TMC Topic Guide

The Biden administration

Created: January 2021

Last Updated: December 13, 2022

Have a question, spot an error, or found a broken link? Please email us at monkeycagetopicguides@gmail.com.

See additional topic guides on the 2020 election and War in Afghanistan.

Note: This guide covers the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the January 2021 crisis, and U.S. relations with Russia and China. You will also find coverage on President Biden’s health, military, and administrative policies, as well as U.S. public opinions and appointments.

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Table of contents

2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

January 2021 crisis

Biden’s pandemic relief package

Biden’s vaccine mandate

Biden and the military

Transition (policy issues)

Immigration policy

Climate change policy

U.S.-Russia relations

U.S.-China relations

The Biden administration and Congress

Appointments/personnel

2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

Christian I. Bale, “Why the Pentagon can’t fully account for all its assets — in Afghanistan or anywhere else,” September 22, 2021.
Ronald R. Krebs and Jennifer Spindel, “Did the Afghanistan exit diminish U.S. credibility among its allies? Probably not,” September 1, 2021.
Stephen Biddle and Yuri M. Zhukov, “Afghanistan’s security forces unraveled this month. What broke their seven-year stalemate with the Taliban?” August 31, 2021.
Jacqueline L. Hazelton, “The U.S. couldn’t build Afghanistan a democracy. That rarely works,” August 31, 2021.
Adam E. Casey, Dan Slater, and Jean Lachapelle, “Taliban leaders are back in charge in Afghanistan. Can they control their own army?” August 27, 2021.
David Leblang and Margaret Peters, “How resettling Afghan refugees might help Afghanistan’s future,” August 26, 2021.
Raphael Lefevre, “Groups like the Taliban have seized power elsewhere. Will the Taliban face similar difficulties governing?” August 25, 2021.
Fahd Humayun, “5 ways the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan will hurt Pakistan,” August 17, 2021.
Thiemo Fetzer, Pedro Souza, Oliver Vanden Eynde, and Austin L. Wright, “What are the Taliban’s next moves? Here’s the research on earlier withdrawals from Afghanistan,” August 10, 2021.
Rachel Tecott, “The Taliban has seized more cities, despite U.S. efforts to build a strong Afghan military. What happened?” August 9, 2021.
Dipali Mukhopadhyay, “The Taliban isn’t the only challenge for the Afghanistan government,” July 8, 2021.
Daniel Byman, “The U.S. is pulling out of Afghanistan. Don’t expect an al-Qaeda reboot,” May 1, 2021.
Asfandyar Mir, “Five things to watch as the U.S. prepares to exit Afghanistan,” April 26, 2021.
Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Biden plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Here’s what we learned about America’s longest war,” April 14, 2021.

January 2021 crisis

Katherine M. Robiadek, Carah Ong Whaley, John P. Forren, and Lauren C. Bell, “Jan. 6 hearings show a democracy in crisis. Civic education can help,” June 28, 2022.
Jordan Tama, “Members of Congress want a commission to investigate the Capitol invasion. Here’s when these work,” January 19, 2021.
Shariana Ferrer-Núñez, Melody Fonseca, and Fernando Tormos-Aponte, “Why it’s so misleading to call the Capitol violence ‘Third World’,” January 16, 2021.
Kimberley S. Johnson, “Today’s election denialism and violence has a dark echo in the Jim Crow South,” January 15, 2021.
Corey Brettschneider and Jeffrey K. Tulis, “No, Trump can’t pardon himself or other insurrectionists. Impeachment would strip him of that power,” January 15, 2021.
Daniel Byman, “The assault on the U.S. Capitol opens a new chapter in domestic terrorism,” January 15, 2021.
Michael Tesler, “These 3 graphs explain why more House Republicans did not support impeachment,” January 14, 2021.
Davin L. Phoenix, “The Capitol siege shows how White Americans can express anger that Black Americans cannot,” January 14, 2021.
Alexander C. Furnas and Timothy M. LaPira, “Almost a quarter of influential Republicans deny Biden’s victory, survey says,” January 12, 2021.
Lilliana Mason and Nathan P. Kalmoe, “What you need to know about how many Americans condone political violence — and why,” January 11, 2021.
Joshua C. Wilson, “Look beyond Trump’s language to see the roots of recent political violence in the U.S.,” January 11, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “A violent mob overran Congress. 3 takeaways for the weeks ahead,” January 11, 2021.
Stephen C. Nemeth and Holley E. Hansen, “Three key factors that drive far-right political violence — and two that don’t,” January 9, 2021.
Naunihal Singh, “Was the U.S. Capitol riot really a coup? Here’s why definitions matter,” January 9, 2021.
Vipin Narang (interview with Elizabeth N. Saunders), “There is no legal way to stop Trump from ordering a nuclear strike if he wants to, expert says,” January 8, 2021.
Joel Goldstein, “What you need to know about the 25th Amendment, Section 4,” January 8, 2021.
Jim Golby and Carrie Lee, “The National Guard has been called out in Washington, D.C. Here’s what you need to know,” January 7, 2020.
Sarah Binder, “What to expect when Congress counts the electoral college votes on Wednesday,” January 4, 2021.

