Joe Biden served as the 46th president of the United States from January 20, 2021, through January 20, 2025.
During his presidency, Biden signed major laws covering infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, climate and clean energy, prescription drugs, veterans, gun violence, marriage rights, Social Security, pensions, workers, scientific research and electoral reform. His administration also oversaw major infrastructure and manufacturing investments, record Affordable Care Act enrollment, extensive student-debt cancellation through federal programs, hundreds of federal judicial appointments, the expansion of NATO and other significant policy achievements.
This list focuses on substantive, verifiable accomplishments. Every individual accomplishment below includes at least one source that documents the claim. Primary government documents and agency records are used whenever practical.
Major Legislation
American Rescue Plan
Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act on March 11, 2021. The pandemic-relief law provided economic assistance to households, governments, schools, health programs, businesses and other institutions as the United States recovered from COVID-19.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — American Rescue Plan Act
The American Rescue Plan created a federal rescue program for financially distressed multiemployer pension plans. By January 15, 2025, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation had approved about $70.9 billion for 109 plans covering approximately 1.336 million workers, retirees and beneficiaries.
Source: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, on November 15, 2021. The law authorized major federal investment in highways, bridges, public transportation, rail, water systems, broadband and other infrastructure.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
By January 2025, approximately $591 billion from the infrastructure law had been announced for more than 72,000 projects and awards.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Infrastructure funding was supporting improvements to more than 207,000 miles of roadway.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
More than 12,300 bridge projects were moving forward with federal infrastructure support.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
More than 1,500 airports received support for terminal modernization, runway improvements or other projects.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
More than 445 passenger- and freight-rail projects were announced. They included Northeast Corridor improvements, highway-rail crossing projects and groundwork for additional passenger-rail service.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
More than 1,060 port and waterway projects were announced.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal transit investments funded projects involving more than 4,600 buses manufactured in the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
CHIPS And Science Act
Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act in August 2022, creating major federal incentives for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
By January 2025, the Commerce Department had awarded approximately $34 billion through the CHIPS manufacturing-incentives program.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
Semiconductor and electronics companies announced nearly $450 billion in planned U.S. investment during the Biden administration. Commerce said federal investment, including the CHIPS program, helped catalyze that wave of investment.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce — CHIPS for America
CHIPS-related announcements across 22 states were expected to create more than 125,000 manufacturing and construction jobs.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
Inflation Reduction Act
Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022. Among other provisions, the law changed Medicare prescription-drug policy, expanded health-insurance assistance and created major clean-energy incentives.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare authority to negotiate prices for selected prescription drugs for the first time.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Biden administration completed the first round of Medicare drug-price negotiations covering 10 medicines.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The law capped the cost of each covered insulin product for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 for a month’s supply.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Inflation Reduction Act health provisions
The law created a $2,000 annual limit on Medicare Part D out-of-pocket prescription-drug spending beginning in 2025.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Recommended adult vaccines covered by Medicare Part D became available without patient cost sharing beginning in 2023.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Inflation Reduction Act required pharmaceutical companies to pay Medicare rebates when prices for covered drugs rise faster than inflation.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The law extended enhanced federal financial assistance for people buying insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. CMS estimated the expanded assistance saved Marketplace consumers an average of more than $800 annually at the time of its first-year review.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
PACT Act
Biden signed the Honoring Our PACT Act in 2022, dramatically expanding health-care and disability eligibility for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — PACT Act results
By the second anniversary of the PACT Act, more than one million veterans and survivors had received PACT Act-related disability benefits totaling more than $6.8 billion.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Nearly 740,000 veterans enrolled in VA health care during the first two years after enactment of the PACT Act.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
VA conducted more than 5.6 million toxic-exposure screenings during the first two years of PACT Act implementation.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June 2022, the most significant federal gun legislation enacted in decades.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice — Bipartisan Safer Communities Act fact sheet
The law established enhanced background checks for gun purchasers under age 21, including examination of relevant juvenile criminal-history and mental-health records.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
By June 2024, 800 firearm sales had been prevented solely because the enhanced under-21 checks found disqualifying information.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The law created specific new federal crimes covering illegal firearms trafficking and straw purchasing. By June 2024, 525 defendants had been charged under the new provisions.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The law narrowed the gun-law provision commonly known as the “boyfriend loophole” by extending firearm restrictions to qualifying misdemeanor domestic-violence convictions involving dating partners.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The legislation provided new federal money for community violence-intervention programs, school safety, criminal-history improvements and mental-health services.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Respect For Marriage Act
Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act in December 2022, establishing statutory federal recognition of valid same-sex and interracial marriages and requiring interstate recognition of qualifying marriages.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Respect for Marriage Act
Social Security Fairness Act
Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act on January 5, 2025.
