Biden aides promise quest for national unity

PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden will deliver an appeal to national unity when he is sworn in on Wednesday and plans immediate moves to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and undo some of President Donald Trump’s most controversial policies, his incoming chief of staff has said.

Mr Biden is planning a series of executive actions in the first hours after his inauguration, an opening salvo in what is shaping up as a tenday blitz of steps to reorient the country without waiting for Congress, aide Ron Klain said.

Mr Klain told CNN’s State Of The Union that Mr Biden, in his inaugural address to the nation, would deliver “a message of moving this country forward. A message of unity. A message of getting things done”.

Mr Biden will end Mr Trump’s restriction on immigration to the US from some Muslim-majority countries, move to rejoin the Paris climate accord, and mandate mask-wearing on federal property and during interstate travel.

These were among roughly a dozen actions Mr Biden would take on his first day in the White House, Mr Klain said on Saturday in a memo to senior staff. Other actions would include extending the pause on student loan payments and actions meant to prevent evictions and foreclosures for those struggling during the pandemic.

“These executive actions will deliver relief to the millions of Americans that are struggling in the face of these crises,” Mr Klain said in the memo. “President-elect Biden will take action – not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration – but also to start moving our country forward.”

Incoming White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Mr Biden would use his address to the American people to appeal to those frustrated by the rancour of Washington and to explain how his administration would tackle the nation’s challenges.

“I think you can expect that this will be a moment where Presidentelect Biden will really work to try to turn the page on the divisiveness and the hatred over the last four years and really lay out a positive, optimistic vision for the country, and lay out a way – lay out a path forward that really calls on all of us to work together,” she told Fox News Sunday.

Despite the flurry of expected executive action, “full achievement” of Mr Biden’s goals would require Congress to act, Mr Klain wrote, and that included the $1.9 trillion virus relief bill that Mr Biden outlined last Thursday.

Mr Klain said that Mr Biden would also propose a comprehensive immigration bill to representatives on his first day in office.

Some politicians have already balked at the aid bill’s price tag, and immigration overhaul efforts over the past decade-and-a-half have all stalled in Congress. Mr Klain expressed optimism despite this.

“I think there are people in both parties we can work with to move this agenda forward,” Mr Klain said “We’re going to have to find ways to get Democrats and Republicans to work together to get things done.”