Joining Back WHO, Paris Accord, Muslim Travel Ban And Other Trump Decisions Overturned By Biden
Moments after he assumed office as the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden kicked off his administration's work with a series of executive orders.
The executive orders ranged from rejoining the Paris agreement on climate change, halting America's withdrawal from the World Health Organisation, revoking Muslim travel ban and stopping immediate construction of Mexico border wall.
The first executive order signed by the new President was launching his 100-day masking challenge, asking Americans to mask up for 100 days.
Biden is doing his part as well, issuing a mask mandate that will require anyone visiting a federal building or federal land or using certain modes of public transportation to wear a mask, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Back in WHO
The president signed an executive order reversing Trump's decision to withdraw from the World Health Organisation, she said.
"This will strengthen our own efforts to get the (coronavirus) pandemic under control by improving global health, and tomorrow we are not wasting any time,¡± she said.
Biden also officially appointed a COVID-19 response coordinator, a position and team that he had already previously announced but made it official today to create a unified national response to the pandemic. He re-established the national security team responsible for global health, security and bio-defence.
¡°He (Biden) rejoined the Paris climate agreement putting the United States back in a position to exercise global leadership in advancing the objectives of the ambitious agreement,¡± Psaki said.
In a second broad executive order, Biden rolled back harmful regulatory reversals made by the previous administration to protect public health and the environment.
This order protects nation's treasures by reviewing the boundaries for several national monuments, places a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing in the Arctic national wildlife refuge and reestablishes the interagency working group on the social cost of greenhouse gases.
Keystone XL??
Construction on the long disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline halted Wednesday as incoming U.S. President Joe Biden revoked its permit on his first day in office.
The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
"The Permit is hereby revoked,'' Biden's executive order says. "Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration's economic and climate imperatives.''
DACA??
¡°He also launched a whole of government effort to advance racial equity and root out systemic racism from federal programs and institutions. He directed the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Attorney General to take all appropriate actions to preserve and fortify DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which provides temporary relief from deportation to dreamers, young people who were brought to this country as children,¡± Psaki said.
¡°The president also put an end to the Muslim ban, a policy rooted in religious animus and xenophobia. He sent a proclamation effective immediately halting further funding construction of the previous administration's border wall and terminating the so-called national emergency use to wastefully divert billions for wall construction,¡± she said.
Biden also sent an immigration bill (the US Citizenship Act of 2021) to Congress to modernise the immigration system, she said.
Muslim Travel Ban
He also signed an executive order immediately lifting a travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries, halting construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and reversing a Trump order preventing migrants who are in the United States illegally from being counted for congressional districts.
Biden's decision to immediately roll back Trump's travel ban won praise from business groups and migrant advocates. Myron Brilliant, the head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the ban was "was not aligned with American values" and its reversal would help "restore our credibility on the global stage."
