In Biden’s initial acts as the 46th US president, he signed 15 executive orders. These included a package to boost the federal response to the coronavirus crisis and orders reversing the Trump administration’s stance on climate change and immigration.

Covid relief package and vaccine rollout

Biden passed a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill into law within two months of his appointment.

The emergency relief package funds vaccinations and support struggling families and communities.

The twofold plan focuses on overcoming the Covid health crisis and then investing in American jobs to promote economic recovery.

It includes funding to provide direct economic relief, safely reopen schools and mount a national vaccination program.

More than half of adults in the United States have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and the country has surpassed 200 million administered doses.

The US also rejoined the World Health Organisation, with Dr. Anthony Fauci as the head of delegation.

Dr. Fauci is the top infectious disease expert in the US.

Racial Justice

Biden signed four executive actions to advance racial equity.

He directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to redress discriminatory federal housing policies.

He also signed an Executive Order to end the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) use of private prisons.

This comes after former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of Georgia Floyd.

President Biden said the verdict was a ‘giant step towards justice in America’, but added there is still work to be done to dismantle systemic racism in the country.

‘It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off the whole world to see,’ he said, before declaring that systemic racism is ‘a stain on our nation’s soul’.

Climate Crisis

The president also signed executive orders to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, pledging to bring down the rate of global heating to 1.5C by 2030.

Biden also reviewed a number of Trump-era rollbacks, including revoking the pipeline for TC Energy Corp.’s controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

A recent global summit hosted by the US opened with the president’s climate pledge.

The US pledged to cut in half the amount of climate-wrecking coal and petroleum fumes it is pumping out.