[ad_1]
When he formally announced his entry into the 2020 presidential race, Joe Biden – elected this Saturday (07/11) president of the United States – said that he stood for two things: the workers who “built this country” and values that can overcome personal divisions. .
On the verge of taking on a country with great challenges, from the devastation caused by the new coronavirus pandemic to racial inequality, he competed (and won) with a platform that proposed the creation of new job opportunities and the reestablishment of environmental safeguards, alliances international and health protections for Americans.
Here are more details on how the president-elect stands on 8 key issues:
1. Coronavirus: National Testing and Monitoring Program
Credit, fake images
The United States is the country with the highest number of deaths from covid-19
Biden’s proposal to face the advance of the coronavirus in the US is to offer free tests to the population and hire 100,000 collaborators to create a national network to follow-up contacts of potentially infected people.
He says he wants to establish at least ten testing centers in every state, ask federal agencies to allocate resources to the task force, and use experts from federal agencies to provide stronger guidance across the country.
Biden argues, for example, that all governors should make masks mandatory.
Voters who traditionally distrust federal officials will view this as abuse, but the move is in line with either Biden’s or the Democratic Party’s views on the role of government.
2. Employment and income: readjustment of the minimum wage and investment in renewable energy
To cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden pledged to spend “whatever it takes” to extend credit programs to small businesses and increase the payment of emergency aid to families.
Among the proposals is an additional $ 200 (R $ 1,070) in the benefit paid by Social Security, with the consequent revocation of the tax cuts promoted by Trump during his term.
The economic policy adopted by the blackboard, called “Rebuild better”, has as its main focus two groups that traditionally vote for Democratic candidates: youth and manual workers (the so-called “workers”).
The proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour (about 80 reais) resonated with younger voters and became something of a symbol of the acronym in 2020, a sign of a more left-wing position.
Biden has also mentioned the intention to invest around US $ 2 billion (more than R $ 10 billion) in renewable energies and defended sustainable production as a way to strengthen unionized workers, who are very present in these sectors.
There is also a promise to spend around US $ 400 billion (R $ 2.1 trillion) on government purchases for US industrial products, in line with the broader commitment to strengthening laws that encourage the purchase of manufactured products. by local companies in transportation projects.
Biden has already been criticized for supporting NAFTA, North America’s free trade agreement, which, for some, facilitates the transfer of jobs currently in the United States to other countries.
3. Racial issue: reform of the criminal justice system
Credit, fake images
Biden proposed policies to address race, gender and income disparities in the court system
In the wake of the racial protests that hit the United States this year, he said he believes that racism exists in the United States and must be fought through broad economic and social programs to support minorities. One of the pillars of his “rebuild” program is creating business support for minorities through a $ 30 billion investment fund.
In criminal justice, he moved away from his much-criticized position of being “tough on crime” in the 1990s. Biden has now proposed policies to reduce incarceration, address race, gender, and income disparities in the court system, and rehabilitate released prisoners. Now he would create a $ 20 billion grant program to encourage states to invest in efforts to reduce incarceration, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, decriminalize marijuana and end the death penalty.
However, he rejected requests to reduce resources to the police, saying that the resources must be tied to maintaining standards. He argues that part of the financing of the police should be redirected to social services, such as mental health, and speaks of an investment of US $ 300 million (R $ 1.6 billion) in a community policing program.
4. Climate change: rejoining the global agreement
Biden classified climate change as an existential threat and says it will unite the rest of the world to act more quickly on reducing emissions, again joining the Paris Agreement. The agreement, from which Donald Trump withdrew, predicted a commitment by the United States to reduce greenhouse gases by as much as 28% by 2025, based on 2005 levels.
While not adopting the Green New Deal (climate and jobs package presented by his party’s left wing), Biden proposes a federal investment of $ 1.7 trillion in green technology research (some of which overlaps with funding of his economic plan, which will be spent over the next 10 years) and wants the United States to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, a commitment made by more than 60 countries last year. China and India, the other two biggest carbon emitters, have not yet joined the pledge.
The investments fit in with its economic plan to create jobs in the manufacture of “green energy” products.
Credit, fake images
The president-elect has proposed an international coalition with other democracies that China “cannot ignore”
Biden wrote that, as president, he would focus first on national issues. That said, it hardly suggests that Biden’s foreign policy values have drifted away from multilateralism and compromise on the world stage, as opposed to Trump’s clearly isolationist values.
He also vowed to repair relations with America’s allies, especially the NATO alliance (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which Trump has repeatedly threatened to undermine with resource cuts.
The former vice president said China should be held responsible for unfair trade and environmental practices, but instead of unilateral tariffs, he proposed an international coalition with other democracies that China “cannot ignore,” though he was vague about what that means.
6. Health: expanding Obamacare
Biden says he will expand Obamacare, a system that has expanded health coverage for people who have never had insurance in the country, created when he was vice president of President Barack Obama, and implement a plan to insure about 97% of Americans.
Biden promises to give all Americans the option to sign up for Medicare-like public health insurance, which offers medical benefits for seniors, and to lower the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 60. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group, estimates that the Biden plan would cost a total of $ 2.25 billion (R $ 12 billion) in 10 years.
7. Immigration: undoing Trump’s policies
Credit, fake images
Joe Biden vows to reverse Trump’s controversial immigration policies
In his first 100 days in office, Biden vows to reverse Trump’s policies that separate parents from their own children at the U.S.-Mexico border, lift limits on the number of asylum applications, and end bans on travel in several Muslim majority countries. It also promises to protect “Dreamers,” people who were illegally brought to the United States as children and who were allowed to remain under an Obama-era policy, as well as ensuring that they are eligible for federal student aid.
8. Education: universal preschool and free university extension
In a notable shift to the left, Biden endorsed several points of education policy that became popular within the party: forgiveness of student-financed debt, expansion of free universities, and universal access to preschool. These would be financed with the money obtained from the removal of the Trump-era tax cuts.
Have you seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!
