WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump are two presidents with unfinished enterprise and an itch to get it accomplished.
Their observe information and plans on abortion, immigration, taxes, wars overseas — you title it — go away little doubt that the person voters select in November will search to form the panorama of American life in methods wholly distinct from the opposite.
The alternatives, if the winner will get his manner, are sharply outlined. The onward march of regulation and incentives to restrain local weather change, or a gradual stroll if not an about-face. Larger taxes on the tremendous wealthy, or not. Abortion rights reaffirmed, or left to states to limit or enable as every decides. One other try to legislate border safety and orderly entry into the nation, or large deportations. A dedication to face with Ukraine or let go.
At no time in residing reminiscence have two presidents, present and former, competed for the workplace. Not since Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, each Republicans, in 1912, and that didn’t work out for both of them — Democrat Woodrow Wilson received that three-way race.
Greater than a century later, voters once more get to guage two presidents on their information alongside their guarantees for the following 4 years. Right here’s the place they stand on 10 of the highest points:
ABORTION
BIDEN: The president has referred to as for Congress to ship him laws that will codify in federal legislation the proper to an abortion, which stood for almost 50 years earlier than being overturned by the Supreme Court docket. He has additionally criticized statewide bans on abortion in Republican states and says he’ll veto any potential nationwide ban ought to one come to his desk. Within the absence of laws, his administration has taken narrower actions, resembling proposals that will shield ladies who journey to acquire abortions and restrict how legislation enforcement collects medical information.
TRUMP: The previous president usually brags about appointing the Supreme Court docket justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional proper to an abortion. After dodging questions on when in being pregnant he believes the process needs to be restricted, Trump introduced in April that choices on entry and cutoffs needs to be left to the states. He stated he wouldn’t signal a nationwide abortion ban into legislation. However he’s declined to say whether or not he would attempt to restrict entry to the abortion capsule mifepristone. He informed Time journal in current interviews that it must also be left as much as states to find out whether or not to prosecute ladies for abortions or to observe their pregnancies.
CLIMATE/ENERGY
BIDEN: In a second time period, Biden may very well be anticipated to proceed his concentrate on implementing the local weather provisions of his Inflation Discount Act, which offered almost $375 billion for issues like monetary incentives for electrical vehicles and clear vitality tasks. Biden can also be enlisting greater than 20,000 younger individuals in a nationwide “Local weather Corps,” a Peace Corps-like program to advertise conservation by way of duties resembling weatherizing properties and repairing wetlands. Biden desires to triple the group’s dimension this decade. Regardless of all this, it’s unlikely that the U.S. might be on observe to fulfill Biden’s purpose of decreasing greenhouse gasoline emissions by half by 2030.
TRUMP: His mantra for one among his high priorities: “DRILL, BABY, DRILL.” Trump, who prior to now forged local weather change as a “hoax” and harbors a selected disdain for wind energy, says it’s his purpose for the U.S. to have the most cost effective vitality and electrical energy on the earth. He’d improve oil drilling on public lands, supply tax breaks to grease, gasoline and coal producers, pace the approval of pure gasoline pipelines and roll again the Biden administration’s aggressive efforts to get individuals to modify to electrical vehicles, which he argues have a spot however shouldn’t be pressured on shoppers. He has additionally pledged to re-exit the Paris Local weather Accords, finish wind subsidies and remove rules imposed and proposed by the Biden administration focusing on energy-inefficient sorts of lightbulbs, stoves, dishwashers and bathe heads.
DEMOCRACY/RULE OF LAW
BIDEN: Defending democracy has been the raison d’etre behind Biden’s determination to run for reelection. In a symbolic nod to the Revolutionary Warfare, Biden delivered his first marketing campaign speech of 2024 close to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the place he spoke of George Washington’s determination to step down because the chief of the Continental Military after American independence was received. In the course of the Jan. 5 speech, Biden stated this yr’s presidential contest is “all about” whether or not U.S. democracy will survive and he repeatedly condemns Trump’s denial that he misplaced the 2020 common election. Biden has referred to as the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol a “day that we almost misplaced America — misplaced all of it.”
