Biden Administration

Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democratic Party who previously served as vice president for two terms under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, took office after his victory in the 2020 presidential election over the incumbent president, Donald Trump of the Republican Party. Upon his inauguration, he became the oldest president in American history, breaking the record set by Ronald Reagan. Alongside Biden's presidency, the Democratic Party also held their slim majorities in the House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate under Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during the 117th U.S. Congress. Biden entered office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and increased political polarization.

Day one actions of his presidency included restoring U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement, revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and halting funding for the Mexico–United States border wall. On his second day, he issued a series of executive orders to reduce the impact of COVID-19, including invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950, and set an early goal of achieving one hundred million COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States in his first 100 days. The first major legislation signed into law by Biden was the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that temporarily established expanded unemployment insurance and sent $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans in response to continued economic pressure from COVID-19. He signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a ten-year plan brokered by Biden alongside Democrats and Republicans in Congress to invest in American roads, bridges, public transit, ports and broadband access.

Biden proposed a significant expansion of the U.S. social safety net through the Build Back Better Act, but those efforts, along with voting rights legislation, failed in Congress. In August 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a domestic appropriations bill that included some of the provisions of the Build Back Better Act after the entire bill failed to pass. It included significant federal investment in climate and domestic clean energy production, tax credits for solar panels, electric cars and other home energy programs as well as a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, an insulin price cap, and a provision allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. In late 2022, Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and codified same-sex and interracial marriage in the United States. Other domestic legislation signed during his term included the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun control law in nearly three decades; the CHIPS and Science Act, bolstering the semiconductor and manufacturing industry; the Honoring our PACT Act, expanding health care for US veterans; the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act; and the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making Juneteenth a federal holiday in the United States. Biden also unsuccessfully pushed for legislation protecting the right to abortion in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'' overturning ''Roe v. Wade''. He appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court—the first Black woman to serve on the court. In response to the debt-ceiling crisis of 2023, Biden negotiated and signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which restrains federal spending for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, implements minor changes to SNAP and TANF, includes energy permitting reform, claws back some IRS funding and unspent money for COVID-19, and suspended the debt ceiling to January 1, 2025. He established the American Climate Corps and created the first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. On September 26, 2023, Biden visited a United Auto Workers picket line during the 2023 United Auto Workers strike, making him the first US president to visit one. Biden also rigorously enforced antitrust laws by appointing Lina Khan to head the FTC. The first sitting U.S. President to oppose the death penalty, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly all inmates on federal death row to life imprisonment weeks before leaving office.

The foreign policy goal of the Biden administration was to restore the US to a "position of trusted leadership" among global democracies in order to address the challenges posed by Russia and China. Biden signed AUKUS, an international security alliance together with Australia and the United Kingdom. He supported the expansion of NATO with the additions of Finland and Sweden. Biden approved a raid which led to the death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the leader of the Islamic State, and approved a drone strike which killed Ayman Al Zawahiri, leader of Al-Qaeda. He completed the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, declaring an end to nation-building efforts and shifting U.S. foreign policy toward strategic competition with China and, to a lesser extent, Russia. However, during the withdrawal, the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control, leading to Biden receiving bipartisan criticism. He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia as well as providing Ukraine with over $100 billion in combined military, economic, and humanitarian aid. During the Gaza war, Biden condemned the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants as terrorism and announced American military support for Israel; he also sent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and brokered a four-day temporary pause and hostage exchange in 2023 followed by a three-phase ceasefire in January 2025. Biden negotiated and oversaw the 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange, the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War, involving the release of 26 individuals, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former United States Marine Paul Whelan.

Biden began his term with over 50% approval ratings; however, these fell significantly after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and remained low as the country experienced high inflation and rising gas prices, even as they later decreased during his presidency. His age and mental fitness were a frequent subject of discussion throughout his presidency, ultimately culminating in his decision to withdraw his bid for a second term in the 2024 presidential election. Trump won the election against Biden's preferred successor, Kamala Harris, making him the second U.S. president to be succeeded in office by his predecessor. Biden oversaw the strongest economic recovery of any G7 nation post COVID-19 and one of the strongest economic recoveries in United States history, breaking a 70-year record for low unemployment, and the creation of over 16 million new jobs, the most of any single term president. However, during Biden's time in office, median wages stagnated and the share of wealth of the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans continued to increase. Although political scientists and historians have rated Biden's presidency favorably, his political legacy is interwoven with the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024.

