The Briefing for January 24, 2021
A Bullet Train of a Week for Federal Policy
Author: Collyn Mosquito, Editor of The Briefing
The fastest bullet train in operation in the world right now can be found in Shanghai, China. It can go 267.8 MPH, which is about 117 MPH more than the Amtrak Acela in the U.S. (we can learn a thing or two from China). And lately, it's felt like U.S. politics has been moving as fast as the Shanghai bullet train, where for even someone like me, it has been hard to keep up with how much distance the Biden Administration has covered already.
Just hours and days after officially becoming the President and after Democrats took full control of Congress (sort of), President Joe Biden and his administration hit the ground running. The President formally introduced proposed legislation on immigration and further COVID-19 relief. He has also signed a large stack of executive orders (with more to come) dealing with the four areas he has promised to address: COVID-19, the economy, climate change, and racial equity. Here’s a rundown of all that happened within our federal government this past week.
Executive Actions
January 20, 2021
Regulatory Freeze Pending Review
At the request of President Biden, Chief of Staff Ron Klain sent out memo to all executive branch departments and agencies, directing them to stop all work on new and pending federal rule changes. This will help the new administration get a handle on and review any new or pending rules the Trump administration wanted in place before Former President Trump left office.
This order directs all executive departments and agencies to pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all and work to redress inequities in their policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity.
Proclamation on Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States
By the authority invested in the President of the Unites States through 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), President Biden revoked Executive Order 13780 of March 8, 2017 and other proclamation signed by Former President Trump, that banned migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing
President Biden signed an order requiring all federal employees, active duty military, and federal contractors to wear masks when on federal property and land.
This order creates the position of Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response and Counselor to the President, who will directly report to the President; advise and assist the President and executive departments and agencies in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic; coordinate all elements of the COVID-19 response; and other duties as the President shall direct. This order also directs the the National Security Council to coordinate the Federal Government’s efforts to address threats like COVID-19 now and other biological threats in the future, while also advising the President on the response to and recovery from COVID-19. Lastly, the order also ensures global cooperation with international bodies, such as the World Health Organization, and other other countries on addressing COVID-19 and its other impacts globally.
Executive Order on the Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities
This order revokes many Trump administration policies in regard to the enforcement of immigration laws in the U.S. Policies, such as the separation of families and specific targeting of “removable” immigrants, legal and otherwise, are revoked under this order.
Executive Order on Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation
This all encompassing order, directs the Office of Management and Budget and all other executive departments and agencies to rescind any rules and regulations set forth by the Trump administration (as specifically identified in section 2 of this order), that would impede speedy action on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery, racial justice, and climate change. The revoked executive actions were deemed as “harmful policies and directives” by the Biden administration.
This directs the Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau to disregard the previous administration’s order that immigration status be included in the census count and apportionment of representatives to each state, that could have dramatically altered representation in Congress. The legal basis for rescinding the previous administration’s July 21, 2020 memorandum was that “This policy conflicted with the principle of equal representation enshrined in our Constitution, census statutes, and historical tradition.”
To address, to what are to him, the twin issues of public health and the environment, President Biden has directed all executive departments and agencies to review any regulations and other actions set in place in the last 4 years, that would harm public health and threaten to further deepen the climate crisis. Every department and agency was then given the authority to immediately commence work to address the climate crisis, according to the limits set forth in law.
This order directs the Biden administration to fully enforce Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964, and confront and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation within the Federal Government and elsewhere. This effectively reverses Trump administration policies that allowed such discrimination, especially when it came to transgender bathroom use in schools and elsewhere.
Modernizing Regulatory Review — Memorandum
To mobilize the power of the entire Federal Government to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic downturn, systemic racial inequality, and the climate crisis, President Biden has directed the review of the processes and principles governing regulatory review “to ensure swift and effective Federal action” in regards to the four Biden administration priorities. To do this, he has directed the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with all executive departments and agencies, to provide him with recommendations to improve and modernize the regulatory process as soon as possible and appropriate.
Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel
This order directs every appointee, appointed on and after January 20th, in every executive department and agency to sign and commit to an ethics pledge. You can read the full pledge in the order.
This proclamation effectively ends a Trump administration goal of building a border wall on our southern border and orders a review of redirected border wall money for them to be redirected, once a plan has been made for their redirection, in accordance with law.
Reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians — Memorandum
This memo reverses a Trump administration policy that would have ended the DED program for Liberians who fled violence in Liberia and subsequently stayed in the U.S. because of extensions granted by presidents in office before Trump. Congress then gave Liberians until December 20, 2020 to apply for adjustment of status to that of a Unites State lawful permanent resident (LPR) through the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020. Because of Congressional action, the Trump administration then proceeded to extend the deferred enforced departure (DED) program to January 10, 2021 “to ensure that DED beneficiaries would continue to be eligible for employment authorization during the LRIF application period.” So, what President Biden did was extend the DED program to June 30, 2022.
Preserving and Fortifying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — Memorandum
With this memo, President Biden has directed the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, to take actions they deem appropriate to preserve and fortify DACA, in accordance with law. This effectively ends Trump administration efforts to end the DACA program.
For the sake of time and brevity, I have included the rest of President Biden’s recent executive actions and proposed and signed legislation below.
January 21, 2021
Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel
Executive Order on Improving and Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19
Executive Order on a Sustainable Public Health Supply Chain
Executive Order on Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery
Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety
January 22, 2021
Executive Order on Economic Relief Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce
Signed Legislation
Provided a waiver for President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Defense
Proposed Legislation
A Path to Citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States
