Towards a better America? A look at Biden’s first day in office
From rejoining the Paris agreement and the WHO to repealing the “Muslim ban,” the 46th President of the United States seems to be determined to undo Trump’s legacy at all costs. But what kind of future awaits the country?
via Twitter @JoeBiden
January 22, 2021 — Only a few hours have passed since Inauguration Day, yet Biden’s term is already in full swing with 17 executive orders having being signed by the newly-elected President after stepping into the Oval Office for the very first time in his presidency.
“We are currently facing four converging crises — COVID-19, the resulting economic crisis, climate change, and racial inequity,” tweeted the official account of The White House on Wednesday. “Today, President Biden took actions to combat these challenges.”
As the President and Kamala Harris, the first US’s female Black and South Asian Vice President, were officially sworn into office, a new page was written in the history of the country. In their first public statements, the Biden-Harris administration talked about “bringing the American people back together,” “healing,” and “overcoming.”
Following the attempted coup that stormed the US Capitol Hill last January 6, Washington DC and Maryland had been put under a state of emergency with the aim of preventing further attacks in the run-up to the presidential inauguration. Now that Biden’s transition into The White House has been safely completed, it’s time for the President to “get right to work” and keep the promises made throughout his campaign.
Here’s a summary of Biden’s first moves to reverse his predecessor’s policies (via Instagram @votesaveamerica). Let’s deep dive into it to understand what those executive orders actually mean for the US population and the international community.
“100 Days Masking Challenge”
The so-called 100 Days Masking Challenge mandates the use of face masks and the implementation of physical distancing on federal property (i.e. federal buildings and lands). This includes post offices, the VA, national parks, and planes. The executive order also challenges everyone living in the US to wear a mask for the next 100 days. This new measure will hopefully reverse the trend that has seen the US reporting nearly 200,000 new COVID-19 infections and 3,000 deaths a day on a seven-day rolling average.
Restructure federal government coordination to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Biden-Harris administration is re-implementing the "Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense" which, put in place during the Obama’s era, had been dispersed by Trump in 2018. The body is meant to reinforce the country’s preparedness in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeff Zients was appointed "response coordinator" by Biden himself to provide the presidential team with advice on vaccine, testing and personal protective equipment production, supply, and distribution.
Rejoin the World Health Organisation (WHO)
The US will join forces with the rest of the world in the global vaccine distribution by recommitting to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Last July, Trump’s administration had sent the international body notice of its intent to withdraw after the US government criticised WHO for its handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. The withdrawal — scheduled for early 2021 — was revoked by President Biden. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious disease doctor, will represent the country at the WHO’s annual executive meeting taking place in Geneva this week.
Extend evictions and foreclosure moratoriums
By extending evictions and foreclosure moratoriums, President Biden seeks to stabilise housing for the estimated 25 million renters and homeowners facing the negative economic consequences of COVID-19. The extension, effective until at least the end of March, will provide support to low-income renters who are at risk of losing their homes. Besides that, a new COVID-19 Relief Bill of $35 billion — adding up to the $25 billion rent relief approved last December — will be allocated to assist households hurt by the pandemic in paying rent. Coronavirus and the resulting economic crisis are known to have disproportionately affected families of colour; compared to their White counterparts (12%), 24% of Latino and 28% of Black renters said they were not able to pay rent.
Continue “pause” on student loan payments until September 30
Answering the President-elect’s request, the Education Department has agreed to extend the freeze on student loan payments for additional eight months. As a result, borrowers will not have to make any payments in the foreseeable future. New York University’s Law Professor Kamin revealed Biden’s intention to ask Congress to lower all borrowers’ debt by $10,000 and set up an income-based repayment plan. Stressing the impact that such student loan payments have on students of colours, Senate members Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren alongside several advocacy groups have appealed to the President to cancel $50,000 from all loan borrowers through a new executive order.
Rejoin the Paris agreement
On his first day at the Oval office, Joe Biden has officialised that the United States is rejoining the Paris agreement. The greatest international effort to tackle the deleterious implications of global warming, the pact aims at controlling the rise of average global temperatures and keeping them below 2 degrees Celsius. As the second-largest producer of CO2 emissions, second only to China, the United States are responsible for contributing to the advancement of climate change over time more than any other country in the world.
End Keystone XL pipeline and revoke oil and gas development at wildlife monuments
Still under construction, the so-called “Keystone XL pipeline” is an expansion of the already-existing Keystone pipeline, the principal infrastructure used to carry Canadian crude into the US territory. The Keystone XL pipeline has now faced criticism from three different presidential administrations, primarily because of the environmental impact related to its greenhouse gas emissions. The project had been stopped by President Obama in 2015 to then be revived by President Trump at the early stages of his presidency. Biden’s decision to suspend the Keystone XL pipeline sparked discussion among the members of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines. “Killing 10,000 jobs and taking $2.2 billion in payroll out of workers' pockets is not what Americans need or want right now," said Andy Black, president and CEO of the company. Nonetheless, the President-elect’s conclusion on this subject matter is in line with what agreed on the Paris agreement.
