Biden vows to roll back clock in first 100 days
Pandemic, climate and reassuring allies about global role of US are top of the in-tray for would-be president
‘Day one, if I win, I’m going to be on the phone with our Nato allies saying we’re back’
JOE BIDEN has made a long litany of promises for his first 100 days if he is elected, but his overriding priority would be the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, he would try to roll back the political clock as much as possible to January 2017, when he and Barack Obama left office.
That would involve quickly signing executive orders to overturn ones signed by Donald Trump, including the travel ban on several mostly Muslim countries.
He has also pledged, on day one, to rejoin the Paris climate accord, and to sign directives tightening environmental regulations that were loosened by Mr Trump.
Mr Biden would also prioritise international relations with a flurry of first day Oval Office calls to world leaders, reassuring allies about the US role on the global stage.
Looming over his first 100 days would be a Supreme Court case, brought by the Trump administration and other Republicans, seeking the striking down of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Arguments in the case are due to be heard on Nov 10, but a ruling is expected in the first half of 2021.
If Obamacare is gutted by the court in his first 100 days then much of Mr Biden’s energy could be taken up with that. He has vowed to respond by introducing a replacement called “Bidencare”.
With Republicans seemingly holding on to the Senate, much of what he wants to do would be an uphill struggle.
His team is considering what to focus on in terms of bills to send to Congress that could get bipartisan support.
On the pandemic, Mr Biden has indicated he would quickly issue a mandate for the wearing of masks on federal property and on all US “interstate transportation”. State governors, from both parties, would receive phone calls from the Oval Office urging them to push face mask wearing.
Mr Biden would also move quickly to appoint the Cabinet secretaries key to the pandemic response. That includes the health secretary, treasury secretary, and the director of the National Economic Council.
He would also prioritise seeking advice from Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious diseases expert, and make him a pivotal figure in the response. Dr Fauci has had a fractious relationship with Mr Trump, but is trusted by a high proportion of Americans.
Mr Biden would quickly appoint a “supply commander,” giving them responsibility for producing and distributing tests, masks, and vaccines.
His plans include a new “pandemic board”, which would decide what resources were required.
If a new coronavirus aid package was not already in place by the time he
took office in January, then Mr Biden would focus on speaking to senators and members of Congress, on both sides, to get one passed.
He has said that “you don’t have to have a crowd” for the presidential inauguration, and he could be sworn in with guests standing 6ft apart outside the US Capitol, setting a tone for his presidential pandemic response.
On his first day in the Oval Office, he would “restore our leadership on the world stage” by taking actions including a reversal of Mr Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organisation.
He added recently: “Day one, if I win, I’m going to be on the phone with our Nato allies saying we’re back. We’re back and you can count on us again.”
In regard to Mr Trump’s dozens of executive orders affecting the climate, Mr Biden pledged to “do away with all [Mr Trump’s] executive orders. I mean, not figuratively. Literally, all of them.”
However, it was still unclear whether that included orders relating to the expansion of commercial fishing and oil pipelines.
Mr Biden would move quickly to host a climate conference of many nations. He has said: “The first thing I’d do as president is call a meeting of all the nations who sign on to the [Paris] accord, in Washington DC, to up the ante. Because we’ve learnt so much just in the last years about the science, about what has to happen quicker.”
Mr Biden has vowed to take immediate action to reverse tax cuts, for individuals and companies, that Mr Trump secured in 2017.
In the first 100 days, there would also be a new police oversight body set up to address institutional racism.
A bill would be sent to Congress to end gun background check loopholes.
In the final presidential debate, Mr Biden said: “Within 100 days I’m going to send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people.”
He has pledged to let minor children who entered the country with their parents illegally – around 700,000 young people known as “Dreamers” – take steps towards citizenship.
Another immediate step would be setting up a federal task force to reunite around 500 children separated from their parents at the Us-mexico border under the Trump administration.
Mr Biden’s priorities with Congress include LGBTQ rights legislation, known as the Equality Act, which he hopes to sign in the first 100 days.
He would also have to fill more than 4,000 politically appointed jobs in his administration, 1,200 of which need Senate confirmation.
Chris Lu, a former assistant to President Barack Obama, said: “There’s a lot of expertise that’s just gone now. In particular, when you look at places like the state department, and the gutting of the foreign service, or in climate agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.”
He said recently: “We’re going to have an enormous task in repairing the damage he [Mr Trump] has done.”