TRUMP: The previous president, who famously refused to simply accept his loss to Biden in 2020, has not dedicated to accepting the outcomes this time. “If every thing’s trustworthy, I’ll gladly settle for the outcomes,” Trump lately informed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “If it’s not, it’s important to combat for the proper of the nation.” He has stated he’ll pardon the Jan. 6 defendants jailed for assaulting cops and different crimes in the course of the assault on the Capitol. He vows to overtake the Justice Division and FBI “from the bottom up,” aggrieved by the legal prices the division has introduced towards him. He additionally guarantees to deploy the Nationwide Guard to cities resembling Chicago which might be scuffling with violent crime, and in response to protests, and has additionally vowed to nominate a particular prosecutor to go after Biden.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
BIDEN: The Biden administration is already taking steps to make it tougher for any mass firings of civil servants to happen. In April, the Workplace of Personnel Administration issued a brand new rule that will ban federal employees from being reclassified as political appointees or different at-will workers, which makes them simpler to dismiss. That was in response to Schedule F, a 2020 government order from Trump that reclassified tens of 1000’s of federal employees in order that they may very well be fired extra simply.
TRUMP: The previous president vows an overhaul of the federal paperwork, which he has lengthy blamed for stymying his first time period agenda: “I’ll completely obliterate the deep state.” He plans to reissue the Schedule F order stripping civil service protections. He’d then transfer to fireplace “rogue bureaucrats,” together with those that ”weaponized our justice system,” and the “warmongers and America-Final globalists within the Deep State, the Pentagon, the State Division, and the nationwide safety industrial advanced.” He’s pledged to terminate the Schooling Division and desires to curtail the independence of regulatory businesses just like the Federal Communications Fee.
IMMIGRATION
BIDEN: The president continues to advocate for the excellent immigration invoice he launched on his first day in workplace, which might grant an eight-year pathway to citizenship for immigrants within the U.S. with out authorized standing, with a quicker observe for younger immigrants residing within the nation illegally who had been introduced right here as kids. That laws went nowhere in Congress. This yr, the president backed a Senate compromise that included harder asylum requirements and billions extra in federal {dollars} to rent extra border brokers, immigration judges and asylum officers. That deal collapsed on Capitol Hill because of Trump’s opposition. Biden is at present contemplating government motion on the border, significantly if the variety of unlawful crossings will increase later this yr.
TRUMP: The previous president guarantees to mount the biggest home deportation in U.S. historical past — an operation that would embrace detention camps and the Nationwide Guard. He’d convey again insurance policies he put in place throughout his first time period, just like the Stay in Mexico program and Title 42, which positioned curbs on migrants on public well being grounds. And he’d revive and increase the journey ban that initially focused residents from seven Muslim-majority nations. After the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, he pledged new “ideological screening” for immigrants to bar “harmful lunatics, haters, bigots, and maniacs.” He’d additionally attempt to deport people who find themselves within the U.S. legally however harbor “jihadist sympathies.” He’d search to finish birthright citizenship for individuals born within the U.S. whose mother and father are each within the nation illegally.
ISRAEL/GAZA
BIDEN: The struggle in Gaza, much more so than different nationwide safety issues, has outlined Biden’s international coverage this yr, with vital political implications. He has provided full-throated assist for Israel since Hamas militants launched a shock lethal assault on Oct. 7. However because the dying toll in Gaza continues to climb, Biden has confronted large backlash at house. His administration is working to dealer a brief ceasefire that will launch some hostages held by Hamas, which might additionally enable for extra humanitarian help to enter the war-torn area. Biden additionally requires a two-state resolution, which might have Israel present alongside an impartial Palestinian state.
TRUMP: The previous president has expressed assist for Israel’s efforts to “destroy” Hamas however he’s additionally been crucial of a few of Israel’s techniques. He says the nation should end the job shortly and get again to peace. He has referred to as for extra aggressive responses to pro-Palestinian protests at school campuses and applauded police efforts to clear encampments. Trump additionally proposes to revoke the coed visas of those that espouse antisemitic or anti-American views.
LGBTQ ISSUES
BIDEN: The president and White Home officers repeatedly denounce discrimination and assaults towards the LGBTQ group. Shortly after he took workplace, Biden reversed an government order from Trump that had largely banned transgender individuals from army service, and his Schooling Division accomplished a rule in April that claims Title IX, the 1972 legislation that was handed to guard ladies’s rights, additionally bars discrimination primarily based on sexual orientation or gender identification. The brand new rule was silent on the problem of transgender athletes.