Biden’s pandemic relief package

Jeffrey Clemens and Stan Veuger, “The economy is still in pandemic shock. But some state governments are flush with cash,” December 15, 2021.
Aaron Rosenthal, “Biden’s pandemic rescue plan may help get White people to trust the government. People like benefits they can see,” March 26, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Democrats moved Biden’s pandemic relief bill quickly. Their work will get a lot harder from here,” March 9, 2021.
Nikita Lalwani (interview with Jonathan S. Gould), “Can Senate Democrats pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package? Ask the parliamentarian,” February 18, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Democrats might use ‘reconciliation’ to pass Biden’s pandemic relief package. What’s reconciliation?” February 4, 2021.

Biden’s vaccine mandate

Stephen I. Vladeck, “The Supreme Court’s vaccine mandate ruling shows it’s ready to second-guess government policy,” January 19, 2022.
Pamela Clouser McCann and Charles R. Shipman, “The Supreme Court’s decision about the vaccine mandate could eventually undo almost every major federal law,” updated January 13, 2022.
Miranda Yaver, “The Fifth Circuit halted Biden’s vaccine mandate. Here’s what the lawsuits are arguing,” November 9, 2021.

Biden and the military

Elizabeth M.F. Grasmeder, “The U.S. government hasn’t protected noncitizen veterans from deportation. That may change,” August 13, 2021.
Daniel Byman, “The U.S. is pulling out of Afghanistan. Don’t expect an al-Qaeda reboot,” May 1, 2021.
Asfandyar Mir, “Five things to watch as the U.S. prepares to exit Afghanistan,” April 26, 2021.
Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Biden plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Here’s what we learned about America’s longest war,” April 14, 2021.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Biden may be getting rid of the Authorizations for the Use of Military Force. That deserves a ‘Whoa’,” March 6, 2021.
Henry Farrell (interview with Sebastian Schmidt), “Biden is freezing Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Germany. There’s a long history behind America’s military bases abroad,” February 9, 2021.

