January 15, 2025
[APP NOTE: This document was prepared by the Biden Administration Press Office, not by the American Presidency Project. The APP archives Administration Press Releases for all Administrations. Inclusion in the APP archive does not indicate that the APP has independently verified any of the statements included.]
HISTORIC RECOVERY
When President Biden took office, the country was in the midst of the worst pandemic in more than a century and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Nearly [a] million workers had lost their jobs. COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on our country—closing businesses, keeping kids out of school, and killing thousands of Americans every day. Starting on his first day in office, President Biden took decisive action to be…
January 15, 2025
[APP NOTE: This document was prepared by the Biden Administration Press Office, not by the American Presidency Project. The APP archives Administration Press Releases for all Administrations. Inclusion in the APP archive does not indicate that the APP has independently verified any of the statements included.]
HISTORIC RECOVERY
When President Biden took office, the country was in the midst of the worst pandemic in more than a century and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Nearly [a] million workers had lost their jobs. COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on our country—closing businesses, keeping kids out of school, and killing thousands of Americans every day. Starting on his first day in office, President Biden took decisive action to beat the pandemic.
Ending the COVID-19 Pandemic
On President Biden’s first day in office, he released a National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response to vaccinate the nation and stood up the largest free vaccination program in the country’s history:
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The Biden-Harris Administration mobilized 90,000 vaccination locations, stood up dozens of federally run mass vaccination sites, and deployed over 9,000 federal personnel to support vaccinations nationwide.
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President Biden set an ambitious goal to get 100 million vaccines in people’s arms in 100 days. The Administration reached this goal in half the time and then achieved 200 million vaccines within 100 days.
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230 million Americans are now vaccinated, up from 3.5 million when President Biden took office.
Relief through the American Rescue Plan
President Biden’s American Rescue Plan changed the country’s economic trajectory through targeted relief to meet the urgent needs of American communities, leading to the strongest jobs recovery on record and a world-leading economic performance. The American Rescue Plan:
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Invested about $160 billion to provide the supplies, emergency response, testing, and public health workforce to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Provided critical relief to more than 15,000 school districts to reopen safely and support student well-being and academic recovery.
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Delivered immediate support for families hard-hit by the pandemic, including extending enhanced unemployment insurance benefits and eligibility for millions of Americans temporarily out of the workforce, lowering taxes for working Americans by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for 17 million workers, and providing $1,400 per-person checks for most Americans.
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Delivered assistance to help over eight million hard-pressed renters stay in their homes and kept eviction filings below historic averages in the aftermath of the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of losing their homes also received assistance through the American Rescue Plan’s Homeowner Assistance Fund to help prevent mortgage delinquencies and defaults, foreclosures, and losses of utilities and home energy services.
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Provided a historic expansion of the Child Tax Credit, leading to the lowest child poverty rate in American history in 2021.
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Created the first-ever summer nutrition benefit, helping the families of 30 million children nationwide who rely on free and reduced-price school meals afford food over the summer.
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Delivered historic investments to help over 225,000 child care programs remain open, lowering costs for millions of families and helping speed the return to work of hundreds of thousands of mothers.
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Provided direct fiscal relief to every state and territory and 30,000 cities and towns, enabling critical investments in housing, workforce, public safety, and water and high-speed internet infrastructure.
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Lowered or eliminated health insurance premiums for millions of lower- and middle-income families enrolled in health insurance marketplaces, leading to record-breaking health insurance coverage nationwide.
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Delivered more than $28 billion in emergency relief to help keep 100,000 restaurants and other food and beverage businesses open during the pandemic.
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Powered a small business recovery and boom, including through a historic investment in the State Small Business Credit Initiative to catalyze tens of billions of dollars in private investment, and new small business financing and support, for up to 100,000 small businesses over the next decade.
GROWING THE ECONOMY AND LOWERING COSTS
President Biden and Vice President Harris were determined not only to support a strong recovery, but also to build a stronger and fairer economy for the future. Before the President signed the American Rescue Plan into law, experts at the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the unemployment rate would stay above 4% until the end of 2025. The Biden-Harris Administration crossed that threshold three years early, and the U.S. economy even outperformed their final pre-pandemic forecast for economic growth, job growth, and incomes—with the economy now larger than experts projected it would be without the pandemic.
Over President Biden’s time in office:
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The economy added 16.6 million jobs, and Gross Domestic Product grew 12.6%. The Biden-Harris Administration is the only administration in history to have created jobs every single month.
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The Administration achieved the lowest average unemployment in 50 years—with record-low unemployment rates for Black Americans, Latino Americans, women, veterans, workers without a high school diploma, and workers with disabilities.
