U.S. President-elect Joe Biden leaves St. Joseph’s Church on the Brandywine after Mass in Wilmington, Delaware, Jan. 16, 2021.
President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team laid out its priorities for the new administration’s first 10 days in office Saturday (Jan. 16), including that Biden will sign several executive orders reversing incumbent President Donald Trump‘s (Trump) policies and use federal property to issue masks, among other things.
Ron Klain, Biden’s White House chief of staff, wrote in the memo, “In his first ten days in office, President-elect Biden will take decisive action to address four crises and prevent other urgent and irreversible harms to restore America’s standing in the world.”
Kline said Biden will focus on responding to the Communist virus (Neoconiosis) pandemic, the economic crisis triggered by the epidemic, and addressing climate change and racial injustice, which the incoming administration considers the country’s most urgent crises.
Biden’s plan would include signing a series of executive orders, starting with ordering the Department of Education to extend the existing moratorium on loan repayments and interest dates for millions of U.S. students; rejoining the United Nations’ Paris Climate Agreement, from which the United States formally withdrew on Nov. 4, 2019; and lifting a partial ban on foreign nationals entering the country that poses a threat to the United States.
Biden will also launch the 100-Day Mask Challenge, which will require everyone to wear a mask on federal property and when traveling interstate to curb the number of viral cases.
At the same time, he will sign an executive order expanding the restrictions on landlords exercising evictions and foreclosures nationwide, which is expected to affect more than 25 million Americans.
Preferential Minority Policy Slammed: Plus Helps Divide Nation
Biden will sign an executive order on the second day aimed at easing the spread of the virus, which will include expanding testing, further establishing public health standards and addressing the reopening of schools and businesses.
On the third day, secretaries of departments and agencies will take action to provide financial relief to working families.
Implementing policies that prioritize minority groups in the United States will also be on the agenda for the first 10 days, Kline wrote, and Biden is expected to take action to try to advance “equity and support for communities of color and other underserved communities.
Earlier this month, Biden announced his administration’s plan to prioritize giving minorities the resources they need to reopen and rebuild in the midst of the epidemic. The plan would prioritize African-, Latino-, Asian- and Native American-owned small businesses, as well as women-owned businesses.
His statement was released after critics argued that the move would contribute to dividing the country.
Biden’s plan also includes reforming the criminal justice system, strengthening “Buy American” policies, climate change, health care and immigration policies.
During his campaign, Biden vowed to send Congress a bill that would create a “clear roadmap to citizenship” for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States and provide permanent protection for illegal immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA, also known as “Dreamers”).
The DACA program was created by the Obama administration to provide amnesty to thousands of illegal immigrants brought to the United States as minors to prevent their deportation. Obama has been criticized for implementing a bill that he did not have the authority to sign but went ahead with anyway.
Obama had acknowledged that he lacked the constitutional and legal authority to enact the immigration program before signing an executive order to implement it in 2012. According to the Heritage Foundation, Obama had responded to a request to implement immigration reform in 2010 by saying, “I’m not a king. I can’t just do this on my own.”
Then he said in 2011, “There’s the notion that I can suspend deportations by executive order, and that’s not the case.” Obama said he could not “bypass Congress and change the (immigration) laws on his own. …… That’s not the way a democracy works.”
But in 2012, he reached that action through an executive order.
For years, Congress has been unable to reach consensus on an immigration bill to address DACA. President Trump has also questioned the constitutionality of the DACA program, pushing for a bipartisan bill that would “benefit everyone” to repeal DACA, but the Supreme Court ruled last year that the bill could not be implemented because it was not authorized by Congress.
In the memo, Kline noted that Biden will submit an immigration bill to Congress on his first day in office, and that other bills to be introduced include creating millions of union jobs, implementing a minimum wage, combating violence against women, and legislation related to voting rights.
The memo reads, “As noted above, this list is not comprehensive. Additional items and more details will be released in the coming days.”
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