Spotlight: Biden's 1st 100 Days |
Today is the 99th day since President Biden’s inauguration, and to mark the occasion he’ll be returning to Capitol Hill tonight for his first address to a joint session of Congress. From there, Biden plans to travel to Georgia on Thursday for what will be his 100th day in office.
Marking the 100-day milestone has become a time-honored tradition in Washington, D.C., and for that Biden has former President Franklin Roosevelt to thank. Over the course of his first 100 days, FDR not only helped shore up a rapidly deteriorating banking system amid the Great Depression, he also laid much of the groundwork for what would become the New Deal. Presidents have been measured by the 100-day standard ever since.
So 100 days in, where does Biden stand?
One way to answer that is to look at many of the promises Biden made while still a candidate for the White House. Take COVID-19. As a candidate, Biden promised to release a vaccination plan for getting shots into tens of millions of arms in his first 100 days. To date, more than 40% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. Biden has received high marks in polls for his handling of the pandemic, but there are still daunting challenges to getting vaccines to those who may be most hesitant.
It's a different story when it comes to immigration, which polls show is currently the president's biggest vulnerability. As promised, Biden has revoked former President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travelers from some Muslim-majority countries, and has signed an order establishing a task force focused on reuniting children and parents separated at the border. But as of early April, no family members had been reunited.
Looking at Biden’s first 100 days by the numbers offers another window into how he has approached the presidency. For one, he’s tweeting about three times less often as his predecessor. The 11 bills he has signed into law are among the fewest for any newly elected president dating back to FDR, but the 42 executive orders he’s issued are more than any president going back to Harry Truman. Biden may have campaigned on bringing bipartisanship back to Washington, but much of his early focus has been on policies he can implement on his own.
Expect to hear plenty more about accomplishments from the first 100 days when Biden steps to the lectern tonight around 9 p.m. ET. There will also be a big focus on the path ahead. Biden is expected to discuss his newly unveiled American Families Plan, as well as his sweeping, roughly $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs proposal.
NPR will have live special coverage of the address, which you can listen to on NPR.org, the NPR One app or on your local member station. You can also join us online to watch the speech, and for even more coverage and analysis. Until then, here is some helpful background on what to expect from tonight’s address. |
| — Jason Breslow, NPR digital editor |
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