Biden Outlines Day One Agenda

Last week President-elect Joe Biden outlined an ambitious $1.9 trillion COVID-19 and economic relief plan, which included a new round of direct payments to Americans, more aid for the unemployed, additional support for small businesses, states, and local governments, and Increased funding for vaccinations and testing.

While that proposal will have to go through the legislative process in Congress, Biden isn’t waiting to start putting his on the government. He plans a 10-day flurry of actions set to begin on day one, mere hours after he is sworn in on Wednesday.The plan, spelled out in a memo Saturday by Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain to incoming White House advisers, will address what Klain called “four overlapping and compounding crises.” They are COVID-19, the resulting economic downturn, climate change, and racial inequality.

“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.”

The day he takes office, Biden plans to repeal the Muslim travel-ban implanted by President Trump, return the U.S. to the Paris Climate Accord, extend nationwide restrictions on evictions and foreclosures, and extend the pause on federal student loan payments. He will also mandate masks in inter-state travel and on federal property.

These are just a handful of the dozen or so items on Biden’s agenda for his first day in office. Most of the items can be implemented via executive order and do not require congressional action.

The remainder of the nine days will include action on a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that does need congressional action and actions to help schools reopen and expand coronavirus testing.

Biden will also take additional action on criminal justice, climate, science, and health care.