Passed the American Rescue Plan
President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act into law, an unprecedented $1.9 trillion package that helped combat COVID-19 and supercharge a historic economic recovery.
The American Rescue Plan:
Helped get over 500 million shots in arms, distribute millions of therapeutics, and dramatically expand testing capabilities. Over two-thirds of Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19 thanks to the American Rescue Plan.
Delivered needed relief to families by sending over 160 million checks to Americans, expanding food and rental assistance, and providing aid to thousands of small businesses. The expanded Child Tax Credit led to the largest-ever one-year decrease in childhood poverty in American history.
Safely reopened America’s schools and made a historic investment to tackle learning loss and address mental health. Today, over 99% of schools are open for in-person learning. Before the ARP, only 46% of schools were open in-person.
Biggest year of job growth in American history
President Biden is leading America through a historic economic recovery. In 2021, the U.S. economy added over 6.5 million jobs – the greatest year of job growth under any President in history. At the same time, we saw the largest annual decline in unemployment ever recorded and the strongest year of GDP growth since 1984.
This didn’t happen by accident and a rapid recovery was not guaranteed. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, unemployment has dropped below 4% years ahead of predictions and our economy has recovered faster than other major global economies. President Biden is leading our country’s historic recovery by investing to rebuild the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down.
Took action to combat COVID-19
The Biden-Harris Administration successfully mobilized the largest free vaccination program in the history of the United States, dramatically increased the national supply of tests, and expedited the development of life-saving COVID-19 treatments.
Before President Biden took office, there was no comprehensive plan to get Americans vaccinated. President Biden got to work immediately on a national effort to get shots in arms. Funding from the American Rescue Plan helped vaccinate over 200 million Americans and administer over 500 million shots.
Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, over three-quarters of American adults are fully vaccinated, up from less than 1% before President Biden took office.
President Biden took action to drastically increase the number of free testing sites around the country and secure millions of rapid, at-home tests. The Administration launched COVIDtests.gov so Americans could order tests to be shipped directly to their homes for free.
At the same time, the President expedited the development of numerous, effective COVID-19 treatments including life-saving antiviral pills. In total, the Administration secured 20 million courses of antiviral pills that have been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 89%.
Passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Thanks to President Biden, we’re done talking about infrastructure week. Now, we’re building about an infrastructure decade.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation, transformational investment that will help create thousands of jobs and set America up to win the 21st century. The law provides billions in funding to repair bridges and roads, begin replacing every lead pipe in America, upgrade our ports and airports, and expand broadband access to all. It also includes the largest federal investment in public transit ever and the biggest investment in Amtrak since its creation.
In 2022 alone, repairs will begin on 65,000 miles of roads and 1,500 bridges.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will rebuild America’s critical infrastructure, create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, and increase our competitiveness for years to come.
Took action to combat the climate crisis and reduce emissions
President Biden has made combatting the climate crisis a top priority. In the first days of his Administration, President Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accords and committed to cutting U.S. emissions to half of 2005 levels by 2030.
As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure law, the Biden-Harris Administration is making the largest investment in clean energy transmission ever. In addition, the law allocated billions to clean up abandoned mines and oil wells, fund research of next-generation clean energy technologies, build zero-emission public transit, and create a national network of EV charging stations.
President Biden also secured the largest investment in climate resilience in American history. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests billions to protect Americans from droughts, fires, and floods while moving America closer to our climate goals.
Expanded health care to millions of Americans
After four years of endless attempts to strip health care from millions of Americans under the previous Administration, President Biden took action to strengthen the Affordable Care Act by expanding eligibility and extending the open enrollment period.
As a result, President Biden has brought down costs and expanded health care access for millions of Americans. Thanks to tax credits in the American Rescue Plan, a record 14.5 million Americans signed up for coverage for this year through the ACA, including 5.8 million new customers. At the same time, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan made quality coverage more affordable than ever, with millions of families on ACA plans saving an average of $2,400 yearly on their premiums.
In addition, President Biden took action to end the practice of surprise medical billing. By strengthening consumer protection rules and expanding price transparency, the Biden Administration protected millions of Americans from unexpected health care costs.
Nominated and confirmed historic judicial nominees
The President delivered on his promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court when he nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Judge Jackson will be the first Black woman and public defender to serve on the Supreme Court.
President Biden is working to shape a federal judicial system that fully represents America’s diversity. Of the judges confirmed in the President’s first year, 80% were women and 53% were people of color.
Overall, more than 50 of President Biden’s circuit and district court nominees have been confirmed by the Senate – far outpacing recent previous administrations. In his first year alone, 40 of President Biden’s circuit and district court nominees were confirmed by the Senate – the most in any President’s first year since Ronald Reagan.
Took big steps toward a future made in America
Since President Biden took office, he has been relentlessly focused on revitalizing American manufacturing.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made investments to strengthen our supply chains and encourage companies to bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back home. Among other measures, the President strengthened Buy American rules to make sure more of what we buy in America is made in America. These critical steps towards a future made in America will lower costs at home and set us up to win the 21st century.
President Biden’s Made in America strategy resulted in the largest yearly increase in U.S. manufacturing jobs in nearly 30 years.