Joe Biden will sign 15 executive actions after he is sworn in as U.S. president on Wednesday, aides said, undoing policies put in place by outgoing President Donald Trump and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change.
To address the “crises” of the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial inequity, Biden will sign the executive orders and memorandums in the Oval Office in the afternoon, and ask agencies to take steps in two additional areas, said incoming Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
The actions include a mask mandate on federal property and for federal employees and an order to establish a new White House office coordinating response to the coronavirus.
Biden will also begin the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and issue a sweeping order tackling climate change, including revoking the presidential permit granted to the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Among a raft of orders addressing immigration, Biden will revoke Trump’s emergency declaration that helped fund the construction of a border wall and end a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.
The Day One plans were just the start of a flurry of executive actions Biden would take soon after taking office, Psaki added.
“In the coming days and weeks we will be announcing additional executive actions that confront these challenges and deliver on the President-elect’s promises to the American people,” said Psaki. Further actions will include revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans, and reversing a policy that blocks U.S. funding for programs overseas linked to abortion.
Here is a list of what to expect, according to interviews with Biden’s advisers, a review of campaign promises and a memo detailing Day One executive actions released by the incoming administration on Wednesday.
COVID-19 CRISIS
* Seek a $1.9 trillion spending proposal aimed at accelerating the distribution of coronavirus vaccines while providing economic relief to millions of Americans hurt by the pandemic.
* Impose a mask-wearing requirement on all federal property, planes and buses.
* Extend relief on federal student loan payments and extend an eviction moratorium.
* Sign an executive order that helps schools and businesses reopen safely, expands coronavirus testing and establishes clearer public health standards.
* Direct federal agencies to take immediate action to deliver economic relief to working families bearing the brunt of the crisis, including by extending a moratorium on evictions.
* Return the United States to the World Health Organization. Trump withdrew from the agency, saying it failed to properly oversee the COVID-19 pandemic.
CLIMATE
* Bring the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement, the global pact forged five years ago among nearly 200 nations to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Trump vowed in 2016 to pull the United States out of the agreement, making good on that promise in November 2020.
* Issue a sweeping executive order on the climate crisis that will ask all federal agencies to review Trump policies and address those harmful to health or damaging to the environment.
* Reimpose methane pollution limits for new and existing oil and gas operations repealed by Trump.
* Using the federal government procurement system – which spends $500 billion every year – to make facilities more reliant on clean energy and purchase zero-emissions vehicles.
* Ban new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
* Cancel the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to the United States.
IMMIGRATION
* Repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries.
* Send to Congress a sweeping immigration bill that could legalize millions of immigrants living in the United States without legal permission.
* Reinstate the program allowing “Dreamers,” people who were brought to the United States illegally as children, to remain in the country.
* Reverse Trump’s policy that separated immigrant parents from their children at the border, including ending the prosecution of parents for minor immigration violations, and prioritize the reunification of any children still separated from their families.
* Reverse Trump’s more restrictive asylum policies, such as imposing additional restrictions on anyone traveling through Mexico or Guatemala and attempting to prevent victims of gang and domestic violence from receiving asylum.
* End Trump’s National Emergency declaration that allowed him to shift federal funds from the Department of Defense to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
* Order an immediate review of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for vulnerable populations who cannot find safety in their countries severely affected by violence or disaster.
OTHER ISSUES
* Ask all U.S. agencies to create an action plan to address racial inequality.
* Order every administration appointee to sign an ethics pledge to ensure that officials act in the interests of the American people and not for personal gain.
* Issue an executive order to make sure federal anti-discrimination statutes prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
