First 100 days of Joe Biden's presidency

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The first 100 days of Joe Biden's presidency began on January 20, 2021, the day Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. The first 100 days of a presidential term took on symbolic significance during Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term in office, and the period is considered a benchmark to measure the early success of a president. The 100th day of his presidency was April 29, 2021.

Over his first 100 days, Biden signed 42 executive orders, more than any of his predecessors since Harry Truman.^[1] Many of these executive orders were reversals to Donald Trump's policies. On March 11, he signed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion bill to help relieve economic strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

With the election of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, Democrats held a slim majority in both the House and the Senate.^[3] This was crucial in ensuring the passage of the American Rescue Plan, as every Republican senator voted against it.^[4]

Pledges[]

Biden pledged to do the following in his first 100 days:

• Provide 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine; this goal was later doubled to 200 million doses^[5]
• Raise the refugee cap set by Donald Trump from 15,000 to 125,000^[6]
• Stop construction on the southern border wall^[7]
• End travel restrictions to Muslim countries
• Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement^[8] and the World Health Organization^[9]
• End United States involvement in the War in Afghanistan and the Yemeni Civil War^[10]

Inauguration[]

The first 100 days of the Presidency of Joe Biden began during the inauguration of Joe Biden with the conversion of Whitehouse.gov from the Trump Administration to the Biden-Harris Administration version at 12:00 pm on January 20, 2021. This was the fourth presidential online portal transition and the second to involve social media accounts such as Twitter.^[11]

Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election[]

Following Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 United States presidential election, Donald Trump, along with his campaign and political allies, pursued an aggressive and unprecedented^[12] effort to overturn the election. These efforts culminated in the 2021 United States Capitol attack, in which thousands of President Trump's supporters attacked the Capitol while the electoral votes were being counted.^[13]

Trump and his allies encouraged election officials to throw out legitimate votes, especially in states where Biden won with a narrow lead.^[14] In a phone call in early January, Trump pressed Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to "find" 11,780 votes, the number of votes by which he lost in the state.^[15] President Trump refused to concede^[16] until January 7, 2021, when he publicly acknowledged that he would not serve a second term.^[17]

Administration and Cabinet[]

Cabinet of President Biden in July 2021

On January 18, 2021, Biden announced his 23-member cabinet. These included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Treasury Janet L. Yellen, Defense Lloyd Austin, the Interior Deb Haaland, Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Commerce Gina Raimondo, Labor Martin J. Walsh, Health Xavier Becerra, Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Domestic Policy Susan Rice, Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Intelligence Avril D. Haines, Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Housing Marcia L. Fudge, Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Climate Gina McCarthy, EPA Adminstrator Michael S. Regan, and Education Miguel A. Cardona.^[18]

Domestic policy[]

American Rescue Plan[]

The American Rescue Plan is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, which passed the 117th United States Congress on March 10, 2021, and signed into law by President Biden the next day. Building on the CARES Act, it created a number of measures to relieve the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the following:

• Sending $1,400 direct payments to citizens making under $75,000 a year, with the benefits phasing out for high-income taxpayers^[19]
• Paid leave benefits for 100 million workers by offering a tax credit for employers who offer paid leave^[20]
• Extending the child tax credit for 2021 from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child^[21]
• Grants to small businesses, including over $28 billion for restaurants through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund^[22]

The Act passed on a near party-line vote, with 50 Senate Democrats voting for the bill and 49 Republicans voting against.^[4] An amended version passed the House with 220 votes for it and 211 votes against, with one Democrat joining every Republican in voting against it.^[23]

COVID-19 vaccine distribution[]

A major goal of President Biden was to distribute 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of his first 100 days. By the time Biden took office, Operation Warp Speed was already distributing a million doses a day on average. This goal was reached by the 59th day of his presidency, and he soon after doubled the goal to 200 million doses.^[24] This goal was met on April 21, 2021, with a week to spare until his 100th day in office.^[25]

Timeline of daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the US.^[26] See the latest date on the timeline at the bottom.

Immigration policy[]

Biden campaigned on the promise he would roll back President Trump's hard-line stance on immigration. Shortly after taking office, he ended construction on the southern border wall.^[27] Biden had pledged to raise the Trump-era immigration cap from 15,000 people a year to 125,000, but backtracked on this promise shortly after becoming President, citing humanitarian concerns.^[28] His administration worked to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from Venezuela and Myanmar, from deportation.^[29] Lack of significant action has drawn criticism, especially since Biden has failed to deliver on many of his immigration-related promises.^[30]

Foreign policy[]

Rejoining international organizations[]

On June 1, 2017, President Trump announced that the United States would cease participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation.^[31] The withdrawal took place on November 4, 2020, one day after the 2020 election.^[32] Following the election, President-Elect Biden pledged to rejoin the agreement, which he did on his first day in office. The United States formally rejoined the agreement on February 19, 2021.^[33]

President Trump also announced plans to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization effective as of July 6, 2021, accusing the WHO of being under China's control.^[34] In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guteres on January 20, 2021, President Biden stated that the United States would resume funding the WHO.^[35]

China–US relations[]

The Biden-Harris administration has made competing with China a top priority.^[36] The United States has sanctioned Chinese officials over human rights abuses^[37] and kept in place the tariffs introduced during the Trump administration.^[38] Biden has emphasized the importance of rebuilding ties with allies to counter Chinese growth.^[39]

Defense[]

By the time Biden took office, the US military budget was at an all-time high—the Trump administration had requested a budget of over $740 billion for FY 2020.^[40] Biden has promised to repair relationships with allies, and stated that the United States was "fully committed" to the NATO alliance.^[41] During his address to the Munich Security Conference, he said that the United States would "earn back [its] position of trusted leadership."^[42]

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