Biden’s executive action on Covid-19, immigration, the economy, and more, explained

President Joe Biden is not waiting for Congress to set its policy agenda. His presidency begins with an aggressive first ten days in the Oval Office with a series of executive orders and actions.

The promised action ranges from the substantive to the more symbolic. Some recall important parts of former President Donald Trump’s agenda; others lay the foundation for some of Biden’s own progressive promises.

On its first day, Biden will sign 17 executive initiatives. He will commission masks on federal property. He recalled Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization. He will extend moratoriums on evictions and negatives as well as a break for student loans. He will take several actions on global warming, including rejoining the Paris Agreement. He will push immigration, reverse Trump’s travel ban and stop building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. He will strengthen the commitments to racial equality and protection without discrimination for LGBTQ people. And more.

Biden’s team stressed in a call with reporters that these day-one actions were only the beginning. A memorandum from White House staff Ron Klain Biden’s plans set out to tackle “four overlapping and compounding crises”: Covid-19, the economy, global warming and racial justice. Shortly after the congressional action, Biden will sign ‘dozens of executive orders, presidential memoranda, and cabinet agencies’ prescriptions’ to address these areas and more.

“In the coming days and weeks, we will announce additional executive actions that address these challenges and fulfill the promises of the President-elect to the American people, including the repeal of the ban on military service by transgender Americans and the reversal of policy. of Mexico City, “spokesman Jen Psaki said in a statement Tuesday.

There are limits to what Biden can do through executive action. Addressing money – including the most immediate crises of Covid-19 and the economy – will require more money. Biden will need Congress to approve it. While Biden is proposing a $ 1.9 billion stimulus package (which includes a $ 400 billion Covid-19 plan), Democrats hold only the narrowest majority in Congress, and it is still unclear whether policymakers are proposing with such a high price will approve.

Andrew Harnik / AP

Biden’s executive action partly acknowledges the reality and ensures that he will be able to claim some movement in its first few days as the hard work to get legislation through Congress begins.

Some of the moves also have an immediate impact – they help millions of Americans struggling to pay rent and student loans, relieving undocumented immigrants and moving the country to combat climate change.

The scope of the actions is a reflection of Biden running on one of the most progressive agendas in history. But it is also an acknowledgment that Democrats have not performed well enough in congressional games to fully implement the agenda. Now Biden will have to use his more limited executive power to fill the gaps between his campaign promises and harsh political realities.

What Biden’s executive action does

Biden will soon undertake a series of executive actions to simultaneously move the country past the Trump era, address urgent crises and fulfill campaign promises. The full details can be read in an information sheet and memo, but here are some larger components:

• Action on Covid-19: Biden will impose masking and physical distance requirements on federal property – part of its ‘100-day masking challenge’ to get Americans to wear masks. He will rejoin the World Health Organization after Trump decided to withdraw from the group. He will create a position of Covid-19 Response Coordinator and relocate the National Security Council’s Global Health Security and Biodefense Directorate, an executive team that disbanded Trump that handled the pandemic response. More action is reportedly coming, including efforts to extend testing and the establishment of ‘clear public health standards’ regarding Covid-19.
• Economic relief: Biden will ask federal agencies to extend federal moratoriums on evictions and negatives until at least March 31, which is likely to help millions of Americans. He will also suspend interest and principal payments for direct federal student loans until at least September 30th. And Biden has promised to order his cabinet “to act immediately to provide economic relief to working families who are suffering the most from this crisis.”
• Attempts to fight global warming: Biden will rejoin the Paris Agreement, an international treaty binding on countries to combat global warming. Biden will also sign an order reversing a wide range of Trump’s actions on climate change and taking new own action. Included in the list: the mandate of federal agencies to review fuel consumption and vehicle emission standards, the introduction of a moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the revocation of the Keystone XL pipeline permit . Biden’s team also promised further action in the coming weeks “with the urgency that science demands.”
• Immigration reform: Biden will sign several actions and commissions on immigration, which will greatly reverse Trump’s work in this area. Biden will strengthen the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which provides the children of undocumented immigrants with legal protection. He will also reverse Trump’s travel ban, revoke Trump’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census, and halt, among other things, the construction of the border wall. Since Biden is already proposing legislation to reform the immigration system, this is an area to which he will certainly return in the future.
• Rejection of disorder: Biden will sign an executive order stating that ‘promoting equity for all … is the responsibility of the entire government’, and ordering federal agencies to act in accordance with the principle. The order would also repeal Trump’s 1776 commission and restrictions on diversity and inclusion training within federal agencies. Separately, Biden will sign an order recognizing the prohibition of sex discrimination in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and prohibiting discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, including in federal agencies.
• Improving the function of government: Biden will sign an order requiring “every nominee in the executive to sign an ethical promise” and aimed at ensuring that employees of the executive act in the interests of the American people and not for their own gain, and build on similar actions by former President Barack Obama. He will also draft Trump-era rules to draft new regulations, while instructing the director of the Office of Management and Budget to improve the review process. And he will issue a freeze to give his administration time to review new regulations introduced during Trump’s last days.

