Elected President Joe Biden plans to issue a flood of executive orders in his first days in office, marking a sharp break with his predecessor through controversial Trump administration policies on immigration, climate change, the coronavirus and other pressing issues, he said. incoming, to reverse or review. chief of staff said.
Biden plans to sign about a dozen executive ordinances after his oath on January 20, followed by ten days of additional action he can take without having to wait until Congress acts, Ron Klain said in a memorandum to senior staff said.
Noting that the country is experiencing four overlapping crises – the pandemic, the economic hardship caused by the virus, racial inequality and climate change – Klain said Biden “will act – not only to prevent the most serious damage from the Trump administration, but also to start moving our country forward. ”
The bailout of symbolic and substantive action was intended to mark a sharp break with the policy drive under President Trump, which since November has focused on overthrowing Biden’s victory, and building momentum for other legislative action agenda items. need.
Like most incoming presidents, Biden shouts back at President Franklin Roosevelt, who held office in the depths of the Great Depression and in his first 100 days took a series of comprehensive measures to boost confidence in the government and the future of the country. to recover.
The actions Biden is planning on the inauguration day include ending Trump’s restriction on immigration from countries with a majority Muslim population, joining the Paris climate agreement and requiring the wearing of masks on federal property and during interstate travel, according to the memorandum.
He will also extend a moratorium on the payment of student loans and measures to prevent negatives and evictions, the memorandum reads. The Trump administration has instituted an eviction moratorium that will postpone struggling tenants nationwide affected by the coronavirus in September, but it expires in late January. According to the memo, more than 25 million Americans are now being evicted from their homes.
Klain tried to prevent criticism that the executive orders could exceed Biden’s authority, suggesting that Trump’s similar strategy of carrying out his own agenda sometimes exceeded the limits.
“I want to be clear: the legal theory behind it is grounded and represents a restoration of an appropriate, constitutional role for the president,” he wrote.
Trump also used executive orders and signing ceremonies in the White House to bypass Congress and create the impression of momentum for his supporters. Many of his orders were contested and even blocked by courts.
Klain acknowledged that a full implementation of the new government’s agenda would require Congress to pass a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus bill outlined by Biden on Thursday, as well as a comprehensive immigration plan that the president would like to introduce during to reveal his first day in office.
The plan is expected to provide a path to citizenship for approximately 11 million immigrants without legal status in the country; it would also provide a shorter path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of people with temporary protected status and beneficiaries of a deferred action for child tours brought to the U.S. as children. It will probably also cover certain essential workers at the front, a large number of whom are immigrants.
Winning congressional support for his legislative agenda could be difficult for Biden with a narrowly divided Senate, where Republicans have tremendous power to delay or block legislation, even though Democrats will own the majority.
Biden said he wants to build bridges to the Republican Party and bring two parties back to Washington. But after Republicans ignored the run-up to deficits under Trump, they expressed concern about rising government spending and questioning the need for more relief for Americans affected by the virus.
The day after Biden was sworn in, Klain said he plans to order actions aimed at expanding virus testing and speeding up the reopening of schools and businesses that are restricted. A day later, he will focus on providing further economic relief, Klain said.
Biden ‘will order its cabinet agencies to take immediate action to provide economic relief to working families most affected by this crisis,’ Klain wrote.
The vaccination effort is a departure from the Trump administration’s mostly practical approach, which has left states and localities to decide how to administer and administer the vaccines and avoid the responsibility of testing the coronavirus, which is more than 395,000 Americans killed.
In its second week, Biden plans to take additional steps regarding criminal law reform, climate change and immigration, including steps to speed up the reunions of families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under Trump.
Trump has taken hundreds of occasional concerted actions on immigration, from little-noticed administrative adjustments to sweeping policy changes that will not be easy for Biden to reverse quickly.
Klain said Biden would expand a “Buy America” directive requiring the government to buy goods and services domestically, act to promote the “equity and support of colored communities” and expand access to health care. The memorandum did not further describe the steps.
Biden’s plan to rejoin the Paris climate agreement in 2015 reverses the US withdrawal that the Trump administration completed in November. The agreement aims to keep the increase in average temperatures worldwide ‘well below’ 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the levels of pre-industry sectors.
The Paris Agreement requires countries to set their own voluntary targets for reducing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and to gradually increase them every few years. The only binding requirement is that nations must accurately report their efforts.
The ban on immigration from Muslim countries imposed by Trump covers five countries – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen – as well as North Korea and some government officials from Venezuela. The government has been forced to revise the original order twice to resolve legal issues over the proper process, implementation and exclusive targeting of Muslim countries.