Eugene weekly., January 21, 2021, Page 10, Image 10

Photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President
BIDEN’S FIRST 100 DAYS
Of course, the biggest change to Washington D.C. is
the change in leadership in the White House. With Biden
sworn in on Jan. 20, the 46th president inherits some of
the biggest challenges any incoming president has ever
dealt with. His performance over these first 100 days won’t
just set the pace for his presidency, but also his popularity.
OSU political science associate professor Stout says
this period is considered crucial for any president, since
most Americans generally want to see the country succeed
and the president hasn’t done anything wrong, yet. What
Biden does over this period could curtail his agenda. He
points to former President Bill Clinton, who slowed down
his agenda by pursuing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. He adds that
Trump immediately upset many Americans by getting
in a fight with the National Park Service over how many
people attended his inauguration.
Although Biden is another president who’s an old white
guy, the support he’s enlisted is historic. In addition to
having the first-ever vice president of Black and South
Asian descent, he also has the most diverse picks for a
cabinet in U.S. history. If confirmed by the Senate, one-
half of the cabinet would be women and a majority would
be people of color.
A diverse cabinet could have a drastic impact on
governance, Stout says. Diverse cabinet members have
a lived experience that past members don’t have. “The
more diverse cabinet will probably be more focused on
inequality than in the past,” he says. “Just policy-wise,
there’s going to be drastic differences in the views of what
the government should be doing between Biden’s picks
and Trump’s cabinet officials.”
Stout says for Biden to start the first 100 days off right,
he needs to champion legislation that everyone can agree
on. Obama did it with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of
2009, and Biden’s support for a COVID-19 economic relief
package could be his popular action. Stout adds that with
some Republican lawmakers supporting an increase of
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the individual stimulus checks to $2,000 from $1,400.
If the relief legislation passed Congress, it would be a
major win for Biden.
Politically for Biden, getting Congress on board for
the COVID-19 relief bill is relatively easier than the other
policies he’s advocating for. Stout says lowering the age
for Medicare, addressing the public option on health care
and building green infrastructure will take more political
as strong a stance on the budget deficit this time because
so many of them were in support of the Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act of 2017. According to a February 2019 report from the
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Trump-era
tax cut will add $1.9 trillion to the deficit over 10 years.
As for the atmosphere of the country and the Demo-
crats’ views on TARP-like legislation that DeFazio so
vehemently opposed at the risk of becoming the “pariah”
‘We need to act quickly and show the
Americans that there are real results
that will not be trickle-down economics
or a pittance in everybody’s pockets.’
— PETER DEFAZIO, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
capital. But that bigger legislation might not happen in
the first 100 days.
Stout says it’s a big deal that in Biden’s COVID-19
relief proposal a $15 minimum wage is included. “I don’t
think that’s something Obama would have pushed for,” he
adds. The growing presence of Black Lives Matter-related
protests is also an opportunity for Biden to make some
headway on racial equality issues, too, he adds.
Obama did have to deal with the “Taxed Enough Already”
Party (Tea Party), but Stout says Republicans can’t take
of the party, according to the congressman, the party
has changed, Stout says. Thanks to Sanders’ presidential
campaigns and the progressive movement he helped
spark, the Democratic Party is more left than it was
when Obama had Summers working on TARP, he adds.
After progressive Democrats pressured Biden to not
have Summers in his administration, maybe the party has
learned its lesson on how to stay in power, but after Biden’s
first two years, voters will say how the 46th president
fared in the 2022 midterms. ■
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M