President Joe Biden

1st Term Accomplishments*

*This list may not contain the entirety of the Biden Administration's accomplishments and will be updated frequently.

Download a PDF version of this list and share with your friends!

Business

- Awarded the most ever federal contracting dollars to small businesses and disadvantaged small businesses.- Secured commitments from 20 leading Internet providers to increase speeds and cut prices.- Signed Executive Order to encourage competition across industries.- US factory and small business investment is at a record high.- Also See Economy.

Climate/Environment

- Launched the National Climate Task Force. As part of that vision, the President set groundbreaking goals:

- Reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels in 2030.- Reach a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.- Deliver 40% of the benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities.

- The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will help reduce America's carbon emissions 40% by 2030 by:

- Incentivizing clean energy, electric cars, and electric homes.- Investing in green technology to ramp up manufacturing to meet the new demand.

- Spurred a clean energy boom with the Inflation Reduction Act, contributing to more than $360 billion in private sector clean energy announcements since taking office. This and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are projected to cut electricity rates by as much as 9% by 2030, with tax credits and rebates to help families lower their home energy costs even further.- Launched the American Climate Corp 2024 to prepare tens of thousands of young people for good-paying jobs in the clean economy, putting them to work conserving and restoring our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, advancing environmental justice, and more.- Signed an executive order to conserve and restore old growth trees in US National forests by expanding logging restrictions.- Paused exports of liquified natural gas (LNG) to determine its harmful effects.- Oversaw the largest ever federal investment in clean energy and electric vehicles.- Proposed through the EPA rules to cut on planet-warming pollution from power plants, and implement restrictions on tailpipe emissions.- Oversaw a crackdown on methane leaks from oil and gas wells.- $370 billion to boost wind, solar, and other renewable energy with millions in tax credits to homeowners.- Nine million jobs created from climate legislation.- Is building on already historic progress to protect clean drinking water and restore our nation's rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands.- Is replacing lead pipes and other drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, building resilience to drought, and conserving resources.- Is combating toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water and wastewater.- Is investing $1 billion to restore the Great Lakes.- Safeguarded the Colorado River watershed by protecting nearly 1 million acres of greater Grand Canyon landscape.- Protected the Boundary Waters Area Wilderness and the surrounding watershed from mining.- Addressed threats to Alaska's Bristol Bay ecosystem to help protect them from contamination associated with developing the Pebble Mine.- Tackled transboundary water pollution in the Elk-Kootenai watershed.- Invested $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to restore the flow of rivers and streams across the country.- Delivered the largest single federal investment in the Everglades through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and established the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area, a 4 million acre wildlife refuge.- Is restoring wild salmon, steelhead and other native fish in the Columbia River Basin.- Is restoring the Klamath River Basin ecosystem and building drought resilience.- Also see Energy.

Climate Justice

- Created the Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments:

- Clean energy and energy efficiency- Clean transit- Affordable and sustainable housing- Training and workforce development- The remediation and reduction of legacy pollution- The development of clean water infrastructure – to flow to disadvantaged communities (DACs).

- All 17 selected projects are in or adjacent to disadvantaged communities that are disproportionally overburdened by pollution and historically underserved.- Also see Climate/Environment and Energy.

Consumers

- Cracked down on fees for essential bank services. Bounced check fees are down more than 86 percent since 2021 saving consumers nearly $2 billion. Nearly two-thirds of large banks have eliminated these fees entirely.- Reduced the junk fees in the banking industry by two-thirds.- Launched the new Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing to root out and end illegal corporate behavior that raises prices for Americans through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices.

Conservation

- Awarded more than $1 billion to initiate cleanup and clear the backlog of 49 previously unfinished Superfund sites, over $250 million to clean up hundreds of contaminated Brownfield sites and $725 million for abandoned mines.- Restored protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts national monuments and designated Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument to conserve our lands and waters, honor our nation's veterans, protect tribal cultural resources, and support jobs and America's outdoor recreation economy.- Investing $1.5 billion in planting trees in more than 350 cities and tribal communities.- Restored protections for threatened or endangered species rolled back under the Trump administration. The Endangered Species Act, which was rolled back under the Trump administration was established in 1973.- Protected the Thompson Divide in Central, Colorado from future mineral development. This announcement delivers on Biden's commitment to advance the conservation and restoration of at least 30% of US lands and waters by 2030. He is on track to conserve more lands and waters than any President in history.- Disbursed (through the Interior Department) over $353 to Gulf States for coastal restoration, conservation and hurricane protection.

