During his first month in office, President Joe Biden has been working to reverse many Trump-era policies while unveiling his priorities for the future.

“I am optimistic about the next four years,” junior AP Pang said. “I am hopeful for positive environmental practices and a confident path out of the coronavirus.”

While still early in his presidency, Biden has signed an executive order to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords, announced his plans to provide additional funding to vaccine rollout and economic stimulus, and also prioritizing the reform of America’s healthcare system.

Biden is strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, and considering “establishing a Special Enrollment Period for uninsured and under-insured Americans to seek coverage,” according to the White House.

The decision was made with consideration to the over 30 million uninsured Americans, and the disproportionate representation of minorities among the uninsured, who have been unequally affected by the COVID-19 virus, according to the White House. Republican approval of the ACA is only at 16%, according to a December poll by the Kaiser Family
Foundation.

“Since the banning of many prominent figures from social media, political tensions are less visible to me,” sophomore Cooper Loveless said. “There is still much disagreement between parties in the Senate, particularly about the second impeachment of President Trump, that is harder to see from the public eye.”

Political tension has fluctuated since the election. Both the Capitol insurrection and President Trump’s second impeachment sparked a political divide, and normally precarious topics such as Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan have received low levels of opposition from some Republicans.

While Biden says he seeks a legislative common ground between Democrats and Republicans, he said in his Feb. 5 briefing that if he were to “to choose between getting help right now to Americans” and “getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill,” he will “help the American people who are hurting now.”

Biden expressed his intentions to work with both Democrats and Republicans in both his inaugural address and briefing room remarks.

“I do feel a strong sense of relief with our new leadership,” Pang said. “ I think it is good that Biden is trying to emphasize unity rather than division.”