Challenges just beginning for president-elect
WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden faced a grueling battle on his road to the White House.
But his challenges aren’t over. Biden will inherit a nation still facing down the coronavirus pandemic, economic turmoil as a result of the virus, nationwide unrest because of racial injustice and growing concerns over climate change.
And he’ll be dealing with all of them with Republicans likely still holding control of the Senate.
Here are some of the top issues that Biden will face going into the presidency:
COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic is far from over. Cases are surging across the nation as many states are in their eighth month of enforcing some sort of social distancing guidelines.
Record numbers of COVID-19 infections are being tallied across the country. More than 231,000 people in the United States have died from the virus, and more than 9million Americans have contracted it.
Throughout the campaign, Biden said he would contact governors to help implement a mask mandate.
Biden also said he would launch a national plan to expand testing for the virus, implement national guidelines for states to reopen at the guidance of scientists and said the coronavirus vaccine would be free once it’s available.
Economy
Biden also will need to address the nation’s economic recovery after it was plunged into a recession as a result of the pandemic.
During a speech about his COVID-19 response last month, Biden said that if he were elected, he would give Congress one month to get a bill on his desk that included funding to address the public health and economic aspects of combating the virus.
“I’ll reach out to every governor in every state, red and blue, as well as mayors and local officials, during the transition, to find out what support they need and how much of it they need,” Biden said in an October speech.
Biden has not been specific about what his stimulus plan would look like, but he has said: “We should be providing the money the House has passed in order to be able to go out and get people the help they need to keep their businesses open.”
But Biden has laid out a plan for unemployment benefits, saying he would create a health crisis unemployment initiative to help all workers facing a loss of work because of the pandemic, create plans to ensure unemployment benefits are available to those who lose jobs but would be denied benefits for a variety of reasons, extend COVID-19 crisis unemployment insurance, and provide guaranteed emergency paid sick leave and caregiving leave.
Racial injustice
Biden’s road to the White House was paved by Black voters, in the primary and in the last several days of the election. But protests continue in the streets nationwide against police-involved shootings and racial injustice.
Biden, who has publicly used the phrase “Black lives matter,” released a plan that includes an array of policies to address systemic racism, which includes investing in Black-owned small businesses and investing in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUS).
Stefanie Brown James, co-founder of Collective PAC, told USA TODAY that activists within the movement aren’t going to remain silent under a Biden presidency.
She said she expects a number of community tasks forces will be developed by the administration, and they must include “community leaders from Black Lives Matter and just Black organizations, period.”
Climate change
Just one day after the general election, Biden promised that on Day 1 of his presidency, he would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, a plan signed under the Obama administration to combat climate change.
Activists will likely want to see more than just signing back on to the Paris agreement from the the president-elect once he’s in office.
Progressives, such as Waleed Shahid, communications director of Justice Democrats, said activists are going to want to see Biden pass a big economic stimulus package that includes funding to address systemic racism and climate change. “Progressive are going to pay really close attention to how bold, how big his stimulus package is, and whether it will move our country toward solving the huge crisis we’re going through,” he said.