Policy

Jan Stockbruegger, “The West wants to cut off Russia’s oil revenues. Who will that hurt?” October 21, 2022.
Stacie Goddard, “What’s in Biden’s National Security Strategy? Here’s the rundown,” October 13, 2022.
A. Lee Hannah and Daniel J. Mallinson, “Biden will pardon federal marijuana offenses. What will the states do?” October 13, 2022.
Clare Brock, “We know free school lunches help. What else would end hunger?” September 27, 2022.
Mallory E. SoRelle and Serena Laws, “Four things to know about Biden’s student-debt relief plan,” September 2, 2022.
Jenna Jordan, “The U.S. killed al-Qaeda’s leader. That might boost terrorism,” August 12, 2022.
Daisy Verduzco Reyes, “How the student loan payment pause affected Latinx millennials,” August 12, 2022.
Matthew N. Green, “How did the Democrats’ major spending bill get off life support?” August 8, 2022.
John Sides and Robert Griffin, “Biden’s low poll numbers are exactly what we should expect,” July 12, 2022.
Julie M. Norman, “Violence against antiabortion groups is rising. Here’s what we know,” June 29, 2022.
Todd N. Tucker, “Supply chains endanger American security. Here’s what Biden is doing,” May 17, 2022.
Ashley Nunes, “Poor mothers get shut out of the Child Tax Credit, our research finds,” May 4, 2022.
Margaret Teresa Brower, “Democrats are rewriting Build Back Better. Here’s what Black and Latina women activists say they need,” February 4, 2022.
Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski and Victor Peskin, “Biden promises to fight transnational corruption. But will the U.S. target friends as well as foes?” December 20, 2021.
Philip Rocco, Daniel Béland, and Alex Waddan, “Build Back Better offers pre-K and child-care funding. States might not sign on,” December 16, 2021.
Kate Lowe, Sarah Reckhow, and Juliet Gainsborough,“How Biden’s infrastructure package might leave behind poor and minority communities yet again,” December 7, 2021.
John A. Dearborn, “Biden says that the infrastructure bill shows the presidency can deliver for ‘all Americans’,” November 29, 2021.
Mariely López-Santana and Lucas Núñez, “Most Americans support Biden’s expanded child tax credit, our research finds. But there are caveats,” November 10, 2021.
Michael J. Nelson, “Biden’s court commission is worried about Supreme Court ‘legitimacy.’ So what is ‘legitimacy,’ exactly?” October 22, 2021.
Oksan Bayulgen, Carol Atkinson-Palombo, Mary Buchanan, and Lyle Scruggs, “Biden wants more wind energy. Those projects should help local politicians, our research finds,” October 20, 2021.
Stephen B. Kaplan, “Debt ceiling battles may hurt the U.S. dollar,” October 16, 2021.
David Hope, Julian Limberg, and Nina Weber, “How Biden could boost Republican support for tax hikes on the rich,” September 14, 2021.
Frank R. Baumgartner, “If Biden abolishes the federal death penalty, he’ll have more support than you think,” August 3, 2021.
Robert Manduca, Nic Johnson, and Chris Hong, “The Biden infrastructure bills would restore America’s traditional approach to economic growth, July 29, 2021.
Sarah Binder, “Do we have an infrastructure deal?” June 28, 2021.
Leah Ruppanner and Jennifer Hook, “If Biden wants to help American families recover from the pandemic, his plans should emphasize good jobs,” June 8, 2021.
Carie Steele, “The Biden administration supports waiving patents on coronavirus vaccines. Big Pharma won’t be happy,” May 5, 2021.
Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap, Christel Koop, Konstantinos Matakos, Asli Unan, and Nina Sophie Weber, “A majority of Americans support ‘Bidenomics.’ The pandemic changed minds dramatically,” April 30, 2021.
Andrew Rudalevige, “Bill Clinton said he was ending big government. Biden wants to bring it back,” April 30, 2021.
Todd N. Tucker, “Biden told big multinational corporations to “get real” about paying taxes. Here’s what he plans to do,” April 6, 2021.
Zein Murib, “Biden reversed Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in military. Expect backlash in many states,” February 3, 2021.
Romelia M. Solano, “Biden is pursuing a pathway to citizenship. He will face two key challenges,” January 29, 2021.
Jennifer D. Sciubba, “Biden just rescinded the ‘global gag rule.’ The next Republican president will restore it,” January 29, 2021.
Leigh Raymond, “Biden’s climate change plan is all about jobs and justice,” January 27, 2021.
Brian Calfano, Nazita Lajevardi, and Melissa R. Michelson, “Biden ended the Muslim travel ban. A much tougher problem persists,” January 26, 2021.
Daniel J. Galvin and Josh Vincent, “Democratic presidents have traditionally hurt their parties. Joe Biden may be different,” January 21, 2021.
Margaret E. Peters, “Biden just changed immigration policy. That doesn’t mean you should expect a new wave of immigration,” January 21, 2021.
Joshua Busby and Johannes Urpelainen, “What Biden faces if he wants to get the climate change effort back on track,” January 21, 2021.

