Good start to good work
In just a few days, President Joe Biden already has undone a lot of bad. Now, the rush is on to do a lot of lasting good.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Mr. Biden has been left with a mess, some of it done by the Trump administration by design, some by his predecessor’s monumental incompetence.
Chief among his actions is his following through on a promise to tackle the COVID -19 pandemic with far more seriousness and focus than the previous administration devoted to a national health and economic crisis. He has put forward a comprehensive plan to involve the federal government more meaningfully in vaccine distribution and to marshal private industry to produce and deliver more supplies for vaccination, testing and personal protective equipment. He appointed a board to expand testing capacity — Donald Trump, remember, denigrated coronavirus tests because they revealed more cases and, he said, made him look bad. Mr. Biden directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish federally supported vaccination centers. And he ended the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, which Mr. Trump sought to make a scapegoat in the coronavirus pandemic to divert attention from his own abysmal handling of it.
Among the 30 executive orders signed in his first three days, Mr. Biden also had the U.S. rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, which Mr. Trump’s denialism on global warming could not abide. Mr. Biden stopped Mr. Trump’s attempt to manipulate the redistricting of congressional seats by not including undocumented immigrants and other non-citizens in the 2020 Census. He put the brakes on a host of environmentally damaging actions, including Arctic drilling leases, halted construction of Mr. Trump’s wasteful, fantastical border wall and ordered an end to harsh immigration tactics that reached deep into American communities.
Important, commendable and necessary as Mr. Biden’s executive actions are, however, it’s crucial that he work with Congress to turn as much of his agenda into law as possible — including, among so many other things, getting smart, comprehensive immigration reform done, moving America toward greener energy, promoting social justice, ensuring voting rights and social justice, raising the federal minimum wage, and dealing with the time bombs of Social Security and Medicare.
And gratifying as it is to see Mr. Biden undoing some of the more misguided, destructive, bigoted and cruel executive orders of Mr. Trump, one can’t help but be aware that many of Mr. Biden’s unilateral actions could prove just as fleeting. Laws are much harder for another president to undo, requiring both houses of Congress.
Right now, Mr. Biden has the opportunity to make good, strong law, with Democrats in control of the House and Senate — the latter by the barest margin possible: A 50-50 split, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break any ties. Still, he will need plenty of leadership and negotiating skill, and goodwill on the part of Republicans.
The urgency is apparent: In 2022, all House seats and 34 of the Senate’s 100 seats will be up for grabs. Yes, Republicans, with 20 seats at stake in 2022 compared with 14 on the Democratic side, will presumably be more on the defensive. But midterm elections have a way of not favoring the party that holds the White House.
Mr. Biden, then, has two overriding missions: Do good work, and do it fast — the former so that voters think twice about clipping his wings, the latter in case they do anyway.
A lot of good can happen in two years. No time to waste in getting it done, and making sure it can’t be easily undone.