strengthening Buy American rules.
- Combatted climate change by committing to cutting emissions to half of 2005 level by 2030.
- Invested in building zero emissions public transit and creating well-paying clean energy jobs.
- Ended the Afghanistan War, the longest war in American history.
- Killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the successor of Osama bin Laden in Al-Qaeda.
- Strengthened the Violence Against Women Act.
- Signed an Executive Order on Women Rights to Choose to protect rights to an abortion.
- Passed the Safer Community Act, which makes adults under 21 have to get background checks on buying guns and more funding for mental health for youth.
- Restored confidence in American leadership on the world stage, which had plummeted since the last President.
- Passed the Inflation Reduction Act which brought down prices, reduced the deficit, helped climate change, and made corporations and millionaires pay more taxes to offset the cost. Also, capped insulin cost to $35 a month for diabetic Medicare recipients and reduced prescription drug costs and premiums.
- Signed the Chip and Science Act to create well-paying jobs, lower cost of everyday goods, strengthen manufacturing, and help National Security.
- Combatted Student Loan Debts with an Executive Order for Loan Forgiveness of $10,000, and $20,000 for students who qualified for Pell Grants with incomes of $125,000 or less a year, and also lowered the monthly payments of loan debts to 5% of monthly income for students with undergraduate loan debt.
- Lowered gas prices by tapping into the oil reserves.
- Created the most diverse Presidential Cabinet of women and people of color in American history.
- Signed an Executive Order on Police Reform for Federal Law Enforcement Officers, which states federal police officers must wear body cameras, created no excessive force rules, ended no-knock warrants, and ended chokeholds.
- Prevented the American economy from going into a Recession and Depression during a Pandemic.
- Saved over 19 million lives globally with his COVID-19 vaccination program.
- Holding people accountable for trying to overthrow our democracy in the January 6, 2021 Insurrection.
- Signed an Executive order for Cancer Moonshot Initiative to cut Cancer death in half in the next 25 years, which is the second leading cause of death in the United States.
- Signed an Executive Order to boost U.S. Biotechnology Research Development.
- Successfully dealing with the Monkeypox virus and COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously.
- Helped avert a national railroad workers strike, which could have cause national economic disaster.
- Giving a 9% Social Security increase, the highest in 4 decades to fight inflation.
- Gave funding of $1 billion dollars to states and local governments to strengthen cybersecurity.
- Reopened businesses safely and successfully to the public during the Pandemic.
- Used Contractionary Monetary Policy to increase Interest Rates to bring down Inflation.
- Combatting diet related diseases and end hunger in the United States by 2030, with more benefits for low income Americans and healthier eating for school children and more physical activities.
- Dealt successfully with Hurricane Ian, the 5th worst hurricane that hit the United States, with a massive evacuation of over 2 million people in the state of Florida and a promise to rebuild 100 billion dollars in property damage.
- Increased food stamps by 9% for 45 millions families to fight inflation cost of foods.
- Signed an Executive Order that pardons Federal Marijuana possession convictions, which has prevented Americans from employment, housing and educational opportunities.
- Signed an Executive Order to further reduce prescription drug prices for
Medicare recipients.
President Joe Biden has kept his promise to the American people to move the nation into a positive direction. I am looking forward to a brighter future with him in office. Young people, there are a lot of issues that affect you this midterm election such as education, climate change, gun control, human rights, women’s rights, civil rights, police reform, healthcare, and voting rights, to name a few. Your vote is very important on these issues. They shape the future of our country and democracy.
President Joe Biden is a Democratic President for the People and a champion of democracy. But we must remember to always vote in every election to protect our democracy, including the upcoming midterm elections on November 8, 2022. We must continue to keep the Democratic agenda going with President Joe Biden by having the House and Senate controlled by the Democrats. President Joe Biden is truly an amazing President.
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