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The share of working-age Americans in the workforce reached its highest level in two decades, and the share of working-age women in the workforce hit a record high.
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The strong labor market led to better pay and working conditions. After-tax incomes increased by nearly $4,000, accounting for inflation, and real wages grew most quickly for low-wage workers. This is the strongest recovery for real wage growth in 50 years.
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Wealth, adjusted for inflation, rose a record 37% for the median American household.
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Americans filed a record 21 million new small business applications, the most in any presidential administration in history. This small business growth was particularly strong among Black and Latino small business owners—with Black business ownership doubling since 2019 and hitting a 30-year high for Latino families.
Investing in America
While this economic recovery was historic, President Biden and Vice President Harris believed the country could not just go back to the economy it had before the pandemic. Rather, they believed the country needed a fundamental break from the trickle-down economics that had left so many families vulnerable and so many communities hollowed out. Instead, they set off to grow the economy from the middle-out and bottom-up.
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda—the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act—is making smart public investments all across the country to catalyze additional private sector investments, increasing growth and American economic competitiveness. To date, President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has helped attract over $1 trillion in announced private-sector investments in clean energy and manufacturing, and created over 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—a once-in-a-generation investment in America’s infrastructure and competitiveness. Since then, the Biden-Harris Administration has broken ground on projects to rebuild our roads and bridges, upgrade transit and rail, modernize ports and airports, deliver clean and safe water, clean up legacy pollution, expand access to high-speed internet, lower energy costs, and build a clean energy economy. President Biden delivered an "Infrastructure Decade" that is unlocking access to economic opportunity, creating good-paying jobs, boosting domestic manufacturing, and building the foundation for durable, shared growth.
To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced nearly $600 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding and launched over 72,000 specific infrastructure projects and awards. This includes:
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Improvements on over 200,000 miles of roads and over 12,000 bridge repair projects.
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Launching over 2,400 drinking water and wastewater projects across the country.
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Replacing nearly 500,000 lead pipes, benefitting over 1.2 million people.
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Funding to deploy nearly 4,600 low-and zero-emission American-made transit buses and over 8,900 clean school buses in over 1,300 communities across the country.
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Funding nearly 450 rail projects as part of the largest investment since Amtrak was created more than 50 years ago.
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Funding for over 1,000 port and waterway projects to strengthen supply chains.
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Investments in over 400 projects to modernize and expand airport terminals—over 200 of which are under construction or complete.
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Removing hazardous fuel material from nearly 18 million acres of land to mitigate the impact of wildfires.
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Enabling over 23 million low-income households to access free or discounted high-speed internet service.
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Plugging nearly 9,600 orphaned oil and gas wells to address legacy pollution.
The work continues. Over the next decade, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will:
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Replace every lead pipe in the country.
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Connect every home and small business to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.
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Improve over 350,000 miles of roads—enough to circle the globe 14 times.
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Repair or rebuild more than a dozen of the nation’s most economically significant bridges, and replace tens of thousands of smaller bridges across the country.
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Build the country’s first high-speed rail corridors and transform Amtrak with an all-new fleet, modernized stations, and upgraded infrastructure.
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Improve transportation options for millions of Americans and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the largest investment in public transit in U.S. history.
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Deliver over 1,000 projects at airports and ports to strengthen our supply chains and prevent future disruptions.
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Install EV chargers on major highway corridors every 50 miles and in communities all across America.
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Upgrade power infrastructure to deliver clean, reliable energy across the country and deploy cutting-edge energy technology to achieve a zero-emissions future.
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Make infrastructure resilient against the impacts of climate change, cyber-attacks, and extreme weather events.
Inflation Reduction Act. On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law—the largest ever investment in clean energy, climate action, and environmental justice. The Inflation Reduction Act is helping the United States meet its climate goals, strengthening energy security, investing in America to create good-paying jobs, improving the health and resilience of communities, supporting clean air and cutting pollution in every sector of the economy, reducing energy and health care costs for families, and making the tax code fairer.
Since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act:
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The private sector has announced more than $300 billion in new clean energy manufacturing and power investments, contributing to the highest level of real manufacturing construction spending and private investment on record. Since President Biden took office, companies have announced over $470 billion in new clean power manufacturing and deployment investments.
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Companies have announced more than 330,000 new clean energy jobs and are on track to create 1.5 million additional jobs over the next decade. This is in part due to the law’s transformative new and expanded tax credits for clean energy, buildings, vehicles, fuels, and manufacturing.
