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WASHINGTON: United States President Joe Biden signed 15 executive actions shortly after taking office on Wednesday (January 20), undoing policies implemented by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, and taking his first steps on the pandemic. of COVID-19 and climate change.
Signing several actions in front of reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, Biden said there was “no time to waste” in issuing executive orders, memos and directives.
With a stroke of the pen, Biden ordered a halt to the construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall, ended the travel ban from some Muslim-majority countries, declared his intention to meet with the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Organization of Health and revoked approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, attendees said.
The 15 executive actions amount to an attempt to rewind the last four years of federal policy with surprising speed.
United States President Joe Biden signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, following his inauguration as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021 (Photo: Reuters / Tom Brenner) .
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Only two recent presidents signed executive actions on their first day in office, and each signed only one.
But Biden, facing the debilitating coronavirus pandemic, a damaged economy and a divided electorate, intends to demonstrate a sense of urgency and competition that he says has been lacking under his Republican predecessor.
“There is no time to start like today,” Biden said in his first remarks to the press as president.
Biden wore a mask when he signed orders in the Oval Office, a marked departure from Trump, who rarely covered his face in public and never during Oval Office events.
But now the use of a mask is required in the building. Among the executive actions signed Wednesday is one establishing a mask mandate on federal property.
Biden’s order also extended the federal eviction freeze to help those struggling with the economic consequences of the pandemic, created a new federal office to coordinate a national response to the virus, and restored the leadership of the White House National Security Council to the security and defense of global health, an office of yours. predecessor had closed.
The actions reflected the new president’s top political priority: controlling a debilitating pandemic. In his inaugural address, Biden paused for what he called his first act as president: a moment of silent prayer for the victims of the nation’s worst public health crisis in more than a century.
He stated that “it will move forward with speed and urgency” in the coming weeks.
“Because we have a lot to do in this winter of significant dangers and possibilities, a lot to repair, a lot to restore, a lot to heal, a lot to build and a lot to gain,” he said in the speech.
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Biden’s executive stock blitz went beyond the pandemic.
He pointed to Trump’s environmental record, calling for a review of all regulations and executive actions deemed harmful to the environment or public health, attendees said Tuesday as they anticipated the measures.
Another order instructs federal agencies to prioritize racial fairness and review policies that reinforce systemic racism.
Biden also reversed a Trump order that sought to exclude noncitizens from the census and ordered federal employees to make an ethical commitment committing them to uphold the independence of the Justice Department.
Aides said he also revoked the just-released report of Trump’s “1776 Commission” promoting “patriotic education.”
President Joe Biden speaks during the 59th presidential inauguration at the United States Capitol in Washington on January 20, 2021 (AP Photo / Patrick Semansky, Pool).
Those moves and others will be followed by dozens more in the next 10 days, the president’s aides said, as Biden seeks to redirect the country without going through a Senate that Democrats control by the narrowest margin and will soon resort to impeachment from Trump. .
Republicans noted that Biden will face fierce opposition on some parts of his agenda.
One of his orders seeks to strengthen Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, a signature Obama administration effort that provided hundreds of thousands of young immigrants with protection from deportation and a path to citizenship.
That’s part of a larger immigration plan that would provide an eight-year path to citizenship for roughly 11 million people living in the United States without legal status.
The plan would lead to “a permanent cycle of illegal immigration and amnesty that would hurt working Americans and the millions of legal immigrants who make their way through the legal immigration process,” said Chris Hartline, spokesman for the Senate Republican National Committee.
Even that family criticism seemed like a return to normalcy that Biden promised after years of disruptive and overheated politics.
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Biden’s first day in the White House was a celebration of Washington traditions. He attended church with both Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders.
In another effort to signal a return to pre-Trump times, Jen Psaki, the new White House press secretary, said she would hold a press conference Wednesday night as a symbol of the administration’s commitment to transparency.
The Trump White House had practically abandoned the practice of briefing journalists on a daily basis.
Biden’s action, in particular, did not include immediate steps to join the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned and Biden has vowed to re-implement.
Psaki noted that more action is coming, including plans to repeal the Pentagon’s ban on military service by transgender Americans, as well as the so-called Mexico City policy, which bans US funding for international organizations that conduct or refer women. to abortion services.
“In the coming days and weeks, we will announce additional executive actions that address these challenges and deliver on the promises of the president-elect to the American people,” Psaki said.
