August 30, 2022 13:27
The news of the summer in the United States was certainly the resurrection of Joe Biden’s presidency. Within a few weeks, an administration that was now given up has gained momentum. It all started after the Supreme Court ruling that canceled the federal right to abortion in late June, an event that roused the electorate and democratic politicians from their slumber. And it culminated in the internal agreement of the Democratic Party that allowed congress to approve the most important proposal of the president’s political program.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides the largest investment in US history in initiatives to combat the climate crisis, with $ 370 billion in tax breaks for electric cars, renewable energy production and conversions of polluting plants. The law is not even close to what Biden wanted to pass at the beginning of his term but, as economist Joseph Stiglitz explained, “it will help reduce the cost of energy – a major factor in the current increase. of prices – and could allow the United States to meet the target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels ”.
Edward Luce, a commentator for the Financial Times and a profound connoisseur of American politics, recalled that neither Bill Clinton nor Barack Obama have managed to pass important measures on the climate in eight years of presidency. And they both had a solid majority in the Senate. Biden did it in his first term and with a Senate split in half (50 Democrats and 50 Republicans: the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris was decisive to approve the provision). In addition, the law also contains other measures that the Democrats have long tried to pass unsuccessfully. In particular, the possibility for the federal government to negotiate the prices of drugs directly with the manufacturing companies, in order to reduce their costs for citizens.
The three laws signed by Biden represent the most important economic intervention by the US government in recent decades
The two major measures approved by congress in the previous months must be added to the inflation reduction act: the American rescue plan, a 1.9 trillion-dollar plan to mitigate the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic, and the Infrastructure investment and jobs act, in total. 1.2 trillion to renovate the country’s old infrastructure and expand access to broadband connections. Taken together, the three laws represent the most important economic intervention by the US government in recent decades.
Biden also signed a law in the summer that allocates $ 52.7 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and research and to make the United States more scientifically and technologically competitive with China; presented a plan that will help many students pay off the debt accumulated during their university years, another issue very dear to a section of the democratic electorate; announced the killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in Kabul, an important achievement in counter-terrorism operations. Remaining on international politics, many commentators believe that Biden’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine – which strengthened US alliances badly damaged by the Trump presidency and revitalized NATO – partly redeemed the unsuccessful withdrawal from Afghanistan. a year ago.
According to Politico, Biden’s backlash is not surprising because resilience has always been part of his political trajectory. “Being given up for dead, in political terms, is certainly not a new experience for him. Perhaps these dynamics give him a kind of mystical confidence that in the end things will go well, even when others have lost all faith in his abilities ”. The fundamental characteristic of this way of doing politics – forged in an era of heated confrontation but in which compromises were normal – is the idea that an agreement is always possible and that a negative agreement is always better than no agreement. “Biden didn’t give up when it became clear that more ambitious goals were impossible. He did not burn the bridges when many others were ready to do so ”.
Here is a useful article that takes stock of the successes and failures of the Biden administration in the first year and a half.
Recent successes have allowed Biden to regain some acclaim, but his popularity rating remains particularly low (here you can see the comparison with past presidents, from Trump to Harry Truman). This is because most Americans continue to be concerned about rising prices and tend to ignore other positive economic indicators, such as the level of employment. The main concerns are about the price of gasoline: three-quarters of Americans, explains The Hustle, think it costs too much, and they blame the Biden administration.
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