Biden moves swiftly to undo Trump’s policies
UNITED STATES President Joe Biden moved swiftly to dismantle Donald Trump’s legacy on his first day in office at the White House, signing a series of executive actions that reverse course on immigration, climate change, racial equity and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new president signed the orders just hours after taking the oath of office at the Capitol on Wednesday, pivoting quickly from his pared-down inauguration ceremony to enacting his agenda.
With the stroke of a pen, Mr Biden ordered a halt to the construction of Mr Trump’s US-Mexico border wall, ended the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, declared his intent to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organisation, and revoked the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the US, aides said.
The 15 executive actions, and two directives, amount to an attempt to rewind the last four years of federal policies with striking speed. Only two recent presidents signed executive actions on their first day in office – and each signed just one, but Mr Biden, facing the debilitating coronavirus pandemic, a damaged economy and a riven electorate, is intent on demonstrating a sense of urgency and competence that he argues has been missing under his Republican predecessor.
“There’s no time to start like today,” Mr Biden said in his first comments to reporters as president. He wore a mask as he signed the orders in the Oval Office – a marked departure from Mr Trump, who rarely wore a face covering in public and never during events in the Oval Office.
Virus precautions are now required in the building. Among the executive actions signed on Wednesday was one requiring masks and physical distancing on federal property and by federal employees.
Mr Biden’s order also extended the federal eviction freeze to aid those struggling from the pandemic economic fall-out, created a new federal office to coordinate a national response to the virus and restored the White House’s National Security Council directorate for global health security and defence, an office his predecessor had closed.
The actions reflected the new president’s top policy priority – getting a handle on a debilitating pandemic. In his inaugural address, Mr Biden paused for what he called his first act as president – a moment of a silent prayer for the victims of the nation’s worst public health crisis in more than a century.
Mr Biden declared that he would “press forward with speed and urgency” in coming weeks. “For we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities – much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain,” he said in his speech.
Mr Biden took other steps to try to set the tone in his White House. As he swore in dozens of political appointees, he declared he expected “honesty and decency” from all that worked for his administration – and would fire anyone who shows disrespect to others “on the spot”.