Transition (policy issues)

Matt Malis, “Half of Biden’s ambassador positions are vacant. Here’s why that matters,” December 8, 2021.
Sarah E. Anderson, Daniel Butler, and Laurel Harbridge-Yong, “Biden wants to bring Democrats and Republicans together. Here’s why that’s so challenging,” December 21, 2020.
Alexander Kentikelenis and Erik Voeten, “Biden promises to embrace multilateralism again. World leaders agree,” December 16, 2020.
Thomas Hale, “The Paris agreement survived the Trump administration. What happens now?” December 11, 2020.
Audrey Comstock and Kassandra Miller, “Biden said he’ll work to advance transgender rights. Here are 4 things to know,” December 10, 2020.
Jianing Li, Michael W. Wagner, Lewis A. Friedland, and Dhavan V. Shah, “When do voters support Black Lives Matter or the Green New Deal?,” December 8, 2020.
Don Casler and Richard Clark, “Biden will inherit Trump’s trade war with China. What do Americans really think about tariffs?” December 7, 2020.

Foreign policy

Danielle Gilbert, “Britney Griner is free. Here are 5 takeaways,” December 12, 2022.
Fathima Cader and Zachariah Mampilly, “Sri Lanka’s numerous crises just came to a head,” July 23, 2022.
Georgia Kernell, “Who chooses Boris Johnson’s replacement? Check the party rules,” July 12, 2022.
Shibley Telhami, “It’s risky for Biden to go to the Middle East,” July 7, 2022.
Giovanni Capoccia, “France’s elections weakened Macron and strengthened Le Pen,” June 21, 2022.
Nina Hall, “Five things to know about Jacinda Ardern’s trip to the U.S. this week,” May 24, 2022.
Christiana Parreira and Sami Atallah, “Can Lebanon’s new opposition win?” May 13, 2022.
Dean Dulay, Allen Hicken, Ronald Holmes, and Anil Menon, “Who’s voting for ‘Bongbong’ Marcos to be the next Filipino president?” May 6, 2022.
Kimberly Cowell-Meyers and Carolyn Gallaher, “A Sinn Fein win in Northern Ireland could bring big changes,” May 5, 2022.
Marco Garrido, “Filipinos don’t long for the Marcos era. Why is his son in the lead?” May 5, 2022.
Alexander Downes and Daniel Krcmaric, “Biden called Putin a ‘war criminal.’ That’s risky,” March 24, 2022.
Daniel McDowell, “The West has hit Russia with tough sanctions. They could be tougher still,” March 2, 2022.
Maria Shagina, “The U.S. seems ready for tougher sanctions against Russia. But is Europe?” January 14, 2022.
Emily Holland, “Biden is threatening Putin with European energy sanctions. That may be difficult to pull off,” December 15, 2021.
Matt Malis, “Half of Biden’s ambassador positions are vacant. Here’s why that matters,” December 8, 2021.
Debak Das, “Australia will get nuclear-powered submarines. Some see a proliferation threat,” September 24, 2021.
Richard W. Maass, “U.S. foreign policy was once all about race. If the U.S. isn’t careful, race may come back,” September 23, 2021.
Sophie Meunier, “What’s the big ruckus over the new defense partnership with the U.K. and Australia?” September 17, 2021.
Ronald R. Krebs, “Fear of ‘terrorism’ shaped U.S. foreign policy after 9/11. Will the U.S. make China the next big obsession?” September 11, 2021.
James Goldgeier, “20 years after 9/11, the U.S. is again in a great power confrontation,” September 10, 2021.
John Collins and Somdeep Sen, “20 years later, America’s ‘War on Terror’ language has gone global,” September 10, 2021.
Ronald R. Krebs and Jennifer Spindel, “Did the Afghanistan exit diminish U.S. credibility among its allies? Probably not,” September 1, 2021.
Kevin Cole, Zaid Hydari, Ana Martín Gil, and Kelsey Norman, “If Biden wants to work with Mexico on migration and asylum, he might start talking to Mexican NGOs,” August 17, 2021.
Ayse Kaya, Christopher Kilby, and Jonathan Kay, “The G-7 wants to mobilize new global financing as an alternative to China’s multilateral push,” June 16, 2021.
Brian Blankenship, “Biden’s in Europe to reassure nervous allies. When does reassurance work?” June 11, 2021.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, “South Korea rebuffed Trump. Here’s why it might cooperate with Biden,” May 21, 2021.
Daniel Byman, “The U.S. is pulling out of Afghanistan. Don’t expect an al-Qaeda reboot,” May 1, 2021.
Asfandyar Mir, “Five things to watch as the U.S. prepares to exit Afghanistan,” April 26, 2021.
Ryan Gingeras, “The U.S. formally recognized the Armenian genocide. Why now, a century later?” April 24, 2021.
Nicholas Miller, “Iran’s nuclear program won’t be stopped by the recent explosion. But the attack puts pressure on negotiators,” April 20, 2021.
Phillip Y. Lipscy and Mary M. McCarthy, “President Biden is hosting Japan’s prime minister in D.C. It’s a big deal for Japan — and the U.S.,” April 15, 2021.
Dalia Dassa Kaye, “Will the attack on Iran’s nuclear research facility derail U.S. nuclear talks?” April 13, 2021.
Kyle Rapp and Kelebogile Zvobgo, “Biden reversed Trump’s sanctions on International Criminal Court officials. What happens now?” April 5, 2021.
Séverine Autesserre, “Negotiating peace the same old way doesn’t work. Here’s what does,” March 22, 2021.
Eric Brewer and Henry Rome, “Reviving the Iran nuclear deal requires tackling these three issues,” March 18, 2021.
Edward Hunt, “The U.S. has spent billions trying to fix Mexico’s drug war. It’s not working,” March 15, 2021.
David Ebner and Vladimir Enrique Medenica, “If you want to know what Americans think about bombing Iran, find out what they think about race,” March 11, 2021.
Brian Blankenship, “Biden wants to reassure allies that the U.S. is still interested in their security,” March 4, 2021.
Manuel Reinert and Samuel M. Hickey, “Trump changed how the U.S. assigns the label ‘terrorist.’ Can the Biden administration change it back?” February 12, 2021.
Alexandra Stark, “Biden announced a major policy shift on Yemen. What happens now?” February 8, 2021.
James J. Cameron, “The U.S. and Russia kept a bilateral nuclear weapons deal alive. The harder part comes next,” February 2, 2021.
Jennifer D. Sciubba, “Biden just rescinded the ‘global gag rule.’ The next Republican president will restore it,” January 29, 2021.

