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President Biden and Vice President Harris Sworn into Office, Takes First Executive Actions

January 20, 2021

Following the inaugural ceremonies for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the president is set to implement 17 executive actions through executive orders, presidential memos and agency directives, affecting a range of federal policies, including immigration, economic relief, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. These actions also seek to dismantle policies implemented by the Trump administration over the past four years on these critical issues. A summary of these actions was sent to news organizations this morning and can be viewed in this fact sheet.

Of note, President Biden will sign a presidential memorandum to ensure the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that provides temporary protection from deportation and employment eligibility for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. The memo will also urge Congress to pass permanent protections and a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients. Biden will also end the Trump administration’s national emergency declaration, which was used to justify allocating certain federal funds for a border wall.

President Biden also alluded to his regulatory agenda in today’s actions, issuing a presidential memo to withdraw the Trump administration’s executive orders on the regulatory process and will direct the administration and federal agencies “to immediately review and take appropriate action to address federal regulations and other executive actions taken during the last four years that were harmful to public health, damaging to the environment, unsupported by the best available science or otherwise not in the national interest.” He further stated that “regulations are an important tool for the federal government to address the crises facing the nation.”

Important to his efforts to provide 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, President Biden will sign an executive order “creating the position of COVID-19 response coordinator, who will report directly to the president and be responsible for coordinating all elements of the COVID-19 response across government, including managing efforts to produce, supply and distribute personal protective equipment, vaccines and tests.” The president also seeks to provide economic relief for those affected by the virus through an extension of federal eviction and foreclosure moratoriums and extension of the pause on student loan interest and principal payments.

ABC will continue to provide updates on presidential actions and their impacts on the construction industry in Newsline.

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