President Joe Biden signed and planned on signing a number of executive orders this evening marking his first official actions from the Oval Office.
Among the slew of executive orders, many of them negates previous orders and directives from Biden’s predecessor President Donald Trump.
Here are among the orders Biden signed and is expected to sign this evening:
Extending the pause on federal student loan payments
Last month, the Trump administration will sign an order to continue a pause in federal student loan repayments through the end of January. The Biden White House says the pause on federal student loan payments will run through September 30.
The executive order is expected to be followed by legislation that will offer partial forgiveness of federal student loans for borrowers.
100-day mask mandate
The Biden administration will require masks and physical distancing in all federal buildings, on all federal lands and by federal employees and contractors.
Rejoin the World Health Organization
Nearly a year after Trump removed the United States from the World Health Organization, Biden signed an order to rejoin the WHO. As part of rejoining the WHO, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is has been asked by Biden to serve his chief coronavirus adviser, will deliver remarks to the WHO Executive Board tomorrow.
Trump removed the US from the WHO after claiming that the organization failed to act against China in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic
Extending eviction and foreclosure moratoriums
The Biden White House is calling on the CDC to extend the federal eviction moratorium through at least March 31. Biden is also calling on federally guaranteed mortgages and applications for forbearance be extended through at least March 31. Also, Biden is directing the Federal House Finance Agency to extend its foreclosure and eviction moratoriums through at least February 28.
Rejoin the Paris Agreement
After Trump removed the US from the worldwide Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the US will rejoin the accord within 30 days. The Paris Agreement was first signed by the Obama administration in hopes of reducing emissions in an effort to slow down the rate of global climate change.
Including undocumented immigrants in census
Biden will reverse a Trump directive that called on excluding undocumented immigrants from the reapportionment count in the census. The reapportionment count is used to divvy congressional seats to states. In previous decennial censuses, undocumented immigrants were included in the count.
Launch an initiative to advance racial equity
Biden is calling for embedding equity across federal policymaking and rooting out systemic racism and other barriers to opportunity from federal programs and institutions. As part of the order, Biden rescinded the 1776 Commission formed by Trump, Biden claims has sought to erase America's history of racial injustice. Biden is also calling on every federal agency to undertake a baseline review of the state of equity within their agency and deliver an action plan within 200 days to address unequal barriers to opportunity in agency policies and programs.
Removing visa bans to predominately Muslim nations
Biden will sign an executive order to lift bans on issuing new visas to nationals of certain mostly Muslim nations, including Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria and other nations.
Stop border wall construction
The Biden administration will immediately terminate the national emergency declaration that allowed Trump to reallocate defense funds to be used to build the border wall. Trump reallocated the funds after Trump struggled to get funding through Congress for one of his top policy goals. The issue of using defense funds was hotly-contested in federal court.
Increase protections for ‘dreamers’
Biden will sign an order to call on Congress to enact legislation providing permanent status and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children and remained in the nation since their childhood.