Biden charts new US direction, promises many Trump reversals

Stop. Stabilize. n move — but in a vastly different direction. President-elect Joe Biden is pledging a new path for nation after Donald Trump’s four years in office. That starts with confronting a pandemic that has killed 400,000 Americans and extends to sweeping plans on health care, education, immigration and more.  78-year-old Democrat has pledged immediate executive actions that would reverse Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. from Paris climate agreement and rescind outgoing president's ban on immigration from certain Muslim nations.

His first legislative priority is a $1.9 trillion pandemic response pack, but re are plans to send an immigration overhaul to Capitol Hill out of gate, as well. He's also pledged an aggressive outreach to American allies around world who had strained relationships with Trump. And though one key initiative has been overshadowed as pandemic has worsened, Biden hasn't backed away from his call to expand 2010 Affordable Care Act with a public option, a government-insurance plan to compete alongside private insurers.

It's an unapologetically liberal program reflecting Biden's argument that federal government exists to help solve big problems. Persuading eugh voters and members of Congress to go along will test ar core Biden belief: that he can unify country into a governing consensus.

What a Biden presidency could look like:

ECOMY, TAXES AND DEBT

Biden argues ecomy cant fully recover until coronavirus is contained.

He argues that his $1.9 trillion response plan is necessary to avoid extended recession. Among or provisions, it would send Americans $1,400 relief checks, extend more generous unemployment benefits and moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures, and boost businesses. Biden also wants expanded child tax credits, child care assistance and a $15-an-hour minimum w — a provision sure to draw fierce Republican opposition.

Biden ackwledges his call for deficit spending but says higher deficits in near term will prevent dam that would t only harm individuals but also weaken ecomy in ways that would be even worse for national balance sheet.

He also calls his plan a down payment on his pledge to address wealth inequality that disproportionately affects nwhite Americans. He plans a second major ecomic pack later in 2021; that's when he'd likely ask Congress to consider his promised tax overhauls to roll back parts of 2017 GOP tax rewrite benefiting corporations and wealthy.

Biden wants a corporate income tax rate of 28% — lower than before but higher than w — and broad income and payroll tax increases for individuals with more than $400,000 of annual taxable income. That would generate an estimated $4 trillion or more over 10 years, money Biden would want steered toward his infrastructure, health care and energy programs.

Before Biden proposed his pandemic relief bill, an analysis from Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that Biden’s campaign proposals would increase national debt by about $5.6 trillion over 10 years, though that would be a significantly slower rate of increase than what occurred under Trump.

national debt w stands at more than $25 trillion.

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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Biden promises a more robust national coronavirus vaccination system. Ditching Trump’s strategy of putting most of pandemic response on goverrs’ desks, Biden says he’ll marshal Federal Emergency Manment ncy and National Guard to distribute vaccines while using nation's network of private pharmacies.

As he said as a candidate, Biden plans to invoke Defense Production Act, aimed at private sector, to increase vaccine supplies and related materials. wartime law allows a president to direct manufacture of critical goods.

Much of Biden’s plans depend on Congress approving financing, such as $130 billion to help schools reopen safely.

Beyond legislation, Biden will require masks on all federal property, urge goverrs and mayors to use ir authority to impose mask mandates and ask Americans for 100 days of mask-wearing in an effort to curb virus.

Biden also promises to deviate from Trump by putting science and medical advisers front and center to project a consistent mess. Meanwhile, Biden will immediately have U.S. rejoin World Health Organization.

incoming White House has tried to man expectations. Biden said several times in recent weeks that pandemic would likely get worse before any changes in policy and public health practices show up in COVID-19 statistics.

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HEALTH CARE

Biden wants to build on President Barack Obama's signature health care law through a “Medicare-like public option” to compete alongside private insurance markets for working- Americans. He'd also increase premium subsidies many people already use.

Biden's approach could get a kick-start in pandemic response bill by expanding subsidies for consumers using existing ACA exchanges. big prize, a “public option,” remains a heavy lift in a closely divided Congress. Biden has t detailed when he'd ask Congress to consider matter.

Biden estimates his public option would cost about $750 billion over 10 years. It still stops short of progressives' call for a government-run system to replace private insurance altoger.

administration also must await a Supreme Court decision on latest case challenging 2010 health care law kwn as “Obamacare.”

