He will also sign orders preventing evictions and student loan payments during the coronavirus pandemic and issuing a masking mandate across federal properties in an effort to reverse the measures taken by the Trump administration or advance the policy in a way that was impossible today. administration.
“During the campaign, President-elect Biden promised to take immediate action to start dealing with these crises and rebuild better,” writes Klain. “As president, he will keep those promises and sign dozens of executive orders, presidential memos and guidelines for Cabinet agencies in keeping with his promises.”
In addition to the executive actions in his early days in office, the memo describes that Biden plans to send Congress a large-scale immigration plan in his first 100 days in office. The plan would offer a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States today.
The memo makes it clear that an important part of Biden’s overall strategy includes getting Congress to act according to his legislative priorities, something that Biden defended when highlighting his relations with Republicans in the Senate. The focus is on the recognition that very little can be done via executive order.
“The full realization of the policy objectives of the Biden-Harris government requires not only the executive actions that the president-elect has promised to take, but also robust action by Congress,” wrote Klain.
The day after Biden’s inauguration, according to Klain, he “will sign a series of executive actions to act aggressively to change the course of the COVID-19 crisis and safely reopen schools and businesses, including taking steps to mitigate the spread by means of expanding testing, protecting workers and setting clear public health standards. “
And on January 22, Biden will instruct his Cabinet agencies to “take immediate steps to provide economic relief to working families that support the brunt of this crisis,” writes Klain.
The wave of action aims to show Americans that Biden is not wasting time taking control of the coronavirus – something that Biden’s transition has been intensely focused on. But the scope and breadth of topics that Biden will address also highlights the extent to which Democrats believe the next administration will have to focus on several issues at once to succeed.
From January 25 to February 1, Klain writes that Biden will issue orders on everything from instructing his government to buy American products to beginning to deliver on promises to reform the criminal justice system.
During that week-long period, Biden will also order the federal government to determine how to reunite children separated from their families on the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as sign additional orders designed to combat climate change and expand access to health care.
“Of course, these actions are just the beginning of our work,” writes Klain. “Much more needs to be done to combat COVID-19, rebuild our economy better, combat systemic racism and inequality and address the existential threat of the climate crisis. But by February 1, America will be moving in the right direction in all four of these challenges – and more – thanks to the leadership of President-elect Joe Biden. “
Political pressure on Biden
As Biden routinely promised to act on his administration’s “Day One,” hosts of interest groups and advocacy organizations put public pressure on Biden to keep his promises.
“There is a lot at stake for Biden to end the ban on the first day of his presidency because that is something he campaigned for,” said Iman Awad, national legislative director of Emgage Action, an organization that defends American Muslims. “With that, we understand that we are facing a lot at this political moment: a current president making this transition almost impossible, the insurrection and the pandemic. However, American Muslim communities are hopeful that the Biden government will deliver on that promise despite the ongoing crises. “
For climate change activists, Biden’s promise to act quickly on a range of climate issues was a key part of why progressives gathered around Biden after he cleared the Democratic camp, said Jared Leopold, co- founder of Evergreen Action, a group of former employees to Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who ran for president in 2020 with an almost entirely focus on climate change.
“Taking on the presidency of Donald Trump is like taking on the lease on a fraternity house: the list of cleaning tasks is impressive,” said Leopold. “The task for Biden is twofold: first, clean up Trump’s damage and then act on the bold climate plan that science requires. Biden has executed the strongest climate plan in American history and has a clear mandate to implement it. immediately by executive and legislative action. “
And LGBTQ activists, like the campaigner for the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, said it was critical for Biden to show clearly, at the beginning of his government, that he is committed to rewriting the actions taken by the Trump administration.
“I hope the Biden-Harris government will take affirmative action on the first day or after taking office to fulfill its campaign promises,” David said in an interview with CNN, highlighting the need to “ensure that LGBTQ student rights are enforced under Title IX. “
“My goal is to ensure that the civil rights of LGBTQ people are protected, that Joe Biden keeps his campaign promises and keeps his campaign promises to the community,” said David. “And all my expectations lead me to conclude and, based on the conversations I had, that they will take these steps to ensure that they fulfill their campaign obligations and promises.”
This story has been updated with additional information.