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Combined with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the law is projected to reduce emissions in 2030 by about 1 gigaton—10 times more climate benefit than any other legislation in history.
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The United States is now in a strong position to cut climate pollution over 50% by 2030 and over 60% by 2035 compared to 2005 levels, and to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050.
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In 2023 alone, more than 3.4 million American families saved $8.4 billion on home clean energy upgrades.
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More than 300,000 Americans have saved over $2 billion in upfront costs on electric vehicles, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s consumer tax credits.
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Medicare has negotiated prices for its first 10 drugs under its drug price negotiation program, which will save taxpayers $6 billion on prescription drugs costs and consumers $1.5 billion in out of-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone.
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65 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries are benefitting from $35 insulin, free recommended vaccines, and an annual out-of-pocket cost cap of $2,000 per year.
***CHIPS and Science Act. ***America invented semiconductors, and the United States used to produce nearly 40% of the global supply. When President Biden came into office, the United States produced only about 10% of the world’s supply—and none of the most advanced chips—making the economy more vulnerable to national security threats and the supply chain shocks we felt acutely during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act is delivering on the President’s vision to ensure America leads in innovation through a more than $50 billion investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, and workforce development. Since President Biden took office:
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Companies announced nearly $450 billion in manufacturing investments in semiconductors and electronics.
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The Administration announced over $33 billion in grant awards in 17 new semiconductor fabs, 8 supply chain or packaging facilities, and dozens of expansions across 21 states.
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All five of the world’s most advanced chip manufacturing companies now operate in the United States. The United States is the only country in the world to have more than two operating on their shores.
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These investments will create over 125,000 new construction and manufacturing jobs.
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The Administration stood up a National Semiconductor Technology Center to once again make the United States a leader in semiconductor research and development and launched 10 Regional Innovation Engines.
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At least 80 community colleges in 22 states announced new or expanded programming to help American workers access good-paying jobs in the semiconductor industry.
Supporting American Workers and Labor
President Biden is proud to be the most pro-union President in history. Over his four years in office, he took historic action to support organized labor—including by becoming the first sitting President to walk a picket line.
President Biden built an economy from the middle out and bottom up that puts the voices of workers at the center of the table. Together, he and Vice President Harris fought to protect workers’ free and fair choice to join a union, ensured Investing in America funding promoted strong labor standards, enforced rules against unfair labor practices, and created pathways to good-paying jobs for all Americans, whether they went to college or not. President Biden:
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Signed the Butch Lewis Act as part of the American Rescue Plan, saving the pensions of two million hard-working union workers and retirees. Already, more than 120,000 retirees received an average of $13,600 each in earned benefits that were protected or restored.
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Signed the Social Security Fairness Act, becoming the first President in more than 20 years to expand Social Security benefits. This bill expanded benefits by hundreds of dollars per month for more than 2.5 million Americans.
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Signed the "Good Jobs" Executive Order on Investing in America and Investing in American Workers, which calls on agencies to promote strong labor standards—including the free and fair choice to join a union, robust workforce development programs like registered apprenticeships, and worker health and safety—as they award funding from the Investing in America agenda.
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Finalized a rule to restore and extend overtime pay protections for millions of workers.
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Proposed a new rule from the Department of Labor to protect 36 million workers from extreme heat on the job.
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Raised the minimum wage to $17.75 per hour for federal contract workers.
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Published the first update to Davis-Bacon prevailing wages in nearly 40 years, which will increase pay for one million construction workers.
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Fought for and implemented fivefold bonus credits for clean energy projects that employ prevailing wages and registered apprenticeships to ensure fair pay and a skilled workforce.
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Required Project Labor Agreements on nearly all major federal construction projects over $35 million, so federal construction projects will be delivered on time and on budget with good wages and well-trained workers.
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Designated nine Workforce Hubs across the country to build partnerships among unions, educators, employers, and local governments centered around training residents for good-paying jobs created by the Investing in America agenda.
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Signed a Registered Apprenticeship Executive Order to bolster apprenticeships in the federal workforce.
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Invested more than $730 million in Registered Apprenticeships, leading to more than one million registered apprentices receiving gold standard earn-as-you-learn training for in-demand jobs.
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Signed into law bipartisan protections for pregnant and postpartum workers and strengthened protections for survivors of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace.
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Through the CHIPS and Science Act, provided nearly $300 million in dedicated funding to-date for training and workforce development to ensure local communities have access to the jobs of the future in upcoming projects.
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Introduced a requirement that companies receiving grants over $150 million under the CHIPS and Science Act create a plan to ensure access to quality, affordable child care for their employees.
