Since Joe Biden announced his campaign for the presidency almost two years ago, he’s been telling Americans what he would do in the early days of his presidency — and how different it would look from the agenda of Donald Trump. But what exactly would make up Biden’s first 100 days has been updated at least 49 times since 2018, due to distinct circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, as Biden is finally sworn into office, here are the most recent plans he’s made for the first 100 days of his presidency, and his quest to redeem the “soul of the nation.”
COVID-19
It’s undeniable that the United States hasn’t handled the coronavirus pandemic well. Leading the globe in deaths and new cases, there doesn’t seem to be an end date in sight for the mass devastation. As intensive care units reach capacity and positivity rates surge above their previous highs in many states, Biden has laid out a COVID-19 plan which aims to stop the spread and help suffering Americans over the next 100 days. Here are the key points:
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Issue a nationwide mask mandate on federal property, or whenever someone travels between states
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Push for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which would include funding for businesses and a third stimulus bill, which would give most Americans an additional $1,400
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Rejoin the United Nations’ World Health Organization, which Trump left at the beginning of the pandemic
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Maintain the pause on federal student loan payments
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Extend the rights of renters and homeowners to protect them from evictions and foreclosures during the pandemic
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Administer at least 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Americans. Biden will allow the federal government to take over the process in order to standardize vaccine procedures
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Set up mobile vaccination centers for those in rural areas who live far from hospitals
Immigration
Trump began his first campaign for president with messages about restricting immigration. From a border wall between the United States and Mexico — that Mexico would pay for, he claimed — to his “Muslim ban,” Trump’s immigration policies were havily condemned for being racist and inaccurate in his promises of increased job security. Biden’s immigration policy for the first 100 days strongly differs from Trump’s. He plans to:
- End Trump’s travel ban that restricted those from many Muslim-majority countries. Originally signed into law in 2017, the “Muslim Ban” made it far harder to travel and immigrate into the United States from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Myanmar, Somalia, Syria, Tanzania and Yemen. The ban also targets those from Venezuela and North Korea — despite the latter not allowing its citizens to emigrate or even travel in the vast majority of cases
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Create the path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, fast-tracking DACA recipients — a program Trump has previously tried to cut — to becoming citizens, and creating an eight-year path among other proposed reforms. If this comes to fruition, Biden’s plan would be the largest move to grant legal status to undocumented people in American history
Economy
Trump inherited a relatively strong economy, and under his presidency, the American people have seen both extreme highs and extreme lows. While the stock market has surged since his election win, Biden also must handle the increased homelessness, poverty and unemployment the pandemic has spurred. Here are his most up-to-date plans on fixing the American economy:
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Trump passed a series of tax cuts, which benefited the top 1 percent more than any other income bracket. Biden says he will work to repeal the 2017 tax plan, which put those new regulations into place
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Biden also emphasized his “Build Back Better” plan, which would invest trillions in American-made products, services, and infrastructure projects
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Begin a $400-a-week federal unemployment insurance program to protect employees who have lost their jobs during COVID-19
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Increase the national minimum wage to $15 an hour
Climate change
If you ask many people what the largest threat to humanity is, there’s a very good chance they’ll respond with climate change. In the past four years, Trump has stripped many environmental regulations, allowing hundreds of businesses nationally to destroy wildlife. After Trump’s consistent rollbacks, Biden is taking a different direction:
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Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, which Trump left in 2019. In fact, it’s basically the first thing he plans to do
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Block the Keystone XL Pipeline – a highly controversial project that would transport over 830,000 barrels of oil from Canada into the United States on a daily basis – by rescinding its contract
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Formulate a plan to conserve 30 percent of America’s land and water by 2030 through an executive order
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Sign an executive order to begin the process of moving toward a 100 percent clean energy economy and zero net emissions by 2050 (note that Biden has made it very clear that this is not the Green New Deal)
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Begin the planning process of a global climate summit, which would push leaders to act to stop climate change by creating green shipping and aviation alternatives
LGBTQ+ Rights
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Repeal Trump’s transgender ban in the military, allowing transgender individuals the ability to serve and receive health services from the military. These increased protections will also apply in schools, where regulations protecting transgender students still are lacking
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Push for the “Equality Act,” which would increase the amount of protections givien to LGBTQ+ Americans
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Sign the Violence Against Women Act back into law again, reinforcing the protections of transgender women particuarly
Impeachment
Unlike any past president, Biden will be stepping into a political landscape where thousands suffer from QAnon delusion and subscribe to an ideology that prevents them from accepting a Biden presidency. As a result, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the Senate from confirming Biden as the 46th president of the United States. Due to his role in encouraging violence and for rioters to storm the Capitol and declare him the winner, Trump was bipartisanly impeached. This will be the first time that the Senate will be charging someone who was formerly the president. Moving into the Biden presidency, a trial for Trump is soon nearing.
Of course, it’s still up in the air whether Biden will follow through with all of these policies – we’ll just have to wait and see (and hope).