2020 election

Biden, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in 1988 and 2008, and later served as the 47th vice president of the United States under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Democratic Party in the 2020 presidential election on April 25, 2019. In June 2020, Biden secured the Democratic nomination. Biden selected Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, and the two were officially nominated at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

On November 7, four days after the election, Biden was projected to have secured the presidency. Biden won the presidential election with 306 electoral votes, while Donald Trump received 232. The Trump campaign launched at least 63 lawsuits against the results, especially in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, raising unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud that were subsequently dismissed by courts. The electoral votes were certified on January 6–7, 2021. In the concurrent congressional elections, Democrats retained a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and narrowly took control of the Senate, leaving the partisan balance in the Senate at 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with vice president Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote giving Democrats control of the chamber.

Transition period, inauguration, and first 100 days

Though Biden was generally acknowledged as the winner, General Services Administration head Emily W. Murphy initially refused to begin the transition to the president-elect, thereby denying funds and office space to his team. On November 23, after Michigan certified its results, Murphy issued the letter of ascertainment, granting the Biden transition team access to federal funds and resources for an orderly transition.

Two days after becoming the projected winner of the 2020 election, Biden announced the formation of a task force to advise him on the COVID-19 pandemic during the transition, co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler, and Yale University's Marcella Nunez-Smith.

On January 5, 2021, the Democratic Party won control of the United States Senate, effective January 20, as a result of electoral victories in Georgia by Jon Ossoff in a runoff election for a six-year term and Raphael Warnock in a special runoff election for a two-year term. President-elect Biden had supported and campaigned for both candidates prior to the runoff elections on January 5.

On January 6, a mob of thousands of Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in the hope of overturning Biden's election, forcing Congress to evacuate during the counting of the Electoral College votes. More than 26,000 National Guard members were deployed to the capital for the inauguration, with thousands remaining into the spring.

On January 20, 2021, Biden was sworn in by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts as the 46th president of the United States, completing the oath of office at 11:49 am EST, 11 minutes before the legal start of his term at 12:00 pm, EST.

Inaugural address

Biden's inaugural speech laid out his vision to unite the nation, prefaced by the various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic strife, climate change, political polarization, and racial injustice. Biden called for an end to the "uncivil war" of political, demographic, and ideological American cultures through a greater embrace of diversity. He cited the American Civil War, Great Depression, world wars, and September 11 attacks as moments in American history where citizens' "better angels" prevailed, saying that the unity, the solution, must again be invoked to rise from the "cascading" crises of the present; this unity, he proclaimed, exists in the "common objects" that define America: "opportunity, liberty, dignity, respect, honor, and ... truth." He explicitly decried white supremacy and nativism, calling them an "ugly reality" of American life he vows to defeat that clouds the "American ideal" set out in the U.S. Declaration of Independence — that all Americans are equal. Biden pledged that the U.S. would "engage with the world once again", "repair our alliances", and act as a "trusted partner for peace and security". Near the conclusion of his speech, Biden held a moment of silence for those who died in the COVID-19 pandemic. Quoting the Gene Scheer composition "American Anthem", he implored Americans to consider their legacy in answering the "call of history" to protect "democracy, hope, truth, and justice", "secure liberty", and make America a "beacon to the world", insisting that generations of their descendants would judge them on their actions.

Administration

Biden was inaugurated alongside Kamala Harris, the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American vice president.

On November 11, 2020, Biden selected Ron Klain, who served as his vice presidential chief of staff, to serve as his White House chief of staff. Biden chose Jen Psaki, deputy White House press secretary and U.S. Department of State spokesperson during the presidency of Barack Obama, as his White House press secretary. Psaki announced, and has held, daily press briefings for White House reporters. On March 25, 2021, Biden held his first solo press conference after 64 days in office, unlike his most recent predecessors (back to Herbert Hoover in 1929), who all held their first solo press conferences within 33 days of taking office.

On November 17, 2020, Biden announced that he had selected Mike Donilon as senior advisor and Steve Ricchetti as counselor. Jen O'Malley Dillon, who had served as campaign manager for Biden's successful presidential campaign, was named as deputy chief of staff.

