Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Way to ON 100 DAYS OF PRESIDENT BIDEN go, Joe
1. economy
MILLIONS are jobless due to the pandemic and Government handouts have run out. So Biden devoted much of his first weeks to fulfilling a campaign promise to support Americans.
With the help of the likes of Transport Secretary
Pete Buttigieg, right, and despite
Republican opposition, the
£1.37trillion American
Rescue Plan stimulus was passed. Almost one million jobs were added last month, up from 379,000 in February.
But there are still 8.5 million fewer posts than before the pandemic in
February 2020.
2. covid
KNOWING he would inherit the world’s highest Covid death toll at the time of the election, Biden made tackling the coronavirus his main priority.
He said he would tackle the pandemic and delivered on his promises.
While Trump left vaccine distribution entirely to states,
Biden set up channels to allot shots, including in minority communities.
Now more than 200 million people have been vaccinated as the States’ Covid death toll plummets.
His biggest battle is convincing Trump voters the vaccine is safe.
3. world
BIDEN immediately began undoing many of his predecessor’s most damaging policies, keeping some.
As well as re-entering the Paris Climate Accord, he has stood up to America’s foes.
He has put sanctions on Russia over its meddling in the 2020 elections and called Vladimir
Putin, right, a “killer.”
Maintaining sanctions on Iran and trade tariffs on China, he has raised the pressure over Hong
Kong.
However, Biden ended
Trump’s cosy relations with Saudi Arabia.
BEFORE his election, some wrote off Joe Biden as a doddery, ageing man barely able to string two sentences together.
White House rival Donald Trump nicknamed him “Sleepy Joe” and critics believed Biden, the States’ oldest ever President at 78, lacked the stamina to lead America.
But today, 100 days into his presidency, he has proven he is not a hesitant, inept commander-in-chief.
As it turns out, the President has hit the ground running and started building a record every one of his younger predecessor’s would be envious of.
He inherited a country torn apart by Trump and reeling from the
4. guns and
MASS shootings in the US plunged during the pandemic but this year they have surged to more than 165.
The increase shows how little power Biden has to change access to firearms as he voices opposition to military-style guns.
He had pledged to
pandemic, which has undoubtedly hampered his rating among voters.
But his report card still makes impressive reading...
5. migrants
THE new president has moved swiftly to reverse some of Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.
Since taking office, tens of thousands of families and unaccompanied children have arrived at the border from Mexico.
He left in place a
Trump-era coronavirus policy that stops access to asylum for many seeking entry.
However, Biden did reverse his predecessor’s travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and
African countries and has halted nearly all border wall construction.
6. climate
TRUMP’S “America First” mantra was publicly binned when Biden vowed to re-enter the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.
The President has also set to work to deliver a campaign promise to de-carbonise the American economy by 2050.
Last week, he unveiled a goal to cut emissions in half from
2005 levels, nearly doubling a target laid out by his former boss, Barack Obama, with a £1.44trillion plan.
His administration has paused new oil and gas leasing on Government lands and waters.
7. diversity
CABINET nominees are more diverse than under any predecessor, with 46% women, double the average number in past administrations. Half are also non-white.
So far, 21 of 23 requiring
Senate approval have been confirmed.
Lloyd Austin is the first black
Defence Secretary and Pete Buttigieg the first gay Cabinet
Secretary. Alejandro
Majorkas is the first immigrant to head the Department of
Homeland Security. And
Kamala Harris, inset, is the first female Vicepresident.