Source: Social Security Administration
The Social Security Fairness Act repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. Those provisions had reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for more than 2.8 million people receiving pensions from employment not covered by Social Security, including some teachers, firefighters and police officers.
Source: Social Security Administration — Social Security Fairness Act
Emmett Till Antilynching Act
Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act in March 2022, making lynching a specifically defined federal hate crime.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
Juneteenth
Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in June 2021, establishing June 19 as a federal legal public holiday.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act
Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021, directing the Justice Department to accelerate review of hate crimes and providing resources intended to improve hate-crime reporting amid increased anti-Asian violence.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization
Biden signed the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. It renewed and expanded federal programs addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The 2022 VAWA reauthorization expanded tribal jurisdiction in certain cases involving violence committed in Native communities.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Ending Forced Arbitration Of Sexual Assault And Sexual Harassment Act
Biden signed legislation allowing people alleging sexual assault or sexual harassment to reject qualifying predispute forced-arbitration agreements and pursue their disputes in court.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Public Law 117-90
Speak Out Act
Biden signed the Speak Out Act, limiting the enforceability of predispute nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses involving sexual-assault and sexual-harassment disputes.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Speak Out Act
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, requiring most covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions unless doing so would create an undue hardship.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
PUMP Act
Biden signed the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, extending workplace rights to reasonable pumping breaks and an appropriate private space to most nursing employees.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Ocean Shipping Reform Act
Biden signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act in June 2022, expanding federal regulation of ocean-carrier practices and strengthening protections for American shippers.
Source: Federal Maritime Commission
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, establishing a rebuttable presumption that qualifying goods made in China’s Xinjiang region or by listed entities are prohibited from U.S. importation under federal forced-labor law.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Medical Marijuana And Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act
Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act in December 2022, expanding and streamlining federally authorized scientific and medical research involving marijuana and cannabidiol.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
ACT For ALS
Biden signed the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act in December 2021, creating federal programs designed to expand research and access to investigational treatments for ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases.
Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Permanent Summer EBT
Legislation signed by Biden established Summer EBT as a permanent federal food-assistance program beginning in summer 2024, allowing participating states and tribal organizations to provide eligible children food benefits when school is not in session.
Source: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
The same legislation established a permanent option for non-congregate summer meals for children in qualifying rural areas.
Source: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Federal Prison Oversight Act
Biden signed the Federal Prison Oversight Act in July 2024, expanding independent Inspector General inspections of Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities and establishing an independent ombudsman complaint process.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
FAA Reauthorization Act Of 2024
Biden signed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, providing a five-year authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration through fiscal year 2028.
Source: Federal Aviation Administration
The FAA law authorized substantial Airport Improvement Program funding, rising to $4 billion annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2028.
Source: Federal Aviation Administration
ADVANCE Act
Biden signed the bipartisan ADVANCE Act in July 2024, directing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to modernize and streamline portions of the licensing framework for advanced nuclear reactors and fuels while maintaining its safety and security responsibilities.
Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The ADVANCE Act also established statutory provisions governing regulation of fusion machines.
Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
National Plan To End Parkinson’s Act
Biden signed the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act in July 2024, requiring development of a coordinated national plan to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure Parkinson’s disease and improve treatment and care.
Source: National Institutes of Health
Stop Campus Hazing Act
Biden signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act in December 2024, creating new federal campus-hazing reporting, transparency and prevention requirements for colleges and universities.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Stop Campus Hazing Act
Jobs And The Economy
The following are economic results recorded during Biden’s presidency. They are included as part of the economic record of the administration, not as claims that presidential action was the sole cause of each outcome.
Millions Of Jobs Added
Payroll employment increased by roughly 16.6 million between the beginning of Biden’s presidency and the end of 2024. Much of the initial increase reflected recovery from the extraordinary COVID-era employment collapse, but employment ultimately rose substantially beyond its pre-pandemic level.
