M Omar Iftikhar
THE victory of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr as the 47th Vice President of the United States of America was confirmed when he won the state of Georgia. Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee for the 2020 US election, was running against Donald Trump, who was seen as an erratic leader ever since he assumed office in 2017. Biden’s win over Georgia is also significant for he is the first Democratic candidate to win this state since 1992. Now that the dust has settled over the confusion as to who will be US President, Biden will have his focus on working around the various policies that need immediate attention. Biden discussed various policies that he will address once he became the President. These were done during the debates and speeches he conducted during the days leading to the 2020 US elections.
The first action Biden and his Administration would take will certainly be to curb Covid-19. Donald Trump’s laid back attitude towards dealing with the spreading of the virus earlier this year led to much chaos as the virus spread across all states of the US. Biden has called to establish a national contact-tracing program. According to reports, the concerned authorities will install ten testing centres in each state. This will benefit the maximum number of people when it comes to testing the population and taking effective and timely decisions. Biden also envisions implementing a national mask mandate whereby everyone is requested to wear a mask, especially when they are on federal property. Such a decision taken by Donald Trump must have prevented the spread of Covid-19 across the US before it was too late.
Another important point on Biden’s policies is to work around climate change. It is expected that under Biden’s administration, the United States will re-join the Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement was signed in 2016 within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The world and the US population stood in shock when President Trump decided that the US should withdraw from this agreement. Biden has shared during his speeches that he will pursue environmentally friendly ideas and initiatives. The objective is for the US to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Biden’s policies concerning the environment and energy will be to facilitate the US to achieve this goal. He also plans to invest $2 trillion in green energy. This may create avenues for the private and public sectors to pursue such initiatives that reduce carbon emissions across the US. At the economic front, Biden’s policies will revolve around increasing taxes for high earners. Such a step will bring investment to the public sector. This tax increase will affect those who earn more than $400,000 a year. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Biden has called for raising it to $15 an hour.
Another goal of Biden as President will be to protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was passed under President Obama’s regime. This enhanced the federal government’s management of the private health insurance system. Biden is also expected to reduce the eligibility age for Medicare. As far as the foreign policies are concerned, Biden will create and maintain collaborations with international alliances. This will be opposite to President Trump’s objectives of challenging global alliances. Biden would need to focus on the United States’ relations with China, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Europe. Each country has had some episodes of annoyance with President Trump.
Biden, on the other hand, would need to maintain a smooth relation with these countries and find a decent, mature, logical solution to the problems the US is facing concerning these countries. Now that Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, US Vice President-elect, is of Indian descent, she may as well have a soft corner with the ties between US-India and perhaps US-Pakistan. However, nothing with surety can be said as to how Harris will pursue US relations with South Asian nations. It is evident from history that a change in US leadership does not primarily suggest a change in US policies. For instance, during President Obama’s Administration when Biden was Vice President (2009 to 2017), the US carried out over 350 drone attacks in Pakistan. Biden must ensure that he pursues table talks to resolve conflicts instead of using force. How Biden and Harris pursue their foreign relations will become evident after January 2021.
— The writer is contributing columnist, based in Karachi.