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Expanded remedies available to workers through the National Labor Relations Board when employers engage in unionbusting.
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Overhauled the process for union representation elections by requiring employers to bargain if they commit an unfair labor practice during the election process, and by reducing unnecessary delays before workers can vote.
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Launched the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, chaired by Vice President Harris, which resulted in over 70 actions to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining for federal employees and workers employed by public- and private-sector employers.
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Signed a first-of-its-kind Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally to uphold common standards and fundamental workers’ rights that are key for American workers and companies to compete fairly in the global economy.
Made in America
From Day One, President Biden and Vice President Harris worked to make "Made in America" a reality. President Biden took bold action to support investments in workers here at home:
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In his first week in office, President Biden signed Executive Order 14005, "Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers," to launch a comprehensive government initiative to strengthen the use of taxpayers’ dollars to support American manufacturing.
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The Biden-Harris Administration announced the most robust updates to the Buy American Act in nearly 70 years to ensure taxpayer dollars create good-paying jobs at home, and to strengthen critical supply chains.
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President Biden’s "Invent It Here, Make It Here" Executive Order furthered America’s commitment to ensuring federal investment in innovation benefits American workers, communities, and supply chain resilience by prioritizing American manufacturing and workers.
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President Biden delivered on his commitment to establish standards that ensure construction materials used in federally funded projects—from copper and aluminum to fiber optic cable, lumber, and drywall—are made in America. These standards now apply to virtually all infrastructure spending supported by federal financial assistance.
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The Biden-Harris Administration proposed a rule to further strengthen "Made in America" with the shortest exception list in history to boost American manufacturing.
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During his 2024 State of the Union, President Biden announced the discontinuation of a sweeping Reagan-era Buy America waiver for manufactured products in federal-aid highway projects. The President made good on this promise and final action was taken to support American manufacturers and good-paying jobs across the United States.
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President Biden’s Investing in America agenda included historic funding for high-speed internet access. Close to 90% of the funding spent on equipment for the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program will be spent on equipment manufactured in the United States.
Tax Fairness and Fiscal Responsibility
President Biden fought to build a fairer tax system that rewards work, not just wealth; asks the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to pay their fair share; and requires all Americans to play by the same rules and pay the taxes they owe. President Biden took the following actions to make this a reality:
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Secured historic legislation—through the Inflation Reduction Act—to make the tax code fairer, from enacting a 15% corporate minimum tax so that billion-dollar companies can’t get away with paying $0 in federal income taxes and imposing a 1% surcharge on corporate stock buybacks, to giving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the tools it needs to make wealthy tax cheats pay the taxes they owe.
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Used increased IRS funding to collect more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes from delinquent millionaires, launch enforcement action against 25,000 millionaires who have not filed a tax return since 2017, and crack down on high-end tax evasion like illegally structured complex partnerships that reduce tax liability or deducting personal use of corporate jets as a business expense. In total, the IRS is projected to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue over the next decade.
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Expanded the Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credit to save millions of people an average of $800 per year in health insurance premiums.
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Expanded the Child Tax Credit cut child poverty nearly in half to a historic low in 2021.
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Committed to investing in America responsibly. After the previous administration added $8 trillion to the debt, the annual deficit is over $1 trillion lower than it was when President Biden took office, thanks in large part to a strong economic recovery from the pandemic.
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Signed into law $1 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years, including by enacting a corporate minimum tax, lowering prescription drug costs, and cracking down on wealthy tax cheats.
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Kept his promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.
**Affordable Housing **
Upon entering office, President Biden confronted a housing crisis where millions of Americans were facing eviction related to the economic impacts of the pandemic. In response, the Biden-Harris Administration deployed unprecedented tools to keep Americans housed:
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Delivered aid to over eight million renters and more than 500,000 homeowners through the Emergency Rental Assistance program and other assistance included in the American Rescue Plan.
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Powered a first-of-its-kind national eviction prevention infrastructure that kept eviction filings below pre-pandemic levels after the expiration of the national eviction moratorium.
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Took quick action through the Federal Housing Administration after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that 1.7 million households at risk of losing their homes could keep them.
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Cut fees for more than one million borrowers with mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration by more than $900 a year.
President Biden also focused on building more housing to lower housing costs. Housing units under construction hit a 50-year high under the Biden-Harris Administration. President Biden:
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Increased the rate of new housing starts by 16% compared to the previous administration. Rents fell in many places during President Biden’s last year in office as a result of new supply, and the homeownership rate is higher now than it was before the pandemic.