On prescription drugs, Biden supports allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for government programs and private payers. He'd prohibit drug companies from raising prices faster than inflation for people covered by Medicare and or federal programs; and he'd cap initial prices for “specialty drugs” to treat serious illnesses.

Biden would limit annual out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare enrollees, a change Trump sought unsuccessfully in Congress. And Biden also wants to allow importation of prescription drugs, subject to safety checks.

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IMMIGRATION

Biden plans to immediately reinstate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which allowed people brought to U.S. illegally as children to remain as legal residents. He's also planning an Inauguration Day executive order rolling back Trump’s ban on certain Muslim immigrants and has pledged to rescind Trump's limits on asylum slots.

Additionally, Biden will send Congress, out of gate, a complex immigration bill offering an eight-year path to citizenship for estimated 11 million people living in U.S. without legal status.

As a candidate, Biden called Trump's hard-line policies on immigration an “unrelenting assault” on American values and promised to “undo dam” while maintaining border enforcement. tably, outline of Biden's immigration bill doesn't deal much, if at all, with border enforcement. But his opening maneuver sets a flank with plenty of room to negotiate with Republicans.

Biden also pledged to end Trump's “public charge rule,” which would deny visas or permanent residency to people who use public-aid programs. Biden has called for a 100-day freeze on deportations while considering long-term policies. Still, Biden would eventually restore an Obama-era policy of prioritizing removal of immigrants who have come to U.S. illegally and have been convicted of crimes or pose a national security threat. Biden has said he would halt all funding for construction of new walls along U.S.-Mexico border.

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FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

Biden's establishment credentials are most starkly different from Trump in area of foreign policy. Biden mocked Trump's “America First” brand as “America alone” and promises to restore a more traditional post-World War II order.

He supports a strategy of fighting extremist militants abroad with U.S. special forces and airstrikes instead of planeloads of U.S. troops. That's a break from his support earlier in his political career for more sweeping U.S. military interventions, most tably 2003 Iraq invasion. Biden has since called his Iraq vote in Senate a mistake.

He was careful as a candidate never to rule out use of force, but w leans directly into diplomacy to try to achieve solutions through alliances and global institutions.

Biden calls for increasing Navy’s presence in Asia-Pacific and strengning alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and Indonesia. He joins Trump in wanting to end wars in Middle East and Afghanistan, but thinks U.S. should keep a small force in place to counter militant violence.

Secretary of State-designate Tony Blinken is Biden's longest-serving foreign policy adviser and holds essentially same worldview.

Both are strong supporters of NATO. Biden and Blinken warn that Moscow is chipping away at foundation of Western democracy by trying to weaken NATO, divide European Union and undermine U.S. electoral system.

Biden believes Trump's abandonment of bilateral and international treaties such as Iran nuclear deal have led or nations to doubt Washington’s word. Biden wants to invite all democratic nations to a summit during his first year to discuss how to fight corruption, thwart authoritarianism and support human rights.

He claims “ironclad” support for Israel but wants to curb annexation and has backed a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians. He says he'd keep U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem after Trump moved it from Tel Aviv.

On rth Korea, Biden criticized Trump for engaging directly with Kim Jong Un, saying it gave legitimacy to authoritarian leader without curbing his nuclear program.

Biden also wants to see U.S. close its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Obama pushed same and never got it done.

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ENVIRONMENT

Beyond immediately rejoining Paris climate agreement, Biden has proposed a $2 trillion push to slow global warming by throttling back burning of fossil fuels, aiming to make nation’s power plants, vehicles, mass transport systems and buildings more fuel efficient and less dependent on oil, gas and coal.

Parts of his program could be included in second sweeping legislative pack Biden plans after initial emergency pandemic legislation.

Biden says his administration would ban new permits for oil and gas production on federal lands, though he says he does t support a fracking ban.

Biden’s public health and environmental platform also calls for reversing Trump administration’s slowdown of enforcement against polluters, which in several categories has fallen to lowest point in decades. That would include establishing a climate and environmental justice division within Justice Department. Biden says he would support climate lawsuits targeting fossil fuel-related industries.