Cabinet

Biden selected Antony Blinken to be secretary of state, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, and Jake Sullivan as national security advisor.

On November 23, 2020, Biden announced Alejandro Mayorkas to be his choice for Secretary of Homeland Security and Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence. Throughout December and January, Biden continued to select cabinet members, including Marty Walsh, the then current mayor of Boston, as his Secretary of Labor.

Biden altered his cabinet structure, elevating the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and ambassador to the United Nations as cabinet-level positions. Biden removed the director of the Central Intelligence Agency from his official cabinet at the onset of his presidency, but he restored it to the cabinet in 2023.

While administering the oath of office to hundreds of White House officials through video conferencing, Biden called for more civility in politics, saying: "If you ever work with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. ... No ifs, ands, or buts."

Judicial appointments

Of the Article III judges nominated by Biden, 235 of them were confirmed by the United States Senate, including: one associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 45 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 187 judges for the United States district courts and two judges for the United States Court of International Trade. Biden appointed the most federal judges during the first two years of any presidency since John F. Kennedy.

United States Supreme Court nominations

Domestic affairs

Health care

Biden strongly campaigned for the presidency on the public option, a policy that, if enacted into law, would have offered Americans a choice between maintaining their private healthcare insurance or buying into Medicare. The idea was viewed as a compromise between the progressive and moderate flanks of the Democratic Party. The Biden campaign described the public option as a "plan to protect and build on ObamaCare".

However, shortly before taking office in January 2021, Biden's team abruptly dropped the proposal, frustrating many online progressives who already viewed the public option healthcare proposal as a failure to fight the status quo.

The Biden administration rescinded work requirements for Medicaid recipients. The administration opened a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act as well as extending the normal enrollment period, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration provided larger premium subsidies.

In August 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The law allocates $64 billion for a three-year expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies originally expanded under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and $265 billion for prescription drug price reform to lower prices, including providing Medicare the authority to negotiate the prices for certain drugs with pharmaceutical companies.

That same month, Biden signed into law the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, which expands federal health care access, services, and funding for veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during their service, including toxic smoke from burn pits.

Opioid epidemic

Drug overdoses killed 106,699 in the United States in 2021. Opioids were involved in 80,411 overdose deaths in 2021, up from around 10,000 in 1999.

In June 2023, U.S. federal prosecutors announced criminal indictments of fentanyl precursor producers in China. In October 2023, OFAC sanctioned a China-based network of fentanyl manufacturers and distributors. In 2023, the Biden administration announced a crackdown on Mexican drug cartels smuggling fentanyl into the United States.

Rahul Gupta led White House efforts to combat the opioid epidemic.

COVID-19 pandemic

On January 20, 2021, his first day as president, Biden implemented a federal mask mandate, requiring the use of masks and social distancing in all federal buildings, on federal lands, and by federal employees and contractors. Biden also signed an executive order that reversed the withdrawal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO), making Dr. Anthony Fauci the head of the delegation to the WHO. On January 21, the administration released a 200-page document titled "National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness". That same day, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed up the vaccination process and ensure the availability of glass vials, syringes, and other vaccine supplies at the federal level. In justifying his use of the act, Biden said: "And when I say wartime, people kind of look at me like 'wartime?' Well, as I said last night, 400,000 Americans have died. That's more than have died in all of World War II. 400,000. This is a wartime undertaking." Biden established the White House COVID-19 Response Team, a White House Office dedicated to coordinating a unified federal government response.

According to a report by Reuters, in mid-2021 the Biden administration ended a military-run propaganda campaign to spread disinformation about the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine which had begun in 2020 during the Trump administration. The campaign was described as "payback" for COVID-19 disinformation by China directed against the U.S. Primarily targeting people in the Philippines, the campaign used fake social media accounts to spread disinformation, including that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore ''haram'' under Islamic law.

On January 21, 2021, Biden signed ten executive orders pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to meet his vaccination goal of a hundred million shots in his first 100 days in office, Biden signed an executive order increasing needed supplies. Biden signed an order on January 21 that directed FEMA to offer full reimbursements to states for the cost of using their own National Guard personnel and emergency supplies such as Personal Protective Equipment in schools. On January 24, 2021, Biden reinstated a travel ban imposed by President Trump on Brazil, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and 26 other European countries. The travel ban prevents non-U.S. citizens living in the prospective countries from entering the U.S. Biden implemented a face mask requirement on nearly all forms of public transportation and inside of transportation hubs; previously, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recommended that such a policy be enacted but it was blocked by the Trump administration, under which the CDC issued strong, albeit non-binding recommendations for mask use in these settings.

