Biden issues mask mandate, ends key Trump policies after inauguration
Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, declaring that “democracy has prevailed” and issuing a plain-spoken appeal for unity to a fractured nation grappling with a deadly pandemic and a painful economic crisis.
Hours after his inauguration, Biden returned to the White House where he served for eight years as vice president and got to work reversing several of the policies of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
“There’s no time to start like today,” Biden said as he signed a slew of executive orders that ranged from instituting a mask mandate on federal property to rejoining the Paris climate agreement.
Biden, 78, became the oldest U.S. president ever inaugurated when he swore the oath of office administered by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts shortly before noon Wednesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris was sworn in by Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Harris, 56, is the first woman, first Black woman and first South Asian woman to serve as vice president.
“The will of the people has been heard. And the will of the people has been heeded,” Biden said. “Democracy has prevailed.”
Biden carried out the “peaceful transfer of power” from the west front of the U.S. Capitol that was stormed by pro-Trump rioters just two weeks prior.
He did so without Trump, who skipped his successor’s inauguration in a spurning of tradition, but who Biden said left a “very generous” note. Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence attended the ceremony, as did former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and their spouses.
Biden vowed to get to work unifying a nation roiled by political discord and plagued by a pandemic, economic hardship, enduring racial inequality and “domestic terrorism.”
“My whole soul is in this,” Biden said as he called on Americans to set aside their divisions to confront the confluence of crises.
“I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy,” Biden acknowledged, but said without it there is “no progress.”
“Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart. And if you still disagree, so be it — that’s democracy,” Biden said. “Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.”
Biden pledged to be a “president for all Americans.” At the same time, he called on the nation to “reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.”
He also offered a moment of silence for the more than 400,000 Americans who have now died from the coronavirus.
“It’s time for boldness,” Biden said. “Because there’s so much to do.”
Biden got to work by signing 15 executive actions marking the start of a 10-day blitz of directives aimed at combating the “four crises” of the coronavirus, the economy, racial injustice and climate change.
Beyond the mask mandate, Biden rescinded Trump’s travel restrictions on several Muslim-majority countries, stopped construction of Trump’s southern border wall and extended eviction restrictions and student loan payment relief. Press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden “remains committed” to his goal of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccines over the next 100 days.
Democrats now control the Senate, House and White House after Harris swore in three Democratic senators Wednesday afternoon, though some Republicans have already balked at Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. The Senate, now led by New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, also confirmed Avril Haines as director of intelligence, giving Biden his first Cabinet member.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/39TVdKi
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