Biden to sign 17 executive actions, order to reverse Trump’s policies and restore Obama-era programs on day one



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President-elect Joe Biden will sign 17 decisions and executive orders on Wednesday in the early hours of his presidency.

These measures were expected to reinstate a number of Obama-era policies and reverse some of what the Biden team calls “the most serious damage” of the Trump administration.

Biden is expected to sign the executive actions of the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon after the inauguration, which is expected to present a “forward-looking” vision for his presidency.

“He wants to roll up his sleeves and get to work as quickly as possible,” said new White House press secretary Jen Psaki, adding that part of that job will be to undo the actions of his predecessor, the President Trump, to achieve Biden’s goals. to “move the country forward”.

In his first actions as president, Biden is set to go back and reverse a number of Trump’s policies and guidelines.

End of the wall

Biden will declare an “immediate halt” to funding for the construction of the border wall – ending a key Trump campaign and the administration’s promise to “build a wall” along the US-Mexico border. This decision will result in an “immediate pause” in the construction of the wall and “will determine the best way to redirect the funds which were diverted by the previous administration to finance the construction of the wall”.

Biden will also sign an executive order rescinding Trump’s previous ordinance that directed aggressive immigration enforcement. Biden’s team said the move will allow the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to define “civilian immigration enforcement policies that best protect the American people” and that are “consistent with our values ​​and priorities “.

“The Biden administration is going to have a very different approach to regional migration,” said new White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, adding that there would be “special emphasis” on tackling “root causes of migration in the region”.

“The Biden administration is going to take a very different approach to regional migration.”

– Jake Sullivan, New White House National Security Advisor

President Donald Trump visits a section of the Southern Border Wall Wednesday, September 18, 2019, in Otay Mesa, Calif. (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump visits a section of the Southern Border Wall Wednesday, September 18, 2019, in Otay Mesa, Calif. (Associated Press)

Sullivan added that Biden was “determined to rebuild the country’s asylum system.”

Biden is also on the cusp of “preserving and strengthening” the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows people who came to the United States as children to apply for a deferred application of immigration and a work permit for a renewal period of two years. . The Trump administration had sought to end the program since September 2017, staging a number of federal legal battles.

Next, Biden is set to sign an executive order that will end Trump’s “Muslim ban”, which Sullivan said was rooted in “religious animosity and xenophobia.”

Trump, in 2017, signed an executive order suspending the entry into the United States of people from predominantly Muslim countries: Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iran. The travel ban was updated later this year to include North Korea and Venezuela. The Trump administration extended the ban again in January 2020 to include six more countries.

The overthrow of the Biden administration will repeal Trump’s order and order the State Department to restart visa processing for affected countries in an effort to “restore fairness and remedy the harm caused by the bans.”

Sullivan also said Biden’s action would strengthen filtering and screening of travelers by “improving information sharing” with foreign governments, while leading a new review of the administration’s other “extreme control” practices. Trump.

Regarding the census, Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday to revoke the Trump administration’s plan to exclude non-citizens from the census and the distribution of congressional representatives. Biden’s move will also ensure that the Census Bureau “has time” to complete “an accurate population count” for each state, which he then presents to Congress.

Biden will also take action on Wednesday to reconnect with the World Health Organization, following Trump’s decision to step down in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden administration “will work with WHO and our partners to strengthen and reform the organization, support the health and humanitarian response to COVID-19, and advance global health and safety.”

The Biden team said Dr Anthony Fauci will lead the Biden administration delegation at the WHO Executive Board meeting this week.

Biden is also expected to restore the pandemic unity of the White House National Security Council, which Trump disbanded early in his administration.

Back to Paris

Meanwhile, Biden will sign the instrument to join the Paris Climate Agreement – after the Trump administration formally left the agreement last year. The Paris Agreement was a global pact created under the Obama administration to fight climate change.

Biden’s National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said the move would be an “important step for the United States to resume and strengthen its leadership opportunities,” and added that Biden had made it clear that climate change ” posed an existential threat “.