In mid-March 2021, Biden dismissed a request by the European Union to export unused COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca out of the U.S. even though the manufacturer endorsed it and vowed to resupply the doses. The rationale for this decision, which contributed to low European vaccination rates, was that the U.S. had to be "over-supplied and over-prepared", according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Whereas the U.S. exported no vaccines, the European Union exported 77 million doses to the world from December 2020 to March 2021. Eventually, the U.S. reversed course and gave vaccine doses from AstraZeneca to Mexico, Canada, and Japan by the end of March.

On May 6, 2021, the Biden administration announced that it supports waiving patent protections on existing COVID-19 vaccines so that other countries can produce generic variants, after weeks of pressure from the international community. On 7 May, French president Emmanuel Macron called on the U.S. "to put an end to export bans not only on vaccines but on vaccine ingredients, which prevent production."

On May 26, 2021, Biden ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to increase their investigations into the origin of the virus, after reports that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill a month before the pandemic began.

In July 2021, amid a slowing of the COVID-19 vaccination rate in the country and the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, Biden said that the U.S. has "a pandemic for those who haven't gotten the vaccination" and that it was therefore "gigantically important" for Americans to be vaccinated, touting the vaccines' effectiveness against hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. He also criticized the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation on social media, saying it was "killing people".

Despite months of vaccine availability and incentives, by September many Americans continued to resist vaccination amid rising cases in several states, hampering prospects towards herd immunity. On September 9, Biden stated, "We've been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us." That day he issued an executive order directing businesses with more than 100 employees to require vaccination of their workers or weekly testing, affecting about 80 million Americans. The order also required the roughly 17 million employees of health facilities receiving federal Medicare or Medicaid to be vaccinated. Many Republicans asserted Biden's order was an unconstitutional overreach of federal authority, and some Republican governors said they would sue to block it.

The Biden administration responded to the global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in December 2021 by advocating response by the states instead of the federal government. Throughout the surge, the Biden administration has been criticized for a lack of COVID-19 tests, exacerbating the spread of the Omicron variant. When questioned about the apparent shortage of tests, Jen Psaki replied, "Should we just send one to every American? Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost and what happens after that?", causing backlash. The Biden administration responded by promising an increased supply of at-home tests later in 2022.

In the midst of an all-time high of new COVID-19 cases, the Centers for Disease Control revised their guidelines, recommending five days of quarantine rather than ten without requiring a negative COVID-19 test. This move was criticized by health experts who worry that without rapid testing, COVID-positive people may unknowingly spread COVID-19 in workplaces under the recommended CDC guidelines. Others criticize the CDC for implementing this change after lobbying by Delta Airlines, leading to social media backlash against the federal government.

Cancer research

Biden gave a speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on September 12, 2022, the 60th anniversary of Kennedy's '' We Choose to Go to the Moon'' speech, promoting his administration's revival of the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, including the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

Economy

''The New Republic'' praised Biden's economic record in July 2024, highlighting record low unemployment leading to a growth in wages at the lower end of the wage distribution as workers had more bargaining power. However, overall real median full-time wages stagnated throughout his time in office. The wealthiest 0.1% of Americans further expanded their share of household wealth from 13.2% to 13.8%, continuing the trend of the previous decades. While inflation was painful, it has returned near its pre-pandemic rate and was similar to peer countries, though the U.S. economy has grown faster than its peers. The expansion of the Affordable Care Act, the child tax credit, $1400 stimulus checks, and the expansion of SNAP benefits boosted balance sheets for low and middle-income Americans. New business formation rose 30% from pre-pandemic levels, and was notably strong among women. Biden also signed three major pieces of longer-term economic legislation to repair infrastructure like roads, bridges and water pipes, boost semiconductor investment, and expand green energy.

In February 2024, the total federal government debt grew to $34.4 trillion after having grown by approximately $1 trillion in both of two separate 100-day periods since the previous June.

