~a column by Colleen O’Brien
As much as I’ve enjoyed/hated/done it anyway, my writing columns for the past eight years making fun of #45 (now advertising himself as 45-47: precisely what I fear) or mentioning his latest lies, I’m tired of it for the day, so will make my day by listing a few of President Biden’s accomplishments, which somehow either don’t make headline news or on page 4 – so dispiriting for a person who used to trust the press.
Following are stats distributed by PolitiFact, the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI on how Joe Biden has spent his time as President:
1. Rebuilding our infrastructure
2. Expanding benefits and services for Vets exposed to toxic war material
3. Protecting marriage between LGBTQ+ and interracial couples
4. Historic confirming of Supreme Court judge Jackson as well as federal judges of diverse background
5. Executive orders protecting reproductive rights
6. Rallying the world to support Ukraine against Russian invasion
7. Establishing historic student debt relief for middleclass and working-class families
8. Ending our very long backward approach to marijuana
9. Advancing equity and racial justice, including criminal justice reform
10. Delivering on the most aggressive climate and environmental justice agenda in American history
11. Offering to decent healthcare to more people than ever before
12. Signing legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act
13. Advancing cutting-edge research on cancer and other chronic diseases through the American Rescue Plan Initiative
14. Signing legislation to put more police officers on the beat and invest in community policing
15. Signing the Electoral Count Act, which takes long overdue steps to protect the integrity of our elections
16. Lowering the cost of hearing aids by making them available over the counter
17. Creating more manufacturing jobs in 2022 than in any single year in 20 years
18. Signing an executive order to encourage competition across industries
19. Taking action to lower energy cost for families
20. Lowering seniors’ healthcare expenses, including capping out- of-pocket expenses on prescription drugs for seniors at $2,000 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
21. Accelerating adoption of electric vehicles (EV) by reducing costs for families, jump starting the first national EV charging networks and making historic investment s in EV batteries and materials
22. Rejoining the Paris Agreement to reassert the U.S. global leadership that his predecessor dropped out of
23. Jumpstarting the American offshore wind industry and convening the nation’s first federal-state offshore wind partnership
24. Setting new policies to reduce super pollutants like methane to protect communities and reducing emissions fueling climate change
25. Lowering the deficit with the single largest annual reduction in American history
26. Securing commitments from 20 leading internet providers to increase speeds and cut prices
27. Awarding the most federal contracting dollars to small businesses and disadvantaged small business
28. Requesting the Cancer Moonshot with a goal of cutting the cancer death rate over the next 25 years
29. Appointing a record number of women and people of color to serve in his administration
30. Hosting the first White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health in more than 50 years and releasing a national strategy to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities.
31. Awarding more than $1 billion to initiate clean-up and clearing the backlog of 49 previously unfunded Superfund Sites, over $1250 million of clean up hundreds of contaminated brownfield sites and $725 million for abandoned mine lands
32. Mailing more than 740 million free COVID-19 tests directly to tens of millions of Americans
As a footnote, not necessarily as a Biden accomplishment but an indication of better times: in 2022, violent crime dropped 1.7 percent, and that included a 6.1 percent decrease in murder and non-negligent manslaughter. Rape decreased 5.4 percent and aggravated assault dropped 1.1 percent, but robbery increased 1.3 percent (FBI)
The latest candidate polling for the 2024 general election is listing the Democratic runner and the Republican as neck and neck, with both of them at 50 percent popularity. Post this on your fridge to contemplate often, remembering that this president has produced more work for American citizens than all other presidents except Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom had the luxury of working with a friendly Congress.
