{"id":10715,"date":"2023-12-28T15:13:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T15:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=10715"},"modified":"2023-12-28T15:13:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T15:13:23","slug":"the-biden-harris-agenda-delivered-meaningful-progress-for-hardworking-americans-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/28\/the-biden-harris-agenda-delivered-meaningful-progress-for-hardworking-americans-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biden-Harris Agenda Delivered Meaningful Progress for Hardworking Americans in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ben LaBolt, White House Communications Director<\/strong><\/em>
\nSpecial To The Truth<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When President Biden and Vice President Harris took the oath of office on January 20, 2021, America faced historic challenges including a once-in-a-century pandemic, an economy gripped by the most severe downturn since the Great Depression, and the painful aftermath of the January 6th insurrection. The prior administration was the first since President Hoover to exit office with fewer jobs than when they came in.<\/p>\n

From Day One, President Biden and Vice President Harris moved swiftly to tackle these challenges head-on. Over the three years since, he has amassed one of the most impactful legislative records in generations, fought to grow our economy by rebuilding the economy from the bottom up and middle out, and delivered the strongest recovery in the developed world. That\u2019s resulted in the creation of over 14 million jobs, the revival of America\u2019s infrastructure and a manufacturing renaissance, and meaningful wage gains for workers. Inflation has come down two thirds since last summer and consumer confidence is on the rise. The President also understands there is more work to do to lower costs for hard-working Americans: that\u2019s why he passed legislation to lower prescription drug and energy costs, is working to eliminate hidden junk fees that banks, airlines, and other companies charge to rip off consumers, and is taking on corporate price gouging.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, extreme Congressional Republicans show each day that they don\u2019t have a plan to lower costs for families. Their only plan is trillions of dollars of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, saddling taxpayers with more debt. They want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act try to block this Administration from lowering the costs of insulin and prescription drugs and undo the progress we\u2019re making on clean energy. They\u2019re still trying to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And Congressional Republicans attack freedoms like the right to choose, right to vote, and right to love who you love and be who you are \u2014 an ideology out of step with most Americans that treasure their individual liberties.<\/p>\n

As the year comes to an end, we look back at the administration\u2019s record of working to bring down costs, grow our economy, and fight for freedoms:<\/p>\n

Lowering Prescription Drug and Health Care Costs<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Passed legislation to help 15 million Americans save $800 per year on health insurance.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Capped the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors, made recommended vaccines free, and is requiring drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they raise prices faster than inflation.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Took on Big Pharma to finally allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices \u2014 starting with ten of the costliest, most widely used drugs used to treat blood clots, cancers, arthritis, diabetes and more.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Cracked down on surprise medical bills, preventing 1 million Americans from receiving surprise medical bills every month.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Led by Vice President Harris, urged states to expand Medicaid postpartum coverage from two months to 12. As of last week, 42 states have done so.<\/p>\n

Tackling Inflation and Cracking Down on Junk Fees<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Inflation spurred by the pandemic has fallen 65% since last summer.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Gas prices are down more than $1.90 from their peak, and grocery inflation is at its lowest level in two years.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Cracked down on hidden junk fees in airline tickets, banking, investment advice, health insurance, and apartment rentals, saving Americans billions of dollars per year.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Pushed banks to reduce overdraft and bounced check fees, saving consumers more than $5 billion a year.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Helped over 22 million households save more than $500 million per month on internet bills.<\/p>\n

Tackling the Climate Crisis, Lowering Energy Costs, and Protecting the Environment<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Signed the largest investment in climate action ever with the Inflation Reduction Act \u2014 which has created 210,000 new clean energy jobs in the last year alone.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Helped secure a historic, international agreement at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, triple renewable energy globally by 2030, and more.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Spurred hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector investment \u2014 in wind, solar, electric vehicles, and more \u2014 through the Inflation Reduction Act that will create jobs and help families save an average of $500 per year on energy costs.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Protected more than 21 million acres of public lands and waters, while making real progress on environmental justice.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Launched the American Climate Corps to mobilize a new, diverse generation of clean energy, conservation, and resilience workers.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Took bold executive action to cut emissions across the economy, including strong final standards to reduce methane pollution from oil and gas operations.<\/p>\n

