President Joe Biden took office as the 46th President of the United States (US) on 20 January 2021. In his inauguration speech he spoke of the need for unity to fight the pandemic, to rebuild the economy, to fight climate change and to defeat a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism. He also spoke of the need for a united front to ‘end (the) uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.” He pledged to repair alliances, engage with the world and become a strong and trusted partner of peace, progress and security.[i]
The Presidency had evoked optimism from domestic and international partners, after the turbulent four years of his predecessor. Nonetheless, in the past year President Biden has faced both domestic and international challenges from a continuing global pandemic, rising inflation, the passage of historic infrastructure legislation and the stalling of his broader social and voting agenda, the end of the US’ war in Afghanistan, growing tensions with China and Russia, among many other challenges. He enters his second year in office with one of the lowest approval ratings of recent presidents. The paper presents an overview of the one year of the Biden Presidency in addressing domestic and international challenges.
Domestic Challenges
President Biden’s long political career and his abilities to navigate the Congress were a major selling point of his campaign. At a time of deep racial divide which was highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement, the resurrection in the Capitol, the questions on voter fraud, President Biden’s commitment to bipartisanship was welcomed by the US Congress and the American people.
Nonetheless, the legislative work continues to be held on party ideologies. One of the early successes of bipartisan support was when in November 2021; President Biden signed a US$ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law, a key part of his economic agenda, which got 19 Republican votes in the Senate, including that of GOP leader Mitch McConnell. The bill aims to deliver US$ 550 billion new federal investments in America's infrastructure over five years, which would include building bridges and roads, to building broadband, water and energy systems. The investments would also focus on climate mitigation and resilience with such plans as to provide US$ 7.5 billion for zero- and low-emission buses and ferries, aiming to deliver thousands of electric school buses to districts across the country etc.[ii]
The major domestic agenda has been voted on party lines. In March 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, a US$ 1.9 trillion sequel to the multitrillion-dollar Trump-era COVID-19 relief bills. It included assistance to states and local governments to fight the pandemic, provided an increase in food stamp aid, housing aid, child care, health insurance subsidies and tax benefits.[iii] This bill was passed along party lines, and in January 2022, a few of its parts such as monthly child support etc. came to end as plans to extend the expiration date on these programmes collapsed due to lack of bipartisan support.
The other cornerstone legislation is the Build Back Better, a mammoth social-spending bill originally priced at U$ 3.5 trillion, with provisions addressing climate change, expanding Medicaid, providing childcare support and raising taxes on the rich. The proposal does not have the support of the Republican Party but a major setback for President Biden has been the lack of support from two Senate Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. The Biden Administration has not yet been able to negotiate with the two Senators to support the bill, leaving the White House with insufficient numbers to pass it, even along party lines. On the other hand, Democrats who voted for March 2021 infrastructure bill on the assurance that the social spending bill would follow are unhappy with the continuing delay.
In a setback to the party, in the first major elections after the President was inaugurated in January 2021, it lost the governorship in the state of Virginia, which the party had held for 12 years. The party also struggled to hold on to the position in New Jersey, a traditionally Democrat state. Many see this as a warning for the narrow Democratic majority in the US Congress when it goes to the mid-term elections in November 2022, for electing the entire House of Representative (435 members) and a third of the Senate. Democrats already anticipated a difficult midterm climate, given that the party in power historically loses seats during a President’s first term. But the party’s struggle to act on its biggest legislative priorities has rattled lawmakers and strategists, who fear their candidates, will be required to combat the perception that Democrats failed to deliver on President Biden’s central campaign promise of rebooting a broken Washington.[iv] Many fear that they would be affected by the Administration’s inability to deliver on the domestic agenda especially related to public health on issues such as masking and testing.
