This week the US Congress is debating President Biden’s $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” package and $1 trillion “hard infrastructure” bill. The fact that they’re negotiating for trillions of dollars, instead of mere billions, shows how ambitious this administration is, says Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post. “Anyone who might have imagined that our oldest president would mostly be a soothing corrective after the insanity of the Donald Trump years was dead wrong.”
In his eight months in office, Biden has been bold. First he cracked down on China. He secretly negotiated the Aukus defence pact with Britain and Australia; hosted the first in-person summit of the Quad alliance (the US, India, Australia and Japan), which aims to contain China’s regional ambitions; and sent Vice-President Kamala Harris to Southeast Asia to bolster ties with Singapore and Vietnam. Second, he withdrew from Afghanistan. The withdrawal “wasn’t pretty”, but after years of dithering under Obama and Trump, it happened. “This nation’s longest war is over – any way you look at it, that’s a historic milestone.” Finally, Biden’s plans for the future are big. He wants to introduce electric cars, build high-speed trains, give everyone broadband, expand healthcare benefits and offer free nursery places and two free years of community college. He and Harris might look clumsy sometimes, but they aim high. “And they get things done.”