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Signing a series of climate change orders this week, US President Joe Biden said in passing: “Now is not the time to take small steps; we have to be bold.”
The sentence reflects more than an attitude to the specific challenge of the environment and may well sum up the spirit with which Biden approached his first 10 days in the White House, with startling giddiness.
Since taking office on January 20, the president has issued an unusual number of decrees in various areas he sees as priorities, from the coronavirus to the economy, from immigration to racial equality.
His goal, experts say, transcends the desire to bury the symbols and policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Biden also appears determined to use the sense of helplessness that exists in a US battered by multiple simultaneous crises and divided, to push forward an ambitious agenda.
“There’s that honeymoon feeling,” says Lynn Ross, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University who has worked for years in the US government, including the president’s executive office.
“It’s smart that (Biden) is starting to work doing all he can, as fast as possible,” Ross told BBC Mundo.
However, the new president’s rush is starting to draw criticism from the opposition and raises a question: how long will i continue?
“There is no precedent”
In his first week in the White House alone, Biden signed 21 executive orders, according to the Federal Register, an official government publication.
This is already more than the sum of the decrees issued during their first week in office by the four previous American presidents, from Bill Clinton in 1994 to Trump.
If other executive actions he signed are added to Biden’s roster, the total is already over 40.
“There is no precedent (for this) in US history: even Franklin Rosevelt, who issued over 3,700 executive orders in just over three terms, issued only a handful. during its first 10 days, “Allan Lichtman, professor of history at the American University of Washington, told BBC Mundo.
Much of Biden’s measurements sought reverse decisions made by your predecessor.
For example, the president ordered the United States to revert to the Paris agreement on climate change and the World Health Organization (WHO), reinforced a program that protects immigrants who arrived in the country as children (called deportation dreamers), and ended the ban on entry of transgender people into the military, all against Trump’s decisions.
Biden too stopped the construction and financing of the border wall with Mexico who promoted his predecessor and sought to expand access to medical care (including abortion) to “undo the damage done by Trump,” who in turn wanted to overturn former President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform.
But in other cases, Biden’s actions have little to do with dismantling Trump’s measures and instead seek to fill what he sees as government loopholes.
For example, the president created a post of coordinator of the government’s response to covid-19 and forced the use of masks on federal property, ordered the expansion of food aid programs and placed the fight against climate change in the area of security. national.
Biden also called for an effort across government agencies to end “systemic racism,” with reporting on the level of equity in their staff and plans to promote equal opportunity.
The president took all of these steps using his authority, without having to go to the Capitol.
And, at the same time, Biden offered Congress a US $ 1.9 billion pandemic economic and health relief package, as well as immigration reform that paves the way for citizenship for 11 million. people who live undocumented in the United States. USA
The president’s limits
In the ranks of the opposition, some are wary of this wave of decrees signed by Biden.
“@POTUS you can’t rule with a pen and a phone,” Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted, addressing the president’s official account.
Democrats recall that Trump has also used executive orders as president: business 220 in four years, while Obama issued 276 twice as many.
Biden has already known one of the risks of ruling by decree: justice can overturn his orders.
A federal judge from Texas temporarily block Tuesday an order from the president to suspend evictions for 100 days, while he analyzes the matter.
On some issues, Biden could have broad popular support for urgent action after the worst U.S. economic downturn since World War II (3.5% in 2020, according to the result released Thursday) and more than 400,000 killed by the covid-19.
About eight in 10 Americans believe the priorities of the president and Congress this year should be to strengthen the economy (80%) and fight the coronavirus (78%), a new survey from the Pew Research Center said.
But on other topics on the presidential agenda, like racial equality or the fight against climate change, support from Republican voters is declining dramatically.
This poses challenges for a president like Biden, who, when taking office, called for the country’s unity after deep rifts in the Trump administration.
Democrats in Congress have indicated they are prepared to push forward Biden’s proposed stimulus package, which the opposition doesn’t like me either.
The president’s party has majorities in both houses of Congress, but “they’re so rare that it’s not easy to endorse Biden’s priorities” and that’s another reason the president resorts to executive orders. , Lichtman observes.
“Biden is not going to sacrifice his politics for a show of unity: if the Republicans don’t act, he will do what he thinks is good for the country,” he said. “If things work out in the end, no rhetoric will make the slightest difference.”
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