Biden’s First Week as President
By: Cedric Bell
Photo Source: Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP
Joe Biden’s inauguration and subsequent first week as president have been thankfully pretty quiet. After the attack on the capitol building two weeks prior, a relatively routine political turnover has been a much needed break for the U.S. That being said, his first week hasn’t been completely uneventful. Biden has taken a number of steps forwards in his first weeks in terms of policy changes. These changes follow a couple of themes, such as undoing past decisions from the former U.S President Donald Trump, environmental and social policy changes, and a new Covid plan.
Some of Joe Biden’s first decisions as president have been undoing choices made by the former President, Donald Trump. Ironically enough, this is also the same approach that Trump used in his first few days as President in repealing some of Obama’s policies. The two most notable policies that Biden has reversed are the U.S’s stance on The Paris Agreement, and on the travel ban. Namely, Biden has reentered the U.S into the Paris agreement, which has been an expected move considering his stance on the environment, and has repealed the travel ban which restricted travel into the U.S from a number of other countries. There are several others as well, but these stand out as the most significant.
In terms of environmental and social policy, Biden’s first week has been very productive. So far, he has signed three different executive orders that focus on environmental research and infrastructure support. Controversially, he has also halted the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. While this is good news for the environment, it is economically harmful, especially for Canadians. Whether the good outweighs the bad here remains to be seen as the government weighs climate change activism against the economy.
For social policy, not much has been acted upon yet, however Biden has two plans in motions that could be a big deal. Firstly, he is intending to increase the minimum wage to 15$ an hour, which would be extremely helpful in lessening the disparity in income in the U.S. His other big plan is to push a “Buy American” policy that would encourage the U.S to focus on stimulating its own economy. Once again, while helpful to them, this could prove to be problematic for Canada, as our economy is heavily reliant on our relationship with them.
His proactive approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic is a welcome change of pace, as in his first week he has made three major steps towards handling it. Firstly, he has put forwards a mandate that requires federal workers to wear masks while on federal lands, i.e. while working. Secondly, he has put a Covid board together that will focus on how covid has disproportionately affected certain minority groups, rapid testing, tracing, and communication with the public. Lastly, his plan in dealing with Covid is currently being examined, and is apparently generally receiving support.
Biden’s first week as president hasn’t been catching headline after headline, but has been focused and productive. After undoing many of Trumps’ controversial and backwards decisions, Biden has focused on putting forward legislation to support the environment, guide the U.S through Covid, and stimulate their economy. While this is good news after how destabilised the U.S has been over the past few years, these decisions are going to have a huge impact on Canada, in both negative and positive ways.