Investing in America<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Signed the largest infrastructure bill since the Eisenhower Administration, and already announced $400 billion for 40,000 infrastructure projects across 4,500 communities.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Unleashed a manufacturing and clean energy boom \u2014 spurring over $600 billion in private sector investments since taking office, including more than $160 billion announced investments in battery and EV supply chains.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Invested over $250 billion to improve transportation all across the country \u2014 from better roads and bridges, to improved airports, to more reliable public transit and rail service.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Announced $40 billion in funding to states and territories to build affordable, reliable high-speed Internet infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Signed the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen U.S. supply chains, drive American competitiveness and create jobs.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Investing in rural communities to improve access to clean drinking water, reliable electricity, and high-speed Internet.<\/p>\n

Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Signed Executive Orders to protect access to abortion, contraception, and the right to travel across state lines to access care in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Vice President Harris mobilized more than 15,000 students in the fight for fundamental freedoms and rights \u2014 including reproductive freedom \u2014 while on her nationwide \u201cFight for Our Freedoms College Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Helped ensure that women receive the medical care they need in an emergency, including miscarriages, and can access affordable, high-quality contraception.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Strengthened privacy protections for patients and doctors, and defending in court women\u2019s ability to access medication abortion.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Continue to call on Congress to pass legislation restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n

Creating Jobs and Raising Wages<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Jumpstarted an economic recovery and created over 14 million jobs, including nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs \u2014 while unemployment has stayed below 4% for 22 straight months.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Standing up for unions, collective bargaining, and the dignity of work as the most prounion president in history.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Americans have filed a record 14.6 million applications to start new businesses.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Wages, wealth, and the share of working-age Americans with jobs are all higher than before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Unifying the Country: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Signed the bipartisan PACT Act, the most significant expansion of veterans\u2019 benefits in over 30 years, to give better health care and benefits to military service members and veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during service.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Called to end veterans\u2019 homelessness. This year alone, the Administration housed over 35,000 veterans.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Made historic investments in mental health care, including over $450 million to launch 988 \u2014 the suicide and crisis hotline.<\/p>\n

Making America Safer from Gun Violence: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Took on the gun lobby and passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first significant gun violence legislation in 30 years, which includes enhanced background checks for buyers under 21, expanded mental health programs, and support for red flag laws keeping guns away from dangerous people.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Created the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention in American history, overseen by Vice President Harris.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Funded an additional 14,000 school based mental health professionals, a 35 percent increase nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Announced nearly 40 executive actions to keep guns out of dangerous hands and especially dangerous weapons off our streets.<\/p>\n

Making Higher Education More Affordable: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Approved over a total of $127 billion in debt cancellation for 3.6 million Americans through a variety of actions \u2014 more than any President in history.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Launched the most affordable repayment plan ever \u2014 the SAVE plan \u2014 which will cut undergraduate loan payments in half and prevent student loan balances from growing from runaway interest.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Helped over 700,000 people access Public Service Loan Forgiveness.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Invested over $7 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities.<\/p>\n

Strengthening Democracy at Home and Abroad, While Restoring U.S. Leadership<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Defending freedom and democracy around the world, and standing up for democracies in Israel, Ukraine, and across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Strengthening the NATO Alliance and maintaining allied unity in the face of threats, expanding NATO and winning Congressional support to add Finland and Sweden to the Alliance.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Strengthening and revitalizing alliances and partnerships around the globe including trips to Southeast Asia by both the President and Vice President and the Vice President\u2019s historic trip to Africa.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Taking action to combat hate which undermines democracy \u2014 including by releasing the first-ever national strategy to counter Antisemitism, announcing the development of a national strategy to counter Islamophobia, signing legislation to enhance state and local law enforcement\u2019s ability to respond to hate crimes, and signing legislation to make lynching a federal crime.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Continuing to use his microphone to speak out against discrimination, racism, antiLGBTQI+ hate, and more \u2014 so that all Americans can live freely and without fear of attack or harassment.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Pushing for stronger voting rights to make sure every American can make their voice heard.<\/p>\n

Confirming Highly Qualified Judges<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Fulfilled his promise to nominate highly qualified judges and ensure the nation\u2019s courts reflects the diversity of America.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Appointed the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Under the President\u2019s leadership, the Senate has confirmed 160 life-tenured federal judges.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Confirmed a record-breaking number of Black, Hispanic, and AANHPI judges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ben LaBolt, White House Communications Director Special To The Truth When President Biden and Vice President Harris took the oath of office on January 20, 2021, America faced historic challenges including a once-in-a-century pandemic, an economy gripped by the most severe downturn since the Great Depression, and the painful aftermath of the January 6th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[208],"class_list":["post-10715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10716,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715\/revisions\/10716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10715"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}