Covid-19

- Mailed FREE Covid-19 test kits directly to tens of millions of Americans.- Implemented American Rescue Plan to address the pandemic:

- Launched a national vaccination program for Covid 19.- Provided $130 billion to safely reopen schools.- Gave working families $1400 check per person.- Extended unemployment benefits and eligibility ($300/week supplemental benefits).- Provided emergency aid to cover back rent so Americans could stay in their homes.- Increased SNAP benefits.- Increased the Child Tax Credit from $2000 to $3000.- Increased the Earned Income Tax Credit for 17 million workers.- Expanded childcare assistance, the single biggest increase since WWII.- State assistance for additional cash costs of Temporary Assistance to Need Families.- Lowered or eliminated Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance premiums for lower and middle incomes.

Crime

- Is advancing equity and racial justice through historic criminal justice reform.- Also see Native American Issues and Marijuana.

Diversity

- Confirmed Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and federal judges of diverse backgrounds.- Appointed a record number of women and people of color to serve in his administration.

Economy

- Shows the best economic performance of any President since FDR.- Shows wage growth that outpaced inflation over the past 2.5 years.- Shows wage increases with 4.5% growth.- Rescued the economy and changed the course of the pandemic.- Lowered the deficit with the single largest annual reduction in American history.- Shows the three strongest years of job growth in history.- Saw nearly 15 million jobs created since 2021.- Has a 3.9% Unemployment rate - the lowest in 50 years.- Shows the U.S. economy growing at the fastest pace in nearly 40 years in 2021.- Saw Dow Jones hit over 39,780, a historic high.- Shows a booming (3.3% during 4Q23) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with the best worldwide recovery from the Pandemic. The GDP measures the value of the final goods and services produced in the United States (without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them).- Shows US factory and small business investment at a record high.

Election Security

- Signed the Electoral Count Act, which takes long overdue steps to protect the integrity of our elections.

Employment

- Saw more than 700,000 people joining the labor force in August 2023, which means the highest share of working-age Americans are in the workforce now than at any time in the past 20 years. People are coming off the sidelines, getting back to their workplaces. Job satisfaction is higher than it's been in 36 years.- Has near-record low unemployment rate for Hispanics.- Has near-record low unemployment rate for African Americans.- Has record low unemployment rate for people with disabilities.

Energy

- Announced more than $366 million toward 17 projects across 20 states and 30 tribal nations and communities to accelerate clean energy deployment in rural and remote areas. This funding is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (also seeInfrastructure) and will support a variety of community-driven energy projects in rural and remote regions, such as building microgrids for community health centers to ensure electricity for critical life-saving equipment or constructing a new hydroelectric facility on Tribal lands to improve access to reliable, affordable energy.- Also see Climate Justice.

Foreign Policy

- Brought a renewed seriousness to U.S. foreign policy making stands in sharp contrast with the chaos of the Trump era.- Strengthened alliances and partnerships to deliver for the American people, and reiterated American's commitment to defend NATO partners who are under attack.- Rejoined the Paris Agreement on Day One to reassert the United States global leadership to combat the climate crisis.- Led a massive effort to push back against Russia after it unleashed the most horrific war of aggression in Europe since 1945.- Built and expanded new alliances to contain China in the Indo- Pacific.

Guns

- Implemented first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, to end the scourge of gun violence, overseen by the Vice President.- Approves the expansion of background checks on gun sales at gun shows and through private sellers, to regulate a fast-growing shadow market of weapons that has fueled gun violence.- Signed an executive order to keep more guns out of dangerous hands by increasing effective use of “red flag” laws.- Requested a report from the Federal Trade Commission analyzing how gun manufacturers market to minors.- Signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act calling on Congress to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. It requires safe storage of weapons, and repeals gun manufacturers immunity from liability.

Health

- Invested $12 billion in new funding for women's health research. This investment would be used to create a Fund for Women's Health Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance a cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research agenda and to establish a new nationwide network of research centers of excellence and innovation in women's health—which would serve as a national gold standard for women's health research across the lifespan.- Capped out-of-pocket expenses for drugs to $3,000.- Negotiated drug prices with Medicare for the first time in history.- Also see Seniors.

Hunger

- Hosted the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years, and released a national strategy to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities by 2030.- Announced Food Forward, a produce recovery and hunger relief nonprofit, which will recover 290 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste and distribute this surplus free of charge to people experiencing food insecurity.- By increasing its current annual recovery volume from 80 million to 100 million pounds by 2026, Food Forward will provide 1.6 billion more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables to historically underserved communities.