Immigration policy

Reva Dhingra, Mitchell Kilborn, and Olivia Woldemikael, “Biden has resettled the fewest refugees in the history of the U.S. program. What could change that?” November 8, 2021.
Niambi M. Carter, “Democratic and Republican administrations have long agreed on one thing — discriminating against Haitian refugees,” September 23, 2021.
Kevin Cole, Zaid Hydari, Ana Martín Gil, and Kelsey Norman, “If Biden wants to work with Mexico on migration and asylum, he might start talking to Mexican NGOs,” August 17, 2021.
Elizabeth M.F. Grasmeder, “The U.S. government hasn’t protected noncitizen veterans from deportation. That may change,” August 13, 2021.
Nicholas R. Micinski, “Why Biden’s plan to slow migration through international aid is unlikely to succeed,” June 3, 2021.
Tom K. Wong, Gabriel De Roche, and Jesus Rojas Venzor, “The migrant ‘surge’ at the U.S. southern border is actually a predictable pattern,” March 25, 2021.
Stephanie L. Canizales, “Advocating for asylum-seeking children is traumatic, new research finds,” March 18, 2021.
Sophia Jordán Wallace and Chris Zepeda-Millán, “Americans support releasing migrant children from detention and oppose family separation, new data shows,” March 12, 2021.
Sabrina B. Arias and Christopher W. Blair, “The Biden administration is planning for climate migration. Do Americans support helping climate migrants?” March 5, 2021.
David Dow, Juan Tellez, Mateo Villamizar Chaparro, and Erik Wibbels, “Biden wants to halt deportations. Here’s what happens when migrants are sent back,” March 3, 2021.
Romelia M. Solano, “Biden is pursuing a pathway to citizenship. He will face two key challenges,” January 29, 2021.

