A New Era: President Biden’s First Weeks in Office

In his first few weeks in office, President Joe Biden has signed a plethora of executive actions to address the issues most crucial to his administration. These include the coronavirus pandemic and the economy, among several others. Here are some of the most significant executive actions he has signed so far:

COVID-19

1. Letter to His Excellency António Guterres: This letter, issued on January 20th, notifies United Nations Secretary-General Guterres that the United States no longer intends to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).

2. Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers: This order, issued on January 21st, assigns the education secretary the responsibility of consulting with states to decide if and how their schools will reopen. They must also coordinate data collection on the status of in-person learning.

Economy

1. Pausing Federal Student Loan Payments: This statement, issued on January 20th, instructed the acting education secretary to extend the pause on federal student loan payments and collections, as well as to keep the interest rate at 0%.

Healthcare

1. Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act: This order, issued on January 28th, suggests a special enrollment period (open from February 15th to May 15th) to allow more Americans to obtain health insurance coverage. It also calls for executive departments and agencies to remedy actions that limit access to health services.

2. Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad: This memorandum, issued on January 28th, revokes the “Mexico City Policy.” This policy prohibited the U.S. from granting family planning funds to non-goverment organizations (NGOs) that provide information about abortion or perform the procedure.

Climate Change

1. Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis: This order, issued on January 20th, contains measures that combat the climate crisis. Firstly, placing a temporary moratorium on the federal government’s oil and gas activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It also revokes the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.

2. Paris Climate Agreement: This statement, issued on January 20th, declares that the U.S. is rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty that focuses on climate change.

Immigration

1. Proclamation on Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States: This proclamation, issued on January 20th, marks the end of bans on entry to the U.S. that affected predominantly Muslim or African countries.

2. Preserving and Fortifying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): This memorandum, issued on January 20th, calls on the Department of Homeland Security to reinforce DACA and related regulations. DACA is an immigration policy that defers the removal of certain undocumented immigrants that were brought to the U.S. as children.

3. Executive Order on the Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families: This order, issued on February 2nd, establishes an Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families. This task force intends to reunite children who were separated from their families at the border between January 20th, 2017 to January 20th, 2021.

Racial Equity

1. Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government: This order, issued on January 20th, calls for the equitable allocation of federal resources and government benefits. It also encourages agencies to engage with members of underserved communities.

2. Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities: This order, issued on January 26th, prohibits the Department of Justice from renewing contracts with private prisons.

3. Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States: This memorandum, issued on January 26th, instructs the Health and Human Services secretary to consider the best practices for combating racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which has developed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

LGBTQ+ Rights

1. Executive Order on Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform: This order, issued on January 25th, allows transgender people to serve in the military without fear of discrimination.

These early actions are reminiscent of the promises made by Joe Biden while on the campaign trail last year, and offer reversals of several Trump administration actions. They also present an idea of what the Biden presidency may look like.

But, President Biden has brought more than executive actions to the table. He has also introduced an entirely new Cabinet, which would be composed of more women and people of color than that of any previous U.S. administration if all nominees are confirmed. 

Biden’s Cabinet is also composed of many historic nominations and appointments. One of the most notable is that of former presidential candidate Pete Buttigeg, who is now the first openly gay Cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate. Additionally, California’s current attorney general, Xavier Becerra, will be the first Latino to lead the Department of Health and Human Services if confirmed by the Senate. 

These historic Cabinet nominations are joined by that of Deb Haaland, who has served as a representative for New Mexico’s first congressional district. She will become the first Indigenous person to serve as a Cabinet secretary if confirmed. Another honorable mention would be Rachel Levine, who has served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. She will be the first openly transgender person to serve in a Cabinet-level position if confirmed.

The Biden administration has implemented many executive orders and introduced a variety of officials, including some not mentioned above, and their actions already display a starkly different vision for the United States compared to that of the previous administration. Considering the many actions taken in just the first few weeks of the Biden presidency, the world will have to wait to see everything else that the president and his administration have in store.