Wednesday, March 31, 2021
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President Joe Biden entered office in January facing multiple converging crises and the urgent need to mitigate the previous administration’s most egregious failures: a pandemic entering its second year, exacerbated by a botched vaccine rollout and anti-mask disinformation; businesses crippled by indoor-gathering restrictions and depressed consumer spending; millions of Americans out of work and facing foreclosure, eviction or homelessness; extreme weather emergencies linked to climate change … the list goes on.
Now halfway through his first 100-day sprint, Biden and his team have swiftly accelerated vaccine distribution and overseen passage of the American Rescue Plan, a recovery effort that, even in its whittled-down form, could lay the groundwork for combating income inequality through direct cash payments to families. But what further actions should the administration prioritize moving forward? And what do those actions look like for cities?