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EDUCATION

Biden has proposed tripling federal Title I program for low-income public schools, with a requirement that schools provide competitive pay and benefits to teachers. He wants to ban federal money for for-profit charter schools and provide new dollars to public charters only if y serve needy students. He opposes voucher programs, in which public money is used to pay for private-school education. He also wants to restore federal rules, rolled back under Trump, that denied federal money to for-profit colleges that left students with heavy debts and unable to find jobs.

Biden supports making two years of community college free, with public four-year colleges free for families with incomes below $125,000. His proposed student loan overhaul would t require repayment for people who make less than $25,000 a year and would limit payments to 5% of discretionary income for ors.

Among measures in his COVID-19 response plan, Biden calls for extending current freezes on student loan payments and debt accrual.

Long term, Biden proposes a $70 billion increase in funding for historically Black colleges and universities, and or schools that serve underrepresented students.

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ABORTION

Biden supports abortion rights and has said he would minate federal judges who back Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. He's also said he'd support a federal statute legalizing abortion if Supreme Court's conservative majority strikes down Roe.

Biden committed to rescinding Trump’s family planning rule, which prompted many clinics to leave federal Title X program providing birth control and medical care for low-income women.

In a personal reversal, Biden w supports repeal of Hyde Amendment, opening way for federal programs, including his prospective public option, to pay for abortions.

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SOCIAL SECURITY

Biden's proposals would expand benefits, raise taxes for upper-income people and add some years of solvency.

He would revamp Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment by linking it to an inflation index tied more directly to older Americans' expenses. He would increase minimum benefits for lower-income retirees, addressing financial hardship among elderly.

Biden wants to raise Social Security taxes by applying payroll tax to earnings above $400,000. 12.4% tax, split between an employee and employer, w applies only to first $137,700 of a worker's ws. tax increase would pay for Biden’s proposed benefit expansions and extend life of program’s trust fund by five years, to 2040, according to npartisan Urban Institute.

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GUNS

Biden led efforts as a senator to establish background check system w in use when people buy guns from a federal licensed dealer. He also helped pass a 10-year ban on a group of semi-automatic guns, or “assault weapons,” during Clinton presidency.

Biden has promised to seek ar ban on manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Owners would have to register existing assault weapons with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He would also support a program to buy back assault weapons.

Biden supports legislation restricting number of firearms an individual may purchase per month to one and would require background checks for all gun sales with limited exceptions, such as gifts between family members. Biden would also support prohibiting all online sales of firearms, ammunition, kits and gun parts.

As with his public option plan for health insurance, it's t clear how Biden will prioritize gun legislation, and prospects of getting major changes through Senate are slim, at best.

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VETERANS

Biden says he'd work with Congress to improve health services for women, military’s fastest-growing subgroup, such as by placing at least one full-time women’s primary care physician at each Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical center.

He promises to provide $300 million to better understand impact of traumatic brain injury and toxic exposures, hire more VA staff to cut down on office wait times for veterans at risk of suicide and continue efforts of Obama-Biden administration to stem homelessness.

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TRADE

Biden has joined a growing bipartisan embrace of “fair trade” abroad — a twist on decades of “free trade” talk as Republican and Democratic administrations alike expanded international trade. That, and some of his policy pitches, can make Biden seem almost protectionist, but he's well shy of Trump's approach.

Biden, like Trump, accuses China of violating international trade rules by subsidizing its companies and stealing U.S. intellectual property. Still, Biden doesn’t think Trump’s tariffs worked. He wants to join with allies to form a bulwark against Beijing.

Biden wants to juice U.S. manufacturing with $400 billion of federal government purchases (including pandemic supplies) from domestic companies over a four-year period. He wants $300 billion for U.S. techlogy firms’ research and development. Biden says new domestic spending must come before any new international trade deals.

He pledges tough negotiations with China, world’s or ecomic superpower, on trade and intellectual property matters. China, like U.S., is t yet a member of Trans-Pacific Partnership, multilateral trade agreement that Biden advocated for when he was vice president.

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TRUMP

Biden won't escape Trump's shadow completely, given many investigations and potential legal exposures facing outgoing president. Biden said as a candidate that he wouldn't pardon Trump or his associates and that he'd leave federal investigations up to “an independent Justice Department.” tably, some of Trump's legal exposure comes from state cases in New York. Biden will have authority over any of those matters.

Im Credits: Associated Press