WASHINGTON (AP) – In his early hours as president, Joe Biden will aim to attack the heart of President Donald Trump’s political legacy by signing a series of executive actions that reverse the orders of its predecessor on immigration, climate change and management of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, Biden will end the construction of the Trump border wall between the United States and Mexico, end the travel ban in some Muslim-majority countries and return to the Paris Climate Agreement. and the World Health Organization and revoke the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, advisers said Tuesday. The new president will sign the orders almost immediately after taking the oath of office at the Capitol, quickly turning from its reduced opening ceremony to the execution of its agenda.
The 15 executive actions are essentially an attempt to roll back the last four years of federal policies with impressive speed. Only two recent presidents signed executive acts on their first day in office – and each signed just one. But Biden, facing the debilitating coronavirus pandemic, intends to demonstrate a sense of urgency and competence that he claims to have lacked with his predecessor.
“I think the most important thing to say is that tomorrow starts a new day,” said Jeff Zients, Biden’s choice to lead a new office at the White House that will coordinate the federal government’s reformulated response to the pandemic.
In fact, Biden started the day by signaling that he would seek a return to Washington traditions and the normality that his predecessor overthrew. When Trump, who refused to attend Biden’s inauguration, left Washington on Wednesday morning, Biden and his family headed for St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the Apostle, the historic church where John F’s funeral mass was held. Kennedy. The elected president was accompanied by Democratic and Republican congressional leaders for the service, a nod to the bipartisanship he hopes to inspire in the fight against the pandemic.
Biden’s early actions go well beyond the current health crisis. He intends to request a review of all Trump regulations and executive actions that are considered harmful to the environment or public health. He will order federal agencies to prioritize racial equality and review policies that reinforce systemic racism. He will revoke a Trump order that sought to exclude noncitizens from the census and order federal officials to make an ethical promise that commits them to upholding the independence of the Justice Department.
Susan Rice, Biden’s new domestic policy advisor, said the new president would also revoke Trump’s recently published “1776 Commission” report to promote “patriotic education”.
These actions will be followed by dozens of others over the next 10 days, advisers said, while Biden seeks to redirect the country without having to pass a Democratic-controlled Senate by the narrowest margin.
Notably, the opening actions did not include immediate measures to return to the nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump abandoned and Biden pledged to redeploy. Jen Psaki, the new press secretary for the White House, said that while they were not included in Biden’s Day One orders, the new president will in the next few days lift the Pentagon’s ban on military service to American transsexuals, as well as the called Mexico City politics, which prohibits US funding for international organizations that perform or refer women to abortion services.
Psaki said the actions to be taken on Wednesday focus on providing “immediate relief” to Americans.
In another effort to signal a return to pre-Trump times, Psaki said he would hold a news conference on Wednesday night to symbolize the government’s commitment to transparency. The Trump White House has almost abandoned the practice of informing reporters daily.
Biden will sign the shares during his first visit to the Oval Office in four years. Since then, presidential actions have often been marked by awkward announcements and confusion. In his early days in office, the Trump team was forced to rewrite executive orders by court order and advisers took days to figure out how to use the White House intercom to alert the press about events. Plans repeatedly canceled to promote new construction programs – dubbed “infrastructure week” – have become a national joke. Biden’s advisers, on the other hand, intend to demonstrate that they are prepared for the job from the start.
Biden’s senior advisers, led by Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed and Chief Policy Officer Stef Feldman, began to outline the executive’s action plans in November, a few days after Biden won the presidency and the newsroom began in December. The final documents were reviewed by the Justice Department’s Legal Advisory Office career team in the last few weeks before Biden’s inauguration to ensure they would pass the legal assessment.
Biden’s team was chosen to start taking over the reins of power even before the Navy finished its version of “Hail to the Chief” after the new president took the oath of office.
Aides should begin entering the White House complex at noon – when Biden officially takes office – to begin overseeing national security functions. The urgency was accelerated by security concerns surrounding possession after the United States Capitol uprising.
The restrictions on COVID-19, coupled with tight security around the opening, were severely reducing the number of advisers in the west wing of Biden. Aides, an official said, were instructed to pack snacks to eat in their offices because of pandemic protocols.