Biden to Sign 17 Executive Orders on First Day in Office

After an unusual inauguration, due to both the coronavirus pandemic as well as heightened security, President Joe Biden wasted no time in getting down to work. Biden signed over a dozen executive orders which deal with the pandemic, climate change, equality, and non-discrimination.

The move was highly anticipated as Biden had made several lofty promises for his first 100 days in office. Biden’s 17 executive actions include:

COVID-19

• An executive order requiring that people wear masks, and keep their distance from each other, on federal property.
• The reversal of Trump’s decision to remove the U.S. from the World Health Organization.
• An executive order that creates the position of COVID-19 response coordinator and restores the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, a team in charge of the pandemic response, within the National Security Council.

Climate Change

• An ‘instrument’ that will allow the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change within 30 days.
• End Keystone XL pipeline and revoke oil and gas development at national wildlife monuments.

Equality and Human Rights

• Actions to increase equity of federal funding to communities of color and other places of need.
• Reversal of the Trump administration’s decision to exclude non-citizens in U.S. Census.
• Strengthen workplace discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Immigration 

• Defend DACA program for undocumented young Americans.
• End the 2017 travel ban on Muslim majority countries including: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Nigeria, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Tanzania.
• Change Trump’s arrest priorities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ).
• Stop construction of the U.S.- Mexico border wall.
• Keep protections for a group of Liberians in the country.

Financial Relief

• Extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums until at least March 31.
• Continue “pause” on student loan payments until September 30.

Cleaning House

• Freezing last-minute Trump administration regulatory actions.
• Formulate Executive Branch ethics doctrine, which would require that every executive branch employee sign an ethics pledge, promising “to uphold the independence of the Department of Justice.”