Climate change policy

Jonas Nahm, Joanna Lewis, and Bentley Allan, “Can the U.S. fight climate change — and shift industrial policy?” August 12, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “It’s not just Manchin. Here’s why Congress struggles to pass climate bills,” July 26, 2022.
Joshua A. Schwartz and Sabrina B. Arias, “Americans agree with their state and local officials on climate action,” July 26, 2022.
Leah C. Stokes, “Could the U.S. soon be on track to cut carbon emissions in half?” June 7, 2022.
Sabrina B. Arias and Christopher W. Blair, “The Biden administration is planning for climate migration. Do Americans support helping climate migrants?” March 5, 2021.
Joshua Busby, Morgan Bazilian, and Florian Krampe, “Biden called climate change an ‘existential threat.’ Can the U.N. Security Council help?” March 2, 2021.
Leigh Raymond, “Biden’s climate change plan is all about jobs and justice,” January 27, 2021.

U.S.-Russia relations

(See also TMC topic guide on Russia and Eurasia)

Jan Stockbruegger, “The West wants to cut off Russia’s oil revenues. Who will that hurt?” October 21, 2022.
Daniel Treisman, “Gorbachev didn’t set out to open the door to democracy,” September 2, 2022.
Shibley Telhami, “It’s risky for Biden to go to the Middle East,” July 7, 2022.
Danielle Gilbert, “Brittney Griner was ‘wrongfully detained.’ What happens now?” May 6, 2022.
Alexander Downes and Daniel Krcmaric, “Biden called Putin a ‘war criminal.’ That’s risky,” March 24, 2022.
Daniel McDowell, “The West has hit Russia with tough sanctions. They could be tougher still,” March 2, 2022.
Aleksandar Matovski, “Why would Putin invade Ukraine?” January 16, 2022.
Dmitry Gorenburg and Michael Kofman, “Here’s what we know about Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine,” January 15, 2022.
Maria Shagina, “The U.S. seems ready for tougher sanctions against Russia. But is Europe?” January 14, 2022.
Emily Holland, “Biden is threatening Putin with European energy sanctions. That may be difficult to pull off,” December 15, 2021.
Tetyana Lokot and Mariëlle Wijermars, “The Kremlin forced U.S. tech firms to shut down an app some Russian voters hoped to use. Now what?” September 30, 2021.
Erica Borghard and Jacquelyn Schneider, “Want to tell Russia to stop hacking U.S. systems? Here’s what works — and what doesn’t,” March 16, 2021.

U.S.-China relations

(See also TMC topic guide on China)

Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura, “What Americans think about China and Taiwan,” August 17, 2022.
Matthew Amengual and Tim Bartley, “U.S. banned imports from China’s Xinjiang region. Will Americans object?” August 8, 2022.
Nina Hall, “Five things to know about Jacinda Ardern’s trip to the U.S. this week,” May 24, 2022.
Kristen Hopewell, “Would China’s move to join this transpacific trade pact push the U.S. to rejoin? It’s complicated,” September 27, 2021.
Jiakun Jack Zhang and Samantha A. Vortherms, “U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods didn’t bring companies back to the U.S., new research finds,” September 22, 2021.
Ronald R. Krebs, “Fear of ‘terrorism’ shaped U.S. foreign policy after 9/11. Will the U.S. make China the next big obsession?” September 11, 2021.
Theo Milonopoulos and Erik Lin-Greenberg, “Commercial satellites — not U.S. intelligence — revealed China’s missile program,” August 3, 2021.
Jessica Chen Weiss, “The Cold War is a poor analogy for today’s U.S.-China tensions,” July 12, 2021.
James M. Acton, “Don’t panic about China’s new nuclear capabilities,” June 30, 2021.
Tom Fox, “When Defense Secretary Austin tried to call his Chinese counterpart, here’s what really got in the way,” June 24, 2021.
Ayse Kaya, Christopher Kilby, and Jonathan Kay, “The G-7 wants to mobilize new global financing as an alternative to China’s multilateral push,” June 16, 2021.
Rachel Myrick, “Democrats and Republicans seem to agree about one foreign policy point: Getting tough on China,” June 4, 2021.
Jeffrey Ding and Allan Dafoe, “Biden is worried about Chinese control of ‘strategic technology.’ But which technologies are strategic?” June 4, 2021.
Henry Tugendhat, “Huawei is trying to avoid U.S. sanctions. That may change the U.S.-China tech rivalry in Africa,” April 30, 2021.
Joanna Lewis, “Does the U.S.-China climate statement mean real cooperation ahead?” April 22, 2021.
Craig Kafura, “Americans are divided over boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Here’s the data,” April 12, 2021.
Yoon Jung Park and Lina Benabdallah, “U.S. policymakers often criticize Chinese investment in Africa. The research tells a more complicated story,” February 19, 2021.
Andreas Fuchs, Lennart Kaplan, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Sebastian S. Schmidt, and Felix Turbanisch, “China sent masks, gloves and gowns to many U.S. states. Here’s who benefited,” January 29, 2021.
Jessica Chen Weiss, “Mike Pompeo accused China of committing ‘genocide,’ an international crime. Biden’s team agrees,” January 23, 2021.
Kacie Miura and Jessica Chen Weiss, “China’s leaders say that Biden offers a ‘new window of hope.’ Their experts are more skeptical,” January 21, 2021.

