President Biden Kept These Major Promises In His First Year In The White House

     President Donald Trump kept a total of 34 percent of the 100 biggest campaign promises he made, the worst rate in modern presidential history. President Joe Biden, however, has kept 23.5 percent of the 100 biggest campaign promises he made in his FIRST YEAR. If Congress passes the Freedom To Vote: John R. Lewis Act and the Build Back Better Act, President Biden will have achieved the majority of his agenda in two years. 

     Here are the promises he has kept. A compromise or a promise that has been partially fulfilled counts as 0.5 percent, while a promise kept counts as one percent. This is the same criteria used to judge Donald Trump's rate of promises kept:

1. Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. President Biden has done better than that, restoring American climate diplomacy and bolstering it with the help of Climate Envoy John Kerry.
2. Cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline. After signing this executive order, the last legal challenges to the pipeline were shot down and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau gave up on his attempts to build it.
3. Reverse family separation policies. President Biden reversed this policy on day one and established a task force that has reunited hundreds of kids with their families.
4. Cancel the state of emergency at the border and cancel contracts for the Trump border wall. Also on day one, President Biden rescinded another cruel Trump-era immigration policy.
5. Immediately rescind the Muslim bans. Promise made, promise kept. 
6. Reverse the transgender military ban. In his first week, President Biden reversed the transgender military ban. He has since gone on to restore benefits to LGBT2SQIA+ veterans and allow veterans to have their operations covered by VA benefits and change their genders on their VA medical records, among other historic achievements for transgender veterans.
7. Rejoin the World Health Organization. Isolation is never the answer, especially in the midst of a global pandemic, and President Biden rejoined WHO on day one.
8. Restore the White House Directorate for Global Health Security. President Biden restored the Obama-era task force dismantled by Donald Trump before COVID-19 struck.
9. Increase COVID-19 testing. With the American Rescue Plan Act as well as the historic provision of universal at-home COVID tests, testing soared after Biden took office.
10. Administer 100 million COVID-19 vaccines to 50 million Americans in 100 days. President Biden administered 240 million shots to over 100 million Americans in his first 100 days and has since gone on to partially vaccinate at least 250 million Americans while rolling out boosters.
11. Implement mask mandates nationwide. This is a compromise. While some governors resisted and banned mask mandates, Biden instituted a federal mask mandate and used the DOJ and federal funding to help businesses and school districts circumvent bans on mask mandates.
12. Use the Defense Production Act to produce PPE. From universal N-95 masks to ventilators to syringes, Biden used the DPA more aggressively than any president in modern history. 
13. Give small businesses a restart package for pandemic-related openings. The American Rescue Plan Act and PPP Extension Act kept thousands of small businesses open and actually led to the number of new small business loan applications increasing to well above pre-pandemic levels while President Biden announced a $100 billion investment in minority-owned small businesses and made the Minority Business Development Agency a permanent government agency.
14. Help state and local governments prevent budget shortfalls. The American Rescue Plan Act included historic funding that not only kept city and state governments running, but also led to tens of billions of dollars being invested in violence and crime prevention, education, infrastructure, and other important areas.
15. Resume ties with the Palestinian Authority. Reversing a policy of one-sided "engagement" with Israel, President Biden restored a constructive relationship with the Palestinian Authority and assisted in diplomatic efforts to end a flare in tensions that arose in May 2021.
16. Create a bipartisan commission to consider reforms to the Supreme Court. The commission was convened in April 2021 and released its initial findings in October 2021.
17. End the federal government’s use of private prisons and detention centers. President Biden's executive order to not renew contracts with private prison companies has led to the closure of numerous facilities already while others begin preparing to transfer prisoners to public BOP facilities.
18. Expand broadband and/or 5G to every American. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and American Rescue Plan Act, combined with the bolstering of existing federal grant programs and state funds, led to well over $80 billion being allocated to expand 5G and broadband to rural and tribal communities, fulfilling a major campaign promise.
19. Establish new fuel economy standards. President Biden's January and August 2021 executive orders led to the weak fuel economy standards set forth by the Trump administration being reversed and the most aggressive fuel economy standards in U.S. history, ones that will last through the end of the decade, being finalized.
20. Get bipartisan cooperation on the economy. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the largest infrastructure law in U.S. history and will create two million jobs. While it received almost no GOP support in the House, it did get 19 votes in the Senate. This makes this one a compromise, although future economic legislation could get bipartisan support.
21. Increase refugee admissions. President Biden restored refugee admissions to 125,000 from 15,000. However, his campaign promise also included raising this number above 125,000, which will likely occur within the next year. For now, this one is a compromise.
22. End the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East. While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were ended in 2021, the wars in Yemen and Syria are ongoing. This, as of right now, is a compromise.
23. Restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood. President Biden reversed the Title X Gag Rule, thereby allowing family planning and healthcare services like Planned Parenthood to once again receive federal funding. This is on top of his rescinding the Mexico City Policy in January 2021.
24. Direct federal resources to prevent violence against transgender women. For the first time in U.S. history, the Biden administration opened up tens of millions in dollars of federal violence prevention funds from the Violence Against Women Act and the American Rescue Plan Act to protect trans women, especially trans women of color, from violence.
25. Work with allies to develop secure, private sector-led 5G networks. Working with over a dozen of the world's biggest economies, Biden kept China out of the commercial market and rule-making process for 5G leading up to its rollout in January 2022.
26. Enact a domestic terrorism law. This one was always going to be a compromise. Yes, there is no definition of domestic terrorism, but there is no definition of foreign terrorism, either. President Biden, however, has done more to combat domestic terror in his first year than any president in American history: aside from prosecuting the January 6th and other high-profile cases, he established a special unit at the DOJ, worked with the DOD and internet providers to prevent former military and law enforcement from being recruited, made domestic terrorism a national security priority for the first time, cracked down on threats against election workers and school board members, and more.

     President Biden is off to a great start. 23.5 of his 100 biggest campaign promises were completed in the first year. Another 65 are in the works, and that's why Congress needs to double down on passing the Freedom To Vote: John R. Lewis Act and Build Back Better Act. In the meantime, I'm calling on President Biden to:

1. Form a national policing commission to address policing issues.
2. Sign an executive order codifying the Biden policy of preventing the White House from interfering in federal investigations and prosecutions.
3. Block new fracking on federal lands.
4. Sign an executive order codifying the Biden policy of stopping for-profit education programs from profiteering off of students.
5. Support the study of reparations for slavery.
6. Forgive student loan debt for public colleges and universities.

     The 2022 budget includes the repeal of the Hyde Amendment and $265 million in new funding for COPS, Biden has announced that the ACA contraception mandate will be restored in February, and numerous other major policies relating to manufacturing, Made-In-America, the USPS, Social Security, public health supplies and employees, and insider trading are working their way through Congress with bipartisan support. Meanwhile, two big promises, using evidence to to determine COVID openings and closings and never giving up on COVID, are already well underway. One of the most important promises, appointing the first black woman to the Supreme Court, will depend on whether or not Stephen Breyer retires this year.

     President Biden can restore faith in democracy by aiming to keep more of his promises than any president in modern history. He's on track to do so if he signs the six executive orders I have laid out above.