Biden's Legacy: What Remains After Trump Dismantled Build Back Better?

Newsweek

19 hours ago

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Presidents are often remembered for the policies they champion and the battles they fight—both militarily abroad and culturally at home. Yet, as the Oval Office swings from party to party, the core pieces of one administration's legacy often become the first targets of the next, dismantled or remade in favor of a new mandate.
Former President Joe Biden's time in office was a rare chapter in modern American politics, serving one term sandwiched between two led by President Donald Trump. Republican strategist John Feehery, partner at EFB Advocacy, described Biden to Newsweek as a "transitional figure" between two Trump presidencies.
Where some presidents build and refine what came before, others work to tear down and reassemble the frameworks of their predecessors, often reshaping the nation's priorities in the process.
The passage of Trump's sweeping domestic policy package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), incorporates numerous provisions that undo Biden's Build Back Better Act agenda and presidential platform. As Trump's vision takes shape, Newsweek spoke with several politicos and professors about what this means for Biden's legacy and how it may impact the policy landscape both leaders have fought to define.
Newsweek on Friday filled out an online contact form in seeking comment from Biden.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva
Biden's Build Back Better Act Legacy
Biden, who pledged to "rebuild the backbone of the country," which he identified as the middle class, crafted a centerpiece bill focused on social spending and climate programs, which totaled around $1.75 trillion. The Democrat-led House passed the bill in 2021, but it was not voted upon in the Senate. However, portions of it were enacted piecemeal through other individual legislations and were a part of his larger political platform.
At the time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected the Build Back Better Act would increase the deficit by $367 billion over a decade. However, based on the CBO data, the passage of the legislation would create an increase in tax revenue of $127 billion. The majority of the new revenue was due to taxes on the extremely wealthy due to tightening IRS restrictions.
The bill allocated $555 billion toward clean energy and green initiatives, including funding wind and solar energy projects, as well as providing electric vehicle tax credits, among others.
Fiscally, the bill aimed to provide 39 million households tax cuts up to $3,600 by expanding the Child Tax Credit. It also dedicated $400 billion to addressing child care costs and prekindergarten.
The bill pushed to expand health care access, reducing premiums and closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap, supporting around 4 million uninsured people to obtain coverage even if living in states that did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Beyond his legislative ambitions, Biden presided over a nation grappling with the aftermath of a pandemic and the eruption of geopolitical crises. COVID-19 continued to shape American life and economic recovery efforts during his initial months as president, while across the world, Russia invaded Ukraine and Israel and Hamas broke out into war. Both mass conflicts have carried into the current administration.
Feehery emphasized this, telling Newsweek that Biden "will be seen as presiding over some of the worst public policy positions in our nation's history, namely the Covid nightmare and the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
However, George C. Edwards III, professor of political science at Texas A&M, views Biden's legacy through a different lens, telling Newsweek, "When the dust has settled, Joe Biden will be remembered for leading the U.S. out of the Covid-19 epidemic and helping the U.S. economy achieve a soft landing as the envy of the world."
Edwards continued, "He also made historic strides in building the infrastructure of the country, advancing environmental protection, fighting climate change, developing renewable energy, and investing in digital technology."
Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law in November 2021. He also championed the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law in August 2022 and allocates $52.7 billion for semiconductor research, manufacturing and workforce development in the U.S. The act may mark one of the rare instances of Trump actually reinforcing a Biden-era policy, through the president's push to increase domestic manufacturing and levy steep tariffs.
Barbara Perry, presidential studies professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, told Newsweek: "In the short run, President Biden's legacy seems upended by the OBBB and other reversals by the second Trump administration. In the long lens of history, however, he will be remembered for righting the ship of state, listing badly after January 6, 2021's attack on the Capitol, and saving Americans and the US economy from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic."
She added that "Unfortunately for the near-term, because of his advanced age and health status, he will not be given the decades that Presidents Carter, Bush I, and Bush II had to boost their approval ratings in active post-presidencies."
Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Impact
On Independence Day, Trump signed into law his "big, beautiful bill," likely to be considered the legislative legacy of his second term.
The massive spending bill includes several provisions that essentially reverse large portions of Biden's policy initiatives, including massive cuts to Medicaid, elimination of electric vehicle and clean energy tax credits, tax cuts for high-income earners and corporations, and increased border security spending, education policy rollbacks, among others.
Medicaid provides health coverage to tens of millions of low-income Americans, with around 71 million currently enrolled in the program. The CBO estimates that more than 10 million Americans could lose their health coverage under the law, and also anticipates the bill to slash the program by about $790 billion over the next decade to help offset roughly $4.5 trillion in tax breaks.
"The effects of Trump's bill are so far-reaching that it's not just Biden's legacy that's at stake but FDR's, Truman's, Eisenhower's, JFK's, and, maybe above all, LBJ's," Sean Wilentz, professor of American history at Princeton University, told Newsweek in an email, pointing to the "effective destruction" of federal medical programs.
Edwards said that while "Donald Trump is trying to reverse Biden's policies regarding climate change and renewable energy," it will be trying, as "the foundations have been laid."
Conversely, Republican strategist Matt Klink told Newsweek that "Donald Trump is effectively erasing many of the Biden administration's most notable and public achievements," through the passage of his sweeping spending bill. He argues the bill has three central premises: "First, it reinforces long-time Republican priorities about the social safety net being there for people when needed, not a permanent government handout."
"Second, for Donald Trump's [Make America Great Again] MAGA supporters, it provides funding to deliver on the president's campaign promises such as the border wall, more aggressive immigration enforcement, and a defense build-up."
And lastly, according to Klink, "it negatively impacts the Biden-Harris legacy and has thrown national Democrats for a loop."
He concluded, "President Biden, previously viewed as a moderate, was either misled or wasn't capable of stopping a radical leftward plunge by national Democrats. The center-right American electorate reacted negatively toward Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Congressional Democrats."
As Republicans and Democrats gear up for the pivotal 2026 midterms—a referendum on Trump's tenure as much as a battle for Congress—the Democratic Party is taking a hard look at Biden's legacy and the fallout from the 2024 election. With control of the House and Senate at stake, they're racing to rebrand, regroup and mobilize their bases for the fight ahead.
For Trump, his "big, beautiful bill" may soon stand as the cornerstone of his legacy, as its sweeping provisions take effect, dismantling significant portions of Biden's policy achievements and reshaping the nation's economic and social landscape.