by Daniella DeMauro
President Biden was sworn into office on January 20th. There are many clear differences between the political views of President Biden and his predecessor, President Trump. As a result, President Biden signed 29 new executive orders in his first few weeks in office and, as of March 1st, the total is nearing 50.
Biden, a Democrat, has vastly different political views from President Trump, a Republican. Biden believes that we should raise minimum wage, and he believes that environmental issues need to be addressed. He also wants to reform the criminal justice system, and he believes that more covid-19 restrictions must be put into place as long as the pandemic continues. Biden also is pro-immigration, and he has been working tirelessly in the first month to undo the work of the prior administration.
So far, in the first two weeks of the Biden presidency, many changes have already been made. He signed orders to: put more health regulations and people in charge of covid-19 related issues, stop the progression of the Keystone pipeline, rejoin the Paris climate agreement, end the 1776 commission, reduce immigration restrictions, repeal the ban on transgender people in the military, and ask for extensions on evictions, foreclosures, and student debt during the pandemic. Many of Biden’s executive orders were working to undo Donald Trump’s policies put into place during the last presidency. Biden has been scrutinized for the flurry of executive orders he has passed in such a short period of time, as no president in recent history has signed this many executive orders during their first month in office.