Although certain Americans who receive their daily news from television and social media may not realize it, President Joe Biden has already accomplished an incredible amount in his two-plus years in office. These accomplishments are of great importance to the people of our nation and the world. A dozen major accomplishments follow:

1. President Biden fought for and signed the American Rescue Plan which protected workers’ pensions, provided funding to communities and businesses devastated by COVID-19, lowered or eliminated insurance premiums for millions of lower- and middle-income families, provided funds for affordable housing, provided money for public safety and crime reduction, provided support to small business, expanded food assistance programs in homes and schools, expanded child care programs, invested in mental health and health care centers, added $40 billion for investing in American workers, provided funding to the economies of tribal nations, and supported families with children. Child poverty has already been cut in half as a result of his efforts.

2. He signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to repair our roads, waterways, bridges and railroads, and bring high-speed internet to rural communities. Also included is money for public transit and airports, electric vehicles and low emission public transportation, power infrastructure, and clean water.

3. Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. This law provides incentives for states to pass red flag laws, expands the law that prevents people convicted of domestic abuse from gun ownership, expands background checks on young people between 18 and 21 who want to buy a gun, and allocates funds for the mental health of young people.

4. He instituted an executive order raising standards for law enforcement agencies, with particular emphasis on use-of-force policies, availability of body cameras, and recruitment and retention of officers.

5. He brought the unemployment rate down to a low of 3.5%, matching the lowest rate before the pandemic. It has now climbed a bit to 3.8%, but this compares very favorably to the rates of other countries throughout the world. Biden’s administration has added 13.2 million jobs since he came into office, replacing all of the jobs that were lost at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Today there are more people in America working today than ever before!

6. He signed a bill to help veterans who have long been suffering from the effects of burn pits.

7. Biden ended the war in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history. Over 120,000 people were safely evacuated, double the number calculated by the most optimistic experts.

8. He has steadfastly supported Ukraine after this democratic country was unjustly invaded by Putin and Russia, and has successfully led the free world by lobbying NATO and other allies to add their financial and military support.

9. He signed the Inflation Reduction Act, making health insurance plans more affordable, lowering drug costs, preventing millions of Americans from losing their Affordable Care Act insurance, and requiring Medicare to negotiate the cost of 10 high-cost prescription drugs.

10. Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, providing funding to produce semiconductor chips for automobiles, cellphones, laptops, gaming consoles, washing machines, etc. here in the Unites States rather than continuing to rely on China.

11. His administration has provided over $369 million to reduce greenhouse emissions by 40% in the next seven years and promote clean energy technologies, moving our country to greater self-sufficiency in energy production.

12. He signed the Postal Service Reform Act to modernize and stabilize the U.S. Post Office and also to help it continue to deliver mail six days every week, focusing on on-time delivery.

Other accomplishments include the reestablishment of respect among our allies on the world stage, the Violence Against Women Act, the Respect for Marriage Act, pardoning those convicted of simple marijuana possession, appointing Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (the first Black woman on the Supreme Court), forgiving certain student loans, and electoral reforms to ensure that election results are not undermined.

These significant accomplishments in substantially less than three years reveal the Biden administration as an extremely progressive, productive administration — one that has already had a dramatic and very positive impact on all Americans.

Mitchell R. Grosky is a longtime member of the Athol Democratic Committee.