Joe Biden: 46th President's First Weeks in Office

February 14, 20201 / Source: The Bizz USA
By Elizabeth Insuasti; Edited by Adya Kumar and Haarika Kalahasti

President Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20th, 2021. The day consisted of heightened security, increased COVID-19 measures, and Donald Trump's absence. Fireworks closed off the eventful day along with a common message of unity.

Administered by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Vice President Kamala Harris became the first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president of the U.S.

In his inaugural address, Biden promised he would be a "president for all Americans," including those who did not support his campaign. During the ceremony, Amanda Gorman, the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate, delivered an uplifting and inspiring poem that challenged the country to unify.  

That same day, Harris swore in three new Democratic senators: Georgia's Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and California's Alex Padilla. Their swearing-in officially gave Democrats control of the Senate.

On January 20th, Biden finalized over a dozen executive actions.  "There's no time to start like today," Biden stated. "I'm going to start by keeping the promises I made to the American people."

Since the inauguration, the Biden administration has worked diligently to approve executive, house, and senate orders. Here are a few of them:

• The House approved a budget plan that guides committees to work on Biden’s stimulus plan.  

 

• Biden rejoined the United States to global alliances.

 

• Biden signed an executive order dismantling a Trump ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military.
  • Biden said the order would allow all "qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.” It states, “It is my conviction as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces that gender identity should not be a bar to military service. Moreover, there is substantial evidence that allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military does not have any meaningful negative impact on the Armed Forces."

 

• Biden chose Miguel Cardona to run the U.S. Department of Education. Cardonahas taken on the daunting task of fulfilling Biden's promise to re-open most K-12 schools during the new administration's first 100 days. Biden has also proposed providing K-12 schools with $130 billion to cover the cost of reopening.

 

• President Biden also signed four executive actions aimed at “advancing racial equity for Americans.” ​
  • 1. Direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development "to take steps necessary to redress racially discriminatory federal housing policies";
    2. Direct the Department of Justice to end its use of private prisons;
    3. Reaffirm the federal government's "commitment to tribal sovereignty and consultation";
    4. And combat xenophobia against Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

 

• Another fundamental act of the Biden administration is the plan to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. 

 

• The administration also is working to purchase an additional 200 million doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. The goal is to have enough for the entire adult U.S. population by the end of the summer.

 

• Biden also signed an order to halt oil and gas leasing on federal lands and water. To make up for the jobs lost in the oil and gas industries, Biden has emphasized extended work in agriculture, manufacturing, and auto industries. "We're not going to lose jobs in these areas; we're going to create jobs," he said. 

 

• Additionally, President Biden pushed for a more "fair, orderly, humane" immigration system with three executive orders: 

1. Create a task force in charge of reuniting children in the U.S. with their deported parents.
2. The next dealt with migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. Specifically it focuses on replacing Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols program, which Biden suspended his first day in office. Within this order Biden also promised to aid Central American countries in handling underlying causes of migration. 
3. Agencies should do a "top-to-bottom review of recent regulations, policies, and guidance that have set up barriers to our legal immigration system." One of the rules to be removed is Trump's "public charge" rule, which prevented immigrants from getting permanent resident status if they were likely to require public benefits.

 

• The Senate voted to confirm the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security as Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latino and first immigrant in this role. 

 

• President Biden has promised that he will make his Cabinet the most diverse in U.S. history to better represent the country.

 

• Not all of Biden's efforts were entirely against the prior administration’s policies. For example, Biden plans to build on the series of Abraham Accords established by President Trump. 

On April 30, 2021, one hundred days will have passed since Biden’s inauguration. Although it is unlikely Biden will be able to solve all of America’s crises within that time frame, the new president is definitely on a working streak and plans to make a mark. “What we’re promising the American people is progress in those 100 days, a lot of hard work, getting things from moving in the wrong direction to moving in the right direction,” says Ron Klain, White House Chief of Staff. “That’s going to be the measure of our success.”