Biden immediately issues executive orders

The new president is planning to spend his first 10 days in office on executive actions, many to overturn earlier ones signed by former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed orders covering climate policy, immigration, the pandemic, and more.

What’s in the orders? Construction will halt on the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Biden ended travel restrictions on people coming from some Muslim-majority countries. One order will have the U.S. rejoin the Paris climate accords, which aim at reducing carbon pollution and monitoring fossil fuel emissions. He also put a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ordered a review of vehicle mileage standards, and revoked approval for the Keystone XL oil and gas pipeline. Biden is reinstating U.S. support for the World Health Organization and requiring masks on federal properties. He also extended the freeze on evictions during the pandemic and created a federal office to coordinate the coronavirus response.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s predictions of what else we can expect in Biden’s first 100 days.