Yahoo Movies Looking Back at Year 1 of the Biden Administration
Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
In an inaugural address last January that blended optimism for the future and a hope for bipartisanship, newly sworn-in President Joe Biden suggested that America "start afresh."
"Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path," Biden said at his inauguration, exactly one year ago on Thursday. "Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war."
But disagreement — and war, or at least the exit from one — proved to plague the Biden administration in its first year, even as the president celebrated several major wins including a large scale vaccine rollout and an elusive, bipartisan investment in infrastructure.
Below, a look at the successes, failures and challenges of year one.
Vaccine Wins & Variant Challenges
The coronavirus pandemic — having already infected millions and contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people — was arguably the largest challenge facing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who took over from an administration that reportedly had no plan in place for national distribution of vaccines, which began going into American arms the month prior to the inauguration.
The rollout was initially slow and mired in confusion in states across the country. Upon taking office, Biden announced that the U.S. would increase delivery of the vaccines. According to data from Bloomberg, more than 530 million doses have been administered in the U.S. so far.
The administration hit other hurdles in emerging from the pandemic — a goal that remains elusive — due to two highly contagious variants: delta and omicron, which caused cases to spike even as many Americans had been fully vaccinated (health officials have said that breakthrough infections are far less likely to lead to hospitalization or death).
In December, the White House announced it would send free, at-home COVID-19 test kits to any American who requests one, amid a surge in cases of omicron. Though, by January, cases in many parts of the country seemed to be retreating.
In its first year, the administration made other efforts to slow the spread, unveiling a vaccine-or-get tested mandate for federal workers and for large, private companies in the U.S.
One of those goals was dashed when the Supreme Court this month blocked the Biden's administration's vaccine mandate for large employers, which would have required companies with more than 100 workers to ensure that employees are either vaccinated against COVID or wear a mask and be tested on a weekly basis.
RELATED: Supreme Court Blocks Enforcement of COVID Vaccine and Testing Mandates for Large Businesses
Infrastructure Bill Passes, Other Bills Stall
In November, Biden celebrated the passage of his hallmark $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which he called "a monumental step forward as a nation."
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes significant investments into roads, bridges, and railways, as well as improvements to broadband Internet, and passed after weeks of back and forth between lawmakers.
"Depending on the community you're living in - whether its broadband internet access or maybe you want an electric vehicle, but you need some tax credits to get one and want to make sure there's a places to charge one along the way … this bill has funding for all of that," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told PEOPLE in an earlier interview.
The administration had hoped to sign the bill "in tandem" with a larger social spending bill, which would have set up what a two-track timeline of moving both pieces of legislation through Congress. The spending bill stalled, however, when key moderate Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia abandoned talks on the measure.
By January, White House officials said they were keen to restart negotiations on the $2 trillion bill.
Among the other bills stalled during year one of the administration include legislation that would advance one of its top priorities: voting rights.
This week, lawmakers began debate on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would would expand voting access and restore key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, among other things. But with zero Republican support — as conservatives argue the legislation amounts to federal overreach — the bills seem dead even as Senate Democrats unsuccessfully sought to change filibuster rules in order to advance the bills.
That move was voted down after meeting resistance from both Manchin and fellow moderate Sen. Krysten Sinema of Arizona.
RELATED: Joe Biden Reacts to Major Democratic Election Losses: 'People Want Us to Get Things Done'
Afghanistan Withdrawal
Among the biggest headlines — and controversies — of the Biden administration's first year was the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending the country's longest war, and the almost immediate takeover of the country by the Taliban that for years had been kept at bay by U.S. forces.
In an address delivered from the White House in August, Biden acknowledged that there had been mistakes but said he did not waver from his decision to leave.
"I'm left again to ask of those who argue that we should stay: How many more generations of America's daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghanistan's civil war if Afghan troops will not? How many more lives, American lives, is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?"
"I'm clear on my answer," Biden said. "I will not repeat the mistakes that we've made in the past."
The swift takeover of the country by the Taliban was anticipated, but still drew sharp rebuke from Republicans and some Democrats, as many critics said the U.S. had abandoned some of its most loyal allies, including translators for the military.
In the weeks following the American withdrawal, tens of thousands of people, including some U.S. citizens and numerous Afghans who risk retribution, were still seeking to leave the country.
A Confusing Economic Picture
As America works to exit the pandemic, the economic outlook remains confusing — though many indicators show a healthy U.S. economy.
Some of the rebound stems from the March 2021 passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, designed to help low-income American families during the pandemic through things like a child tax credit.
Speaking at a January meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the plan "acted like a vaccine for the American economy, protecting our recovery from the possibility of new variants."
But there remain signs of trouble in the economy.
Job growth numbers, for instance, are strong — but inflation remains at record levels, undercutting wages.
Speaking in a year-one press conference on Wednesday, Biden suggested inflation was the result of the pandemic, saying, "COVID-19 has created a lot of economic complications, including rapid price increases across the world economy. People see it at the gas pump, the groceries stores and elsewhere."
Biden suggested the Federal Reserve would work to tame prices by "recalibrating" the support the economy has received throughout the pandemic. The Fed is likely to raise short-term interest rates as one means of combatting inflation, though there are other worries, such as supply-chain bottlenecks the administration says it is also working to address.