Build Back Better Plan

The Build Back Better Plan was a proposed framework of public investment in social, infrastructural, and environmental programs. It was eventually divided into three parts. The American Rescue Plan was focused on COVID-19 pandemic relief, and was passed and signed into law in March 2021 as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The second part called for investment in infrastructure and addressing climate change, and was called the American Jobs Plan. Elements of the American Jobs Plan were the basis for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021. The third part, the American Families Plan, proposed investment in social policies, such as paid parental leave. The American Families Plan was merged with elements of the American Jobs Plan to form the Build Back Better Act, introduced in September 2021. This passed the House of Representatives, but failed to pass the Senate. Continued negotiations led to a new proposal, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 which included proposals addressing climate change, healthcare, and tax reform proposals while excluding Build Back Better's social safety net proposals. This was passed and signed into law in August 2022.

Consumer price reductions

The administration also pursued lower drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices it pays and capping the price of insulin.

In 2024, Biden pushed to limit junk fees through the FTC, FCC and CFPB.

Biden took antitrust more seriously than presidents in recent memory, as seen by the work of Lina Khan at the FTC, a historic court victory against Google's search monopoly, and a lawsuit to break-up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

=American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

=

On January 14, 2021, Biden revealed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The plan includes $1 trillion in direct aid, including $1,400 per-person checks, for working Americans, and would provide for direct housing and nutrition assistance, expanding access to safe and reliable childcare and affordable healthcare, increasing the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance, and giving families with kids and childless workers an emergency boost this year. It would also expand the eligibility of these checks to adult dependents who have been left out of previous rounds of relief. The plan additionally includes $440 billion in community support, providing $350 billion of community support to first responders while the rest goes to grants for small businesses and transit agencies; $400 billion for a national vaccination plan and school reopenings; and $10 billion for information technology, modernizing federal cybersecurity infrastructure. In her first press briefing, press secretary Psaki said the plan was likely to change as negotiations continued, with the provision to increase the minimum wage later being excluded from the relief plan. Biden signed the Plan into law on March 11, 2021, passing through both chambers of Congress with a party-line vote.

The plan invokes the Defense Production Act of 1950 to ensure the production of personal protective equipment, glass vials, syringes, and other supplies exceeds the demand. It allows partners of states to create vaccine centers in stadiums, convention centers and pharmacies. The federal government would identify communities that have been hit hardest by COVID-19, and ensure the vaccine does not reach them at an unfair pace. In addition, the plan would launch a national campaign to educate Americans about the vaccine and COVID-19, targeting misinformation related to the pandemic. Vaccines would also be freely available to all citizens regardless of immigration status. In Biden's plan, he would issue a national testing strategy that attempts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by increasing laboratory capacity and expanding testing. The plan would also develop new treatments for COVID-19.

=American Families Plan

=

On 28 April, during Biden's speech to Congress he unveiled the American Families Plan, a roughly $1.8 trillion proposal to significantly increase federal spending in areas related to childcare, paid leave, pre-kindergarten, community college, and healthcare. It is considered to be the third part of Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda (the first being the American Rescue Plan and the second being the American Jobs Plan). The bill was effectively merged with climate change and other provisions that didn't make it into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, for a total $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act. However, the bill did not have Republican support, and Democrats struggled to win the support of Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to pass it on a party-line vote through budget reconciliation, even as the price was lowered to $2.2 trillion. After the bill ultimately failed to match his envisioned cost, Manchin publicly rejected it, dooming its passage.

Labor

On January 22, 2021, Biden signed an executive order that removed schedule F, overturning a number of Trump's policies that limited the collective bargaining power of federal unions. Biden's executive order also promotes a $15 minimum wage for federal workers and repeals three of Trump's executive orders which made the employee discipline process stricter and restricted union representatives' access to office space. As well as promoting a $15 minimum wage, Biden's executive order increases the amount of money going to the families of children who are missing meals because of school closures due to the pandemic by 15%. The repealing of Trump's three executive orders comes as the orders were used to transfer civil servants and career scientists and replace them with employees friendly to the Trump administration.

On inauguration day 2021, Biden fired pro-business Peter Robb, then general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, replacing him with pro-union Jennifer Abruzzo in February 2021. Biden's NLRB has pursued action against Starbucks' and Amazon's alleged anti-union activities. On August 24, 2023, the NLRB reinstated Obama-era policies regarding union elections, speeding up the timeline by removing restrictions such as resolving litigation before holding an election.