Infrastructure

- Passed a $108 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. This includes:

- A $1 billion investment to clean up and restore the Great Lakes.- Funding of $8.2 billion for passenger rail including a “world class” high speed rail system.- Investment in high-speed Internet.

- Launched over 7,800 bridge repair projects. In addition, since President Biden took office, improvements have started on 135,800 miles of roads thanks to funding provided by the Department of Transportation.- The ARPA-H initiative will advance cutting-edge research on cancer and other diseases.- Lowered the cost of hearing aids by making them available over the counter.- Reignited the Cancer Moonshot with the goal of cutting the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years.

LGBTQI

- Signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law to protect marriage for LGBTQI and interracial couples.

Manufacturing

- Oversaw a historic recovery in domestic manufacturing—since President Biden took office, the economy added 800,000 manufacturing jobs – the most in nearly 30 years.- Brought manufacturing as a share of U.S. GDP to pre-pandemic levels and created more manufacturing jobs in 2022 than in any single year in nearly 30 years.- Accelerated adoption of electric vehicles by reducing costs for families, jump-started the first national EV charging network, and made historic investments in EV batteries and materials.- Jump-started the American offshore wind partnership.- Made in America policies, and transformational investments such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have catalyzed historic domestic investments by the private sector to bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back home. This includes nearly $80 billion in planned investments in semiconductor manufacturing and more than $100 billion in announced investments in electric vehicles, batteries, and critical minerals since 2021.- Passed the CHIP Act 2023 with a $166 investment in computer and electronic manufacturing.- Also see Business.

Marijuana

- Issued a presidential proclamation that pardoned many federal and D.C. offenses for simple marijuana possession in violation of federal law prior to December 22, 2023.- Added additional pardons for simple marijuana possession and use.

National Parks

- Invested $195 million in funding over the next decade for climate restoration and resilience projects protecting American and national parks for generations to come.

Native American Issues

- Implemented a Tribal co-management and co-stewardship of Federal lands and waters.- Prioritized relationships with Tribal Nations built on respect for Tribal sovereignty and self-governance.- Allotted $32 billion of the American Rescue Plan, $13 billion of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and $700 million of the Inflation Reduction Act toward Tribal committees and native people.- Established uniform standards for Tribal consultation across the Federal government.- Implemented the new Indigenous Knowledge Guidance For Federal Agencies.- Provided better access to capital in Indian Country.- Announced the Secretarial Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) for several Tribes to establish structured support to help them establish structured support for both the Tribes and their committees to transition to clean energy.- Allotted a significant portion of agency procurement spending on contracts and services to Native-owned or controlled businesses under the Buy Indian Act.- Implemented the Ten-year National Plan to revitalize Native languages and Tribal self-determination.- Is facilitating the development of Tribal clean energy production along the Columbia River System.- Also see https://www.whitehouse.gov/ for many more accomplishments under this topic.

Reproductive Rights

- Is calling on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law so women in every state have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions so those rights are not in the hands of legislators.- Implemented the President’s three Executive Orders and a Presidential Memorandum issued since the Court overturned Roe v. Wade. To date, the Administration has taken action to:

- Protect access to abortion, including FDA-approved medication abortion;- Defend access to emergency medical care;- Strengthen access to high-quality, affordable contraception;- Support the ability to travel for reproductive health care, and support patients traveling out of state for medical care.- Safeguard the privacy of patients and health care providers; and- Ensure access to accurate information and legal resources.

Seniors

- Lowered seniors' health care expenses, including by capping out of pocket expenses on prescription drugs for seniors at $2000 per year, ensuring that people enrolled in Medicare will not pay more than $35 for a month's supply of insulin, and recipients will receive free vaccines.- Rolled out negotiated drug prices for Medicare.

Student Loans and Debt

- Canceled student loan debt of over $150 billion for more than 4.3 million Americans (this figure keeps rising).- Canceled student loan debt for an additional 78,000 public service workers – teachers, nurses, firefighters, and more through Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and 277,000 more borrowers as of April 12, 2024.- Increased the maximum value of Pell Grants by $900.

Terrorism

- Successful counterterrorism missions and ongoing efforts in West Africa, Istanbul, the West Bank, against the leaders of Al Qaeda and ISIS.- Improved information-sharing on domestic terrorism threats across the federal government and with our state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners.

Unions

- Expanded VA health care to millions of Veterans years earlier than called for by the PACT Act.- The PACT Act is a law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. This law helps provide generations of Veterans—and their survivors—with the care and benefits they've earned and deserve.

Women

- Invested $12 billion in new funding for women's health research.- Signed legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act 2022.- Also see Health and Reproductive Rights.