Source: FactCheck.org — review of Biden’s final economic claims
Unemployment At 4.1 Percent
The national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in December 2024.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Extended Period Of Very Low Unemployment
The unemployment rate remained below 4 percent for more than two years during Biden’s presidency, the longest such stretch in roughly half a century.
Source: FactCheck.org
Economic Growth
Real U.S. gross domestic product increased 2.8 percent in 2024, following continued post-pandemic economic expansion.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Health Care
Record Affordable Care Act Enrollment
Approximately 24.2 million people selected Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans for 2025 as of January 15, 2025, a record enrollment total.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
ACA Marketplace enrollment for 2025 was roughly twice the enrollment level when Biden took office.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Surprise Medical Billing Protections Implemented
The Biden administration implemented major provisions of the No Surprises Act protecting patients in many private insurance plans from unexpected out-of-network balance bills for emergency services and certain services at in-network facilities. The underlying law had been enacted before Biden became president, so the accomplishment here is implementation rather than enactment.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Student Debt And Education
More Than Five Million Borrowers Received Student-Debt Relief
By the end of Biden’s presidency, the administration had approved federal student-debt relief for more than five million borrowers through programs including Public Service Loan Forgiveness, income-driven repayment adjustments, disability discharges and relief for borrowers harmed by schools. Contemporary reporting put the total approved relief at approximately $188 billion by the end of the administration.
Source: Reuters
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
The Biden administration approved Public Service Loan Forgiveness for more than one million public-service workers. The Education Department said only about 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness through PSLF before the administration’s reforms.
Source: U.S. Department of Education
Pell Grants Increased
The maximum Pell Grant increased from $6,495 in the 2021–22 award year to $7,395 by the 2023–24 award year, an increase of $900.
Sources: Federal Student Aid — 2022–23 Pell Grant schedule · Federal Student Aid — 2023–24 Pell Grant schedule
Changes associated with the redesigned FAFSA expanded Pell Grant eligibility to hundreds of thousands of additional students.
Source: U.S. Department of Education
Biden’s separate proposal to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student debt for most qualifying borrowers and $20,000 for many Pell Grant recipients is not counted as an accomplishment here, because the Supreme Court blocked that program before the cancellation occurred.
Housing
First-Time Homebuyers
HUD reported helping more than 2.3 million people become first-time homeowners during the Biden administration.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Home Loans For Borrowers Of Color
More than 1.2 million borrowers of color obtained HUD-supported mortgages during the administration.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
FHA Mortgage Insurance Costs Reduced
The Federal Housing Administration reduced annual mortgage-insurance premiums, producing savings for more than one million borrowers.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Homeowners Helped Avoid Foreclosure
HUD reported that federal pandemic-era housing measures helped nearly two million homeowners stay in their homes.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Affordable Housing Construction And Repairs
HUD reported that more than 500,000 affordable housing units were built or repaired during Biden’s presidency.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Veteran Homelessness Reached A Record Low
Veteran homelessness fell 7.5 percent between 2023 and 2024 and reached the lowest recorded level since comparable federal measurement began.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
This accomplishment applies specifically to veteran homelessness. Overall U.S. homelessness increased in 2024.
PRO Housing Grants
The Biden administration established and funded the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing program, known as PRO Housing, to help communities remove regulatory and other barriers to housing construction and preservation.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Climate, Energy And The Environment
Rejoined The Paris Climate Agreement
Biden moved to return the United States to the Paris climate agreement on his first day in office, and U.S. participation formally resumed on February 19, 2021.
Source: U.S. Department of State
Major Methane Pollution Rule
EPA finalized standards in 2023 to reduce methane pollution from oil and natural-gas operations. EPA estimated the rule would prevent approximately 58 million tons of methane emissions from 2024 through 2038.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
First National PFAS Drinking-Water Standards
EPA finalized the first nationally enforceable drinking-water standards for several PFAS “forever chemicals” in April 2024.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA estimated that the PFAS drinking-water standards would reduce exposure for roughly 100 million people.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
PFAS Added To Superfund Liability System
EPA designated PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law, enabling additional cleanup and liability tools for contamination involving those chemicals.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Conservation And Public Lands
Hundreds Of Millions Of Acres Protected Or Conserved
The Interior Department reported that Biden administration actions conserved or protected more than 670 million acres of American lands and waters.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior
National Monuments
Biden established, restored or expanded 15 national monuments during his presidency.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior
Wildlife Refuges
The administration established six new national wildlife refuges and expanded five existing refuges.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior
Workers And Workplace Rights
Pension Benefits Protected
The American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program protected pension benefits for more than 1.3 million workers, retirees and beneficiaries in severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans.