Actions to advance racial equity through the federal government
The Biden-Harris administration put an end to former President Trump’s policies that denied the existence of systemic racism at all levels of US society — from the institutions and the workplace to public-facing programs. Reversing the previous presidency’s trend on this subject matter, Biden chose to re-implement diversity and inclusion training as well as the use of critical race theory within agencies and federal contractors. The measure is intended to verify and address racially-motivated barriers to opportunity in agency policies and programs. Equity will also be guaranteed on the basis of other discriminatory criteria, including sexual orientation, gender identity, religious beliefs, and disabilities. More funds will be allocated to support communities of colour and ensure that federal programs are available to non-native English speakers. Further action was taken in this regard to make federal data more inclusive through the launch of a new “equitable data working group,” designed to reflect the “diversity of America.”
Count non-citizens in US census again
All US residents, citizens and non-citizens alike — including non-authorised immigrants —, will be counted in state population numbers. Biden’s new executive order, which rescinds President Trump’s Census Policy issued in July 2019, will allow all strata of the US population to be equally represented in the country’s statistics as mandated in the 14th Amendment. These numbers are used once every 10 years to redistribute the share of electoral votes of each state and the 435 seats in the House of Representatives; hence they are crucial when it comes to monitoring the political behaviour and preferences of US residents.
Strengthen workplace discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity
“Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love,” reads Section 1 of Biden’s Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. The goal is one: to prevent any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity from affecting the lives of US residents by ensuring equal access to a. education, b. workplace, c. healthcare, and d. law as well as condemning all related attacks. Acknowledging the rights and dignity of the LGBTQ+ community, longly neglected throughout the Trump administration, the executive order signed by President Biden will hopefully protect the lives of all its members while fostering their inclusion at all levels of the US society.
Defend “Dreamers” program for undocumented young Americans
On his first day in office, President Biden proposed an immigration bill that would ease the pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and make Dreamers — young undocumented immigrants who entered the US as children — immediately eligible for green cards. Among the others, he expressed his intention to “preserve and fortify” the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) program, an immigration policy that grants unlawful immigrants arrived in the US as children the opportunity to receive “a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation” and the eligibility to work in the country.
End the “Muslim travel ban”
Repealing another policy established by President Trump, Joe Biden chose to restore many nationals from Muslim-majority and African countries’ right to enter the United States, thus putting an end to the discriminatory practice. The President-elect described the measures put in place by the previous administration as “a stain” on the US’s national conscience and stressed their inconsistency with the country’s “long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.”
Change Trump’s arrest priorities for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
President Biden rescinded Trump’s order that, throughout his administration, had made all undocumented immigrants present on US soil a priority for arrest. The former policy had given space for uncontrolled abuses of power at the expense of immigrants with no prior criminal convictions, eventually leading to a rise in the number of arrests and deportations. The measure is meant to redirect ICE’s enforcement efforts against undocumented immigrants with a criminal record so as to reduce the number of “collateral arrests” — taking place whenever “an immigrant that finds himself in the same location of a government target is arrested as well.”
Stop border wall construction
This one is rather self-explanatory. In an official statement published on the website of The White House, President Biden proclaimed the termination of the emergency at the US’s southern border — declared by former President Trump on February 15, 2019 — and announced the redistribution of the funds diverted to the construction of the border wall. Assessments will be carried out to verify the legitimacy of the funding and contracting methods employed to realise the project.
Keep protections for a group of Liberians in the country
President Biden confirmed that the United States will continue to serve as a “safe haven” for Liberians who were forced to flee their homeland “as a result of armed conflict and widespread civil strife.”
Freezing last-minute Trump administration regulatory actions
As explained by the transition team, the “freeze” memorandum issued by President Biden in the first hours of his presidential term aims at pausing “any new regulations from moving forward and give the incoming administration an opportunity to review any regulations that the Trump administration tried to finalise in its last days.” This measure provides the government with the time necessary to analyse any policies that President Trump might have put into place before Biden can proceed with designing ad-hoc new regulations on climate change, public health, and scientific integrity.
Formulate Executive Branch ethics doctrine
The last executive order that President Biden shared with the nation on January 20 concerns the formulation of a code of Ethics Commitments that every appointee, appointed on or after Biden’s Inauguration Day, will have to sign and commit to. According to CNN, this new set of ethics rules are meant to “slow the revolving door between the government and the lobbying world by barring employees who leave the Biden administration from lobbying the administration for the length of Biden's term in office.”
In these times of incredible uncertainty, one thing stands out clearly: President Biden has “no time to waste,” as he stressed himself in a tweet posted on Inauguration Day. With these first 17 executive orders, he seems to have set the premises for a “brighter future” awaiting all US citizens and residents regardless of class, gender, and race distinctions. Still, only time will tell whether such premises will be actually backed up with concrete actions, or rather remain empty words to be taken at face value.
via Twitter @KamalaHarris
