President Biden set out to pass the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan as his first major legislative endeavor and pulled it off in time to help those who would lose their unemployment benefits on March 14.
No Republicans supported the legislation in the House or Senate on the grounds that it cost too much and much of it was unneeded. In 2017, the Republicans in the House and Senate passed at $1.5 trillion tax cut, no Democrats voted for it.
As of March 4th, Biden’s approval rating based on Real Clear Politics:
| Approval | Disapproval | |
|---|---|---|
| Over all | 55% | 40% |
| On the economy | 54% | 41% |
| On Foreign policy | 53% | 40% |
Gallup now does monthly or semi-monthly surveys of all adults. WW will include a periodic polling summary–Registered and Likely Voters–by FiveThirtyEight. In the first survey after Biden came into office is reported below.
| Gallup (All Adults) | FiveThirtyEight (Reg/Likely voters) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Approval | Disapproval | Approval | Disapproval |
| 2/18/21 | 56% | 40% | 54% | 38% |
As of his 45th day in office, March 5th, this is how President Biden’s approval rating matches up with the last five presidents on their 45th day in office.
Trump 44.1%
Biden 53.6%
Obama 59.7%
Biden 53.6%
GWBush 57.8%
Biden 53.6%
Clinton 60.1%
Biden 53.6%
GHW Bush 62%
Biden 53.6%
Vice President Harris cast her first tie breaking vote in the United States Senate on her 15th day in office, February 5th. Since then, she has cast a second and third tie breaking vote. She has now cast more tie breaking votes than 19 of the previous vice presidents.
12 vice presidents, including Biden, Quayle, Rockefeller, Ford, and Lyndon Johnson, never cast a tie breaking vote.
4 vice presidents including Mondale, Hobart and Wilson and Truman each cast 1 tie breaking vote.
3 vice presidents including Agnew, Dawes, and Adlai Stevenson cast 2 tie breaking votes.
Starting with the most, here is a list of the VPs and their number of tie breaking votes: 31-John Calhoun; 29-John Adams; 19-George Dallas; 18-Schuyler Colfax; 14-George Clinton and Richard Johnson; 13-Mike Pence; 10-Breckinridge; 9-Gerry and Marshal; 8-Barkley, Nixon, Cheney; 7-Hamlin and GHW Bush; 6-Tompkins and Wheeler; 4-Van Buren, Morton, Sherman, Wallace, Humphrey, and Gore; 3-Jefferson, Burr, Filmore, Arthur, Curtis, and Garner.
“For the first time, we now have had four presidents in a row who have lost both of their parties’ Senate and House majorities during their White House tenures. Two of them (Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) lost both majorities in their first midterm election; one (Donald Trump) lost them over the course of four years and two elections; and the other (George W. Bush) took six years and a second midterm election to see the whole thing go up in smoke.” [Charlie Cook 2/9/21]
Will Joe Biden be the 5th president to so? (WW)
Judges Nominated and Confirmed to Date
Because the U.S. Senate will be in Democratic hands in 2021 and the filibuster cannot be used on judicial nominees, President Biden will be able to begin affecting the federal judiciary at an early date. The chart below reflects the number of Article III court judges appointed by all U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter.
| Total | Supreme Ct | Appeals Ct | District Ct | Int’l Trade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biden | |||||
| Trump – 4 years | 234 | 3 | 54 | 174 | 3 |
| Obama – 8 years | 325 | 2 | 55 | 268 | |
| GW Bush – 8 years | 325 | 2 | 62 | 261 | |
| Clinton – 8 years | 373 | 2 | 66 | 305 | |
| GHW Bush – 4 years | 192 | 2 | 42 | 148 | |
| Reagan – 8 years | 376 | 3 | 83 | 290 | |
| Carter – 4 years | 259 | 0 | 56 | 203 |
[USCourts/Wikipedia/List of federal judges appointed Joe Biden]
As of January 25, 2021, there are 829 active federal judges.
- Barack Obama (D) appointed 316 (38%)
- Donald Trump (R) appointed 232 (28%)
- George W. Bush (R) appointed 163 (20%)
- Bill Clinton (D) appointed 88 (11%)
- Ronald Reagan (R) appointed 16 (1.9%)
- George H.W. Bush (R) appointed 13 (1.69%)
- Jimmy Carter (D) appointed (1) (0.1%)
[Ballotpedia 3/3/21]