The Claw

Written by Kaherdin Clohan Bonnet (News Writer)

Joe Biden’s been making lots of executive orders, leading to plenty of positive changes.

The second Biden was in office, he spent no time dilly-dallying and got right down to business, fixing and or removing Trump’s laws and legislations as well as creating some of his own. As of January 29th, Biden has signed 42 executive orders, spanning over many different subjects and issues. The biggest and most important ones will be put here and arranged into categories

Environmental executive orders: 

The first one is the “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” which, as the main change, pauses new leases on oil and natural gasses on public land and offshore areas. This one also helps create a climate task force, new clean infrastructure plans, and much more.

The next is the “Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policy Making,” which will ensure that members of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will be made purely evidence-based claims that are well-founded and less grasping in straws, and it seems as though it should have always been this way

The next thing is the joining of the “Paris Climate Agreement,” which was originally created in 2015, and aims to limit the amount of global warming each country contributes to.

Finally, the last major one, which might be one of the biggest, is Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would’ve tainted the drinking water of nearby communities and tore up land sacred to many of the Native American people, and also asks for the review and undoing over a hundred actions Trump had taken on the environment.

Equity-based executive orders; 

The first is the “Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which undoes the 1776 Commission put in place by the Trump Administration, and also pushes agencies to ensure racial equality, which is an incredibly important step forward.

The “Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” prevents discrimination of any kind towards people of the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, and like the first, this is also an astounding step in the name of progress.

Another one that aims at preventing discrimination, racism, and hate crimes are the “Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States,” which works with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to help prevent such things and acknowledge the uprise of racism towards said communities.

Another one that will bring great light into the U.S. is the “Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarnation System to Eliminate the use of Privately Owned Criminal Detention Facilities,” which does as it says and ensures no federal contract with privately owned for-profit prison facilities is renewed, leaving them to go extinct.

The second to last major equity-based executive order is the “Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships,” which commits federal agencies to consult with tribal governments meaningfully and rightfully. 

The last major one is the “Executive Order Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform,” which undoes Donald Trump’s ban on transgender individuals joining the United States Military despite their qualifications. 

Economic executive orders:

The first economic centered executive order is the “Executive Order on Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers,” which closes loopholes and reduces waivers granted on federal purchases of domestic goods. 

There are also the “Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce,” the “Executive Order on Economic Relief Related to the Covid-19 Pandemic,” the “Pausing Federal Student Loan Payments,” and the “Extended Eviction and Foreclosures Mormetarium,” which all do exactly what they say and bring a sense of relief to many struggling individuals.

COVID-19 executive orders;

The COVID-19 executive orders bring in more vaccination sites, suspension of travel from Brazil, the UK, Ireland, South Africa, and the Schengen area, faster supply, and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine, expanded Covid-19 testing, an increase of sharing COVID-19 data, and information with other countries, federally supported community vaccination centers, direction for the Department of Education to safely reopen in-person schooling, the creation of a COVID-19 Response Coordinated who reports directly to Biden, and much more. 

Immigration executive orders;

“Preserving and Fortifying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” makes the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals much stronger after Trump’s attempts to revoke such protections,

The “Proclamation on Ending Discrimitory Bans on Entry to the United States,” Undoes the restriction on entry to the US by passport holders in seven Muslim majority countries.

“Executive Order on the Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities,” Removes the expansion of immigration enforcement put in place by Donald Trump.

And finally the “Proclamation on the Termination of Emergency With Respect to the Southern Border of the United States and Redirection of Funds Diverted to Border Wall Construction,” stops the little construction there was on the border wall between the United States and Mexico by ending the national emergency declaration used to pay for it.