Biden gets US back in Paris pact, WHO fold
New US President signs 15 executive orders, starting with a mandate on masks
US President Joe Biden prepares to sign a series of orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC after being sworn in on Wednesday. Biden overturned decisions by his predecessor Donald Trump that included rejoining the Paris climate accord, reversing the process of leaving the World Health Organization, ending the travel ban on people from Muslimmajority countries, and bolstering the fight against Covid-19.
WASHINGTON: On his first day in office on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed executive orders that returned the US to the Paris Agreement on the climate crisis and the World Health Organization (WHO), and ended a travel ban on a bunch of Muslim-majority nations, reversing some of his predecessor Donald Trump’s most controversial decisions.
Biden signed 15 executive orders in all. The first - of the three he signed in the presence of reporters - mandated masks on federal property and interstate transportation, launching a “100-Day Masking Challenge”, reaffirming the highest priority he is according to combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
The White House had earlier announced an immigration legislation - of particular interest to Indian aspirants for Green Cards - that allows H-1B dependents to work and protects their children from “aging out” of their parents’ visas when they turn 21, and “improves access” for foreign students of advanced STEM degrees to Green Cards.
“I thought, with the state of the nation today, there’s no time to waste, get to work immediately,” President Biden said before signing the orders, picking them up from a pile of folders - each of them containing an order - on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
Biden returned the US to the Paris Agreement that his former boss, Barack Obama, had helped forge. Trump had pulled the US out of it, claiming that it favoured India and China at the expense of the US.
Biden’s decision to rejoin the WHO was also a significant move, recognising the importance of the global body in the midst of the deadliest pandemic the world has seen in more than 100 years. Trump had ordered the pull-out to shift blame for his own mishandling of the outbreak on to the WHO, accusing it of covering up for China.
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US epidemiologist who was reviled by Trump, will lead a US delegation to the world body in America’s renewed engagement with the WHO.
Biden also told reporters Trump had left him a “generous” note but refused to share its content saying it was a private matter. He said he must speak first about it with Trump.
Trump and Melania Trump had left the White House without waiting to receive their successor, forgoing one of the many rituals of transfer of power. They didn’t attend Biden’s inauguration and Melania didn’t give first lady Jill Biden a customary tour of the White House.