How History Might Remember Joe Biden's Presidency

Millions of new jobs, many in a flourishing new American manufacturing sector geared toward clean energy.

Higher prices at the grocery store, but also more dollars in paychecks.

A record low in the number of Americans without health insurance, plus a historic — if fleeting — reduction in child poverty.

Stronger international alliances, amid a bloody invasion of Ukraine and civilian catastrophe in the Middle East.

These are among the major developments tied to policy initiatives of Joe Biden’s presidency — which, because of his decision not to seek reelection, will end one way or another by Jan. 20, 2025. By any reasonable standard, they add up to a tenure of enormous consequence.

In less than four years, policy choices from the Biden administration have changed literally millions of lives in the U.S. and around the world, and maybe altered the course of climate change as well. It’s no exaggeration to say his record rivals that of any first-term president in the last half-century.

Still, it’s early to render definitive judgments on his policy legacy. Too much depends on seeing how his initiatives and decisions play out over time, what precise effects they have and, most immediately, whether his accomplishments even outlast his time in the White House.

If Donald Trump ends up winning in November, he’ll surely have something to say about that.

A Signature Piece Of Legislation

Biden’s signature achievement is the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping legislation that passed Congress on a party-line vote and that the president signed in August 2022. The name is misleading: Its central component is a massive federal investment in clean energy that, projections suggest, could add up to more than $1 trillion by the time