The Biden administration and Congress

(See also TMC topic guide on Congress)

Mallory E. SoRelle and Serena Laws, “Four things to know about Biden’s student-debt relief plan,” September 2, 2022.
Daisy Verduzco Reyes, “How the student loan payment pause affected Latinx millennials,” August 12, 2022.
Matthew N. Green, “How did the Democrats’ major spending bill get off life support?” August 8, 2022.
Sarah Binder, “Biden says bring back the ‘talking filibuster.’ Would that really let Senate Democrats pass bills?” March 17, 2021.

Public opinion

Christopher Cooper, Scott Huffmon, Gibbs Knotts, and Seth C. McKee, “Biden blasted ‘MAGA Republicans.’ Are they a distinct group?” September 8, 2022.
Jake Rosenfeld, “Why labor unions are more popular than they’ve been in six decades,” September 5, 2022.
Matthew Amengual and Tim Bartley, “U.S. banned imports from China’s Xinjiang region. Will Americans object?” August 8, 2022.
Damon C. Roberts and Jennifer Wolak, “Will Biden’s age keep him from being reelected?” July 21, 2022.
Shibley Telhami, “It’s risky for Biden to go to the Middle East,” July 7, 2022.
Peter K. Enns and Douglas Kriner, “Why aren’t Americans rallying around Biden during a war?” April 5, 2022.

Appointments/personnel

Matt Malis, “Half of Biden’s ambassador positions are vacant. Here’s why that matters,” December 8, 2021.
Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, “Biden reappointed Republican Jerome Powell to head the Fed. Why didn’t he pick a Democrat?” November 23, 2021.
Anne Joseph O’Connell, “The Biden administration still has a lot of vacant positions. It’s a growing problem,” October 28, 2021.
Rudy Mehrbani, “Biden inherited a broken government. Attracting a new generation of civil servants won’t be easy,” October 25, 2021.
Paul K. MacDonald, “Biden wants to tap friends and party loyalists to fill high-level ambassadorships. That’s nothing new,” June 22, 2021.
Andrew Kerner, Ha Eun Choi, and Cristina Bodea, “Janet Yellen will be the first female treasury secretary in U.S. Why are so few women in top economic posts?” February 10, 2021.
Kate Lowe, Sarah Reckhow, and Andrea Benjamin, “Pete Buttigieg may not know this yet: Rail transportation funding is a racial equity issue,” February 1, 2021.
Cheryl Ellenwood, Laura Evans, Raymond Foxworth, Carmela Roybal, and Gabriel R. Sanchez, “A Native American may be taking control of the Cabinet department that has shaped Native American lives,” January 25, 2021.
Karen Beckwith and Susan Franceschet, “Biden will have more women in his Cabinet than any president ever. Other countries still do better,” January 15, 2021.
Risa A. Brooks, Michael A. Robinson, and Heidi A. Urben, “Biden has picked a retired general for defense secretary. Here’s why it matters,” December 9, 2020.
Jacob Smith, Jonathan Spiegler, and Aidan Floyd, “Here’s the problem Biden faces if he picks current lawmakers for his Cabinet,” December 2, 2020.
Elizabeth Popp Berman, “Biden’s transition teams mix centrists and progressives. But keep an eye on this obscure White House office,” November 20, 2020.