Presidents and the press always focus on the first hundred days of a new administration and the initiatives it puts forward.
In Joe Biden’s case, many of his new policies have been established during his first 50 days as president, as he laid out in his first major address to the nation.
The president’s first address was notable not just for what it said but for what it did not say.
Mr. Biden said fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is still job one, and he stressed that the national vaccination program is his main focus.
What he did not say was that this "miracle" program was one he inherited from President Trump, whose "Operation Warp Speed" developed and produced hundreds of millions of vaccines in record time.
Just a year ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, scientists warned that developing a vaccine to fight it could take five or more years.
That would have left the U.S. exposed to COVID-19 for much of the next decade, with devastating consequences to American’s health and our economy.
But the Trump administration spearheaded a successful alliance of government, research centers, and pharmaceutical companies that indeed brought vaccines to the public in "warp speed." Turns out, having a determined President with a businessman’s eye — who tirelessly pushed U.S. bureaucrats to get this job done — was just what the doctor ordered.
Mr. Biden also touted his just passed $1.9 trillion stimulus bill as absolutely necessary to lifting our economy out of the negative economic impacts of the Covid epidemic.
What he did not note was that under President Trump three separate bi-partisan Covid relief bills totaling $3.7 trillion were negotiated to deal with the pandemic.
These previous spending bills helped pull the economy out of the doldrums well before Mr. Biden took the oath of office.
Along with pushing covid vaccinations made possible by Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, Biden initially echoed President Trump’s call to re-open schools.
But when confronted with push-back from powerful teachers’ unions, he backed down.
His press secretary ridiculously insisted that opening schools would be met when half of K-6 classes opened one day a week.
At that rate, schools won’t be fully opened this school year at all, and maybe not even next fall. Children from disadvantaged communities will suffer most.
Some of these children may never make up the time they’ve lost. Instead of "following the science" which indicates that schools can safely re-open, Biden has followed the teachers’ union bosses who put students last.
But the biggest mistake Biden is making is on our southern border.
It seems that his administration so hates anything related to President Trump, it is determined to reverse even those policies that make sense and worked to secure the border.
Trump had negotiated a ground-breaking agreement with Mexico to keep migrants on the Mexican side of the border while their asylum cases are considered by U.S. authorities. This policy had helped stem the flood of illegal immigration into the U.S.
But in the race to undo all things Trump, Biden tore up this historic agreement with Mexico and signaled that illegal immigrants would again be allowed to cross the border into the U.S. and stay here while their legal cases are heard.
This has opened up the floodgates on the border, with thousands of migrants crossing over each day and surrendering to U.S. border authorities. Many of these migrants are "unaccompanied minors" and women with young children who present a particularly daunting challenge to accommodate.
The result is that U.S. migrant holding facilities have been overwhelmed. The very overcrowding conditions that Democrats decried under the Trump administration are being vastly worsened by this ill-considered wide-open-door policy.
No one should be surprised by the pictures of families and kids in holding pens already showing up on the news. But the Biden administration has a "plan" for this too.
It's rapidly releasing thousands of these young immigrants out of detention. Many are just dropped off at local bus stations, presumably to reunite with relatives already here.
It’s anybody’s guess how many of these youngsters end up with child traffickers or into the clutches of gangs like MS13.
This "catch and release" policy is a prescription for disaster on our border. Expect hordes of illegals to heed the call to cross our borders and swamp our immigration system. But not to worry, the Biden team will come up with a "plan" for that too. Just not a good one.
None of this was unforeseen. Elections have consequences. If Biden and the Democrats continue to over-reach and under-perform, there’s always the 2022 midterm elections. If the nation can hold on till then.
Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato served a distinguished 18-year career in the U.S. Senate, where he chaired the Senate Banking Committee and was a member of the Senate Appropriations and Finance Committees. The former Senator shares insights "with a clear-eyed view of the political forces that shape the world we live in today." Read Alfonse D'Amato's Reports — More Here.
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