Climate, Coronavirus, Border Wall Among Targets of Biden Executive Orders

U.S. President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders and other actions Wednesday aiming to address the coronavirus crisis and to reverse a number of policy changes enacted under former President Donald Trump.

“There’s no time to start like today,” Biden told reporters at the signing event hours after he was inaugurated.

Among the orders, Biden ended a travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries, called for federal agencies to prioritize racial equity, halted wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, revoked approval for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, reversed a Trump order to exclude noncitizens from the U.S. census, and enhanced anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Biden also signed letters declaring U.S. intent to join the Paris Climate Accord and retracting Trump’s declaration that the country would withdraw from the World Health Organization.

Regarding the coronavirus, Biden extended a federal eviction moratorium, mandated wearing masks in federal buildings and created a new office to coordinate the national response to the virus that has killed more than 400,000 people in the United States.

Administration aides said Biden would be taking dozens more actions in the next 10 days.

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