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COVID-19 & Health Economy Standard of Living Population Budget Education Crime & Justice Environment & Energy Infrastructure Immigration Defense Federal Government Actions

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COVID-19 & Health Nearly one out of every 715 people in the US died from coronavirus in 2021. That's 464,000 people. In 2021, 34 million Americans tested positive for COVID-19, up 70% from 20 million in 2020. As of January 31, 2022, 75% of the population had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine. Twenty-seven percent had received a booster shot. Personal healthcare spending was $3.4 trillion in 2020, a 4.5% increase from 2019. Twenty-eight million Americans (8.6% of the population) did not have health insurance in 2020, up from 8% in 2019. Preliminary data shows that 3.4 million people died in 2021, 13% more than in 2019. The top three causes — heart disease, cancer, and COVID-19 — accounted for 50% of deaths. The federal government spent $141 billion on public health in 2021 — a 21% decrease from 2020, but more than double its 2019 public health spending.

Economy US GDP grew 5.7% in 2021 after decreasing 3.4% in 2020. The economy added 6.7 million jobs in 2021, rebounding from 9.3 million lost jobs in 2020. 2021's average annual unemployment rate was 5.4%, about 2.7 percentage points lower than in 2020 but 1.7 points higher than 2019. The labor force participation rate remains 1.2 percentage points below February 2020. About 12,000 more businesses closed than opened in 2020. Before adjusting for inflation, average hourly earnings grew from $28.56 in February 2020 to $31.40 in December 2021, increasing by 10%. Consumer prices were 7.5% higher in January 2022 than January 2021, the largest 12-month change in 40 years. Last year, the US imported $861.4 billion more in goods and services than it exported, leading to a 21.6% increase in the trade deficit from 2020.

Standard of Living Before the pandemic, middle-class families received an average market income of $52,200 from wages, investments, retirement, and more. Middle-class families receive an average $20,700 in government assistance from programs like Medicare, Social Security, and food stamps. Middle-class wealth has increased 82.1% since 1990. However, middle-class families went from owning 12.2% of wealth in 1990 to 7.2% in 2021. The nonfarm employee quits rate hit a 20-year high in September and November 2021 when 3.0% of employees quit their jobs. The poverty rate decreased from 15.1% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2020. From December 2020 to December 2021, the number of households nationwide reporting difficulty paying for expenses decreased 7 percentage points to 30.5%. About 6.4% of US adults faced housing insecurity in December 2021.

Population Six states gained congressional seats after the 2020 census. Seven states lost a seat. In 2021, 331.9 million people lived in the United States. The population grew by 392,665 from 2020 to 2021, or 0.1%, the lowest annual growth rate since the nation's founding. The country is growing more diverse. According to preliminary data, the 2021 death rate continued to surpass historical standards at 9.7 deaths per 1,000 people. The population is getting older. More people are living alone.

Budget The federal government collected $4.1 trillion in revenue in fiscal year 2021 (FY2021) — or $12,294 per person. The federal government spent $6.8 trillion in FY2021 — or $20,634 per person. Increased personal and corporate income tax receipts drove federal revenue up by 15% in FY2021. Federal spending grew 1% in FY2021, remaining relatively flat after increasing 45% in FY2020. Aside from unemployment insurance, major cash and non-cash programs to aid the disadvantaged increased in FY2021. The federal government spent 68% more than it collected in FY2021, resulting in a $2.8 trillion deficit.

Education At the end of the 2020-21 school year, 62% of K-12 public schools offered full-time, in-person instruction. By the start of the 2021-22 year, 98% of them did. Spending per public school student increased 21% to $13,118 between the 2000-2001 and 2017-2018 school years. Two-thirds of eighth graders are not proficient in math and reading. Eighty-six percent of students graduate from high school, with 65% enrolling in college within a year of graduating. In 2019, more than a third of the US adult population had a bachelor’s degree or higher, but only 26% of Black Americans and 18% of Hispanic Americans did. The average college tuition was $25,281 in 2020, more than double the cost in 1990. Wages for people with a bachelor’s degree have increased 2.5% since 2000.

Crime & Justice More than 5.6 million Americans were in prison, jail or under probation or parole when counted in 2020, a 13.3% decrease from 2019. The total prison population decreased 25% between its 2009 peak and 2020. Half of the prison population decline between 2009 and 2019 was due to fewer prisoners whose most serious offense was a drug crime. Arrests per 100,000 people in 2020 had their largest yearly decline in at least 35 years. Violent crime rose 5.6% between 2019 and 2020, while property crime decreased 7.8%. The number of police officers per capita fell 5.9% between its 2009 peak and 2020. Firearm deaths increased 43% from 2010 to 2020, accounting for 1.3% of all deaths in 2020.

Environment & Energy While 2021 was cooler than 2016 — the hottest year on record — it was warmer than any recorded year prior to 2015. Most Americans are experiencing climate that's unusual by 20th-century standards. Wildfires burned fewer acres in 2021 than in recent years but still more than double the yearly 1990s average. The US experienced 20 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events in 2021. The US produced more energy last year than in any previous year except 2019, according to preliminary 2021 data. Last year's per-person energy consumption was 4.7% higher than in 2020, but was the second-lowest since 1966. Fossil fuels account for 94% of energy used by the transportation sector and 80% of energy used by the industrial sector. Preliminary 2021 EIA data shows that carbon dioxide emissions from energy consumption rose after dropping in 2020.

Infrastructure In 2021, about 41% of federal transportation and infrastructure spending was on highway transportation and 32% was on air travel. The remainder was for rail and mass transit (19%) and water (8%). Most transportation and infrastructure spending comes directly from state and local governments, which spent $191.1 billion on projects in 2019, excluding federal transfers. Air travel rebounded in 2021 but is below 2019 pre-pandemic levels, with the number of scheduled flights down 20% in the first eleven months of the year. Public rail transit ridership in October 2021 was 67% higher than October 2020 levels. There are 618,456 bridges in the US and their condition is improving. Conditions of urban interstates, mid-sized, and minor roads have improved since 2000. Train infrastructure is degrading.

Immigration The US is again increasingly a nation of immigrants. 2020 had the largest drop in non-tourist visas and new arrival green cards granted in 25 years. Excluding tourism and unauthorized arrivals, most people arriving on visas or green cards are temporary workers, students, or coming to be with their families. In 2018, the federal government estimated there were 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants in the country. The number of people apprehended or turned away by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) more than tripled from 2020 to 2021. Over 20,000 unaccompanied children were at Health and Human Services border facilities in April 2021, a monthly peak 4.6 times over the 2020 monthly high. Immigration officials removed 360,000 people from the US in 2019.

Defense Defense spending decreased in 2021 and was 12% lower than its 2010 peak. In 2021, there were 1.3 million people in the military, 38% fewer than in 1987 — its recent peak. The US has fewer troops abroad than in recent years, particularly in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The US spent $51.1 billion on foreign aid in 2020, a 4.7% increase following four consecutive years of decline. Veterans have lower unemployment levels than the national rate.

Federal Government Actions There were 52 government actions on health. There were 69 government actions on the economy and jobs. There were 69 government actions on the standard of living. There was one government action on population. There were 23 government actions on the budget. There were 12 government actions on education. There were 15 government actions on crime and justice. There were 81 government actions on land, energy, and environment. There were 13 government actions on infrastructure. There were 26 government actions on immigration. There were 77 government actions on defense. There were 47 other government actions.

Home / Reports / 2022 State of the Union / Federal Government Actions

Federal Government Actions

What did the federal government do last year?

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The federal government's executive, legislative, and judicial branches act together to shape policy and its implementation. For a glimpse into what the federal government does, this section summarizes a subset of work the executive and legislative branches completed in 2021. Specifically, it shows bills that became public law, executive orders and presidential memoranda, and rulemaking by executive agencies classified as significant by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Although state and local governments implemented many noteworthy actions in 2021, such as mask mandates, voting and abortion legislation, or law enforcement and education policy changes, this list only includes actions by the federal government.

Congress passed 81 bills into law.

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Five bills had more than 100 cosponsors: a bill establishing grant programs to address neurodegenerative diseases (331 cosponsors), a bill awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to servicemembers who died in Afghanistan (326 cosponsors), a bill instituting a service dog therapy program for veterans (317 cosponsors), a bill awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the Harlem Hellfighters (311 cosponsors), and a bill extending the Paycheck Protection Program (101 cosponsors). Also, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in November, appropriating $1.2 trillion over five years, including about $550 billion in new spending.

President Joe Biden signed 101 executive orders plus presidential memoranda, and President Donald Trump signed 12.

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That reflects all executive orders and presidential memoranda — a similar form of official directive often discussed interchangeably — that the administrations published in the Federal Register. It excludes two of Biden's orders that amended his previous 2021 orders and six orders from President Donald Trump’s last month in office that Biden revoked.

Agencies implemented 291 significant rule changes.

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This does not include 96 rules that corrected or amended other rules passed in the same year or were later revoked in the same year.

What did these 485 federal government actions do?

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Federal Government Actions

There were 52 government actions on health.

These included an executive order and two rules, respectively, requiring federal employees and contractors, employees of large employers, and healthcare workers to be vaccinated against (or, in the case of private employees, regularly test for) COVID-19. The Supreme Court struck down the mandate for large employers in January 2022. Several pieces of legislation addressed the opioid epidemic by modifying drug regulations and establishing education programs for health care providers. Overall, 27 of the 52 actions addressed either the COVID-19 pandemic or the opioid epidemic.

