The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Biden’s team lays out plans for first 10 days
Biden will enact policy to move nation forward, while many staff work remotely.
Among his first acts: extending a nationwide ban on evictions and implementing a mask mandate on federal property.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to swiftly alter the shape of the U.S. government with an aspirational inauguration speech, a legislative package aimed at coronavirus recovery and a burst of executive orders designed to signal an immediate break from President Donald Trump.
The day he takes office, Biden is planning to return the United States to the Paris climate accords and repeal the ban on U.S. entry for citizens of some majority-muslim countries. He will sign an order extending nationwide restrictions on evictions and foreclosures and implement a mask mandate on federal property.
Those moves will launch a 10-day governing sprint that will include executive actions to help schools reopen, expand coronavirus testing and establish clearer public health standards.
“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 chief of staff Ron Klain wrote in a memo released Saturday.
In his first days in office, Biden also intends to send to Congress several pieces of legislation, including a sweeping immigration bill. In remarks last week, he began outlining legislation that he views as most urgent — a $1.9 trillion plan aimed at stabilizing the economy.
Any president’s opening agenda provides a window into his priorities and offers the first clues as to which agenda items will be prioritized. But Biden’s unusually sweeping list reflects not only the multiple challenges he faces, but also his desire to quickly emerge from the shadow of his predecessor.
Biden will face severe challenges to his attempts to turn the page: an inauguration conducted before military guards under threat from violent extremists. A West Wing largely empty because of health concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. And a Republican Party that largely refuses to acknowledge that Biden won the election fairly and therefore rejects his legitimacy.
Historians struggle to find parallels to what Biden is confronting: a public health crisis that has triggered an economic crisis and collided with a social crisis. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin compared it to a combination of what Franklin D. Roosevelt faced during the Great Depression and Abraham Lincoln confronted during the Civil War.
“It’s huge what he’s facing,” said Goodwin, who has written extensively about Roosevelt and Lincoln. “History has shown when you have crises like this, it’s an opportunity for leaders to mobilize resources of the federal government . ... All the presidents we remember, they dealt with a crisis. When you’re given that chance, the question is: Are you fitted for that moment?”
The moment, at noon Wednesday, will become Biden’s.
The six-term senator and two-term vice president has been working on his Inauguration Day speech off and on for the past several weeks with speechwriter Vinay Reddy, aiming for a message of unity in a fractured era.
“People are really anxious,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., a close Biden ally. “This marks a turning point. We can see it, we can feel it. It’s a very significant break. And we will hear it in his speech . ... People want to believe in their country, to feel this democracy is worth saving.”