Joe Biden will be keeping busy during the first days of his presidency after vowing to enact several executive orders right away while on the campaign trail.
Among the promises Biden has made include mask mandates, striking down the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries, and having the United States rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.
While it’s an ambitious plan, Biden plans on signing a handful of executive orders on his first day in office, per a memo from incoming chief of staff Ron Klain.
One of the executive orders Biden will sign is a reversal of the travel ban, which first affected people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen when it was implemented in January 2017.
According to his chief of staff, Biden has plans to sign up to about a dozen executive orders
The travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries is one of the policies Joe Biden intends to reverse on his first day
Biden also plans on bringing the United States back to the Paris Agreement on his first day
The order has been altered slightly since then, but has largely withstood legal challenges, despite calls of it being discriminatory.
Another executive order Biden is planning on signing on his first day is an order that will have the United States rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.
The agreement signed in 2016 is a global pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emission and enact other environmentally-conscious policies.
Donald Trump had the United States withdraw from the agreement in November 2019, becoming the most significant nation to no longer be party to the pact, drawing the ire of the rest of the globe.
His plans will reverse many of the policy decisions made by his predecessor over four years
‘During the campaign, President-elect Biden pledged to take immediate action to start addressing these crises and build back better,’ Klain wrote in a memo obtained by CNN.
‘As president, he will keep those promises and sign dozens of executive orders, presidential memoranda, and directives to Cabinet agencies in fulfillment of the promises he made.’
Other executive orders Biden wants to sign right away include a halt of evictions during the pandemic, a pause on student loan payments during the pandemic, and a mandate requiring the wearing of face masks on federal properties.
Biden also has listed a thorough immigration policy and a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill among his top priorities.
Biden previously said he would roll back the Migrant Protection Protocols on his first day, which turn away many Central American refugees at the Mexican border.
Whether or not he does so could become critical in the coming days, with reports of Honduran migrants working their way through Guatemala and slowly towards the US border emerging.
Trump’s legacy could be damaged by the reversal of many of his policies by Biden
Biden also plans to visit the United Kingdom early in his presidency. Pictured: Biden in the United Kingdom on official business as vice president in February 2013
In addition to his many executive orders and policy priorities, Biden also has his eye on his first overseas trip as president.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that Biden is planning on making the United Kingdom the site of his first trip outside of North America, which would be considered a boost to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
‘Joe’s view will be that they’ll have the destiny of the world on their shoulders so he’ll want to overcome any political differences,’ a friend of Biden’s said to the Telegraph, in regards to Biden’s previous opposition to Brexit.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is also hoping to visit Biden in Washington DC after his inauguration.
A United Nations climate change conference is scheduled to take place in Glasgow, Scotland in the fall of 2021, meaning Biden could end up visiting the United Kingdom more than once this year.
Trump and Johnson tapped into similar sentiments within their countries, but the relationships between the two nations during their tenures has not been rock solid.
Because of Brexit, the two nations are working on a new trade deal, which isn’t expected to be in place before 2022.
Additionally, Trump’s state visit to the country in June 2019 was heavily protested and featured the infamous flying of the Trump baby balloon.
Trump’s first foreign visit as the president took him to several countries in May 2017 starting in Saudi Arabia, where he signed a $110 billion arms deal.