US newly sworn in President Joe Biden signed 15 executive actions soon after his oath on Monday, undoing policies put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, and making his first moves on climate change and the pandemic.
On Wednesday afternoon he said there was “no time to waste” in issuing executive orders, directives and memorandums, while signing those executive actions in front of the media persons in the oval office.
He said, “Some of the executive actions I’m going to be signing today are going to help change the course of the Covid crisis, we’re going to combat climate change in a way that we haven’t done so far and advance racial equity and support other underserved communities”. After that he further added that “These are just all starting points”
Other leaders of the administration said the actions signed by Biden included an order to establish a new White House office for coordinating the response to coronavirus, halting the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization and a mask mandate on federal property and federal employees.
The president also signed a document which would start the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and then he issued a sweeping order tackling climate change including revoking the presidential permit granted to the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline.
However, on orders relating to immigration, Biden repealed Trump’s emergency declaration that helped in funding the construction of the border wall and banned the immigration from some major Muslim countries.
Jen Psaki, the press secretary of Biden said, the day one plans were just the start with some executive action which Biden would take soon after entering his office.
“In the coming days and weeks, we will be announcing additional executive actions that confront these challenges and deliver on the president-elect’s promises to the American people,” Jen Psaki added.
After these signed executives, President’s further actions would include reversing a policy that blocks US funding for programs overseas linked to abortion and revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans.
In the field of economy Biden asked the Department to suspend student loan payments until the end of September and he also asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend a moratorium on evictions until the end of March.
