Biden鈥檚 first 100 days: Promises kept, but challenges loom
| Washington
Thursday marks President Joe Biden鈥檚 100th听day in office, a traditional milestone that he and his team have been aiming toward since he won the Democratic nomination, if not before.听
It鈥檚 an arbitrary point at which to sum up how a new U.S. chief executive is doing. But the media has closely followed presidents鈥� first 100 days for almost a century, judging promises kept or broken, and what that may mean for the many hundreds of days left in a presidential term.
As a candidate, Mr. Biden vowed that controlling the COVID-19 pandemic would be a top priority. The United States seems on the verge of doing so, as the administration has promoted efforts to tamp down infection rates while pushing mass vaccination.
Why We Wrote This
So far, President Biden has followed through on a number of campaign promises 鈥� particularly on the pandemic. But he鈥檚 gotten relatively few bills through Congress, and the path ahead is likely to grow tougher.
Congress passed Mr. Biden鈥檚 $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in March, sending direct payments to voters while extending unemployment aid and a moratorium on evictions. The president has fulfilled promises to reverse a number of former President Donald Trump鈥檚 executive actions, including rescinding the Keystone oil pipeline permit, rejoining the Paris climate agreement, and ending the travel ban on people from a number of majority-Muslim countries.
Whether Mr. Biden can push through ambitious pending items such as his massive infrastructure bill remains to be seen. His immigration policy is in turmoil as a surge of unauthorized migrants has swamped the border.
But if nothing else, Mr. Biden鈥檚 first 100 days have signaled his vision for his time in office, centered on his belief that the federal government has an active role to play in Americans鈥� lives.
鈥淸Mr. Biden] may find himself more checked as we go on, but his belief in government is going to continue to be an essential part of what the Biden administration is all about,鈥� says Julian Zelizer, a political history professor at Princeton University. 鈥淗e is going to continue to rely on the government as a tool rather than a problem.鈥�
Big spending
To this point, Mr. Biden鈥檚 presidency has revolved around government spending, actual and proposed. His COVID-19 relief bill authorized direct government checks for many Americans. In a speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, he outlined a $1.9 trillion, 10-year proposal for aid to workers, families, and children 鈥� on top of the trillions for infrastructure spending he requested in March.
Public judgment of Mr. Biden鈥檚 first 100 days has been mixed, but generally positive.
Unlike most new presidents, he has not benefited from much of a honeymoon period, as his at this point is lower than that of any newly elected president going back to Dwight D. Eisenhower, with one exception 鈥� his predecessor. President Trump鈥檚 job approval number at 100 days was just 42%, according to the , while Mr. Biden鈥檚 is above water at 54%. (Gerald Ford鈥檚 approval rating was also lower than Mr. Biden鈥檚 at 100 days, but he was an unelected president, and unpopular at the time due to his pardon of Richard Nixon.)
Mr. Biden has been buoyed by good numbers on particular issues. A from mid-April found that 65% of Americans approve of the way he has handled the coronavirus, and a majority approve of how he has handled jobs, the economy, and unifying the country.
These numbers may reflect the campaign promises he has followed through on, including:
- the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord on his first day in office. He also reversed Mr. Trump鈥檚 ban on transgender Americans serving in the military, as well as Mr. Trump鈥檚 travel ban aimed at some majority-Muslim countries.
- Extending a pause on student loan payments and housing evictions and foreclosures.
- Vaccinating more than over the past three months, surpassing the goal of 100 million.
- Convening a world climate summit and to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030.
- Creating a task force to help reunite the separated from their parents.
- Sending a bill to Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for America鈥檚 11 million听unauthorized immigrants (although the bill has not passed).听
- Announcing U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021.
- Slapping new sanctions on Russia in response to cyber intrusions and efforts at 2020 election interference.
Why use 100 days as the benchmark? Why not 50 鈥� or 365? To administration staffers, the made-up nature and media hype of the moment can be frustrating. David Axelrod, senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, once called the 100th听day the
But it does have historical roots. Shortly after being sworn in as president amid the Great Depression in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt unleashed a burst of action to try to rally a demoralized nation. It included creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act, the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and other actions to build the core of what became the New Deal. It was the .
Ever since, presidents have been measured against that activist beginning.
