Policy timeline
What each administration actually signed, counted in full, followed by a hand-picked list of the laws, trade actions, Fed decisions and shocks that most plausibly moved the indicators.
Everything signed, by year
Substantive public laws enacted
7,738 laws since 1981, not counting 2,400 that only name, commemorate or appoint (a title-based heuristic). The second year of each Congress usually passes more.
Executive orders signed
1,546 orders since 1993, from the Federal Register. Earlier orders aren't available in machine-readable form.
2026 is the year so far. Sources: Congress.gov, Federal Register. Full lists are on each president's page.
Major events
Each event is tagged with the indicators it plausibly moved, and marked on those charts.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Makes the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent, adds new deductions and cuts Medicaid and SNAP spending.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Poverty rate, Uninsured rate
Broad "reciprocal" tariffs announced
A baseline 10% tariff on most imports plus higher country-specific rates, several later paused or renegotiated.
Inflation Reduction Act
Clean-energy tax credits, Medicare drug-price negotiation and a corporate minimum tax.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Inflation (CPI, year over year)
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
Enhanced background checks for buyers under 21, funding for state red-flag laws and mental health services.
Affects: Firearm death rate
Fed begins raising rates
First of eleven rate hikes over 2022–23 to fight post-pandemic inflation.
Affects: Inflation (CPI, year over year), Unemployment rate, 30-year mortgage rate
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
About $1.2 trillion for roads, bridges, broadband, water and transit.
Affects: Real GDP growth
American Rescue Plan
About $1.9 trillion in relief, including a temporarily expanded child tax credit and larger ACA premium subsidies.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Poverty rate, Inflation (CPI, year over year), Uninsured rate
Murder of George Floyd and nationwide protests
Followed by the largest one-year rise in murders on record (2020), alongside pandemic disruption.
Affects: Murder rate, Violent crime rate
CARES Act
About $2.2 trillion in relief: stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program.
Affects: Unemployment rate, Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Poverty rate
COVID-19 declared a pandemic
Lockdowns push unemployment to 14.8% in April 2020.
Affects: Unemployment rate, Real GDP growth, Labor force participation, Life expectancy at birth, Drug overdose death rate, Murder rate, Firearm death rate
SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act
Bipartisan opioid package expanding addiction treatment, prevention and Medicaid coverage for recovery.
Affects: Drug overdose death rate
Section 301 tariffs on China begin
First 25% tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports; China retaliates and the trade war escalates through 2019.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Corporate rate cut from 35% to 21%, temporary individual rate cuts, and the ACA's individual-mandate penalty set to zero from 2019.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Real GDP growth, Uninsured rate
Opioid crisis declared a public health emergency
The administration declares a nationwide public health emergency over opioid overdoses.
Affects: Drug overdose death rate
ACA coverage expansion begins
Insurance marketplaces, subsidies and (in participating states) expanded Medicaid take effect.
Affects: Uninsured rate
Dodd–Frank financial reform
New capital, oversight and consumer-protection rules for banks.
Affects: Real GDP growth
Affordable Care Act signed
Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.
Affects: Life expectancy at birth, Poverty rate, Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Uninsured rate, Drug overdose death rate
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
About $800 billion in stimulus: tax cuts, aid to states, infrastructure and safety-net spending.
Affects: Unemployment rate, Real GDP growth, Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
TARP bank rescue (EESA)
Authorizes up to $700 billion to stabilize the financial system.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
Lehman Brothers collapses
The financial crisis peaks; the Great Recession deepens.
Affects: Unemployment rate, Real GDP growth, Real median household income
Federal assault weapons ban expires
The 1994 ban lapses after Congress declines to renew it.
Affects: Firearm death rate, Murder rate
Medicare Part D created
The Medicare Modernization Act adds an unfunded prescription-drug benefit, starting 2006.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Life expectancy at birth
JGTRRA
Accelerates the 2001 rate cuts and cuts taxes on dividends and capital gains.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
September 11 attacks
Followed by the wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), largely financed by borrowing.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Real GDP growth
EGTRRA (Bush tax cuts)
Broad income tax rate cuts, phased in and set to expire after 2010.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
Balanced Budget Act of 1997
Spending restraint, mostly in Medicare, paired with the Taxpayer Relief Act's capital-gains cut and child tax credit.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
Welfare reform (PRWORA)
Replaces AFDC with time-limited TANF block grants and adds work requirements.
Affects: Poverty rate, Labor force participation
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
The 1994 crime bill: funding for 100,000 police officers and new prisons, tougher sentencing, and a 10-year federal assault weapons ban.
Affects: Violent crime rate, Murder rate, Property crime rate
NAFTA takes effect
Free-trade area between the US, Canada and Mexico begins.
Affects: Real GDP growth, Real median weekly earnings (1982–84 $)
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
Requires background checks for handgun purchases from licensed dealers, starting in 1994.
Affects: Firearm death rate, Violent crime rate, Murder rate
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
Raises the top income tax rate to 39.6% and expands the EITC; passed without a single Republican vote.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars), Poverty rate
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990
Bush signs tax increases and spending caps, breaking his "no new taxes" pledge; introduces pay-as-you-go budget rules.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
Black Monday stock crash
The Dow falls 22.6% in a single day.
Affects: Real GDP growth
Tax Reform Act of 1986
Broadens the tax base and lowers rates; top rate falls to 28%.
Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981
Cuts the top income tax rate from 70% to 50% and phases in broad rate cuts and indexing.
Affects: Federal surplus or deficit (% of GDP), Federal debt (% of GDP), National debt (dollars)
Volcker Fed shifts to targeting money supply
The Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker lets interest rates soar to break inflation, setting up the 1980–82 recessions.
Affects: Inflation (CPI, year over year), Unemployment rate, Real GDP growth, 30-year mortgage rate