Source: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Pregnancy Accommodations
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act created a federal right for qualifying workers to obtain reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Pumping Protections
The PUMP Act extended federal break-time and private-space protections for expressing breast milk to most nursing employees.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Sexual-Harassment And Sexual-Assault Arbitration Reform
Biden signed legislation giving people alleging sexual assault or sexual harassment the right to reject qualifying mandatory predispute arbitration agreements.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
Consumer Protections
Automatic Airline Refunds
The Transportation Department finalized a rule requiring airlines to provide automatic refunds when flights are canceled or significantly changed and the passenger does not accept the alternative offered.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Baggage And Ancillary-Service Refunds
The same rule strengthened passengers’ refund rights when checked baggage is significantly delayed or paid ancillary services are not provided.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Billions Returned To Airline Passengers
The Transportation Department reported securing nearly $4 billion in airline refunds and reimbursements for passengers during the Biden administration.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Ticket And Hotel Junk-Fee Rule
The Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule in December 2024 requiring businesses selling live-event tickets and short-term lodging to prominently display the total price including mandatory fees. The rule was finalized during Biden’s presidency, although its effective date came later.
Source: Federal Trade Commission
Civil Rights
Lynching Became A Specifically Defined Federal Hate Crime
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act established lynching as a federal hate crime and provided federal penalties for qualifying hate crimes causing death or serious injury.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
Juneteenth Became A Federal Holiday
Biden signed the legislation adding Juneteenth National Independence Day to the list of legal federal public holidays.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
Federal Hate-Crime Response Strengthened
The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act directed the Justice Department to speed review of hate crimes and improve reporting, training and assistance in response to the increase in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
LGBTQ Rights
Same-Sex Marriage Recognition Codified
The Respect for Marriage Act placed federal recognition of valid same-sex marriages into statute and required states to recognize qualifying marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Respect for Marriage Act
Transgender Military Restrictions Reversed
Biden reversed Trump-era restrictions on transgender military service in January 2021, restoring a policy under which qualified transgender Americans could serve openly in the armed forces.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
Immigration And Refugees
Trump-Era Travel Restrictions Revoked
Biden revoked presidential proclamations that restricted entry into the United States for nationals of a group of countries, ending the Trump administration travel restrictions commonly referred to as the Muslim or Africa travel bans.
Source: U.S. Department of State
Refugee Admissions Rebuilt
The United States resettled approximately 100,000 refugees in fiscal year 2024, the largest annual number in three decades.
Source: U.S. Department of State
Naturalization Processing Improved
The median processing time for naturalization applications fell from 11.5 months in fiscal year 2021 to about five months in fiscal year 2024.
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Federal Judiciary
235 Lifetime Federal Judges Confirmed
The Senate confirmed 235 Biden nominees to lifetime federal judicial positions.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
The total consisted of one Supreme Court justice, 45 circuit judges, 187 district judges and two Court of International Trade judges.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Jackson also became the first former federal public defender to serve as a Supreme Court justice.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Judicial Diversity
Approximately two-thirds of Biden’s confirmed judges were women and approximately two-thirds were people of color.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Criminal Justice And Clemency
Federal Execution Moratorium
Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions in July 2021 while the Justice Department reviewed federal capital-punishment policies and procedures.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Marijuana Pardons
Biden issued categorical pardons covering qualifying federal and District of Columbia offenses involving simple possession, attempted possession or use of marijuana.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice — Office of the Pardon Attorney
December 2024 Clemency
Biden commuted the sentences of 1,499 people and pardoned 39 people convicted of nonviolent offenses on December 12, 2024.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Death Sentences Commuted
Biden commuted 37 of the 40 federal death sentences then in effect to life imprisonment without parole in December 2024.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Nearly 2,500 Drug Sentences Commuted
On January 17, 2025, Biden issued commutations covering 2,490 people serving federal sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice — Biden clemency record
Science And Technology
Semiconductor Research And Manufacturing
The CHIPS and Science Act established major new federal programs supporting semiconductor manufacturing, semiconductor research and U.S. technological competitiveness.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. AI Safety Institute
The Biden administration established the U.S. AI Safety Institute at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop testing, evaluation and risk-management science for advanced artificial intelligence.
Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology
AI Safety Institute Consortium
NIST created the U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium in 2024, initially bringing together more than 200 companies, universities, researchers, governments and civil-society organizations working on AI evaluation and safety.
Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology
ALS Research
The ACT for ALS established new federal expanded-access research grants and a public-private partnership focused on ALS and rare neurodegenerative diseases.
Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Parkinson’s National Strategy
The National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act required creation of an integrated federal plan addressing Parkinson’s prevention, diagnosis, treatment, research and care.
Source: National Institutes of Health
Foreign Policy And National Security
Finland Joined NATO
Finland became NATO’s 31st member on April 4, 2023, during Biden’s presidency.
Source: NATO
Sweden Joined NATO
Sweden became NATO’s 32nd member on March 7, 2024.
Source: NATO
The entry of Finland and Sweden significantly expanded NATO in Northern Europe after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
International Coalition Supporting Ukraine
The Biden administration helped establish and lead the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which grew to roughly 50 countries coordinating military assistance for Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
By January 2025, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group had collectively committed more than $126 billion in security assistance for Ukraine.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
AUKUS
The United States, Australia and United Kingdom established the AUKUS security partnership in 2021, including plans to provide Australia with conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines and expand cooperation on advanced defense technologies.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense — AUKUS
U.S.-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Partnership
Biden hosted the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David in August 2023, institutionalizing expanded trilateral cooperation through regular leader-level and ministerial consultations.
Source: U.S. Department of State
Afghanistan War Ended
Biden completed the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, ending nearly 20 years of direct American military involvement in the war.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan by U.S. and coalition aircraft during the final Kabul evacuation.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
The Afghanistan withdrawal was also a major failure in important respects: the Afghan government collapsed rapidly, the evacuation was chaotic, and 13 American service members were killed in the Abbey Gate bombing. Ending the war is included here as a completed policy objective, not as a claim that the withdrawal itself was successfully executed in every respect.
Transportation
Historic Road And Bridge Investment
Infrastructure-law funding supported improvements to more than 207,000 miles of road and more than 12,300 bridge projects by the end of the administration.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Major Passenger-Rail Investment
More than 445 rail projects were announced during the administration, including investments in the Northeast Corridor, new rail corridors and highway-rail crossing improvements.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Airport Modernization
More than 1,500 airports received support for terminal, runway or operational improvements.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Airline Refund Rights
The Biden Transportation Department established automatic-refund requirements for qualifying canceled or substantially changed flights.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Food And Nutrition
Permanent Summer EBT
Biden signed the legislation establishing Summer EBT as a permanent federal program beginning in 2024.
Source: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Rural Summer Meals
The legislation also permanently authorized non-congregate summer meal service in qualifying rural areas where congregate meal service is unavailable.
Source: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Democracy And The Electoral Process
Electoral Count Reform
Biden signed the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, substantially rewriting the 19th-century Electoral Count Act following the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Electoral Count Reform statute
The law explicitly clarified that the vice president’s role during the electoral-vote count is ministerial and does not include unilateral power to reject or determine the validity of electoral votes.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Electoral Count Reform Act
The law raised the congressional threshold necessary to lodge objections to a state’s electoral votes.
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office — Electoral Count Reform Act
Additional Historic Achievements
First Black Woman On The Supreme Court
Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman in U.S. history to serve on the Supreme Court.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
First Native American Cabinet Secretary
Biden appointed Deb Haaland as secretary of the interior, making her the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior — Deb Haaland biography
Historic Federal Judicial Diversity
Biden’s judicial appointments included historically high numbers of women and people of color and judges from professional backgrounds including public defense and civil-rights practice.
Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.
5 thoughts on “What Did Joe Biden Do As President? The Full List Of His Accomplishments”
Comments are closed.