Shortly after being sworn in on Wednesday, the President of U.S Joe Biden signed 15 executive orders, undoing measures put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, and making his first moves, Reuters said, on the pandemic and climate change.
Signing several measures on Wednesday afternoon in front of reporters in the Oval Office, Biden said there was “no time to waste” in delivering executive orders, memorandums, and guidelines.
“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,” said Biden.
“These are just all starting points”
Aides said the measures signed by the Democratic president would include a federal property and federal personnel mask mandate, an order to set up a new White House office to organize the coronavirus outbreak.
A document to begin the process of re-entering the Paris Climate Agreement was signed by Biden and a sweeping order was released to tackle climate change, including the revocation of the presidential permit given to the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Biden reversed Trump’s emergency declaration, which helped finance the building of a border wall and ended a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries, among a raft of orders covering immigration.
His press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the Day One plan was just the beginning of a flurry of executive measures Biden would take shortly after taking 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,” Psaki said.
Further actions would include a proposal that blocks U.S. support for abortion-related services abroad.
Biden asked the U.S. on the economic front. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will extend the eviction moratorium until the end of March, and the Ministry of Education will suspend the payment of student loans until the end of September.
Source: Reuters