Then Biden is expected to sign an executive order that will overturn Trump’s environmental actions – including the revocation of Trump’s presidential proclamations and other signed actions that McCarthy claims “does not serve the US national interest.”

The move will also revoke the presidential permit granted to the Keystone XL pipeline – a “promise” made by Biden during the campaign, McCarthy said.

“He will sign a general executive order that will take urgent action to address our climate crisis and create good union jobs and advance environmental justice,” McCarthy said, adding that Biden would also reverse “more than 100 of the harmful policies of the previous administration. “

Regarding the coronavirus pandemic, Biden will launch a “100-day masking challenge” on Wednesday and sign an executive order requiring masks and physical distancing in all federal buildings, on all federal lands and by employees and federal subcontractors.

Affordable housing

Biden will also extend eviction and foreclosure moratoria for those affected by the pandemic’s “unprecedented housing affordability crisis” until March 31.

National Economic Council director Brian Deese said emergency measures “are important” but said they are “no substitute,” and urged Congress to pass legislation.

“These measures are important, but they are not enough,” Deese said, while noting that the measures “are immediately useful and will help millions of families”.

Biden is also expected to ask the Education Department to consider “immediately extending” the hiatus on interest and principal on federal student loans until September 30.

Deese added that Biden “is supporting Congress in taking immediate action to write off $ 10,000 in student loan debt per person.”

“These are emergency measures that will help ensure that no American is put in place to make the decision to pay off student loans or put food on the table,” Deese said, adding that “will help provide short term relief.”

Meanwhile, White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice said Biden would put “racial justice and fairness at the center of our agenda” on Wednesday and build a “government approach to racial justice. “.

The Biden team will put “racial justice and fairness at the center of our agenda.”

– Susan Rice, New White House Domestic Policy Advisor

Susan rice

Biden to sign executive order to “define fairness as the consistent and systemic fair, just and impartial treatment of all individuals,” including those “who” belong to underserved communities such as blacks, Latin Americans, indigenous people and Native Americans, Asian Americans, and the Pacific Islanders and other people of color; LGBTQ + people; people with disabilities, religious minorities; people who live in rural areas; and those otherwise affected by poverty or persistent inequalities. “

Rice said Biden will ask federal agencies to review the state of equity within their agencies, to work with the Office of Management and Budget to “fairly allocate federal resources to empower and invest in communities. of color and other underserved communities “; improving the delivery of government benefit services to ensure families “can access opportunities”, and more.

Biden will also sign an executive order that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and will order agencies to take all legal steps to ensure that federal anti- discrimination prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender. the identity and protection of the rights of LGBTQ + people.

Other actions Biden will take on Wednesday include signing a memo to extend the delayed forced departure designation for Liberians who have been in the United States for many years until June 30, 2022. The memo will have also extended the work permit for Liberians, and will lead the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that Citizen Immigration Services facilitate “ease of application and timely arbitration” for Liberians applying for residency .

‘Ethical commitment’

Biden will also sign an executive order to “restore and maintain public and government confidence,” and order every person appointed to the executive branch to sign the “ethics pledge,” which will ensure that employees act in the best interests of the government. American people and not for personal gain.

Biden will also issue a memo on Wednesday withdrawing the Trump administration’s regulatory process in a bid to “remove these unnecessary hurdles to regulation in the public interest.”

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New White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain will also issue a regulatory freeze note on Wednesday that will prevent any new regulations from moving forward and give the Biden administration a change to review all regulations the Trump administration has. tried to finalize in his final days.

Jen Psaki said that in the days and weeks to come, Biden “will announce additional actions by the executive to address these challenges and deliver on the President-elect’s promises to the American people, including the revocation of the ban on military service by the United States. Transgender Americans, and the Politics of Mexico. “

Mexico City policy prohibits the use of taxpayer money to fund abortions in foreign countries.

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