President-elect Joe Biden will reverse some of President Trump’s most controversial policies and address “four overlapping and compounded crises” in his first 10 days in office – the pandemic, the economic crisis, the climate and racial inequality.
Driving the news: According to a memo from the next White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, on Saturday. After Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, he “will sign about a dozen actions to combat the four crises,” said Klain.
Zoom In: Biden’s actions on the first day of his presidency will include returning to the Paris climate deal, extending a pause in federal loan payments to students, reversing Trump’s ban on traveling to the U.S. from several Muslim-majority countries and issuing a coronavirus mask mandate.
- On Thursday, Biden will sign several executive actions aimed at changing the course of the COVID-19 crisis and reopening schools and businesses safely.
- On Friday, the president-elect “will direct his cabinet agencies to take immediate action to provide economic relief to working families who support the brunt” of the coronavirus crisis, Klain wrote.
- Between January 25 and February 1, Biden will address the climate crisis, criminal justice reform, take steps to expand access to healthcare and change immigration – including bringing together separated families on the border under Trump’s immigration policy.
Why it matters: As Biden prepares to take office, the United States faces one of the most politically divisive periods in modern history, after the US Capitol insurrection, while the pandemic continues to spread.
- Klain’s announcement came after Biden revealed plans to launch a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package, “signaling a willingness to be aggressive on political issues and confronting Republicans from the start to take his lead,” he notes the New York Times, which first obtained the memo.
For registration: All of these measures were previously announced, but this is the first time that Biden’s comprehensive schedule has been unveiled.
- More actions will be announced as soon as they complete a “final legal release process,” said Klain.
Go deeper: Biden’s “100-day challenge”