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The White House is touting the progress made during the first year of the Biden presidency, with officials saying President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris moved “quickly” to deliver results for families across the nation on everything from COVID vaccines to health care and the economy, leading to the “most impactful” legislative agenda for a first-year president.
Jan. 20 marks one year since Biden took the oath of office at his inauguration ceremony – a year rocked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – affecting everything from the economy to the supply chain, to schools, an overwhelmed health care system and more.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris took office amid several crises and promised to move quickly to deliver results for working families,” a White House official told Fox News. “That’s what they’ve done.”
First, on the pandemic, the White House official pointed to the administration’s “historic” vaccination program, resulting in more than 200 million Americans becoming fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Officials also touted vaccines made available to children and teenagers, and the administration’s efforts to get “96% of schools” open, even amid the surge in the highly transmissible omicron variant.
“All of these steps have and continue to save countless lives,” the official said, adding that Biden has also “closed the racial equity gap” in COVID vaccinations among adults.
President Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
As for the economy, despite rising inflation and months of the supply chain crisis, the official said Biden has succeeded in strengthening the nation’s standing.
“President Biden has grown the economy faster than in decades and added 6.4 million jobs—more in one year than ever on record,” the official said, touting recent unemployment claims down to a level “not seen since 1969.”
And on his agenda, despite his signature “Build Back Better” plan being stalled in Congress, the official cast the passage and signing of the bipartisan infrastructure plan into law. The White House also reflected on the early passage of the American Rescue Plan, with officials calling it the “most impactful legislative agenda for a first year president.”
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“In spite of unprecedented crises and opposition from Congressional Republicans, the president and Congressional Democrats got an enormous amount done for the American people in their first year,” the official told Fox News.
In what the White House described as a list of “key wins” for the president’s first year in office, officials claimed success in the president’s efforts to expand affordable health care to Americans by increasing the number of Americans with health care coverage to “the highest number ever” while slashing premiums for millions. The president also banned surprise billing – an issue that the White House says has been “particularly concerning” to Americans – while also lowering the copays that many pay.
An official also toured the Biden administration’s “aggressive action” to tackle the climate crisis, pointing to the president’s day-one promise to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and reestablishing U.S. leadership at the global conference on climate change.
On gun control, the White House applauded the president’s work in issuing a “comprehensive strategy” to reduce gun crime, including an administration-wide effort to crack down on gun trafficking and the proliferation of “ghost guns.”
As for crime and law enforcement, the White House pointed to the Department of Justice’s ban on federal law enforcement from using choke holds and “no-knock” entries. But the official touted Biden’s work in providing “historic levels of funding” through the American Rescue Plan to put more police officers in the field and invest in community programs that officials insist reduce crime and make communities safer.
The official also pointed to Biden’s success in his first year to put his mark on federal courts. More of Biden’s lower-court nominees were confirmed in his first year in office than any president since John F. Kennedy. The official also touted the president’s picks, appointing more Black women on the U.S. Court of Appeals than any president in history.
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The official also pointed to Biden’s work in advancing racial equity across the federal government, and what the White House describes as the “most diverse administration in history,” with the “most women, people of color, disability, LGBTQ+, first generation American and first generation college graduates.”
The official also said a “key win” for Biden was forming a “government that looks like America,” pointing to his Cabinet, saying half of Biden’s Cabinet secretaries are women and the majority are non-White.
But one item likely to raise eyebrows from the White House is its characterization of the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan as a “key win.”
The official said that Biden “restored America’s global leadership,” saying Biden “ended America’s longest war.”
While that fact is true, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan was criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike. An Aug. 26 suicide bombing took the lives of 13 U.S. service members – including 11 Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier. Eighteen other U.S. service members were wounded. The bombing also left more than 150 civilians dead.
As the president marks 12 months in office, his standing with Americans remains underwater.
Averages of the most recent national polls compiled by both Real Clear Politics and FiveThirtyEight put Biden’s approval at 42% and disapproval at 52%.
Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. But the president’s numbers started sagging in August in the wake of Biden’s handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and following a surge in COVID-19 cases this summer among mainly unvaccinated people.
The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by the surge since the summer in consumer prices and to a lesser degree the surge this year of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border with Mexico.
Biden’s approval ratings average has hovered in the low 40s and his disapproval ratings average in the low 50s since mid-October.
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But a Quinnipiac University national poll grabbed headlines last week when it measured the president’s approval at just 33%. A White House memo described the survey as an “outlier.”
Meanwhile, Biden held a press conference Wednesday and defended his record during his first year in office, saying he “didn’t overpromise” but instead “outperformed,” maintaining the “enormous progress” his administration has made, and vowed to “stay on track” going forward.
The president on Wednesday was asked whether he overpromised on what he could achieve during his first year at the White House, as the country grapples with rising inflation, a surge in the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19, and as his legislative agenda is stalled in Congress.
“I didn’t overpromise,” Biden said. “I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen.”
The president said his administration has “made enormous progress.”
“Everything’s changing. It’s getting better,” Biden said. “Look, I didn’t overpromise, but I think if you take a look at what we’ve been able to do, you’d have to acknowledge we made enormous progress.”
But, looking ahead, Biden said he needs to do a “change in tactic.”
“I have to make clear to the American people what we are for,” he said. “We passed a lot of things that people don’t even understand.”
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Biden said he plans to “be out on the road a lot, making the case around the country” with Democrats who are up for reelection in November to help in “making the case of what we did do and what we want to do and what we need to do.”
“And so, I don’t think I’ve overpromised at all, and I’m going to stay on track,” Biden said.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.