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Introduced a bold plan to build and renovate more than two million homes and announced new steps to lower homebuying and refinancing closing costs and crack down on corporate actions that rip off renters.
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Called on Congress during his 2024 State of the Union Address to pass legislation to lower costs by $10,000 for first-time homebuyers through a mortgage relief credit and provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance.
Finally, President Biden took unprecedented steps to strengthen tenant protections and increase fairness in the rental market, as well as steps to ensure that all households have an opportunity to build generational wealth by purchasing a home:
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President Biden led a coordinated effort to root out discrimination in the home appraisal and homebuying process.
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He launched a task force to address the appraisal gap—the likelihood that homes in communities of color are undervalued compared to homes in majority-white communities—leading to a cut in the gap by roughly 40%.
Making Markets Fairer and Cracking Down on Junk Fees and Corporate Greed
President Biden took a number of actions to root out and end illegal corporate behavior that raise prices through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices. President Biden and his Administration:
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Created the Competition Council, chaired by the Director of the National Economic Council with the heads of 15 agencies, to address corporate consolidation, monopolization, and unfair competition.
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Launched a new Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing, co-chaired by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, to lower costs for American families.
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Worked with Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to boost funding for federal antitrust enforcers. The Administration increased annual funding to the DOJ Antitrust Division by $66 million and to the FTC by nearly $100 million.
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Banned bait-and-switch marketing tactics in the car buying process.
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Fought to cut credit card late fees from an average of $32 down to $8.
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Banned junk health insurance plans.
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Required cable and satellite television providers to disclose all fees up front.
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Required internet service providers to provide customers clear, easy-to-understand, and accurate information about the cost and performance of high-speed internet services.
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Banned the use of non-compete clauses in employment contracts so companies cannot stop regular people from switching jobs or starting new businesses.
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Required airlines to provide automatic refunds and disclose up-front fees for checked bags and changing flights.
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Proposed a rule to prevent airlines from charging parents extra just to sit next to their kid.
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Finalized a rule to require companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription or service as it was to sign up for one.
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Announced increased scrutiny of banks that are heavily dependent on junk fees, leading to many banks eliminating these kinds of fees and resulting in a decline of $5.5 billion in these rip-offs annually.
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Capped overdraft fees at $5, which is expected to save consumers $5 billion annually.
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Banned hidden junk fees in the event ticketing and hotel and lodging industries.
Taken together, President Biden’s actions will cut junk fees by more than $20 billion annually.
Catalyzing a Small Business Boom
President Biden believed that starting a new small business is an act of hope and confidence in the economy. Small businesses account for more than 40% of Gross Domestic Product, create more than half of new jobs, and employ nearly half of all private sector workers. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, small business growth boomed:
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American entrepreneurs filed a historic 21 million new business applications since 2021—more than during any other presidential administration on record.
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In 2024 alone, the Small Business Administration backed a historic $56 billion in loans and investments to small businesses.
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The American Rescue Plan’s State Small Business Credit Initiative provided nearly $10 billion to increase access to capital and investment in small businesses through innovative financing programs.
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Federal agencies awarded the highest ever amount of federal contracts—in terms of both absolute value and share of overall contracting dollars—to small businesses and small disadvantaged businesses in 2024.
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Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris Administration preserved the American Rescue Plan’s premium tax credit supports for the Affordable Care Act—saving millions of small business owners and self-employed workers an average of $700 per year on their health insurance premiums.
AMERICAN LEADERSHIP AROUND THE WORLD
From Day One, President Biden strengthened America’s core strategic advantages: reasserting America’s leadership on the world stage, implementing policies to make the U.S. economy the strongest in the world, modernizing the U.S. military, and reinvigorating America’s unmatched network of alliances and partnerships.
In doing so, this Administration secured America’s vital interests and advanced its values. Today, our economy is the envy of the world; our military remains the strongest fighting force the world has known; our alliances and partnerships are stronger, deeper, and more integrated; and our country is better positioned to outmaneuver our competitors and adversaries while leading global efforts to tackle shared challenges. The combined impact of these efforts has made the American people more secure, prosperous, and proud of our global leadership.
**Key Accomplishments: **
During his presidency, President Biden:
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Ended the longest war in American history.
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Supported Ukraine as it bravely defended its freedom and democracy in the face of Russia’s unprovoked, illegal invasion, allowing Kyiv to defy expectations that it would fall in a matter of days.
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Rallied more than 50 countries to stand with Ukraine, providing Ukraine with economic and financial support to defend its territory, and imposing costs on Russia through the strongest-ever multilateral sanctions and export controls campaign.