Much of the executive action is aimed at reversing Trump’s legacy, especially on his iconic issue of immigration. From the travel ban to the border wall, Trump has done a lot on this issue that Biden and Democrats have opposed. But because many of them were linked to executive cities rather than congressional actions, a new president has the chance to undo most of the work.

Biden’s team stressed that it was yet to come – especially to make it easier in the coming months and years to claim asylum in the US, which made Trump much more difficult during his tenure.

But Biden will also take a series of actions that essentially build on Obama’s presidency. On climate change, for example, Biden is starting to rejoin the Paris Agreement and bring back rules first introduced by Obama, where the last democratic government was finished. Climate change remains a top issue among Democrats, so it’s a logical area for Biden to concentrate some proactive energy.

And some of the actions merely address the most pressing issues of the day, particularly Covid-19 and the economic crisis.

However, these actions are limited. They intend to give millions of Americans some relief and make other improvements here and there, but they will not nearly solve any of the ongoing and compounding crises that Biden’s team recognizes. It takes an act of Congress – and probably weeks, months or years of work.

Biden does for the first time what he can

Although widely regarded as the moderate option in the Democratic presidential election, Biden eventually waged a very progressive campaign once he won the nomination. From economic inequality to health care to global warming, Biden has promised a major shift to the left on numerous issues. As Matt Yglesias wrote for Vox, “His platform is in many ways a surprisingly progressive approach to policies that are seen by the left as a triumph of their own work to try to change the debate in American politics. ‘

Patrick Semansky-Pool / AP

Progressive hope was largely shattered on Election Day 2020 when Democrats lost seats in the House of Representatives and did not take control of the Senate. Some of that hope has been rekindled by the demise of Georgia, which has given the Democrats a razor-sharp majority in the Senate, with vice-improving vote by Vice President Kamala Harris. But with such a slim majority and moderates as Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) who effectively set the boundaries of the Democratic agenda, there is a ceiling on how far Biden will be able to go.

That does not mean Biden has given up. He has already proposed a $ 1.9 billion stimulus plan, including a $ 400 billion Covid-19 plan and a comprehensive immigration reform bill. He talked about finding a common ground with the Republicans – which would defy the polarized tendencies of the last few presidential governments, but would give Biden some room to get more done.

The reality, however, is that it will be a difficult political environment for the comprehensive agenda on which Biden ran. Action is likely to be taken on some of the more pressing issues, particularly Covid-19 and the stimulus plan. But more controversial actions, especially those that cannot pass the Senate by a simple majority as tax and spending measures, seem less likely, such as building on the Affordable Care Act, a minimum wage increase, democratic reform, comprehensive action climate change, or substantive criminal law.

Going into executive action is a way for the Biden White House to run the ground. But it also reflects the broader political reality.