WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is moving swiftly to dismantle DonaldTrump’s legacy on his first day in office, signing a series of executiveactions that reverse course on immigration, climate change, racial equityand the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new president signed the orders just hours after taking the oath ofoffice at the Capitol, pivoting quickly from his pared-down inaugurationceremony to enacting his agenda. With the stroke of a pen, Biden ordered ahalt to the construction of Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall, ended the banon travel from some Muslim-majority countries, declared his intention torejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization andrevoked the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, aides said.
The 15 executive actions, and two directives, amount to an attempt torewind the last four years of federal policies with striking speed. Onlytwo recent presidents signed executive actions on their first day in office— and each signed just one. But Biden, facing the debilitating coronaviruspandemic, a damaged economy and a riven electorate, is intent ondemonstrating a sense of urgency and competence that he argues has beenmissing under his Republican predecessor.
“There’s no time to start like today,” Biden said in his first comments toreporters as president.
Biden wore a mask as he signed the orders in the Oval Office — a markeddeparture from Trump, who rarely wore a face covering in public and neverduring events in the Oval Office. But virus precautions are now required inthe building. Among the executive actions signed Wednesday was onerequiring masks and physical distancing on federal property and by federalemployees. Biden’s order also extended the federal eviction freeze to aidthose struggling from the pandemic economic fallout, created a new federaloffice to coordinate a national response to the virus and restored theWhite House’s National Security Council directorate for global healthsecurity and defense, an office his predecessor had closed.
The actions reflected the new president’s top policy priority — getting ahandle on a debilitating pandemic. In his inaugural address, Biden pausedfor what he called his first act as president — a moment of silent prayerfor the victims of the nation’s worst public health crisis in more than acentury.
He declared that he would “press forward with speed and urgency” in thecoming weeks. “For we have much to do in this winter of peril andsignificant possibilities — much to repair, much to restore, much to heal,much to build and much to gain,” he said in the speech.
But Biden’s blitz of executive actions went beyond the pandemic. Hetargeted Trump’s environmental record, calling for a review of allregulations and executive actions that are deemed damaging to theenvironment or public health, aides said Tuesday as they previewed themoves.
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Another order instructs federal agencies to prioritize racial equity andreview policies that reinforce systemic racism. Biden revoked two Trumporders related to the 2020 census. The first attempted to discern thecitizenship status of every U.S. resident, and the second sought to excludepeople in the U.S. illegally from the numbers used for apportioningcongressional seats among the states.”
He also ordered federal employees to take an ethics pledge that commitsthem to uphold the independence of the Justice Department.
The president also revoked the just-issued report of Trump’s “1776Commission” that promotes “patriotic education.”
Those moves and others will be followed by dozens more in the next 10 days,the president’s aides said, as Biden looks to redirect the country withouthaving to go through a Senate that Democrats control by the narrowestmargin and will soon turn to the impeachment trial of Trump, who is chargedby the House with inciting the insurrection at the Capitol.
Republicans signalled that Biden will face fierce opposition on some partsof his agenda.
