Democrats have been imploring President Joe Biden to, in the words of former first lady Michelle Obama before last month’s election, do something.
Biden, a lame-duck president whose Democratic Party is contending with losing to President-elect Donald Trump for a second time, has been conspicuously absent despite some Democrats expressing the need for leadership as the party considers how to oppose Trump.
“I hope Biden uses the power of the presidency wisely while he still has it,” Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn told the Washington Examiner.
But amid mounting pressure on Biden from Democrats to protect illegal immigrants from Trump’s mass deportations, end mass federal prison incarceration, and even certify the Equal Rights Amendment, his absenteeism could be coming to an end during the last month of Biden’s administration, at least according to a new memo being circulated by the White House.
Here are four actions Biden is trying or could take before the end of his one and only term in 35 days:
Protect student debt loan forgiveness programs
Biden has underscored his record canceling student loan debt for almost 5 million federal borrowers, amounting to more than $175 billion in debt, since the start of his administration.
But much of his work has been undermined by Republican-led lawsuits against, for example, his Saving on a Valuable Education Act and other income-driven repayment plans, with a federal judge ruling against his attempt to salvage the program in October after the Supreme Court made a similar adverse decision against the original proposal last year.
Simultaneously, Democrats, including Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), as well as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), have called on Biden to cancel the debt of students who have been defrauded by predatory schools.
“We are here to demand that the Department of Education deliver on President Biden’s commitment to debt relief and process all outstanding borrower defense relief before President Trump slams the door shut on borrowers on Jan. 20,” Markey told reporters this month.
In this weekend’s memo, emailed under the subject line, “Making every day count,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt previewed that Biden would “move forward on priority issues like student debt relief for hardworking Americans and artificial intelligence.”
Biden is likely to try to cancel more student debt through the two pathways his administration has already taken, processing Public Service Loan Forgiveness and borrower defense applications, according to Brookings Institution Brown Center on Education Policy fellow Katharine Meyer.
“They appear to be moving their proposed rules for more widespread forgiveness through the regulatory pipeline, but time is running out to enact any of those policies,” Meyer told the Washington Examiner. “The lower courts are on alert to look for early signs of any widespread forgiveness, and this fall have been able to bring suits even before rules were finalized to block implementation.”
Passed legislation spending spree
In addition to defending what will become Biden’s legacy, which the president endeavored to do himself during an economic address last week, LaBolt this weekend also previewed that Biden would “keep investing in all of America.”
LaBolt’s memo emphasizes a similar directive by White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients distributed last week in which Zients, who has been coordinating with Trump’s transition team, told aides Biden wants them “to keep up this pace and obligate as much funding as possible before the end of the term.”
“Move forward the president’s Investing in America agenda,” he wrote. “We have already announced awards for about 98% of the funding legally available to spend through October 2024 provided under the president’s historic Investing in America legislation: The American Rescue Plan, The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act … Expect more action on high-speed internet funds to states, CHIPS incentives funding, IRA funding, and more.”
As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden will announce in January, too, that his $2,000 prescription drug cap will fully go into effect for all Medicare Part D beneficiaries, according to Zients.
“There’s so much more we’re working on — we have announcements to come on everything from
climate to conservation to AI and more,” he wrote, adding the White House will continue collaborating with Congress on confirming federal judges, passing disaster relief, and avoiding a government shutdown. “Let’s finish strong.”
Regarding AI, Biden is speculated to depend on the Defense Production Act “to speed up construction of new data centers to fuel the growth of power-hungry advanced artificial intelligence,” according to Center for American Progress technology policy vice president Adam Conner.
“The incoming Trump administration is likely to prioritize the needs of AI-enamored tech companies at the expense of households and communities,” Conner told the Washington Examiner. “The Biden administration should be making it harder for the Trump administration to use ‘national security’ as an excuse to railroad communities living next to data centers and force residential ratepayers to foot the bill. Data centers are a key to the future of AI, but that demand must be secured with clean, domestic power and paid for by the companies using them.”
Preemptive pardons for Trump critics
After Biden’s expansive pardon of his son, Hunter, one that covered the younger Biden “for those offenses against the United States which he has committed, or may have committed, or taken part in during the period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024,” Democrats have been asking what the president intends to do to protect Trump critics, both from their party and that of Republicans, as the president-elect and his incoming administration discuss revenge.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly not ruled out the prospect of Biden issuing preemptive pardons for Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) and former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney. Meanwhile, Schiff and others have reiterated their opposition to preemptive pardons.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the president,” Jean-Pierre told reporters last week. “As I said, we’ll have more, the president will have more to announce over the upcoming weeks as we are, close out our time here.”
Biden used his clemency powers for 1,500 Americans last week, the largest act of clemency in a single day, after criticism that his pardon of his son was unfair and hypocritical because it was based on claims the Department of Justice had prosecuted him for political reasons has additionally been scrutinized for including a commutation for the former judge who was part of the so-called “kids-for-cash” scandal, Michael Conahan.
Peace in the Middle East?
Biden, a self-described foreign policy expert, is trying to shore up his international reputation as he steps off the world stage amid wars between Ukraine and Russia, on top of the Middle East conflict, dispatching Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan to the latter region this month more than a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
“We’re now looking to close a hostage release deal and a ceasefire, which would stop the war and reunite hostages with their families,” Sullivan told reporters in Israel this weekend. “I would point out that Hamas’s posture at the negotiating table did adapt following the announcement of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
After the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, Biden has been candid about his desire and efforts to bring U.S. journalist Austin Tice home. Biden and Tice’s family remain adamant that the Marine Corps veteran, who was kidnapped in Syria 12 years ago, was alive as recently as the summer, with reports he may now be in Iran.
“We don’t have enough information right now about Mr. Tice and his whereabouts and his condition to develop any kind of policy options in terms of getting him home,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters last week. “Right now, we’re really trying — and we hope that developments in Syria will give us the opportunity to glean more information.”
