By Darren Lyn
HOUSTON, US (AA) - US President Joe Biden is planning to implement some major policies before leaving the White House during a period known as a "lame duck" presidency in which the outgoing head of state can use his Oval Office powers to push for partisan initiatives without fear of any consequences.
At the top of Biden's list is advocating for a cease-fire in Gaza, where more than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed from Israeli military strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023.
The US "will make another push, with Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and others, to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza," he said at the White House on Tuesday, as he announced an Israel-Lebanon cease-fire. He also emphasized that he wanted all hostages released and to end the war without Hamas in power, according to media outlets.
Biden is also pushing to stabilize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, saying the US "remained prepared to conclude a set of historic deals with Saudi Arabia, to include a security pact and economic assurances together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full...normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel."
Another major policy initiative on the president's plate is approving a $725 million weapons package for Ukraine which seeks to bolster the government in Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2025.
The plan aims to provide a variety of US anti-tank weapons to counter Russia's advancing troops, including land mines, drones, Stinger missiles and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), according to sources familiar with the proposal.
The contents and size of the Ukraine aid package could change before Biden signs off on the plan depending on how Congress votes on the measure, but the increase in funds is reportedly coming from the president's recent use of what is called a Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the US to draw from current weapons stocks to help allies during an emergency.
Biden already has an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion in PDA authorized by Congress that he is expected to use before Trump steps into the White House.
- Biden trying to 'Trump-proof' America?
Trump said during his campaign that he wants to roll back a number of policies put into place during the current administration, so political experts say Biden has been trying to "Trump-proof" some of his key priorities before he leaves the White House.
Back in April, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government's human resources department, issued a final ruling to solidify job protections for federal workers and make it more difficult for a new administration to overhaul federal workforce ideologies. The ruling basically rescinded an executive order issued during Trump's first term as president that created a new class of federal workers known as Schedule F who would be exempt from the country's merit-based system, an order the Biden administration interpreted as rewarding political loyalists with jobs.
Former OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said the new rule would help "ensure that people are hired and fired based on merit and that they can carry out their duties based on their expertise and not political loyalty."
An OPM official told National Public Radio (NPR) ahead of the November presidential election that the current regulation is "extremely strong" and that any effort to repeal it would have to go through an enormous amount of government red tape, because once a rule is on the books, it can't just be changed via executive order. Therefore, the new Trump administration would have to propose a new rule, which could take months or even years to pass because of the tedious regulatory process.
"They would have to put it out for public comment, and they then would have to issue a final rule that survived judicial scrutiny, because it would almost certainly be challenged," former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Howard Shelanski told NPR.
"I actually think it would take a fair bit of luck for a Trump administration to actually rescind the rule and get that affirmed by a court within the one presidential term he would have," Shelanski continued. "But it's certainly possible."
- Landmark climate legislation
Not all the "Trump-proofing" is taking place at the end of Biden's term. Political experts say that landmark climate legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Democrats in 2022 during the first half of Biden's tenure, planted the seeds of longevity to prevent a new Republican administration from overhauling the climate laws.
The Inflation Reduction Act included more than $300 billion in spending to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and initiate investments in clean energy. It also offered tax breaks for consumers and subsidies for manufacturing.
Trump has threatened to dismantle the law and Republicans have voiced their plans to at least rescind some of its elements. Particularly vulnerable are tax credits for people who want to purchase electric vehicles and incentives to build electric-charging infrastructure.
But the Biden administration believes that the climate law has spurred investments in manufacturing projects in a large number of Republican congressional districts and influential private companies have already built the tax credits into their business plans. Those factors could make rollbacks politically unpopular, a senior administration official told NPR. And just several months ago, a group of House Republicans drafted a letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that underscored those exact points.
"Prematurely repealing energy tax credits, particularly those which were used to justify investments that already broke ground, would undermine private investments and stop development that is already going," the Republican group wrote in their letter.
In addition, Trump has appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to head up his administration's new Department of Government Efficiency, and taking into account that Musk reportedly donated nearly $120 million to reelect Trump and that Tesla is one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers in the world, repealing those climate laws might cause a great deal of political friction.
- Infrastructure spending
The Biden administration is also trying to implement as much infrastructure funding as possible that was approved under the $1 trillion infrastructure law, announcing a few weeks ago the use of $3.4 billion in grants for projects to improve things like passenger rail service, assisting US ports and supporting domestic manufacturing of sustainable transportation materials.
"We are investing in better transportation systems that touch every corner of the country and in the workers who will manufacture materials and build projects," said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at a news conference. "Communities are going to see safer commutes, cleaner air and stronger supply chains that we all count on."
"Our responsibility is to make good use of the funds that Congress has authorized for us and that we're responsible for assigning and disbursing throughout the last three years," Buttigieg added.
Environmental grants and project approvals have also been expedited in the past several months leading up to the end of Biden's term in office.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a $3 billion project to help local water systems comply with a nationwide deadline for the removal of lead pipes. The EPA also implemented a brand-new federal fee for oil and gas companies if they emit dangerous methane gas above certain levels.
The Energy Department announced a $544 million loan to a Michigan company to expand manufacturing of silicon carbide wafers for electric vehicles as part of a $37 billion grant under the clean energy loan program that was expanded under Biden's watch.
There is also a stockpile of funds that the Department of Defense needs to allocate before Biden leaves office. Pentagon officials say there is $7.1 billion in weapons funds that need to be used, in addition to another $2.2 billion available to put weapons systems under long-term contracts. Whether or not that money can be expedited ahead of Biden's exit from the Oval Office will depend on the efficiency of the approval process, but officials say that since the funds are already obligated, it should make it harder for the new administration to take that money back.
- Other priorities
Another priority for the Biden administration is to get Senate confirmation of as many federal judges as possible, which is a common practice for lame duck presidents to try and fill those judicial positions with partisan choices before they leave office. Democrats have confirmed more than 200 of Biden's judicial nominees during his term in the White House and nearly a dozen confirmations are still pending.
Trump has urged Republicans to oppose Biden's judicial nominees, posting on social media: "No Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership."
However, Trump did the same thing during his first term in office, confirming 234 judges during his original tenure, including three Supreme Court Justices which gave Republicans the majority in the nation's highest court.
Biden is rushing to the finish line trying to finalize a new federal rule that would cancel student loans for people facing financial hardship.
His administration has room to speed up the student loan cancelation program for people who were already promised relief, but the student debt forgiveness is likely to be challenged in court once Biden leaves office. Experts say that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona could decide that case before Trump is sworn in.
"It's a no-brainer," said National Student Legal Defense Network President Aaron Ament in a statement. "There's a good number of cases that have been sitting on Cardona's desk. It's hard to imagine that those would just be left untouched."
Regardless of what policies and fund allocations the Biden administration is able to approve before he leaves the White House, there are likely to be some legal challenges to those decisions once Trump begins his second presidency.