On the pandemic, President Biden had campaigned on a plan to tackle the virus with sound science and serious policy. Post-inauguration, he reconstituted the White House Covid-19 response team that was dismantled by President Trump and made it available to answers questions posed by the public. President Biden also announced that 100 million Americans would be vaccinated in the first 100 days of his presidency. The increase in the number of vaccine centres and vaccine production helped America reach out to a large number of people. As of January 19, over 209.5 million Americans are fully vaccinated, and nearly 82 million have received a booster, according to the CDC. Nearly 74% of those 18 or older are fully vaccinated.[v] Nonetheless, the initial positive response in handling the crisis has dissipated with inconsistency in the Administration’s vaccination and mask policy. The inability to handle anti-vaccine protests, the rising caseloads due to new variants of the virus, and the lack of availability of free or cheap testing kit led to inconsistent data collection, leaving policymakers reliant on foreign sources for information. The lack of clear direction from the Administration on how it will address the challenges from possible future Covid-19 virus variants has left the public confused.
President Biden’s inability to manage the various factions within his party has not gone unnoticed by the public and comes at a time when the Administration also faced a defeat in the Supreme Court on its mandate on vaccine or testing mandate for large employers. The Courts rejected the Administration’s rule requiring vaccines or weekly COVID-19 tests for employees at businesses with at least 100 employees as ‘an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans’ while upholding a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities.
With most legislative work divided on party lines, infighting within the Democratic Party, speculations of tense working relation between President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and the inability of the White House to negotiate with the Congressional members have raised questions on President Biden’s ability to pass future bills through the US Congress.
International Challenges
President Biden in his speech at the US State Department on America’s place in the world had announced that “America is back. Diplomacy is back at the centre of US foreign policy.” He stressed that the US will work to repair its alliance and engage with the world once again to address the challenges of the future.
The Pandemic
President Biden early in his presidency announced his support for the UN-led COVAX programme, which was aimed for equitable access to the Covid-19 vaccine. The US pledged that it would share 75 % vaccines through the programme and will provide US$ 2 billion through 2021 and 2022.[vi] In March 2021, the US along with the other Quad leaders had launched a Quad Vaccine Partnership, to help enhance equitable access to safe and effective vaccines in the Indo-Pacific and the world. However, an early decision by the Biden Administration to put vaccine production, under the Defense Production Act[vii], placed restrictions on the export of raw materials needed to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, equipment and vaccines. Further the Administration also stated that, “Number one, we have a special responsibility to the American people. Number two, the American people, this country has been hit harder than any other country around the world... it is not only in our interest to see Americans vaccinated; it is in the interests of the rest of the world to see Americans vaccinated.”[viii] These statements that came at a time when nations were fighting the surge as a result of the Delta variant, showed the US’ lack of support and were criticised by the international community.
The Indo-Pacific and the Strategic Competition with China
The Biden Administration has continued to identify China as a strategic competitor and also continued with trade sanctions placed by the Trump Administration. The US has also placed sanctions on numerous officials and entities in response to China’s reactions to the protests in Hong Kong and reports of forced labour in the Xinjiang province. The Biden Administration has also increased its engagements with Taiwan, which was stated in its Interim National Security Strategic Guidance. The President along with other members of the Administration such as Secretary Blinken has reaffirmed the US’ commitment to Taiwan’s defence and has routinely dispatched warships to transit the Strait.
Within the Indo-Pacific, the Biden Administration is focused on strengthening the Quad. President Biden reached out to the Quad leaders through a virtual summit and thereafter hosted them for an in-person meeting in Washington in September 2021. During these meetings, the Quad has not focused on China and instead highlighted the areas of collective action for the region such as vaccine distribution and infrastructure development. This is with a view to challenge China while providing tangible results to the countries of the region. The Biden Administration has bolstered its ties with ASEAN, resolving differences with Japan and South Korea. In the recent months, a number of top officials of the Biden Administration have visited Asia and the Indo-Pacific region as part of their foreign policy emphasis on multilateralism and partner building. These include Vice President Harris, Secretary Antony Blinken and Secretary Lloyd Austin, US Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry and US Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman.
The Quad, which has been around for some time is not a military alliance. The AUKUS, on the other hand is a military alliance and perhaps Washington’s most emphatic effort to rebalance to the Indo-Pacific. The military alliance includes a trusted European partner in a significant strategic move.
