What President-elect Joe Biden is planning to implement immediately during his presidency
Projected President-elect Joe Biden has started to announce a few measures he would take on his first 100 days in office, such as assembling a COVID-19 task force, reversing Trump’s corporate tax cut, reinstating DACA and eliminating student loans.
NPR reports that on day one or beforehand, Biden plans to assemble a coronavirus task force during his presidential transition. NPR states that, “The task force will be led by Dr. David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine.”
Biden addressed his COVID-19 plan saying, “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”
Biden is also planning to reverse Trump’s corporate tax cut. “Biden has pledged that on his first day as president he will raise corporate income taxes to 28% — compared with the current 21% rate set by the GOP-led tax cuts of 2017.” Biden’s larger proposed tax plan stresses that Americans who are making less than $400,000 would not pay more in taxes.
Biden has also announced that on his first day he will create legislation that paves a pathway to, “citizenship for 11 million migrants living in the U.S. illegally.” He is also planning to help provide, “citizenship for people commonly known as DREAMers, who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.”
Following in the footsteps of President Obama, “Biden has pledged to make the DACA program permanent on his first day in office, a move that comes after years of Trump administration attempts to rescind the program.”
CNBC reports on Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan saying that it would, “reset around 10 million borrowers ‘balances to zero,’” and that, “the policy would slash the country’s $1.7 trillion outstanding student loan tab by about a third.” Generally Republicans oppose forgiving student debt, while Democrats support it, so Biden will have to win the favor of the Republicans to be able to enact his student loan forgiveness plan. This is improbable as Republicans currently control the Senate and Democrats control the House.
The Washington Post reports that, “Rather than negotiating with party leaders, the new president and his team would make better use of their time and political capital by working with backbenchers of both parties willing to hammer out common-sense proposals that actually have a chance of being embraced by the broad middle of each chamber.” Finding a middle ground and trying to appeal to both sides is how Biden will be able to pass all the legislation he is proposing.