Before the opposition has time to organize and regroup, the incoming president is signing as many executive orders as possible

Joe Biden wants to start his term with a bang. He knows the Democratic Senate majority is as narrow as it gets (50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote), and he knows chances are high he’ll no longer control the Senate after the 2022 midterm elections. (Control of the House also hangs in the balance, after Democrats watched their 38-seat advantage dwindle to ten seats in the November 2020 election.)

He watched his predecessor squander half a year before bringing one of his signature campaign promises — repealing Obamacare — to the Senate, only for John McCain to kill his hopes of revoking the 44th president’s health insurance policy at a blow.

For this reason, Biden is going for “shock and awe” tactics. Before the opposition has time to organize and regroup, the incoming president is signing as many executive orders as possible. He came prepared.

Immigration

On his first day in office, Biden sent his immigration reform plan to the Senate. Biden’s goal is to create a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. Many of them will be able to apply for green cards in the near future, and DACA children will receive green cards immediately, with an option to apply for citizenship in three years.

Biden also paused progress on Trump’s border wall on day one (he called it a waste of resources), and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to freeze the deportation of illegal immigrants for 100 days. Immigration reform is one of the most complicated issues for every administration. The more time passes, the more obstacles will pile up. Biden will try to act quickly and surprise the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

Economy

The incoming president presented an ambitious $1.9 trillion stimulus plan to inject stability into the flailing economy. If the plan passes Congress, every American citizen will receive a direct payment of $1,400. Added to the $600 approved at the end of Trump’s presidency, it comes to $2,000. But in addition to that, Biden proposes $440 billion in economic aid to businesses and $415 billion to combat the virus directly — for instance, for measures that will allow schools to be opened safely.

But a number of Republicans have already raised their eyebrows at the cost of the plan. One argument is that people who didn’t lose their jobs don’t need a check, and certainly not one as large as those who lost their jobs. Biden has already signaled that he won’t compromise on the amount.

COVID-19

Biden inherited a difficult situation. It starts at the base: air travel to the United States wasn't as restricted as it is in some countries, and tourists and businesspeople from many places around the globe can enter America. No one is enforcing mask-wearing or quarantine requirements, not on flights and not in public buildings across America. Biden hopes to change all this with a set of executive orders.

The next stage is to persuade the public to wear masks. According to him, 50,000 lives could be saved if Americans comply with mask-wearing instructions. We’ll have to wait and see if the public pays attention.

The biggest challenge for Biden is the faltering vaccination drive. Every state saw elderly people who waited in line for hours turned away when the supply of vaccines at the vaccination center was exhausted. The phone lines and Internet sites also failed in many states. In short, it’s a mess.

Biden will attempt to bridge the divide between state and federal government by putting the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of the vaccination drive in all 50 states.

Climate Change

Returning to the Paris climate accords was only the start. On Wednesday Biden hurried to announce the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline from Nebraska to Canada. Biden is in broad agreement with Canada’s Justin Trudeau in most areas, but this is an issue on which they couldn’t disagree more strongly. For Canada the pipeline is an important source of income, and it’s no coincidence that Biden’s first conversation was with Trudeau.

Biden is also expected to reveal his climate plan this week. This will be an aggressive proposal with clear, concrete goals, as the 46th president is determined to make this his legacy. It’s easy to be skeptical of Biden’s motives for this, but there’s no doubt that for the younger generation, this is the most pressing issue of the day. Foreign policy and American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are far less concerning for young Democrats, who expect strong government action to curb pollution, encourage recycling, and transition away from fossil fuels.

Biden can fulfill many of his campaign promises without Republicans’ help, but he’s between a rock and a hard place. His most important campaign message was fostering national unity. This is an ambitious, some would say unrealistic goal, given the extent of the division in America today. Two subjects will make carrying through on this commitment extremely difficult.

Trump’s Impeachment Trial

The former president has already left office, but on February 8 the Senate will begin a trial that will determine whether he can ever run for office again. The impeachment trial hurts Biden in two ways. First of all, it delays the rest of the Senate’s business, including the approval of Biden’s cabinet nominees. Without a functioning cabinet, Biden won’t be able to implement his agenda.

At the same time, Congressional Democrats are eager to move forward and close the door to a Trump comeback. But Trump’s voters, even those who admit Trump’s defeat and accept Biden as the legitimate president, strongly oppose the move, which they see as vindictive and political.

Biden is keeping quiet, for now. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the president wants to let process play out in the Senate, but Biden is being easy on himself here, as he’ll certainly be expected to give some opinion on any sensitive decision.

And that’s only the most prominent example to the challenges Biden’s efforts to foster unity will face. Another issue is D.C. statehood. Some voices on the Democratic side are saying that it’s a political opportunity that can’t be missed. Supporters of the measure point out that Mitch McConnell rammed through a Supreme Court appointment weeks before the election, and argue that Democrats should show the same ruthlessness and pass D.C. statehood by a 51-50 majority.

But Biden knows that this is crossing a red line for Republicans. When Psaki was asked about this, she replied that “the president supported D.C. statehood in the past,” another evasion of a tough question that demonstrates how complicated Biden’s mission really is, to bring together two halves of the country that mix like oil and water.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 846)