The Afghanistan Withdrawal
The manner of the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan and the return to power of the Taliban has rightly posed questions about the credibility of the US as a partner. The American withdrawal from Afghanistan underestimating the ability of the Taliban to regain power so quickly and without contingency plans in the event of the collapse of the Afghan government and security forces has raised a number of questions for the Biden Presidency. The American withdrawal will have long term consequences for both Afghanistan and the region with terrorism being the primary concern for the nations in the immediate neighbourhood of Afghanistan. Another long term challenge for the Biden Administration is the growing influence of China and Russia, identified as destabilising and assertive powers in competition with the US, from filling the vacuum created by the US.
Transatlantic Relations and Russia
Washington’s sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan without consulting its European partners and the signing of the AUKUS have been interpreted to mean that while America was trying to improve relations with Europe, the focus was on China’s rise and broadly on the Indo-Pacific region. However, the United States and its European allies are working together to restore the Iran nuclear deal or the JCPOA (President Trump had withdrawn the US from the deal).
The two allies share challenges in their relations with Russia. The geographical realities mean that Europe prefers predictable and stable relations with Russia. The current crisis in the Ukrainian border has highlighted the need for the US to stay engaged with both its European allies and Russia. After a long time of withdrawing from troops from the continent, the US has redeployed troops and has warned Russia of punitive action in the event of escalation of conflict.
Conclusion
The Biden Administration has been confronted with challenges on virtually all fronts- economic, social, political, health, environmental, and geopolitical. In the domestic arena, he has been able to deliver vaccines to the American people and infuse optimism in the economy through big spending initiatives. However, some issues, such as voting rights and spending on climate change he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Very much like his domestic policies, he has had some success and some setbacks in pursuing his international agenda. While he was successful in ending America’s war in Afghanistan, it has resulted in a loss of credibility for America. And while President Biden has been able to strengthen relations in the Indo-Pacific, it continues to have fissures in its transatlantic relations.
The first year was a mixed achievement for President Biden, but it does not necessarily mean that he would not modify his agenda to address emerging challenges for the remaining three years of his current term.
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*Dr. Stuti Banerjee, Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
The views expressed are personal.
Endnotes
[i] The White House, “Inaugural Address by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/01/20/inaugural-address-by-president-joseph-r-biden-jr/, Accessed on 4 February 2022.
[ii] Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby, “Here's what's in the bipartisan infrastructure package,” https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/28/politics/infrastructure-bill-explained/index.html, Accessed on 04 February 2022
[iii] Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco, “Here's what's in the Covid relief package,” https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/10/politics/whats-in-the-covid-relief-bill/index.html, Accessed on 04 February 2022
[iv] Lisa Lerer and Emily Cocharane, “Frustrated Democrats Call for ‘Reset’ Ahead of Midterm Elections,” The New York Times (16 January 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/politics/democratic-midterms.html Accessed on 09 February 2022
[v]Bo Erickson, Kathryn Watson etc, “By the numbers: The first year of Joe Biden's presidency,” CBNS News, 20 Jan. 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-president-first-year-review/, Accessed on 09 February 2022
[vi] The White House, “Fact Sheet: President Biden to Take Action on Global Health through Support of COVAX and Calling for Health Security Financing,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/18/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-take-action-on-global-health-through-support-of-covax-and-calling-for-health-security-financing/, and “FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Unveils Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing, Announcing Allocation Plan for the First 25 Million Doses to be Shared Globally,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/03/fact-sheet-biden-harris-Administration-unveils-strategy-for-global-vaccine-sharing-announcing-allocation-plan-for-the-first-25-million-doses-to-be-shared-globally/, Accessed on 10 February 2022.
[vii] The Defense Production Act is the primary source of presidential authorities to expedite and expand the supply of materials and services from the U.S. industrial base needed to promote the national defense.
[viii] The U.S. Department of State, “Department Press Briefing – April 22, 2021: Ned Price, Department Spokesperson,” https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-april-22-2021/ and “Department Press Briefing – April 21, 2021, Ned Price, Department Spokesperson,” https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-april-21-2021/, Accessed on 10 February 2022