A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn’t he do?

A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn't he do?

On January 20, 2021, Democratic nominee Joe Biden officially became the 46th President of the United States. What did he succeed in during his year in the White House, and what promises did he not keep? Read today in USA.ONE:

Joe Biden's first year in office

Fighting climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and more.

Global leadership and climate issues A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn't he do?

Former President Donald Trump did not want to spend energy and money on other countries, so the Biden administration announced that the United States was ready to return to the international arena. The main task was the rivalry with China, relations with which under Joe Biden only worsened. Not the last role in this was played by the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, not agreed with the ally.

Since November, the issue of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been on the agenda, and this topic has become number 1 in the State Department. It is no coincidence that Biden devoted most of his press conference at the end of his year in office to this very situation, threatening once again with severe sanctions against Vladimir Putin.

Also in the fall, the US President became one of the main guests at the climate summit in Glasgow, shaming the President of the Russian Federation and Chinese leader Xi Jinping for not attending. At the same time, he failed to get through Congress a plan for the transition to renewable energy, which is still at the stage of bills. But still, there is progress. So, Joe Biden returned the States to the Paris climate agreement, from which Donald Trump withdrew shortly before the end of his presidential term. A National Climate Task Force has also been set up to look at ways and means to combat climate change not only in America but around the world.

Fighting Coronavirus A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn't he do?

Donald Trump has been blamed for being slow to respond and inactive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Joe Biden firmly promised to take the situation under control. All forces were thrown into vaccinating the population and most Americans were vaccinated. Despite the fact that the percentage of those vaccinated in the United States is 63.1%, this is less than in the European Union (70%), a number of Asian, African and Latin American countries.

Still, the number of vaccinated people is slowly but growing. During a press conference, Biden acknowledged the mistakes made in the fight against coronavirus, but noted that during the year of his administration, the number of vaccinated Americans increased from 2 to 210 million. Vaccination has become mandatory for all employees of companies with more than 100 employees. This decision was immediately challenged by the Republicans in the Supreme Court. As a result, now it concerns only state organizations, not private ones.

A wave of the delta strain in summer and the omicron in winter revealed a new problem. Before Christmas, thousands of Americans had to queue for hours at COVID-19 testing centers due to a lack of available antigen tests for home use. This problem was quickly eliminated by launching a federal website where you can order a free test. To receive it, you must provide your name and address. The government has purchased 500 million rapid tests that will be available to any family, but no more than 4 at one address.

Social justice and green economy A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn't he do?

Joe Biden has vowed to launch a grand construction project, create new jobs and start fighting poverty as the economy goes green. The priority was to reduce the price of medicines, expand public health insurance, switch to renewable energy and support families with children. Biden's ambitious plans have been compared to the "New Deal" Roosevelt, but unlike him, there are no stunning results yet, although there are shifts.

In 2021, a record number of Americans purchased the Obamacare insurance plan. Even before the deadline, 14.2 million people signed up for it, which is 20% more than in 2020. New benefits have appeared in insurance plans, and their cost has decreased. The rules for providing financial assistance have also changed to support people with different income levels.

Many Americans were dissatisfied with inflation and rising gas prices, empty shelves in stores and problems with the delivery of goods. In December, the rate of inflation growth broke a record for 40 years. To contain price increases, interest rates may rise as early as March, which will negatively affect loans, economic growth and spending. Biden himself noted progress in economic growth, improving infrastructure and fighting inflation. He also recalled the creation of 6 million additional jobs, calling 2021 the "year of testing" because of the opposition of the Republicans in Congress.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many people have had to leave expensive cities for cheaper ones, get remote jobs, cut spending and even take early retirement. Hence the shortage of personnel in the areas of trade, hotel and restaurant business. Shortage of employees and disruptions in deliveries have led to empty shelves in stores. Merchants imposed restrictions on essential goods, and experts advised ordering Christmas gifts in October so that they could arrive on time. Some stores have reduced hours and others have closed altogether.

Rivalry with Donald Trump A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn't he do?

Many thought that Trump would go into the shadows after losing the election, especially after storming the Capitol and deleting his pages on Twitter and other social networks. But a year later, a majority of Republican voters are calling for his return to politics. Donald Trump is actively holding rallies, despite the fact that the election campaign will begin only in 2023. But the congressional elections will take place this year, and the former president has every chance to get into it.

If Joe Biden loses his Democratic majority, it will be next to impossible for him to get any of his plans passed. He does not hide the fact that the level of the Republican opposition is as high as ever. At the same time, in his opinion, the Republicans only speak out against, having stopped talking about what exactly they support.

The issue with immigrants A year at the helm: what did Joe Biden manage to do and what didn't he do?

With illegal immigrants on the border of the United States and Mexico, each of the presidents coped as best he could. Donald Trump built a wall worth billions of dollars. Biden halted its construction, reversing many of his predecessor's immigration decisions. And this also gave rise to a crisis both within the country and at the border. Illegals dispersed to the States, waiting for the consideration of their cases. In his election campaign, Joe Biden promised to cancel all Trump's decisions, but he did not succeed.

A Texas federal judge blocked an end to the ex-president's immigration policy by forcing non-Mexican migrants to stay in Mexico until their US trial is ordered and ordered the Biden administration to restart the controversial program it opposed and wanted to end. In addition, the public health authority allowed authorities to turn away immigrants at the Mexican border, barring them from seeking asylum in the US. But Biden also had small victories.

He managed to increase the refugee limit from 15 to 62.5 thousand, but by the end of the fiscal year he could only accept 11,411, which was the lowest figure in the history of immigration policy. Joe Biden also limited law enforcement activities in relation to certain categories of immigrants. But its main achievement can be called the acceleration of the procedure for considering asylum applications. Now the judge must make a decision within 300 days from the date of the first appearance of the illegal immigrant in court. This will reduce the backlog in immigration courts, where over 1.5 million cases are pending.

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