We’re just days away from the 2021 Presidential Inauguration, which means that by the end of this week, Donald Trump will be out of office and new president Joe Biden will be well on his way to hopefully undoing some of the harm done by the Trump administration.
So, let’s take a look at what Biden’s first days in office will look like, shall we?
Biden’s new Chief Of Staff Ron Klain released a memo on Saturday, in which he described how the Biden administration planned to address “four overlapping and compounding crises” in the immediate days following his inauguration.
Those four issues are the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial equity.
“In his first 10 days in office, President-elect Biden will take decisive action to address these four crises, prevent other urgent and irreversible harms, and restore America’s place in the world,” Klain wrote. “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.”
Generally speaking, “day one” in office is more of a formality for the incoming President. There’s a ceremony and a few celebrations but we rarely see them actually… do anything.
However, Biden reportedly has about a dozen executive orders to be signed on Inauguration Day, most of which will focus on the pandemic, which is easily the most immediate threat for the US right now.
Day one directives include an extension of the eviction moratorium and student loan forbearance, as well as a “100 Day Masking Challenge” which will include a mask mandate on any federal property or while travelling interstate.
In addition to COVID-related directives, Klain announced that Biden will propose an immigration overhaul on day one, which aims to create a safe way for undocumented immigrants, who came to the US as children, to become citizens.
According to the memo, Biden also plans to rejoin the Paris climate accord and reverse the Muslim-majority travel ban on day one, which honestly sounds like a huge first day in office.
Interestingly, the memo doesn’t make any mention of rejoining the World Health Organisation, which is something Biden has previously said he would do on his very first day as president.
Within the first two weeks of his presidency, Biden also plans to begin the huge task of reforming the criminal justice system, and to work towards reuniting children separated from their parents at the Mexican border.
Obviously, we’ll have to actually wait and see what Biden does on Wednesday, and in the days following the inauguration, but if he actually sticks to his plan, he’s already off to a great start in comparison to the Trump administration.
While Biden may not be the progressive figure some hoped would lead the United States in 2021, we’re still hopeful he can keep his day one momentum going and spend the next four years undoing some of the damage caused during the Trump era..
