As we approach the midpoint of President Joe Biden’s first term, there is little doubt that he deserves a solid “A.” He has turned the economy around, gotten the pandemic under control, gotten inflation under control and laid the basis for a rapid transition to clean energy. No president since Lyndon Johnson has as much to show for their first two years in office. Unlike Johnson, Biden managed to push through key legislation with a tiny majority in the House and the thinnest possible margin in the Senate.
Biden’s first significant accomplishment was the passage of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which was designed to protect people from the effects of the pandemic and quickly get the economy back to full employment. At $1.7 trillion, it was a very bold measure. Many economists thought it was too large, including some prominent Democratic economists.
The ARP succeeded in producing rapid growth and getting unemployment down to half-century lows. It also put a lot of money in people’s bank accounts, with most households seeing their savings increase during the pandemic.