TRUMP: The previous president has pledged to maintain transgender ladies out of girls’s sports activities and says he’ll ask Congress to move a invoice establishing that “solely two genders,” as decided at beginning, are acknowledged by the USA. He guarantees to “defeat the poisonous poison of gender ideology.” As a part of his crackdown on gender-affirming care, he would declare that any well being care supplier that participates within the “chemical or bodily mutilation of minor youth” not meets federal well being and security requirements and received’t get federal cash. He’d take equally punitive steps in faculties towards any instructor or faculty official who “suggests to a toddler that they may very well be trapped within the flawed physique.” Trump would assist a nationwide prohibition of hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors and bar transgender individuals from army service.
NATO/UKRAINE
BIDEN: The president has spent a lot of his time rebuilding alliances unraveled by Trump, significantly NATO, a crucial bulwark towards Russian aggression. Because the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden has pledged unceasing assist to Kyiv and he made an unannounced go to there in February 2023 in a present of solidarity. His administration and Congress have despatched tens of billions of {dollars} in army and different help to Ukraine. The most recent tranche of help totaled $61 billion in weapons, ammunition and different help and is anticipated to final by way of this yr. Continued U.S. help is crucial, Biden says, as a result of he argues that Russian chief Vladimir Putin is not going to cease at invading Ukraine.
TRUMP: The previous president has repeatedly taken concern with U.S. help to Ukraine and says he’ll proceed to “basically reevaluate” the mission and goal of the NATO alliance if he returns to workplace. He has claimed, with out clarification, that he’ll have the ability to finish the struggle earlier than his inauguration by bringing either side to the negotiating desk. (His method appears to hinge on Ukraine giving up at the least a few of its Russian-occupied territory in alternate for a cease-fire.) On NATO, he has assailed member nations for years for failing to hit agreed-upon army spending targets. Trump drew alarms this yr when he stated that, as president, he had warned leaders that he wouldn’t solely refuse to defend nations that don’t hit these targets, however “would encourage” Russia “to do regardless of the hell they need” to nations which might be “delinquent.”
TARIFFS/TRADE
BIDEN: That is the place Biden and his protectionist tendencies — in a continued enchantment to working-class voters — have some similarities with Trump. Biden is looking for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese language metal, a transfer that will protect U.S. producers from cheaper imports. The present tariff price is 7.5% for each metal and aluminum however Biden desires that to go to 25%. Biden has additionally stated he opposes the proposed acquisition of U.S. Metal by Japan’s Nippon Metal, as a result of it’s “very important for it to stay an American metal firm that’s domestically owned and operated.”
TRUMP: The previous president desires a dramatic enlargement of tariffs, proposing a levy of maybe 10% on almost all imported international items. Penalties would improve if commerce companions manipulate their currencies or have interaction in different unfair buying and selling practices. He would additionally urge Congress to move laws giving the president authority to impose a reciprocal tariff on any nation that imposes one on the U.S. A lot of his commerce agenda has centered on China. Trump has proposed phasing out Chinese language imports of important items together with electronics, metal and prescribed drugs and desires to ban Chinese language corporations from proudly owning U.S. infrastructure in sectors resembling vitality, expertise and farmland. Whether or not larger tariffs come from a Biden administration or a Trump one, they’re more likely to increase costs for shoppers who’ve already confronted larger prices from inflation.
TAXES
BIDEN: In his State of the Union deal with, Biden proposed elevating the company tax price to twenty-eight% and the company minimal tax to 21% as a matter of “basic equity” that can herald more cash to spend money on People. The present company price is 21% and the company minimal, raised beneath the Inflation Discount Act, is at 15% for corporations making greater than $1 billion a yr. Biden additionally desires to require billionaires to pay at the least 25% of their revenue in taxes and to revive the kid tax credit score that was enacted beneath his 2021 COVID-19 reduction package deal, however has since expired.
TRUMP: The previous president has promised to increase the tax cuts he signed into legislation in 2017 and which might be because of sundown on the finish of 2025. That package deal lower the company tax price from 35% to 21% and roughly doubled the usual deduction and youngster tax credit score.