Election 2024

The Biden-Harris Administration: Fighting for Real Solutions

The Biden-Harris administration is a consistent partner in our efforts to find real solutions for our members and the communities we serve. While there is still work to be done, their record is unprecedented and gives us the building blocks needed to build a more perfect union.  

Strengthening the Economy and Creating Jobs  

• Achieved Record Low Unemployment: Created over 13 million jobs, growing the economy at nearly 6 percent—the fastest rate since 1984. 
• Expanded Consumer Savings: Signed the Inflation Reduction Act, driving down costs for healthcare, capping prescription drug prices and lowering energy costs.
• Improved Real Wage Growth: Most wages are growing more quickly than prices, as the country experienced a historically strong economic recovery from Trump’s recession.
• Grew the Manufacturing Economy: Dedicated nearly $300 billion to manufacturing investments for workforce development and to expand access to STEM and rural education.
• Boosted Union Job Creation: Ensured future technologies and microprocessors are made in America, creating well-paying, union jobs. 
• Rebuilt Our Infrastructure: Led the fight in passing the once-in-a-generation Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to invest in and modernize critical infrastructure. 

Investing in Public Education  

• Strengthened Investments in Education: Made record investments in public education, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, community schools, early education, Title I and career and technical education. 
• Reopened Schools: Signed the American Rescue Plan to help schools reopen safely, recruit and retain school personnel and support students, and address students’ mental health and learning needs. 
• Bolstered Career and Technical Education: Signed the CHIPS and Science Act, investing in STEM education and experiential learning, including programs expanding access to work-based learning, apprenticeships and career training programs.

Supporting Healthcare Professionals and Quality Healthcare  

• Backed Solutions to the Nursing Shortage: Called for $350 million to expand training programs, including $32 million to increase nurse faculty and $28 million to recruit and train new providers.
• Prioritized Healthcare Workers’ Wellness: Signed the Health Care Provider Protection Act, reducing mental health crises and burnout among healthcare professionals. 
• Lowered Prescription Drug Prices: Required Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for Medicare users. 
• Increased Healthcare Coverage: Lowered health insurance costs for 13 million people by an average of $800 per year and increased the number of people with health insurance to the highest level ever.

Making Higher Education More Accessible  

• Initiated Student Debt Relief: Provided over $136.6 billion in targeted student loan relief to more than 3.7 million borrowers. 
• Repaired the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: Provided $56.7 billion in loan forgiveness for over 793,400 borrowers since October 2021, including frontline workers and others who have dedicated their lives to public service.

Supporting Workers and Organized Labor  

• Defended Unionizing: Established a pro-worker majority on the National Labor Relations Board. 
• Supported Collective Bargaining: Signed an executive order enabling federal workers to collectively bargain and visibly supported striking workers at Amazon, Kellogg and the UAW.
• Protected Pensions: Provided funding to the Central States Pension Fund, securing the pensions of more than 350,000 workers and retirees from 60 percent cuts.

Fighting for Democracy, Social Justice and Civil Rights  

• Encouraged Voting Rights Expansion: Instructed federal agencies to make it easier to vote and increase voter registration. 
• Resisted Attacks on Reproductive Rights: Signed executive orders to protect access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, contraception and safeguards for patient privacy.
• Advanced Historic Judicial Nominations: Appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court—the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court—and appointed a record number of Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander judges.
• Signed the Respect for Marriage Act: Extended federal protections for marriage between same-sex and interracial couples. 
• Preserved LGBTQIA+ Protections: Ensured Title IX doesn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity by reversing the Trump administration’s position.  
• Safeguarded Immigration: Revoked Trump’s executive order that led to children being separated from their families at the border and established a task force on reunifying separated families.
• Broadened Affordable Child Care: Directed nearly every cabinet-level agency to expand access to affordable, high-quality care and provide support for early education workers and family caregivers.

Protecting Children and Communities

• Pushed Commonsense Gun Laws: Narrowed the “boyfriend loophole” to keep guns out of the hands of convicted dating partners and completed federal rules to expand background checks and reduce access to “ghost” guns.
• Reinforced Community and Student Safety: Invested in community-based violence interruption programs, community schools and mental health services in schools to support student well-being and safety.
• Secured Artificial Intelligence Safety Standards: Signed a landmark executive order establishing new standards for AI safety and security, protecting Americans’ privacy, advancing equity and civil rights, and standing up for workers. 
• Supported Youth Guardrails for Social Media: Created interagency Task Force on Kids Online Health and Safety to advance the health, safety and privacy of youth online and on social media platforms.

Pursuing Environmental Justice  

• Encouraged Environmentally Safe Schools: Incentivized the transition to zero- and low-emission school buses and granted funding to address critical infrastructure needs.
• Promoted Energy Efficient Buildings: Made it easier for public entities to access federal tax credits—creating billions of dollars for public schools and hospitals to make green energy improvements.

Biden-Harris Accomplishments for AFT Members