Where Joe Biden stands on major election issues from foreign policy to immigration and abortion

Joe Biden has pledged to “finish the job” if he is re-elected president in November 2024. His campaign team has already set out plans he hopes to enact if he returns to the White House, on key policy areas such as the economy, defence spending and immigration.

The president is fond of the narrative that he has rebuilt the US after years of Donald Trump in office and the Covid-19 pandemic that killed more than a million people and shattered the public finances.

Here are some of his key policy announcements so far:

Economy

Mr Biden has made economic policies the centrepiece of his presidency, borrowing the “Bidenomics” nickname given to his state subsidies by the right-wing press and putting it on campaign posters.

After the 2024 election, he can be expected to continue his plans to decarbonise the US economy by giving significant tax breaks and state investment to green energy firms.

The plans have also included major investment in US domestic semiconductor manufacturing, as America competes with its rivals in Asia, and in transport infrastructure.

The president has promised to increase taxes on America’s wealthiest corporations in his second term, while cutting taxes for families and increasing child tax credits.

Mr Biden often speaks of building the economy “from the top down and the middle up”, and says he would further support trade unions.

Defence and foreign policy

With major wars ongoing in the Middle East and Ukraine, Mr Biden has increased US defence spending in his first term, and has committed to spending more on international security in a second term.

Ukraine funding has been the biggest congressional logjam of his premiership, but Mr Biden has promised to continue providing Kyiv with the missiles, ammunition and military technology required to defeat Russia.

He is fond of saying that “history is watching” the current conflicts, and has committed to both the Nato alliance and the US’s military support for Israel since the war in Gaza began on October 7.

He could also be expected to continue defence procurement programmes, including the development of a swarm of combat drones and hypersonic missiles to counter China, Russia and North Korea.

Abortion

In recent weeks, the US president has begun to pivot his re-election campaign away from the economy and towards abortion, which he describes as “on the ballot” in the 2024 campaign.

He has accused Republicans of favouring a nationwide abortion ban if Donald Trump is elected president, and is fighting a Supreme Court case to protect access to mifepristone, an abortion pill that has faced a ban in some states.

If he wins a second term, Mr Biden has promised to legislate to restore the Roe v Wade Supreme Court judgement that allowed for medical access to abortion in the US on a federal level in 1973.

The judgement was overturned in June 2022, giving way to state attempts to restrict abortion access or ban it entirely. To fulfil this promise, Mr Biden would require significant support in Congress, on one of the most controversial issues in US politics.

Climate

While Mr Biden’s controversial Inflation Reduction Act has released more than $300bn in federal funding for green technology, his attempts to reduce the US’s reliance on fossil fuels are not on track.

The White House blames red tape surrounding green-energy projects, and the president would likely seek to take on regulation in a second term, to pursue his goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.

Crime and policing

Mr Biden has resisted calls to “defund the police” from the Left of his own party, but has consistently called for greater restrictions on gun ownership, including background checks for gun owners and the banning of assault rifle-style weapons for civilians.

Both of these measures would require legislation in Congress, where Mr Biden currently faces a Republican-controlled House and a very slim Senate majority.

His officials will be hoping that the congressional elections that coincide with the 2024 presidential vote will give him the support from Congress needed to pass restrictions on guns in a second term.

Mr Biden has also spoken about the need to reform state police forces, after George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement. He is likely to pursue that goal if he wins again later this year.

Education

One of Mr Biden’s flagship policies, and one of the most expensive on his balance sheet, is the decision to cancel student debt for almost four million Americans.

This initiative, plus his plan to remove the cost of two years of community college education, would likely return under a second administration.

Healthcare

Lowering prescription drug costs was one of Mr Biden’s core campaign pledges in 2020, but he has acknowledged he has further to go on the issue in a second term.

In his State of the Union address in early March, the president said it would be cheaper to fly Americans on Air Force One to other countries to pick up prescription drugs than to buy them in the US.

He has said that Medicare, the US’s old-age medical provider, should negotiate prices with drug companies on 50 medicines per year, up from his original target of 20.

Mr Biden has also called for the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for senior citizens on Medicare to be extended to all private healthcare providers.

Immigration

Mr Biden’s plans to secure the southern US border were drawn up in an attempt to resolve a deadlock in Congress over funding for Ukraine, but he has been unable to pass them amid opposition from Republicans.

They include almost $8 billion of emergency funding for the detention of illegal migrants, more staff for Border Patrol, and plans to speed up the processing of asylum applications.

A new trigger would force the Department of Homeland Security to close the border if the number of migrants crossing into the US exceeded 5,000 on average or 8,500 in a single day.