Dem
51
GOP
49
Joe Biden actually got quite a bit done in his first 2 years, especially on dealing with climate change. Unfortunately for him, very few people know about it. In his SOTU speech, Biden talked about the $369 billion in "green incentives," designed to move the country away from fossil fuels. That, and much more, will be needed during his reelection campaign as a December 2022 poll showed that 62% of the country thinks he has achieved little or nothing at all. In reality, the subsidies for green energy in the Inflation Reduction Act are the biggest ones ever passed, but Biden won't get much credit if people don't even know about it. The poll showed that a third of registered voters have heard nothing about the climate "law." Another 24% have heard a little about it. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said: "I really feel sympathy with the president. You do really important things that might have an impact and there's a day or two of news coverage. If important political points are not getting out to the public, it's not just the politicians' fault."
Most Republicans oppose the bill, even those House members whose districts will get new jobs created by the bill. They claim that it has stoked inflation, burdening households with higher costs for gasoline, food, and home-heating. In reality, the bill hasn't even started to have any effect and gas prices has come way down recently. They are barely affected by the bill, if at all.
Biden is working on public awareness of his achievements. He is a self-professed "car guy" and has shown up at various public events featuring electric cars. He even made an appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, a web and TV series about cars.
Biden isn't the only one trying to make people aware of what he did. Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Spring Hill, TN, to champion a new domestic battery manufacturing company aided by the climate law. EPA Administrator Michael Regan went to Wabaunsee, KS, the same day to talk electric school buses. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm went to Nevada to show off another company that makes batteries and which will be able to expand and create more jobs as a result of the climate law. It seems the administration's pitch is not so much about getting rid of fossil fuels and the damage they cause but more about all the new factories that the law will fund and all the new jobs that will be created in those factories. It is a very conscious choice. In his reelection campaign, when people ask Biden "What have you done?" the answer is going to be "I created 5 million new jobs, many of them in modern industries that will last for decades." He will also emphasize that many of them are in manufacturing plants, pay very well, and do not require a college degree. No trees will be hugged on his trips.
The law, which Biden signed in August, is starting to have an effect. Since then, 94 new clean energy projects have sprouted up and drawn nearly $90 billion in new investment. Many of the jobs are in districts represented by Republicans who opposed the bill. Needless to say, in 2024, the Democrats running in those districts are going to make appearances at construction sites where new factories are under construction and say: "Fortunately, in 2022, the Democrats had a majority in the House so your representative's vote against this new factory, which will employ [X] highly paid workers, didn't kill it." (V)