1/ Biden marked the start of his presidency by signing or finalizing 17 executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations to roll back some of Trump’s policies. Hours after his inauguration, Biden began signing orders on a range of issues, which included defunding the construction of Trump’s border wall, reversing Trump’s travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries, ending the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the Census, recommitting to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, revoking the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and rejoining the Paris climate agreement. “There’s no time to start like today,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office as he began signing. “I’m going to start by keeping the promises I made to the American people.” Biden also signed an order appointing Jeffrey Zients as his Covid-19 response coordinator who will report to the president, in an effort to “aggressively” gear up the nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. One of Biden’s top advisers described the flurry of executive authority as an effort to “reverse the gravest damages” done to the country by Trump. (New York Times / NPR / CBS News / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2021/01/21/day-2/