Tracking politicians' promises

The Promise:

"Expand access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, as well as educational opportunities and job training for individuals during and after incarceration. ... Biden will eliminate barriers keeping formerly incarcerated individuals from accessing public assistance such as SNAP, Pell grants, and housing support."

Update: Biden increases funding, announces strategic plan to ease reentry for incarcerated individuals

The Promise:

"Expand broadband, or wireless broadband via 5G, to every American – recognizing that millions of households without access to broadband are locked out of an economy that is increasingly reliant on virtual collaboration."

Update: Affordable Connectivity Program loses funding, puts Biden’s broadband promise in jeopardy

The Promise:

"Establish a U.S. Public Health Jobs Corps to mobilize at least 100,000 Americans across the country with support from trusted local organizations in communities most at risk to perform culturally competent approaches to contact tracing and protecting at-risk populations."

Update: The CDC and AmeriCorps train new public health workforce, but at a limited capacity

The Promise:

"To create more competition for U.S. drug corporations, Biden will allow consumers to import prescription drugs from other countries, as long as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has certified that those drugs are safe."

Update: FDA permits Florida to import prescription drugs from Canada, but drugs unlikely to be brought in

The Promise:

"Because we cannot ensure we get death penalty cases right every time, Biden will work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level ... These individuals should instead serve life sentences without probation or parole."

Update: Justice Department seeks new death sentence for Buffalo supermarket shooter

The Promise:

"Biden will reinvigorate the COPS program with a $300 million investment."

Update: Biden delivered more than double his $300 million pledge for COPS program

The Promise:

"Restore the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate in place before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. ... Biden will restore the Obama-Biden policy that existed before the Hobby Lobby ruling: providing an exemption for houses of worship and an accommodation for nonprofit organizations with religious missions. The accommodation will allow women at these organizations to access contraceptive coverage, not through their employer-provided plan, but instead through their insurance company or a third-party administrator."

Update: Biden introduces proposal to restore ACA contraception mandate

The Promise:

"Rebuild critical stockpiles, ensure adequate surge manufacturing capacity in times of crisis, and regularly review supply chain vulnerabilities."

Update: Biden puts tariffs on Chinese personal protective equipment to protect domestic manufacturing

The Promise:

"The Biden Administration will incentivize states to automatically restore voting rights for individuals convicted of felonies once they have served their sentences."

Update: Broken promise: Biden makes no effort to incentivize states to restore voting rights after felony

The Promise:

"Decriminalize the use of cannabis."

Update: Administration formally proposes to ease restrictions on marijuana

The Promise:

"Forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities and private HBCUs and MSIs for debt-holders earning up to $125,000."

Update: Biden administration continues to make progress on student loan forgiveness promise

The Promise:

"Biden will enact universal background check legislation, requiring a background check for all gun sales with very limited exceptions, such as gifts between close family members. This will close the so-called 'gun show and online sales loophole' that the Obama-Biden Administration narrowed, but which cannot be fully closed by executive action alone."

Update: New firearm license rule expands background checks, but in a limited way

The Promise:

"Biden will end the forever wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East, which have cost us untold blood and treasure. As he has long argued, Biden will bring the vast majority of our troops home from Afghanistan and narrowly focus our mission on Al-Qaeda and ISIS. And he will end our support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen."

Update: An end to the Afghanistan War, but continued fighting against Iranian proxies

The Promise:

"Because Biden knows we need to build back better, he will include in the economic recovery legislation he sends to Congress a series of policies to build worker power to raise wages and secure stronger benefits."

Update: PRO Act has stalled, but administration is shaping policy through NLRB

The Promise:

"The impending exhaustion of the Social Security Trust fund imperils American retirement as we know it. Waiting to act only jeopardizes the program further, and will make an eventual solution that much more difficult. The Biden Plan will put the program on a path to long-term solvency by asking Americans with especially high wages to pay the same taxes on those earnings that middle-class families pay.

Update: Biden opposes cuts to Social Security, but tax plan unlikely to advance