- Biden already has a major, historic legislative accomplishment on his record.
- The steps Biden has taken appear to be putting the US on the road to recovery from the pandemic.
- Still, Biden faces a slew of tough challenges, and the pandemic is far from over.
President
But 50 days into his presidency, Biden already has a major legislative achievement under his belt. The House on Wednesday passed his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, which economists have predicted will provide a massive jolt to the economy. Biden signed the bill - one of the largest economic relief measures in US history - on Thursday.
The legislation includes $1,400 direct payments to eligible Americans, a boost to unemployment benefits, an expansion of the child tax credit, funding for vaccine distribution, and billions to help schools, colleges, and universities reopen.
Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the $1.9 trillion
Biden gets it done without Republican support in Congress, but with Americans behind him
Biden, who was in the Senate for decades before becoming vice president in the Obama administration and eventually president, campaigned on bringing "consensus" back to Washington. He's failing miserably on that front so far, as not a single Republican voted in favor of the stimulus. That said, he still got it done. And polling shows a strong majority of Americans support the rescue package.
A Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday found that 70% of US adults favor Biden's bill - including 41% of Republicans. A separate poll from Associated Press also found that 70% of Americans approve of the president's handling of the
Whether congressional Republicans like it or not, history has been made and Americans are seemingly all for it.
Democrats are portraying the $1.9. trillion package as a historic anti-poverty measure.
-NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 10, 2021
Early
The ultimate impact of Biden's $1.9 trillion bill remains to be seen and the president has faced criticism from progressives for not fighting harder to keep a provision to raise the minimum wage to $15.
Regardless, the stimulus stands as among the most significant legislative accomplishments of any recent president in their first
Biden is off to a strong start, but still faces an array of complex challenges
Seeking to emulate the standard set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, Biden placed great emphasis on putting a significant dent in the COVID-19 crisis in his first 100 days. The stimulus is set to play a key role in this, and could be viewed as an inflection point in America's fight against the virus in the days, months, and years to come. With the pace of vaccination increasing across the US, Americans are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel almost a year after lockdowns first began.
Biden still faces a slew of convoluted challenges on the road ahead, and the pandemic is far from over. On the foreign policy front, there are significant roadblocks to Biden's plan to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. He's also faced bipartisan criticism from congressional lawmakers over the first major military action of his presidency - airstrikes targeting Iran-backed militias in Syria in late February. Meanwhile, a surge in migrants at the border is complicating Biden's pledge to take a more humane approach to immigration than his predecessor.
In spite of this complex set of problems, recent polling shows a majority of Americans - roughly 53%, per FiveThirtyEight - approve of Biden's handling of the presidency so far. By almost every measure, Biden's first 50 days have been a historic success.