Joe Biden's BFD

We've had a good first 50 days, and we ought to be celebrating

I almost feel like we should pause and take a victory lap tonight.  Joe Biden has been in office for 50 days, and take a look:  Today the House of Representatives passed his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, and the White House announced he will sign it on Friday, ahead of the March 14 cut-off for unemployment benefits.  By anyone’s measure, this is a BFD, and the fact that the bill didn’t receive even one Republican vote makes it all the more delicious. 

The relief package is what Republicans are fond of calling a “Democrat” program.  Biden and the Democratic Party should accept that appellation and celebrate it.  And why not?  A Politico/Morning Consult poll released this morning found that 75 percent of registered voters approve of the package either strongly or somewhat.  The same poll found that 60 percent of Republicans say they at least somewhat support the Biden relief program.

These are extraordinary numbers, and Democrats should take them and get ready to run on them next year. 

Biden’s approval rating stands at 53 percent with only 38 percent disapproving, according to an aggregate of polls by FiveThirtyEight.  Polls by ABC News and the Associated Press found that around 70 percent of the public approves of Biden’s handling of the COVID epidemic, and why not?  He announced before taking office that his administration had a goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans against COVID in the first 100 days he is in office, or 1 million vaccinations a day.  Biden’s vaccination program is now putting more than 2 million shots in Americans’ arms every day, doubling his initial goal. 

On the day he took office, Biden promised to transform Trump’s inhumane immigration policies, and he’s making good on his pledge.  His administration has redoubled efforts to reunite children who were separated from their parents by Trump’s border policies.  Lawyers working to reunite separated families have found the parents of at least 105 children since Biden took office.  Last week, the Biden administration announced that it will allow some separated immigrant families to reunite here in the United States if they choose.

There is still a lot to be done.  Parents of 506 separated migrant children have yet to be found and at least 300 of them were likely deported under Trump’s immigration policies. 

Biden also promised to reverse Trump’s policy of automatically refusing asylum applications, and immigration officials have begun to process 25,000 immigrants seeking asylum who have open claims and were forced to return to Mexico.

These are big changes and big accomplishments that are affecting people’s lives every day.  More than 11 million workers will not be cut off from unemployment benefits they are receiving.  More than 50 million Americans have been vaccinated against COVID with 2 million vaccinations being given every day.  In addition to $1400 checks that will soon be going out, families earning less than $150,000 a year will soon start receiving checks of up to $300 a month per child.  They won’t have to wait to see child tax credits reflected on their tax bill.  The IRS will start sending out checks by summer.

This has been a good day for Joe Biden, but more importantly, the country has had a really good first 50 days.