WASHINGTON – Elected President Joe Biden’s first days in office will be dominated by a crisis: the coronavirus pandemic and economic emergency it caused, as well as the aftermath of the deadly Capitol riot while his predecessor before a trial of accusation of the Senate.
Biden regularly talks about the need to use the first hundred days, which was usually a honeymoon for new presidents, to make significant progress with the challenges facing the country, but the inability to find dual cooperation can obstruct him before taking the oath of office.
Biden said last week that the country was facing a “crisis of deep human suffering” when it outlined a $ 1.9 billion funding bill he called for Congress to pass quickly.
The Senate already has a busy schedule. Lawmakers will need time to discuss a funding bill, confirm Biden’s nominees for the cabinet and deal with the article of the indictment passed in the House last week. A trial can begin as soon as the inauguration day takes place.
This is not how Biden envisioned that his early term would expire a year ago when he fought for the nomination of the Democratic Party. At the time, he was talking about how the focus of his first hundred days would be on reforming immigration policy, rebuilding alliances abroad and tackling climate change.
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But any lofty initiatives need to be suspended; more than 400,000 people in the US have died from the coronavirus, with nearly 11 million Americans receiving unemployment benefits.
Here’s an outline of how Biden plans to tackle the issues that begin on the first day.
Coronavirus
Biden has undertaken to oversee the administration of 100 million Covid-19 vaccines during his first 100 days in office, which, according to transitional officials, is still an achievable goal, although the Trump administration’s promised implementation of the vaccines was slower than expected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 11.1 million doses had been given since Thursday.
The Trump administration has left distribution to the states, but Biden plans to expand the federal government’s role. Biden’s team plans to set up federal sites for mass distribution, along with mobile vaccination centers for people in rural areas.
The supply of the vaccines, components and materials will also be an issue, and officials from the transition said Biden plans to use the Defense Authorization Act to speed up production.
But Biden says he needs money from Congress to achieve his vaccination goal. He called for more than $ 400 billion to be used for the vaccines, which slow down the spread of the virus and reopen schools.
The plan includes $ 20 billion for a national vaccination program, $ 50 billion for testing and contact detection and $ 30 billion for supplies and protective equipment. He is also seeking money to provide paid sick leave to encourage people to stay home if they feel ill, and he has asked to employ 100,000 public health workers, nearly tripling the current number.
Economy
Biden will inherit an economy that cannot recover from the pandemic, with an unemployment rate sitting at nearly 7 percent for months.
Biden wants Congress to pass another $ 1 trillion Covid-19 aid package, calling previous attempts a “payoff.”
Biden’s plan includes direct payments of $ 1400 per person and a federal unemployment insurance program of $ 400 per week. He is also asking for billions of dollars for federal nutrition programs and child care providers and an increase in the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour. In addition, it is asking $ 350 billion for states and $ 35 billion more for small business financing programs.
He needs the support of Congress, which owns the federal purse.
“A new president with a legislative agenda tends to be the most effective in their first year because the other party has historically given the president a little more room to succeed in their priorities,” said Casey Dominguez, a professor in political science, said. University of San Diego who wrote about the 100-day honeymoon that new presidents enjoy with Congress.
Democrats will control both the Senate, but only a razor-sharp margin, and the House. It is unclear whether Biden will get a honeymoon period, given biased polarization, Dominguez said.
A transitional official said last week that members of the new government were reaching out to lawmakers and expected Congress to act quickly to pass a stimulus bill. But Biden’s team has returned from an earlier demand that Congress send him a bill to sign by the end of January, and he now says he hopes legislation will be introduced in February.
Day one executive actions
While comprehensive immigration reform and climate plans may no longer be at the top of the agenda, Biden has vowed to reverse Trump’s most controversial policies.
Many Trump policies, such as climate regulation, have been carried out by executive orders or as informal guidance, not by congressional legislation, which means Biden can return it fairly easily.
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said that on the day of the inauguration, Biden would “sign about a dozen actions to combat the four crises” – Covid-19, the economy, climate change and racial inequality.
The day one actions will include asking the education department to extend the disruption of student loan payments and interest, rejoining Paris’ agreement on climate change, the “ban” on travel from several majority Muslim countries to times, and a mandate to wear masks to federal property and during interstate travel, and the expansion of nationwide restrictions on evictions and negatives.
On Day Two, Klain said, Biden will sign a number of executive actions to move aggressively to change the course of the Covid-19 crisis and reopen schools and businesses safely, including by taking action to spread the word. mitigated by expanding testing, protecting workers, and establishing clear standards of public health. “
Other executive actions Biden planned shortly after taking office include revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, ending Trump’s national declaration of emergency on the southern border, stopping federal executions and the ban. on transgender’s service in the military, a person familiar with the plans.
He is also expected to draft new ethical guidelines in the White House, and he has promised to sign an executive order declaring that any member of his government will be fired if he attempts to investigate the Department. of Justice, as Trump is accused of doing.
Immigration
Biden is expected to propose a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for about 11 million immigrants who are in the country without legal status.
The bill provides an eight-year path to citizenship for immigrants and a fast track for people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Program, an immigration attorney informed about the plan.
Klain said in a memorandum to incoming senior White House staff members on Saturday that Biden would send an immigration bill to Congress “on his first day in office,” but he did not give details.
If passed, Biden’s bill would be the biggest step in granting legal status to people in the country without documentation, as President Ronald Reagan did in 1986 for nearly 3 million people.
Recent attempts to overhaul the immigration system have failed, and Biden’s plan is likely to face an uphill battle on Capitol Hill, especially as it clashes with other legislative priorities.
Biden also promised to end the strict immigration practices of the Trump administration, which focused on building a border wall and restricting admission to asylum.
Accusation
No president has entered the White House to strike a balance between drawing up his own administrative and legislative agenda during a Senate hearing against his predecessor.
Trump’s trial could impose rigid rules that delay Biden from getting his cabinet approved.
Biden and the Congress Democrats will have to spend some of their resources in the early days of his term to figure out how to manage the dynamics. It is still unclear on what strategy they will land.
Biden, who will be sworn in on Wednesday without one of his cabinet nominees being confirmed, said he would like the Senate to split his time between the trial and the trials for his nominees, as well as the work to pass his Covid . -19 relief account.
“Can we tackle half a day with the accusation and half a day to get my people nominated and confirmed in the Senate, as well as to tackle?” Asked Biden reporters last week. “So this is my hope and expectation.”
Some Democrats in Congress supported the proposal to follow a double track, while others pushed the idea of waiting 100 days to convey the article of the accusation to the Senate while Biden gets his government underway. .
“I think they will have to work on both at the same time,” Klain said Friday about the Senate. “Hopefully the trial will not be a long trial.”