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Expanded and strengthened NATO, adding Finland and Sweden as member states, shored up deterrence across Europe, and ensured that the majority of NATO countries are paying their fair share towards the common defense.
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Strengthened our competitive position and responsibly managed competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
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Rallied the G7 to counteract China’s persistent industrial targeting and comprehensive non-market policies and practices.
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Leveled the playing field for American workers and businesses by standing up to the PRC’s unfair economic practices through targeted tariffs on imports in strategic sectors, such as steel, aluminum, and semiconductors.
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Reinvigorated America’s network of alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, including through the U.S.-Japan-ROK and U.S.-Japan-Philippines trilaterals, the Quad, AUKUS, IPEF, expanded partnership with the Philippines, and elevated relations with India, Indonesia, Vietnam, ASEAN, and Pacific Islands countries.
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Created a new strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa that recognizes the continent’s critical role in advancing our global priorities in the 21st century and followed up on that strategy with commitments at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
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Significantly enhanced the value proposition of U.S. partnership to emerging market and developing countries through investment, economic partnership, and reform of multilateral development banks.
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Brought home more than 75 unjustly detained Americans from prisons abroad, including Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and David Lin.
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Led a coalition of countries in defending Israel after Hamas launched its terrorist attack on October 7, and when Iran launched hundreds of missiles with the support of its proxies.
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Removed terrorist leaders from the battlefield, including al Qaeda emir al-Zawahiri, Hurras al-Din emir al-Makki, ISIS emir al-Qurayshi and his deputy, and a key ISIS operative and facilitator, al-Sudani.
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Fundamentally revised the U.S. approach to technology and national security, putting together a toolkit to ensure that sensitive technologies do not end up in the hands of those who would use it against America and its allies and partners.
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Established global AI leadership, guiding global efforts to ensure AI norms reflect our interests and values, while ensuring the United States remains at the cutting edge of AI technology.
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Imposed export controls to restrict the highest-performing AI chips and other sensitive technologies from falling into the hands of those who could use them against the United States.
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Secured nearly $450 billion in private manufacturing investments catalyzed by the CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic supply chains and ensure the technologies of the future are made in America.
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Produced 4-nanometer leading-edge logic semiconductors on American soil for the first time ever, also marking the first time that leading-edge chips have been domestically produced in over a decade.
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Updated and restructured the U.S. government’s approach to protecting U.S. critical infrastructure from increasingly grave threats from adversaries and natural hazards.
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Forged a new partnership of 70 nations and international organizations to combat and prevent ransomware attacks through the International Counter Ransomware Initiative.
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Ended the COVID-19 pandemic at home, and donated nearly 700 million COVID-19 vaccines to other countries.
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Partnered with more than 60 countries to help prevent and prepare for future health emergencies.
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Advanced rights and opportunities for women and girls, launching partnerships to help close the gender digital divide, build childcare infrastructure, increase access to jobs, and address gender-based violence globally.
Expanded, Enhanced, Revitalized Alliances and Partnerships
America’s alliances and partnerships are the strongest they have been at any point in recent history because of President Biden’s work to revitalize relationships with countries around the world:
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High-Level Leader Summits. President Biden hosted high-level leader summits with partners from Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific. He helped restore the G7 as the premier platform in coordinating the international response to the biggest challenges the world has faced in years—from an international pandemic to energy security—and he rallied G7 partners to impose swift economic costs on Russia for its brutal war against Ukraine. President Biden led the way in the groundbreaking G7 announcement to make available $50 billion to Ukraine without burdening taxpayers by leveraging the extraordinary revenues of immobilized Russian sovereign assets.
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Indo-Pacific. In the Indo-Pacific, President Biden’s diplomacy made America more secure by deepening our economic and security partnerships in the region, both bilaterally and multilaterally. The Biden-Harris Administration launched the historic security partnership AUKUS with Australia and the United Kingdom; spurred unprecedented trilateral defense and economic cooperation between the United States, South Korea, and Japan; and launched a new trilateral partnership with U.S. treaty allies Japan and the Philippines. The Administration also elevated other partnerships in the region including with India, Indonesia, Vietnam, ASEAN, and the Pacific Island countries. President Biden deepened economic engagement with 13 Indo-Pacific partners under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and expanded technology innovation through the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology. And he elevated the Quad with Australia, India, and Japan to the leader-level and hosted two historic summits with Pacific Island countries.
