Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP
Now sworn in, President Joe Biden is inheriting a set of extraordinary crises that will test his new administration from its earliest days.
A raging pandemic continues devastating the nation with daily infections and hospitalizations near record levels a year. The official US death tolls hit 400,000 people this week, nearly the same number of Americans killed in combat during World War II.
Renewed restrictions combined with fear of the virus are straining an economy severely damaged from the year-long virus outbreak. There are 10 million more unemployed Americans compared to February 2020. Much of the economic burden has fallen squarely on women and minority communities, who have suffered larger job losses.
Biden campaigned on restoring bipartisanship and national unity after four years of a chaotic presidency under Donald Trump. His inaugural address on Wednesday sought to forge a sense of collective purpose.
"This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge — and unity is the path forward," Biden said in his 25-minute address on the steps of the Capitol. "We must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we can do that, we will not fail."
But the president faces a string of major economic, political, and public health challenges. He took the oath of office at the scene of a violent riot by Trump supporters which recently left five people dead.
The nation's capital resembles a military encampment with nearly 25,000 National Guard troops backing up law enforcement officers securing the inauguration against the risk of more bloodshed. A second Trump impeachment trial in the Senate also imperils a swift timeline he's pursuing for some of his agenda — and it will quickly test his vow to work with Republicans on Capitol Hill.
"Biden is inheriting among the worst crises a president has stepped into," Jason Furman, a former top economic advisor to President Barack Obama, said in an interview. "But he has the tools to solve it. There are vaccines and we know a lot of the economic medicine that's needed — Congress just has to pass it."
Biden introduced a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan last week building on an earlier federal rescue package. The plan includes relief provisions like enhanced unemployment insurance, aid to state and local governments, vaccine funds, and stimulus checks.
Many experts say robust spending is necessary to mitigate the human suffering from the pandemic and assist hard-hit small businesses. Last month, employers shed 140,000 jobs, reversing seven months of steady gains.
"The longer that we have an economic malaise, the harder it is to grow back out of it," Ernie Tedeschi, policy economist at Evercore ISI, told Insider. "That's one of the lessons from the Great Recession."
It stands to form an early test of Biden's legislative prowess — whether he can garner Republican support for another large government rescue plan or pass it with only Democratic votes under a special procedure called budget reconciliation.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday ramped up their criticism of the plan. They warned of a soaring budget deficit, which reached $3 trillion last year due to a surge in emergency aid spending. It foreshadows the resistance Biden will likely encounter from GOP lawmakers for many parts of his economic platform that's contingent on more spending.
In some ways, confronting calamity is familiar terrain for Biden. He served as Obama's vice president as the American economy reeled from the 2008 financial crisis, another emergency that threatened to drag the US into a depression.
Less than a year later, Biden played a critical role steering an $800 billion stimulus package through Congress. He helped draw 3 GOP votes for a piece of legislation that provided government assistance for states and jobless Americans. Many economists and Democratic policymakers now say a stronger federal response would have sped up the sluggish recovery.
There are early signs Biden will move fast on pandemic-relief measures and reverse course from Trump. Before the end of the day, the president is expected to sign 17 executive orders. They include extending a pause on student loan payments, renewing an eviction moratorium, and rejoining the Paris climate accords.
"Biden is treating our situation like a major crisis, wasting no time in acting and addressing it anyway he can administratively today," Furman told Insider.
NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet
See Also:
