President Biden steamrolls his way through his first hundred days
President Joe Biden’s first 100 days will come to an end Friday. He has been consistently in the news for different issues, but what has he accomplished? President Biden literally hit the ground running following his inauguration, signing 17 executive orders the same day. He has not slowed down since then. He vowed to take the COVID pandemic head on, promising to have 100 million vaccines done by his first 100 days. He doubled that number with 200 million vaccines administered to date. In addition to vaccines, Congress passed Biden’s American Rescue Plan into law, providing stimulus checks to millions of Americans, adding federal dollars to unemployment payments, and he even included measures to battle childhood poverty. According to Politico, he has done much that makes his White House look more progressive than some might have expected, though progressives are complaining that he has not done enough.
President Biden is keeping the heat on with respect to systemic racism. He used the Chauvin verdict to call for more accountability from police officers who profile black and brown citizens, with Merrick Garland launching an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. It will be interesting to see where this investigation goes and whether it will expand to other departments.
President Biden’s cabinet is being slowly assembled. Those who have been confirmed have hit the ground running. Biden’s pick for #3 at DOJ Vanita Gupta appeared to be facing a tiebreaker until Lisa Murkowski crossed party lines and voted for her confirmation. Politico reported that Vice President Kamala Harris was in session in case she needed to issue the tiebreaker, but it turned out not to be necessary thanks to Murkowski. After meeting privately with Gupta, Murkowski reported that she supported Gupta’s “passion for her work” and voted to confirm her 51 to 49 without need for the tiebreaker.
According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 52% (33% Republican) approve of the job President Biden is doing while 42% disapprove. WaPo compared those numbers to Trump’s at the same time in his “presidency” and finds that his numbers were reverse: 42% approval and 53% disapproval. Biden’s highest marks come from his handling of coronavirus, which remains extremely high at 64%. He is currently taking a beating on immigration, but that the system was basically dismantled by the last administration. President Biden must be given time to rebuild and reorganize this complicated, convoluted system. His handling of the economy stands at 52%. Overall, most Americans see that President Biden is doing an outstanding job.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years