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Europe. President Biden oversaw the expansion of NATO with the addition of Sweden and Finland as member states, quickly winning strong congressional support for their accession. The Administration worked to shore up deterrence across Europe. When President Biden took office, only 9 of our NATO allies met the target to spend 2% of their GDP on defense. Today, 23 allies have met their defense spending commitments. President Biden hosted the historic 75th anniversary NATO Summit in 2024 in Washington, which demonstrated the strength and unity of the Transatlantic Alliance. At the Summit, he also built on the accession of Finland to further deepen important security ties within the NATO alliance by launching, alongside Canada, the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE Pact) to reinforce the importance of collaboration on economic security and defense industrial policy issues among NATO members. As a result, NATO is bigger, stronger, better resourced, and more united than ever.
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Africa. President Biden elevated the United States’ partnerships on the continent. He made a historic visit to Cabo Verde, a key democratic partner, and to Angola, where he celebrated the transformation of the relationship and the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, which will unlock inclusive economic growth and secure critical mineral supply chains. In a symbol of the close and growing relationship between the United States and Kenya, President Biden designated Kenya as the United States’ first major non-NATO ally in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Biden-Harris Administration also elevated African representation on the global stage, successfully championing the African Union to become a permanent member to the G20, and announcing support for United Nations Security Council reform that adds two permanent seats for African nations.
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Middle East. In the Middle East, the Biden-Harris Administration strengthened relations with partners across the region, and through a transformative agenda of regional integration established regional air defense networks and agreements to secure sea-to-rail linkages from India through the Gulf, Jordan, Israel and into Europe through Italy and Greece. Traditional adversaries of the United States—including Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Iranian-supported militant groups—are now at their weakest points in decades, and the Assad regime has fallen, while America’s position with its regional partners continues to strengthen across security and commercial sectors. After Hamas sought to derail these efforts through an invasion of Israel from Gaza on October 7, 2023—and then the launch of a multifront war against Israel from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran—coordinated diplomacy and new security partnerships kept the United States out of a broader conflict while supporting the defense of Israel. This led to a ceasefire in Lebanon with Hezbollah’s leadership dismantled, Israel’s successful self-defense strikes against Iran, and ultimately the collapse of the Assad regime due to the weakened position of Russia and Iran. President Biden set forth the roadmap for ending the war in Gaza through a ceasefire and hostage release deal, a roadmap endorsed unanimously in the UN Security Council.
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New Historic Partnerships. The Biden-Harris Administration also created new historic partnerships, such as the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity to drive the Western Hemisphere’s recovery and growth to deliver for working people. Under the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, the Administration brought together 22 countries to drive integration of migrants within the region, expand lawful pathways, and strengthen humane enforcement to reduce irregular migration. The Administration also leveraged partnerships to create space for the Venezuelan people to express their desire for democratic change. In response to Maduro’s fraudulent claims to victory, the Administration brought together over 50 countries to press Maduro’s representatives to release full results and cease repression that has seen over 2,000 arrests and two-dozen deaths. The Biden-Harris Administration rallied partners from every region of the world to support the people of Haiti, leveraging multilateral platforms to spotlight the crisis in Haiti and raising over $100 million in partner country pledges for the first of its kind UN- authorized Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti. President Biden deepened the strategic relationship with Brazil, launching a new Partnership for Workers Rights to empower workers and promote decent work, as well as a new Brazil-U.S. Partnership for the Energy Transition.
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International Financial Institutions. The Biden-Harris Administration stepped up support for developing countries, particularly by strengthening international financial institutions. The Administration led reforms to the multilateral development banks across their missions, incentive structures, operational approaches, and financial capacity to equip these institutions to be able to respond to the global challenges of today with sufficient speed and scale. The Administration helped drive an agreement on a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota increase to strengthen the institution, and made significant new resources available to low-income countries through the IMF. And the Administration also put forward a call to the international community to help developing countries with mounting debt burdens to be able to invest in their own futures.
Protected the American People from Terrorism and Wrongful Detention
President Biden worked to keep Americans safe and secure, maintaining an unwavering focus on terrorism and working both unilaterally and with partners to disrupt threats around the globe and degrade ISIS and al-Qa’ida.
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To counter foreign terrorist organizations, President Biden signed the National Security Memorandum to Counter International Terrorism Threats, directing a focus on the most acute threats to the United States, investment in partnerships, the promotion of civilian-led, nonlethal approaches wherever possible, and the execution of the counterterrorism mission in a manner consistent with U.S. values.
