President-elect Joe Biden unveils website highlighting presidential plans
Graphic by Princess Gonzalez Esparza
President-elect Joe Biden launched buildbackbetter.com on Nov. 8, a website highlighting the plans, missions, and goals of the Biden-Harris campaign once they take office in 2021.
Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris highlight the priorities their administration will take during this transition of power between Donald Trump and Biden. The website lists COVID-19, climate change, economic recovery, and racial equity as the main issues Biden-Harris will tackle once getting into office.
“Our nation is grappling with a pandemic, an economic crisis, powerful calls for racial justice, and the existential threat of climate change. President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris know we can’t simply go back to the way things were before,” is stated on the website's homepage.
Biden-Harris detailed a seven point plan to lead the country in decimating the presence of COVID-19 within the United States, promising to provide more access to testing, provide more personal protective equipment, and establish a plan for vaccine distribution and development.
The Biden-Harris plan promises to invest 25 billion dollars into vaccine development and distribution in order for every American to get the vaccine for free. With vaccine trials still ongoing, Pfizer announced their trial vaccine to be more than 90% effective in participants. The Biden-Harris campaign has been in talks with Pfizer for months in order to determine storage requirements for the vaccine.
Another pertinent issue for the Biden-Harris administration following COVID-19 is economic recovery from the pandemic. On their website, they highlight how the pandemic has knocked the country down with unemployment rates higher than in the Great Recession of 2007-09.
“Implementing Biden’s comprehensive strategy to get the pandemic under control and effectively reopen the economy — an approach that will both protect the health and safety of our people and boost economic activity — is one of the president-elect’s top priorities,” states the economic recovery page.
Biden-Harris outlined their plan, noting how America should revisit its social contract and treat American workers as essential always, not just in a time of crisis, by increasing wages, benefits, and creating a safe work environment.
One of the main issues on the presidential debate stage for Biden and Trump was systemic racism. In his plan, Biden plans to tackle systemic racism to achieve racial equity by working to uplift Black communities and creating an economy which allows everyone to get ahead.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration promises to enact a permanent ban on chokeholds by police and create a national police oversight committee.
“The [criminal justice] system must be focused on redemption and rehabilitation. The Biden-Harris administration will take bold action to reduce our prison population, create a more just society, and make our communities safer,” stated on the racial equity page.
Climate change has been a big topic in the United States, especially after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord in 2017. Biden plans on re-entering the Paris Climate Accord once he enters office.
In addition to rejoining the Paris agreement, Biden plans to invest in public transportation, infrastructure, and environmental justice.
Biden was announced as the president-elect on Nov. 7, and Trump has yet to concede and meet with Biden to commence the transfer of power, Trump insisting the election was stolen from him. The finalized electoral count for the election holds Biden with 306 electoral votes, and a 5 million popular vote lead, and Trump with 232 electoral college votes.
