the new president returns to the Paris climate agreement and the WHO

In his first act of major government, United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday dismantled some of the political legacy of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, signing executive orders to reincorporate his country into the Paris Agreement on climate change and stop its withdrawal. from the World Health Organization (WHO).

In another blow to Trump’s policies in his early days in the White House, but internally and on immigration, the new Democratic president signed another executive order that suspend wall construction at the border with Mexico and revoked a ban on the arrival of citizens of Iran, Syria and five other Muslim-majority countries.

After the coronavirus killed more than 400,000 out of more than 24.5 million people infected in the United States, Biden also kept another of his campaign promises and decreed that the use of chin straps is mandatory in federal buildings and for central government employees.

To alleviate the effects of the pandemic-induced economic crisis, which has plunged the country into recession, Biden also announced an extension of the federal moratorium on evictions until March 31 and a freeze on federal student loans until September 30.

“With the current state of our nation, there is no time to waste. There is no better time to start than today,” Biden told reporters, wearing a mask, seated in the Oval Room for the first time as President of the United States.

The president added that his decisions were only “starting points” to begin to honor his commitments to the American people.

“There’s a long way to go. These are just executive orders. But we’re going to need laws for a lot of the things we’re going to do,” added Biden, whose Democratic Party technically controls both houses of Congress but faces a very divided Senate.

An announced tour

The new Democratic president signed the “executive decrees” hours after taking the oath on Capitol Hill, quickly abandoning his abridged inauguration ceremony to begin implementing his political agenda.

The executive orders, directives and memoranda seek to turn 180 degrees an unusual speed in the federal policies adopted by Trump during his controversial four-year tenure.

Only two recent leaders signed decrees on the day they took office, and each of them has signed only one.

But Biden, in the face of the coronavirus crisis, has sought to show his resolve and skill to begin urgently addressing issues he says have been mismanaged by his Republican predecessor, such as the WHO’s withdrawal on accusations he mismanaged the coronavirus and has covered China.

Among the documents Biden signed during his first hours in the White House, there is one that backtracks the process of the United States’ disengagement from the WHO.

Trump had notified the United Nations health agency last year of his departure from his country, but it was not due to become effective until the middle of this year.

As part of Biden’s decision to return to the United Nations health organ, government immunologist Anthony Fauci will speak on behalf of the United States, as head of his delegation, at a meeting of the United Nations. WHO Executive Board on Thursday, said Jeff Zients, the new government’s chief pandemic response.

Paris Agreement

For the former vice-president and former Democratic senator, the fight against global warming is another priority of his mandate.

As soon as he arrived at his office, Biden signed the order on the Paris Agreement and sent an email to the UN so that the United States could return to the international pact against global warming within a month.

“We are going to tackle climate change in a way we have not tried so far,” the president told reporters after signing the decrees.

Biden too canceled a series of environmental deregulation measures taken by the Republican government. Among them, he will revoke the authorization of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which connects the United States and Canada.

In terms of immigration policy, the Democrat turned the tide of executive orders that made up the Trump Doctrine, which sought to make the fight against irregular immigration, especially of Mexicans and Muslims, a hallmark of his government.

Biden quashed a highly controversial immigration decree which prohibits the entry into the United States of passport holders from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran and Syria.

In addition, he ordered the suspension of the construction work of the anti-immigrant wall on the border with Mexico, financed by the Pentagon budget, which generated bitter struggles that agitated the Trump presidency.

With regard to immigration as well, although in the legislative field, Biden expected to present full bill to Congress in the coming hours to regularize millions of undocumented immigrants within eight years.

One of the main points is that it will give nearly 700,000 young people who arrived without papers in childhood, accompanying their parents, the so-called “dreamers” group, a path towards their naturalization.

Source: AFP and EFE

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