There were also 12 health insurance and healthcare actions, including requiring insurance plans to transparently report prescription drug and healthcare spending information.

Federal Government Actions

There were 69 government actions on the economy and jobs.

Among them were an executive order and accompanying Labor Department rule increasing the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15/hour, legislative extensions of the Paycheck Protection Program, and debt forgiveness provisions in response to COVID-19.

Fifteen actions were direct responses to the economic effects of COVID-19, mostly with business support programs. There were also 17 actions on employment and 17 about financial and business regulation.

Federal Government Actions

There were 69 government actions on the standard of living.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided $1.9 trillion to address the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, people, and businesses and included direct payments of up to $1,400 to many Americans. Though not counted as part of these 68 actions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to extend a national eviction moratorium first implemented in 2020. The Supreme Court blocked the last of these extensions in August 2021, but some states kept local eviction moratoria in place.

Thirty-eight of these actions related to benefits for elderly, disabled, and low-income people, such as Medicare, Medicaid, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Federal Government Actions

There was one government action on population.

This was an executive order revoking a previous order by President Trump requiring the Census Bureau to track citizenship status in the decennial census. After this executive order, the Census Bureau suspended its work on the immigration status of the US population. The data that states used for redistricting did not include citizenship or immigration status information.

Federal Government Actions

There were 23 government actions on the budget.

These included two continuing resolutions, bills that extend federal agency funding over a specific period based on the previous year’s funding to avoid a government shutdown when a normal appropriations bill has not passed. There were also two bills that collectively raised the public debt ceiling by $3 trillion.

Most of these actions were about taxes and revenue. For instance, 12 IRS and Treasury Department rules established regulations for how taxpayers and organizations report financial activities or are assigned to different tax treatments.

Federal Government Actions

There were 12 government actions on education.

That included an executive order and a presidential memorandum directing the Education Department to help create conditions for a safe return to in-person school as quickly as possible.

These actions frequently addressed higher education, and four out of the five higher education rules revised financing programs, including Pell Grants, Federal Direct Stafford Loans, and TEACH grants.

Federal Government Actions

There were 15 government actions on crime and justice.

This includes an executive order directing the Attorney General to not renew contracts with private prisons and legislation allocating $1.9 billion to respond to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol Building.

Federal Government Actions

There were 81 government actions on land, energy, and environment.

One was a law nullifying a 2020 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that removed some emissions regulations for the oil and natural gas sector. Plus, EPA and Transportation Department rule changes strengthened emissions standards for certain vehicles and repealed regulations that allowed federal standards to supersede state rules. These three changes reversed or revised Trump administration rules.

More than half of these actions were on pollution – including 14 actions regulating use of hazardous materials – or land, resource, and species management – including 15 that established regulations on how humans interact with animals.

Federal Government Actions

There were 13 government actions on infrastructure.

Among them were the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and two other bills with provisions related to federal aid for highway, transit, highway safety, rail, and other Transportation Department surface transportation programs.

Federal Government Actions

There were 26 government actions on immigration.

Twenty-five of these actions governed arrivals and removals, including an executive order instructing the Department of Homeland Security to preserve and strengthen DACA, an Obama administration policy to “[defer] the removal of certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, have obeyed the law, and stayed in school or enlisted in the military.” A US district court later ruled that DACA was illegal; its implementation for new applicants is currently suspended.

Several executive orders directed federal agencies to ease the process of seeking asylum or refugee status and revoked guidance instructing law enforcement to use all available means to enforce immigration laws. Though not counted in these 26 actions, Biden also raised the yearly refugee ceiling from 62,500 in FY 2021 to 125,000 in FY 2022 and issued a proclamation redirecting funds previously diverted for the construction of a southern border wall.

Federal Government Actions

There were 77 government actions on defense.

These included an executive order enabling transgender people to serve in the military, plus two Commerce Department rules restricting certain international trade transactions of technology or cybersecurity items that might pose a threat to US security in the hands of adversaries.

Overall, most of these actions related to either veteran benefits (28 actions), or foreign affairs (22 actions), including economic sanctions in response to human rights abuses abroad.

Federal Government Actions

There were 47 other government actions.

The majority dealt with general governance. One executive order required that all executive agency appointees sign an ethics commitments pledge. Another adjusted the pay rates for various government officials. Several executive orders that Biden signed rescinded actions taken by the Trump administration.

There were also 12 ceremonial actions, including a bill designating Juneteenth (June 19) as a public holiday.

To learn more, look at the full list of actions categorized in this section, including descriptions, dates, source links, and the names and political parties of bill sponsors.

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