When President Joe Biden ran for president in 2020, the U.S. economy was being pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden laid out a plan to rebuild it through policies designed to boost job growth, prop up small businesses, reduce healthcare costs and invest in emerging technologies.
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Now that Biden has announced his intention to run for re-election in 2024, he’ll have to stand on that record. Here’s a look at how he has performed on 10 of his economic promises.
Rebuild the Economy
As Politico recently reported, Biden pledged to “invest in infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing” and “create millions of good paying American jobs and get the job market back in the path to full employment.”
Whether he succeeded is open to debate, though Politico gave the president a “kept his promise” grade. Legislation passed on Biden’s watch included bills that allocated billions of dollars in COVID aid and also made major investments in manufacturing and infrastructure projects — including highway, transit and green energy initiatives passed in the Inflation Reduction Act.
However, the economy has been rocked by high inflation, and GDP growth has been flat of late. The nation’s real GDP grew by a robust 5.72% in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. But that slowed to 0.88% in 2022, and growth in the 2023 first quarter was only slightly better at 1.1%.
Some economists predict a mild recession in coming months, though Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Forbes in a recent interview that a recession is “not at all inevitable.”
Stoke Job Growth
This has been one of the major successes under Biden. As Politico noted, the unemployment rate is near 50-year lows, the U.S. economy has added tens of millions of jobs and average wages have been on the rise.
Help the Economy Recover from COVID-19
Biden gets high grades in this area because of various programs to contain the virus and help small businesses and workers recover. The 2021 American Rescue plan poured tens of billions of dollars into loans to keep small businesses afloat, while other stimulus packages provided payments and tax credits to Americans to help them pay bills.
Forgive Student Loan Debt
Biden proposed to “forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities and private HBCUs and MSIs for debt holders earning up to $125,000,” PolitiFact noted. His administration made a big play in this area last summer with the announcement of the federal student loan forgiveness program, which aimed to cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower. But the plan has been stalled by a series of legal battles, and many experts say it is unlikely to be implemented in its current form.
Create 1 Million Auto Industry Jobs
This was one of the cornerstones of Biden’s economic plan, but so far it hasn’t happened. As of December 2022, only about 290,700 new direct auto industry jobs had been created in the following categories, PolitiFact reported: motor vehicles and parts manufacturing; wholesale motor vehicles and parts; retail motor vehicles and parts; and automotive repair and maintenance.
However, many more jobs are expected to be created due to investments in other areas connected to the auto industry, such as electric vehicle charging stations and advanced electric batteries. Whether that’s enough to get to 1 million jobs by the end of Biden’s first term remains to be seen.
Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 28%
This is another promise that has fallen short. Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, announced last month, would increase the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 21% to 28%, according to a blog on the PWC website. The proposal is not likely to get approved by the Republican-led U.S. House, however.
Let Medicare Negotiate Lower Drug Prices
This promise aimed to help seniors save money on drug costs, and Biden has succeeded on that front. Politico rates it a “kept his promise,” largely because the Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors.
“Already, millions of seniors are saving hundreds of dollars each per year because of the Biden Administration’s actions, and President Biden is fighting to expand these cost savings to all Americans,” the White House said in a March 2023 fact sheet.
Provide 12 Weeks Paid Family and Medical Leave
This promise remains stalled, though there is still time to fulfill it by the end of the current term. Biden’s FY 2024 budget allocates $325 billion to a “comprehensive, permanent paid family and medical leave program,” according to the Society for Human Resources Management. That includes providing workers with up to 12 paid weeks off to bond with a new child, care for a family member or heal from a serious illness. But again, chances are the U.S. House will vote against it.
Expand Healthcare
Expanding healthcare might not strictly fall under the banner of “economic” promises, but access to more and cheaper healthcare can have a major positive economic impact on average Americans. Biden gets a high grade in this area.
As PolitiFact noted, eight days into his tenure the president signed an executive order to strengthen Medicaid and Obamacare. He followed that by signing the American Rescue Plan, which expanded eligibility for heath subsidies and increased premium tax credits to help low- and moderate-income Americans purchase Obamacare coverage.
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Expand Child and Elder Care Access
Politico gives this a “stalled” grade because many of Biden’s “care economy” proposals were dropped during negotiations for the Inflation Reduction Act. Since then, these proposals have been put on the back burner as a divided Congress deals with more pressing issues like inflation and the debt ceiling crisis.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Economic Promises Biden Made in 2020 — Did He Keep Any of Them?