With Biden just surpassing the halfway point in his first 100 days, several promises of his campaign have been successfully fulfilled, while others have fallen behind. A major focus for these few months has been COVID vaccine rollout and the American Rescue Plan, focusing on safely reopening the country and providing relief to those suffering from the pandemic. Although, there are still several items that have been pushed aside for the future while Biden focuses on the pandemic.

Generally, the federal coordinated effort to curb COVID-19 and potentially end the pandemic seems to be on the most successful trajectory thus far. By approaching the daunting task of creating herd immunity from the virus through vaccines with widespread rollout and encouragement, about 167 million vaccines have been administered throughout the United States as of April 6. Biden’s new goal is to achieve 200 million vaccines administered by April 29. 

Vaccine rollout is part of the larger American Rescue Plan that also introduced a new $1,400 stimulus check about 3 months after the one issued in late December 2020. This stimulus package in the later stages of the pandemic provides the chance for families and small businesses to recover from economic hardship depending on how it’s used. However, the stimulus check is not the only thing repairing small businesses.

“It’s a multi-faceted approach; there’s also what’s called the PPP, the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses. There are also some tax incentives for small businesses tax breaks for small businesses to take advantage of. It’s going to be helpful, it’s going to increase their profits if they’re able to cover some of the costs. These tax breaks are for the small businesses to stay open, so then those small businesses are able to stay open to keep folks employed and kind of keep that momentum going,” economics teacher Jason Janczak said. 

However, some other promises of Biden’s campaign have yet to come to fruition, if at all. Due to COVID relief being such a large aspect of Biden’s initial presidency, other promises could be fulfilled in the future when the pandemic is less of a looming issue. These delayed agendas create setbacks for more widespread approval. 

A large proponent of Biden’s economic plan in his initial campaign was the focus on a federal $15 minimum wage. This has yet to be introduced into the larger economic relief conversation, much to the disappointment of voters and legislatures alike pushing for the increased minimum wage. 

Another large promise was focused on immigration reform, especially at the Mexican-American border. Although he has proposed two bills for reform within his first 100 days, it’s unlikely these will be passed in a timely manner due to the long legislative process. 

Two other weighty issues touched on during his campaign were tackling climate change and social justice issues. Both of these issues have been cast aside to make room for COVID relief, but some reforms are awaiting approval in Congress and will hopefully be addressed more thoroughly in the near future.