US President Biden reverses Trump’s policies on first day of presidency

Just after being sworn in, the new US President Joe Biden is reversing Donald Trump’s policies by signing 15 executive actions, principally targeting pandemic and climate change. Joe Biden, now America’s 46th President, said there is “no time to waste” as he referenced America’s battle with Covid-19.

“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. These are just all starting points.”

Among his initiatives, President Biden signed a mask mandate for those on federal property and federal employees. He also signed an order to designate a new White House office to coordinate the response to Covid-19 while halting the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organisation. His press secretary, Jen Psaki, says his quick actions were just the beginning of many changes.

“The Day One plans were just the start of a flurry of executive actions Biden would take soon after entering 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.”

President Biden signed documents to begin the process of rejoining the Paris climate accord, including revoking the permit that was granted by former President Trump to the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

President Biden stopped Donald Trump’s emergency declaration that funded the border wall’s construction and ended travel bans on some majority-Muslim countries. It was reported that he will also reverse the ban on transgenders joining the military and reverse a policy that blocks US funding for abortion programs overseas.

He also asked to extend a moratorium on housing evictions until the end of March and on student loan payments until the end of September.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World