鈥淸The 100-day mark] has become an initial judgment on the presidency. If it鈥檚 good, it鈥檚 going to help him in his next year. If it鈥檚 bad, it will hinder him,鈥� says Elaine Kamarck, director of the Brookings Institution鈥檚 Center for Effective Public Management. 鈥淚t鈥檚 somewhere in between a Hallmark holiday and something important.鈥�
Still, a president鈥檚 first three months don鈥檛 necessarily reflect how the president鈥檚 term will be remembered years later. President Jimmy Carter, for example, was largely considered to have had a successful first 100 days, but went on to lose reelection. And while the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion occurred during President John F. Kennedy鈥檚 first 100 days, his presidency is mostly remembered fondly.
Many presidents鈥� signature achievements, such as President Obama鈥檚 health care reform and President Bill Clinton鈥檚 balancing of the federal budget, come after their first 100 days.
鈥淵ou read all these newspaper articles and it鈥檚 like, 鈥楬ere is the president鈥檚 report card.鈥� I mean, I don鈥檛 grade my students after 100 days,鈥� says Sidney Milkis, a professor at the University of Virginia and an expert on the American presidency.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there is any strong relationship between how you do in your first 100 days and what you achieve in your presidency,鈥� adds Mr. Milkis. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a benchmark that got established because of its extraordinary importance during [FDR鈥檚 tenure].鈥�
Few bills passed
One metric in which President Biden has so far fallen short is passage of legislation. His COVID-19 relief bill was indeed historic in size and rated as popular in polls, but it wasn鈥檛 part of a deluge. According to GovTrack, only seven laws have been enacted thus far in Mr. Biden鈥檚 term 鈥� a fraction of what鈥檚 been passed in the first 100 days historically. FDR had 76 bills passed into law during this time, and Mr. Biden鈥檚 immediate predecessors, Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump, had 14 and 30, respectively.
Mr. Biden has plans to change this. He鈥檚 proposing spending bills they might rewrite the role of the government in the U.S., including听a $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill outlined in March, and $1.8 trillion in spending and tax cuts over 10 years for workers, families, and children, as announced in Wednesday night鈥檚 speech.
But Mr. Biden faces a very different political landscape than did his two most recent predecessors or Roosevelt. They all enjoyed wide party majorities in both houses of Congress. Mr. Biden has the slimmest House majority in modern history, while Vice President Kamala Harris has already cast four tiebreaking votes in the Senate, a record this early in a presidency.
And legislating will likely only get harder for Mr. Biden as his term goes on. It could screech to a virtual halt if Republicans make big enough gains in the 2022 midterm elections to take back one or both congressional chambers.
鈥淭he worst enemy of good legislating is time,鈥� says Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked in former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid鈥檚 office as the negotiations for the 2010 health care reform bill were dragged out. 鈥淭he more time you lose, the more leverage you lose 鈥� and all of this is in the back of the head of the Biden team.鈥�
This worry may rise as the Biden administration considers its promises for the first 100 days that were not completed:
- Opening the majority of U.S. public schools that have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Reversal of Mr. Trump鈥檚 corporate tax cut.
- Enactment of the to ensure equal rights for LGBTQ Americans and direct federal resources to help prevent violence against transgender women.
- Ordering of on how to ensure background checks are completed for gun purchases.
- Extension of the .
- Passage of the .
- Provision of听 for asylum-seekers and for reforming the asylum system.
- Convening of a with leaders from Mexico, Canada, and Central America to address migration and propose solutions.
- Ending and raising the to 125,000 from the 15,000 limit set by Mr. Trump.听
Some of Mr. Biden鈥檚 are in response to how he has handled immigration. Most experts agree addressing the status of the U.S.-Mexico border will be the next big hurdle for Mr. Biden and will influence how his administration is remembered after the first 100 days.
Foreign policy also remains a work in progress, in part because it is an area where there are not always easily discernible gains. The Biden administration is committed to resuming a multinational deal limiting Iran鈥檚 nuclear program, for instance, but that remains far from a done deal. And managing relations with China, which involves courting Beijing on some issues and confronting it on a range of others 鈥� including its repressive actions in Hong Kong 鈥� will be a difficult task for however long Mr. Biden remains in office.
鈥淗e鈥檚 off to a good start,鈥� says Mr. Milkis, 鈥渂ut there are treacherous waters ahead.鈥�
