President Joe Biden will take dozens of executive actions over the course of his first ten days in office on a thematic basis, according to a memo obtained by The Hill.
The memo shows that the president plans to take specific executive actions over the course of the next ten weekdays, dedicating each day to a specific theme or topic to address. According to The Hill, Biden was scheduled to dedicate his second day in office to COVID-19, his third day in office to economic relief, and Monday to “Buy America.”
On January 26, Biden’s executive actions will focus on equity and will include creating a policing commission to govern the transfer of “military-style equipment” to local authorities, taking an action that will “begin to eliminate the use of private prison.”
January 27 will be dedicated to climate, while January 28 will focus on health care. During the health care day, Biden will purportedly rescind the Mexico City Policy, which prevents the federal government from providing funding to non-governmental organizations in foreign countries that promote or perform abortions.
Although the policy has previously been repealed by Republican administrations and enacted by Democratic ones, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declined to comment on pending Mexico City Policy actions in a press conference Wednesday and instead took the time to say Biden is a “devout Catholic” who “attends church regularly.”
January 29 will be dedicated to immigration, and the month of February will be dedicated to “Restoring America’s Place in the World.” The Hill reports that the details of certain executive actions remain tentative and have not been decided on completely.
Only hours into his term, Biden has already taken numerous executive actions, including mandating masks on federal property, reversing the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization, and extending a moratorium on federal student loan payments and interest, said the White House press secretary in a briefing.
Other actions Biden has already taken include reversing the Trump administration’s ban on travel from certain Muslim-majority countries, instituting a “100 Day Masking Challenge,” appointing a COVID-19 response coordinator, and taking unspecified steps toward addressing nationwide housing evictions and foreclosures due to the pandemic.
After the inauguration ceremony, Biden told a reporter near the White House that returning to it — now four years away from his tenure in the Obama administration — felt like he was coming home. Just like when Trump took office in 2017, the new president’s party currently retains control of both chambers of Congress, including the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris could serve as a 50-50 tie-breaker in any narrow votes.
That said, tie-breaking votes are extraordinarily rare. Former Vice President Mike Pence made 13 in his four years in office, all of which were in 2017 and 2018. Before him, then-Vice President Joe Biden made none during his eight years as vice president, and even before him, former Vice President Dick Cheney only made eight during his time in office.