In late 2022, Biden signed a bill forcing an agreement between union workers and rail companies in order to prevent a strike, earning him criticism from progressives and rail workers. Afterwards, Biden pressured the rail companies to offer paid sick leave to workers, which had been a key demand in the original planned strike. More than 60% of rail workers had sick leave agreements in June 2023.

On the 2023 United Auto Workers strike, Biden repeated union leader Shawn Fain's motto "record profits, record contracts" and expressed support for the workers in negotiations. Biden assigned two White House officials to aid in negotiation efforts, senior adviser Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. On September 26, Biden joined striking UAW workers on the picket line in Michigan, becoming the first president to do so.

Biden became the first US president to run for election with a unionized campaign staff for his 2024 election run.

The Biden administration helped to resolve the 2024 United States port strike.

Banking

After the Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, Biden expressed opposition to a bailout that was borne by taxpayers. He also claimed that the partial roll-back of Dodd-Frank regulations contributed to the bank failures.

Domestic manufacturing

Biden signed an executive order intended to support domestic manufacturers by increasing a federal preference for purchasing goods made wholly or partly in the U.S. Using the broad term "Made in America laws", the executive order's stated goal is to strengthen "all statutes, regulations, rules, and Executive Orders relating to Federal financial assistance awards or Federal procurement, including those that refer to 'Buy America' or ' Buy American.'"

On August 9, 2022, Biden actively promoted and signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized $52 billion for domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing. On August 16, 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law, which included provisions to support the domestic production of solar panels, wind turbines, and other infrastructure. Due to incentives from the CHIPS and Science Act, Micron Technology will invest billions in new semiconductor manufacturing in New York.

Trade

''The Wall Street Journal'' reported that instead of negotiating access to Chinese markets for large American financial-service firms and pharmaceutical companies, the Biden administration may focus on trade policies that boost exports or domestic jobs. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the administration wants a "worker-centered trade policy". U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo aggressively enforced trade rules to combat unfair practices by China.

In March 2021, in her first interview since taking office, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told ''The Wall Street Journal'' the U.S. would not lift tariffs on Chinese imports (implemented under the Trump administration as urged by Peter Navarro) in the near future, despite lobbying efforts from "free traders" including former U.S. Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson and the Business Roundtable, a big-business group in the U.S., that pressed for tariff repeal.

In 2021, the U.S. suspended its diplomatic trade engagement with Myanmar after a rise in violence perpetrated by the Burmese military against anti- coup protesters.

In May 2024, the Biden administration raised tariffs on Chinese imports, including a doubling for solar cells; tripling for lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries; and increases for steel, aluminum, and medical equipment. This marks the first time that critical minerals, including rare earth magnets—key components in electric and hybrid vehicles—have been specifically included in the tariffs. China produces and refines over 90 percent of the world's rare earth material. The tariff increases will be phased in over a period of three years.

Infrastructure

As a part of the Build Back Better Plan, the Biden administration aimed for massive spending on the nation's infrastructure on the order of $2 trillion. Several of the physical infrastructure provisions featured in the proposal were included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Biden signed the Act into law on November 15, 2021.

This final version included approximately $1.2 trillion in spending, with $550 billion being newly authorized spending on top of what Congress was planning to authorize regularly. The bill included $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging. As of March 2024, seven charging stations with a total of 38 spots for charging vehicles had been built.

Inflation

Longer-term variables that preceded the pandemic and contributed to the rise in inflation include structural housing shortages, impacts of climate change on food, energy and home insurance prices, as well as the size of government debt and deficits.

In the midst of recovery from COVID-19, inflation rose to the highest rate in forty years peaking at 9.1% in 2022, with many other major global economies reaching similar level. Biden stated during his first State of the Union Address on March 1, 2022, that addressing inflation was his "top priority", while touting an anti-inflation plan that he said would address ocean shipping costs and prescription drug prices.

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in increases in food and energy prices.

At the end of 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau found that without housing inflation, inflation would have been just 1.8%, instead of 3.2%. Katy O'Donnell of ''Politico'' argued that housing shortages, caused by artificial scarcity driven by NIMBYism, had been the single-biggest contributor to inflation. Freddie Mac

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