Four crises for Joseph Biden in the United States | …

From Washington, DC.During the first 100 days of his administration, Democrat Joseph Biden is tasked with dealing with “Four Converging Crises”, as the new United States government calls them. On the one hand, the pandemic. The country has barely vaccinated 5% of the population and is facing the logistical challenge of reaching nearly 330 million people. The start of the administration is also marked by a struggling economy, which fails to regain the employment level of last February, climate change and racial injustice.

With his first steps, Biden marked a break with the policies implemented by Donald Trump in these four areas. Through a series of executive orders, he attempted to chart the course of his administration and bring the United States back to the days of the Barack Obama administration, of which he was vice president. “The federal government must act quickly,” repeats the various documents it signed this week.

The most urgent crisis is health. With 24 million cases and 400,000 deaths, the impact of the pandemic in the United States has been disproportionate to the rest of the world. The country makes up just 4 percent of the world’s population, but it has a quarter of total infections and 20 percent of deaths.

Biden’s goal is to give one million doses per day in the first days of your treatment. It doesn’t seem unreachable. In the last days of the Trump administration, vaccination in the United States had already reached this rate. Today, the country has more than 16 million first doses applied. This is only five percent of the country’s population.

Regarding the pursuit of racial justice, the president did not just begin his term with an inauguration ceremony in which the message of diversity prevailed. He also signed an executive order stating that the policy of his administration will be that the federal government “seek a comprehensive approach to promote equity for all and include racialized groups and others that have been historically neglected, marginalized and negatively affected by poverty and persistent inequalities ”.

Biden still rules with a provisional cabinet. So far, the Senate has only confirmed to the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and the director of National Intelligence, April Haines. The rest of the candidates to occupy the various portfolios await the approval of the upper house. In some cases, like Janet Yellen, appointed Secretary of the Treasury, the preliminary hearings have already ended and the vote will take place in the first days of this week.

Yellen’s confirmation is essential to complete the economic team. This is one of the priorities for Biden, who hopes it will be approved. a $ 1.9 billion bailout. He considers it essential to support an economy deeply damaged by the pandemic.

According to the figures that the government manages, there are more than 10 million unemployed and 14 million who are behind in paying the rent for their housing. The White House also says that there are 29 million adults and at least eight million children who do not have safe and constant access to the food they need.

“It is clear that we are in a precarious period in terms of viruses and the economy. Without decisive action, we risk falling into a very serious economic hole, even more serious than the crisis in which we find ourselves, ”the director of the National Economic Council told reporters on Friday., Brian Deese.

One of the most marked differences between the new management and the previous one is the importance it places on climate change. It’s another crisis on Biden’s list. Among his first three decrees signed, there was the one that replaced the United States in the list of countries included Paris Agreement.

In addition, Keystone XL pipeline and pipeline license canceled, a controversial project approved by Trump to transport oil from Canada to the United States. The decision was not well received by the neighbor to the north and the Prime Minister, Justin trudeau, he was dissapointed”. No surprise: Alberta, one of the provinces of Western Canada, is one of the owners of the project.

Trudeau was the first leader of another country Biden spoke to after taking office. In the appeal, the new president “underlined the strategic importance of the US-Canada relationship”. According to the White House, the president also acknowledged the “disappointment over the decision to terminate the Keystone XL pipeline license” and reaffirmed “his commitment to maintain an active bilateral dialogue and deepen cooperation with Canada”. Both agreed on the “vision to promote a sustainable recovery of the economy”. They will speak again in a month.

Biden’s dialogue with the outside world is prioritizing neighbors for now. On Friday, the President also met with the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The White House reported that it had addressed “a range of bilateral and regional issues” but that the call focused on immigration. “The two leaders agreed to work to contain the flow of irregular migration from Mexico to the United States, as well as to promote development in the northern triangle of Central America,” the government reported.

During the call, the Democrat also discussed the outline of his plan to reduce migration. This includes tackling the root causes, increase resettlement capacity and legal avenues to enter the country, improve the processing of asylum claims and, most importantly, reverse the policies of the previous administration.

The government has not yet presented your immigration reform plan, but the document could reach the Senate in “about three weeks,” as published by Univision based on the words of Bob Menéndez, Democratic Senator from New Jersey.

The future of the initiative is uncertain. The Senate is still trying to adjust to the new situation of parity between the two parties, with 50 seats each, and it is difficult for Republicans to support the measure. Plus, you have a full schedule.

In the coming weeks, the upper house will not only be the protagonist of the negotiations on immigration reform and the economic bailout. From February 9, Trump’s impeachment will also begin to be dealt with. This will put the mogul back in the spotlight, at the same time as Biden needs bipartisanship to start implementing his plans.