Biden's consequential presidency: His key policies, wins and setbacks
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President Biden's one term has been more ambitious and progressive than his biggest supporters or his biggest critics anticipated.
Why it matters: After running in 2020 as a moderate focused almost exclusively on beating then-President Trump, Biden promised to channel FDR and LBJ once he was in the White House. He did a lot to live up to that promise despite holding just a one-seat majority in the Senate.
The big picture: Major policy achievements
Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law made major investments in roads, bridges and broadband that will last far beyond his presidency.
- The $2.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act was the biggest climate bill in history, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan gave Americans cash to cope with the pandemic downturn, and the $280 billion CHIPS Act aims to position the U.S. to outcompete China in producing semiconductors and other advanced tech.
- Biden was unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform, due in part to lobbying from former President Trump.
He did advance elusive progressive priorities.
- Biden implemented price negotiations for prescription drugs, which Democrats had been chasing for decades.
- He signed a modest gun control bill.
- His administration brought in major new environmental regulations, pursued aggressive antitrust enforcement and moved to forgive $169 billion in student loans.
The courts: New judges, ongoing battles
The courts blocked many of Biden's proposals from taking effect. Some of those court fights will continue after he leaves office.
- Still, Biden was ultimately able to appoint more than 200 new federal judges.
- Those include the first Black woman on the Supreme Court — Ketanji Brown Jackson — and 43 federal appeals court judges.
Economy: Recovery marred by inflation
Biden achieved a robust, rapid economic rebound from the pandemic — but it was accompanied by the highest inflation in decades, which drained Americans' financial well-being and sapped Biden's popularity.
- Some of that inflation was due to pandemic-related disruptions, while some was attributable to excessive fiscal stimulus, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
- Inflation has peaked, though it took a series of painful interest rate hikes, and jobs have remained plentiful.
- Between the lines: While the economic indicators suggest the economy is humming, voters are more pessimistic.
Climate change: Biggest bill in history
Biden worked with Capitol Hill Democrats to enact the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides hundreds of billions of dollars for low-carbon energy projects, supply chains, electric car subsidies and more.
- Biden also issued major emissions-cutting regulations and re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement.
- Some activists wanted a tougher stance against fossil fuels. The U.S. extended its lead as the world's largest oil producer and became the largest LNG exporter on Biden's watch.
- What to watch: Recent Supreme Court rulings and a potential Trump presidency could shrink Biden's climate legacy considerably.
Foreign policy: United on Ukraine after chaos in Afghanistan
An avowed multilateralist with decades of foreign policy experience, Biden entered office aiming to restore faith in U.S. leadership and rally international support to challenge China's aggression.
- Biden responded to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, one year into his presidency, by sending billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine and shepherding the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
- He completed Trump's deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, but the chaotic process left 13 U.S. service members dead in a terrorist attack and damaged Biden's approval rating.
The intrigue: Biden has stood by Israel during the war in Gaza after the Hamas terrorist attack despite pressure from progressives and tension with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government.
Immigration: A humanitarian and political crisis
Migrants crossed America's southern border at record rates during Biden's tenure, overwhelming government resources and cities that couldn't handle the number of people arriving.
- The border has been a humanitarian, logistical and political crisis for Biden.
- After entering office promising a more humane system, he launched new pathways for asylum seekers and made it easier for some spouses of U.S. citizens to get green cards.
- He also imposed a controversial policy effectively banning asylum at the border, which brought crossings down.
Health care: Covid recovery and drug prices
Biden came into office just as COVID vaccines were beginning to roll out, and his aggressive early response to the pandemic was one of his sharpest policy contrasts with Trump.
- The percentage of uninsured Americans reached a record low on his watch, thanks in part to pandemic-driven expansions of some Affordable Care Act policies.
- His was the first administration to negotiate drug prices within Medicare. Even though the scope of those negotiations is fairly limited, the party has been chasing any form of price competition for decades.
The bottom line: Biden will be remembered as the first incumbent to suspend his campaign since Lyndon B. Johnson — and for a single term he's argued was the most productive since Johnson was in office.
Go deeper... In photos: From senator to president, Joe Biden over the years
Editor's note: Neil Irwin, Ben Geman, Andrew Freedman, Stef Kight, Zachary Basu and Erica Pandey contributed reporting.
