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Biden sets agenda on Day One with executive actions

President Biden announced 17 executive actions or directives on his first day in office, ranging from the pandemic to racial equity to immigration.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Within hours of taking office, President Joe Biden set in motion his first-term agenda with 17 executive actions or directives, targeting the pandemic, the environment, immigration, the economy, racial equity, and other priorities.

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“With the state of the nation today,” Biden said in the Oval Office, “there’s no time to waste.” 

In many ways, Biden’s executive actions are a direct rebuke to former President Donald Trump’s administration, since they reverse many of the policies that Biden and his Democratic primary challengers had campaigned against. For example, one of the actions will allow the United States to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, while another will mandate masks in federal buildings and call for the U.S. to reconcile with the World Health Organization. 

Biden made perhaps the most wide-ranging mark on immigration, an area where he faced criticism during those primaries because of his connection to Obama-era deportation policies. It was also a major point of controversy for Trump due to his policies on family-separation, the ban on travel from Muslim-majority countries, and his administration's broadened categories for deportation. On Wednesday, Biden reversed the travel ban and the expanded deportation order, ended the national emergency that fueled border wall construction, and directed his administration to strengthen the DACA program that protects undocumented immigrants brought to America as children.

“What happened today with the executive orders, first of all, is a strong statement that immigration is a top priority for the Biden administration,” said Satveer Chaudhary, an immigration attorney in the Twin Cities, “in terms of its commitment to immigration, and then, certainly, the substantive changes are ones that sort of nagged at people’s minds over the Trump administration.”

Biden has also introduced an immigration bill for Congress to review, calling for comprehensive reform, a pathway to citizenship for millions and more support for Central American countries. That measure, however, may require some Republican support, because the Democrats can’t overcome the minority party’s filibuster with anything fewer than 60 votes. 

And therein lies the problem for the Biden administration. The new majority in the House and Senate will certainly help, but a simple majority can only go so far, as U of M political science professor Kathryn Pearson explained.

“It is indeed very slim in the Senate: 50/50 with Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, tiebreaking. That will enable Democrats to confirm all or most of President Biden’s nominees that require Senate confirmation, and it will also allow Democrats to pass a ‘reconciliation’ bill with 51 votes,” Pearson said. “A lot of different things can go in the reconciliation bill, but not all can. Some measures will still require 60 votes, if any Senators mount a filibuster, which is quite likely when Senators oppose legislation.”

Parts of Biden’s proposed COVID-19 relief bill, for example, may be able to pass through budget reconciliation. A spokesperson for the president said in a press briefing on Wednesday that Biden is hoping for a bipartisan bill, but that he is prepared to go the route of reconciliation with a simple majority if needed.

On many issues, it appears, Biden will need to reach across the aisle, whether that includes health care, immigration or any other number of complex legislative topics.

“He has extensive experience working with many of these Senators across party lines,” Pearson said. “He knows how deals are done, and he knows many of the legislators making these deals. And he understands partisan division.”

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