WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden relinquishes power in January, some parts of his legacy will be safe, while others may be undone by newly elected President Donald Trump and a new Republican-controlled Congress.
The pieces of Biden’s legacy go into four buckets. Trump can easily undo executive actions on immigration and transgender rights, while a Republican Congress can unravel spending programs passed by Democrats on a partisan basis. But it will be difficult for Trump to undo bipartisan legislation such as measures on infrastructure and gun violence prevention, and Biden’s appointed judges cannot be removed.
Republican lawmakers told NBC News they expect Trump to quickly undo many of Biden’s executive actions and that the Republican Party-controlled Congress will use the budget process to roll back some of his spending measures, including parts of one of the signature performance of his government, inflation. Reduction Act.
Executive actions (the greatest risk)
In his nearly four years as president, Biden has taken executive action on border security and keeping migrant families together to access abortion, contraception and the protection of LGBTQ rights. His programs that forgive billions of dollars in federal student debt face an uncertain future after Trump rebelled against them.
Biden’s immigration orders are ripe for Trump to target after running on a platform of mass deportations and curtailing border security. In June, Biden signed an executive action to temporarily halt asylum applications once the average number of daily encounters between official ports of entry exceeds 2,500, which Trump could try to replace with one of his own. That same month, a second Biden order allowed undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for legal status without leaving the country if they had lived in the U.S. for 10 years or more.
Biden also took executive action to ensure women have access to reproductive health care when traveling across state lines for medical care, including abortions, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And his administration last month proposed a rule that would give women access to over-the-counter contraception at no cost through private insurance.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he expects Trump will move “very quickly” to undo Biden’s executive orders on issues such as immigration and transgender rights, which Biden directed his administration to protect in a 2022 executive order.
“The legacy of the border is an unmitigated disaster,” Cramer said. “These are all issues that cost Kamala Harris the election. That is the gap with their party, with real people.”
Spending and tax policies (in real danger)
Republicans are preparing to move quickly to craft a party-line bill that would extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and undo some of Biden’s achievements, particularly provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Consumer benefits in the IRA include a $7,500 credit to purchase certain electric vehicles, home energy efficiency credits and Obamacare subsidies that capped insurance premiums for many middle-class people.
“Everything in the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan is potentially on the table,” said Senator Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Finance Committee. that we should look at the merits once they are adopted. But there are billions and billions of dollars that have been misspent in both bills, and I’m going to support repurposing them to support TCJA 2025.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who is set to chair the Environment and Public Works Committee, said she has the IRA’s climate change provisions in her sights.
‘The IRA is certainly something we will be looking at. And beyond that, I think committee chairs are starting to meet to discuss this.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said Republicans should not extend Obamacare subsidies, which expire next year.
“I don’t know,” he said.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., said there will be no sacred cows as House Republicans try to cut spending.
“We will try to find savings where we can,” he said.
Bipartisan Biden-era bills (largely safe)
The parts of Biden’s legacy that will be relatively safe are the bipartisan laws he passed, which are subject to filibusters and therefore give Democrats the power to protect them. Republican senators, including newly elected Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, insist they will maintain the legislative filibuster as long as they are in charge.
These achievements include the CHIPS and Science Act and the Infrastructure Act, which have created jobs in domestic manufacturing and construction projects; the Safer Communities Act to modestly tighten gun laws; the Respect for Marriage Act to codify legal same-sex marriage; a postal reform law; and an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act to prevent a future presidential candidate from trying to use Congress to overturn an election.
‘I’m sure they’ll come after the IRA. CHIPS and science, I think, are probably OK because it was bipartisan,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats.
Republicans will get 52 or 53 votes in the Senate, depending on the outcome of a race in Pennsylvania headed to a recount. It is not clear that they will be eager to repeal the recent bipartisan bills that some in their party created and supported. But even if they try, these measures are subject to the 60-vote threshold, which Democrats will surely use to protect their achievements.
“That’s what I hope,” King said.
Biden-appointed judges (very safe)
The safest part of Biden’s legacy may be the most important: the federal judges he appointed to district and appellate courts, and his pick for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate have confirmed 215 judges to date, a unique list with historic diversity in personal and professional backgrounds, with a high share of former public defenders and civil rights attorneys. Democrats are using the lame duck session between now and January 3 to grow that number.
The judges all have lifetime appointments, meaning Trump and Republicans will not have the power to remove them.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