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At President Biden’s direction, the United States took key leaders of ISIS and al-Qa’ida off the battlefield, including al-Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who helped direct the 9/11 attacks, and ISIS leader Hajji Abdullah. In January 2023, President Biden authorized an operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the death of Bilal al-Sudani, a key operative and facilitator for ISIS’s global network, as well as a number of other ISIS operatives. These successful missions sent a powerful message to all terrorists who threaten America that we are committed to finding and eliminating terrorist threats to the United States and to the American people wherever they are hiding, no matter how remote.
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The Biden-Harris Administration worked closely with Five Eyes and European partners to prevent and disrupt threats in the West and cooperated with France and other partners to enable safe Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris for athletes and spectators from around the world.
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To ensure the U.S. government has the tools it needs to counter terrorist threats, President Biden directed his team to work with Congress to renew and reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—one of the United States’ most vital intelligence collection tools. This tool provides essential authority to understand and prevent a wide range of dangerous threats to Americans, while protecting privacy and civil liberties.
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The Biden-Harris Administration implemented the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism to prevent and disrupt this urgent threat to America’s national security. As a result of this work, the Administration sharpened its understanding of the domestic terrorism threat; increased information sharing with state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement and foreign partners; doubled its investigations into domestic extremism and terrorism; and expanded its capabilities to disrupt and prosecute such acts, all while safeguarding privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
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President Biden and his team worked around the clock using intense diplomacy to negotiate for the release of Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad so that they can be reunited with their families. President Biden brought home over 75 Americans held hostage or unjustly detained—including Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and David Lin—from places around the world, such as Afghanistan, Burma, Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, and Venezuela.
Stood with Ukraine in Defense of Freedom and Democracy
President Biden rallied the world to defend Ukraine after the Kremlin’s all-out invasion in February 2022, pulling together the most far-reaching global coalition assembled in decades. As a result, Kyiv is still free today, fighting for its freedom, democracy, and sovereignty.
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President Biden worked around the clock to build a coalition of more than 50 countries to support the people of Ukraine by providing funding that was critical to helping them defend their freedom and independence and protect themselves from Russia’s brutal attacks.
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President Biden led the way in the groundbreaking G7 announcement to make available $50 billion to Ukraine without burdening taxpayers by leveraging the extraordinary revenues of immobilized Russian sovereign assets.
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President Biden worked with allies and partners to impose unprecedented costs against Russia to cut off funding for their war and hold them accountable for their aggression against Ukraine. He secured robust bipartisan support at home to deliver critical weapons and equipment to Ukraine, as well as economic and humanitarian assistance.
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Years into what Moscow expected to be a short war, Russia remains unable to advance on the battlefield without high costs. President Biden made clear that the United States will stand with Ukraine until it prevails.
Worked to Build Lasting Peace in the Middle East
President Biden and his Administration worked steadfastly to bring peace and stability to the Middle East:
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President Biden consistently demonstrated that his support for the security of Israel was ironclad. Immediately after Hamas launched its heinous attack on October 7, President Biden stood strong with Israel and became the first sitting United States President to visit Israel in wartime.
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President Biden built a regional coalition to counter Iran’s attack on Israel. Today, thanks to his support for Israel, Iran is weaker and more exposed than when the Biden-Harris Administration took office four years ago. Its proxies—including the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas—are weakened, and its longtime ally Bashar al-Assad has fallen.
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President Biden was clear that far too many Palestinian civilians had been killed or wounded in this conflict, and from the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, he led international efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
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President Biden worked day and night to secure a deal that would free the hostages being held by Hamas terrorists, including Americans, result in an immediate ceasefire, create the conditions for an increased amount of humanitarian aid to get in to Gaza, and end the current conflict.
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At President Biden’s direction, the United States continued to work to build the conditions for a lasting peace in the region, including through support for a two-state solution, so that after this conflict is over, Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in lasting peace.
Responsibly Managed Competition with the People’s Republic of China
The Biden-Harris Administration strengthened the United States’ competitive position vis-à-vis the PRC and took historic steps to deliver on the U.S. strategy to "invest, align, and compete."
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The Biden-Harris Administration made far-reaching investments in the foundation of American strength at home and deepened its ties with Indo-Pacific and European allies and partners to shape the rules of the road and address challenges to shared security, prosperity, and values.
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President Biden took necessary action to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine its national security and to address China’s unfair trade policies and non-market practices.
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As he took these steps, the Administration conducted effective diplomacy with the PRC in a way that built stability into one of the world’s most consequential relationships—including concrete progress to stem the flow of fentanyl precursors and the renewal of some military-to-military communication.
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Through this diplomacy, the Biden-Harris Administration responsibly managed competition to ensure that it does not veer into conflict.
**Reformed the U.S. Approach to Te