5 priorities affecting Arizona as Biden’s presidency dawns
When President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office on Wednesday, he will usher in a new tone in Washington and a new policy agenda that will reshape how the nation addresses the public-health crisis, immigration reform and bolstering the economy.
Biden has promised to reboot the nation’s COVID-19 pandemic response, make executive changes in immigration and propose more durable legislative reforms, and jump-start the economy — all in his first 100 days.
The Democratic-controlled Senate and House of Representatives are hoping to move quickly to advance his agenda even as Biden’s appointees will need confirmation and as the chamber also holds an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Here are five ways Biden’s administration could change Arizona:
● Rebooting response to COVID-19 More than 400,000 Americans — including 11,000 Arizonans — have died from COVID-19, and infections across the nation continue to mount. The new coronavirus has ravaged families large and small, assisted living centers, and tribal communities in Arizona and beyond.
Trump’s erratic messaging and approach to the virus complicated the nation’s response to it. Biden has said he will make decisions regarding the pandemic rooted in science and data.
Biden’s team will launch a “100 Day Masking Challenge” by mandating masks on federal property and in interstate travel as a way to try to limit the spread of the virus. It will be a wider-reaching mask mandate than Arizona’s piecemeal approach in which Gov. Doug Ducey initially resisted masks, then allowed localities to implement them if they wanted.
Biden’s team is expected to extend restrictions on evictions and foreclosures, as a way to prevent homelessness as a result of the pandemic, affecting as many as 25 million Americans.
Biden also wants to have 100 million Americans vaccinated within his first 100 days in office. It will require a steep increase in testing volume, which would apply to Arizona as well.
A day after he takes office, Biden’s team has said he will sign executive actions aimed at safely reopening schools and businesses. Those orders will aim to limit the virus’s spread in part by establishing clearer public health standards.
● Renewed immigration reform Biden plans to pursue a two-track system to start undoing some of Trump’s immigration policies, an issue that affects thousands of families and employers in Arizona.
He will start with executive orders that will end the ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries and will seek to reunite hundreds of children separated from their families after entering the U.S. illegally.
At the same time, Biden is expected to introduce an immigration overhaul he wants Congress to pass quickly. It would allow “Dreamers,” young immigrants brought into the country illegally as children, and people with temporary protected status to get permanent legal status.
His proposal also would create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that would take eight years, which is shorter than the 13-year path Congress had previously debated.
“The president-elect made the case for his first major legislative proposal earlier this week, and will continue to advance legislative solutions to critical problems, such as in the immigration bill he will send to Congress on his first day in office,” a memo from Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain said.
Halt to border-wall construction
In the coming weeks, Biden is expected to halt construction along the U.S.-Mexico border of Trump’s wall, perhaps the most visible legacy of Trump’s tenure in the White House.
The wall has been a constant source of controversy. For years, Trump could not win funding for the project or persuade Mexico to pay for it, as he had promised. Later, he diverted funding from the Pentagon’s budget to fund the construction.
Some of the money came from a planned $30 million construction project at Arizona’s Fort Huachuca. The spending was later restored as the Trump administration cut funds from other sources.
On the ground in Arizona, several tribes have protested what they view as desecration of their land and sovereign rights with construction of a wall they have opposed.
By stopping the wall, Biden will renew a battle with conservatives who have for years clamored for that type of protection to enhance border security.
Getting economy back on track The once-in-a-lifetime pandemic has ravaged economies around the globe, and Arizona’s wasn’t spared.
Biden has laid out a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that would include $1,400 stimulus checks on top of the $600 direct payments passed by Congress in December.
His plan would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Arizona’s state law currently requires at least $12.15 per hour for most workers.
If signed into law, the Biden package would inject another round of economic relief for working families who have lost work, but would add to the nation’s rising national debt.
Biden’s package includes $20 billion for a national vaccination package and $130 billion to help schools reopen safely, which are seen as crucial components of getting the economy back on track.
● Reversing climate policies
Biden plans to make a quick statement of environmental priorities upon taking office, and will pursue more aggressive legislative policy shifts intended to mitigate climate change.
He is expected to have the U.S. immediately rejoin the Paris climate accord, a pact in which most of the world’s nations set their own targets to cut carbon emissions. He also vowed to convene a climate-related summit with world leaders in his first 100 days.
Legislatively, Biden wants to boost wind and solar energy production in an effort to move the nation to net-zero emissions and 100% clean energy by 2050.
That could be a boost to those alternative energy producers in Arizona, whose desert climate gives the state one of the biggest stakes in the environmental debate.