“America United was the theme of the inauguration. Despite former President Trump’s absence, America forged ahead on Jan. 20th, 2021, swearing-in the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to fill the position. 

Following his inauguration, President Biden tended to his responsibility to take on the many issues facing the United States: the coronavirus pandemic, race relations, a suffering economy, immigration, foreign policy, crime, the Supreme Court, health care, bipartisanship and the environment. President Biden got straight to work on some of these issues by signing off on many executive orders within his first six days in office. 

What are executive orders, and how do they affect change in American lives? Both President Biden and former president Trump exercised their power to issue executive orders. The power to issue an executive order is enforced by the United States Constitution. In the Constitution, the President gains the ability to change how the federal government operates by issuing orders to government agencies, departments, and other government offices after they are sworn-in. The order can be canceled, revoked or adjudicated unlawful after judicial review. Otherwise, the order stays in place until its expiration date or until a latter-president overturns it. 

In a study conducted by Statista late last year, more than 50% of Americans believed the Biden administration would be better qualified to handle environmental, racial, and health-related issues than the Trump administration. So far, President Biden has issued 33 executive orders; 16 focused on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the pandemic is a far cry away from being over, the trust instilled in Biden by Americans at the end of last year seems to have been rightfully placed.

Biden has done an excellent job at encouraging people to unite America by affirming Americans and following through on many of his other promises, like revoking many former President Trump regulatory actions. For instance, he overturns former President Trump’s decision to abolish collective bargaining power and worker protections for federal workers. This directive is a part of Joe Biden’s plan to “ensure that workers are treated with dignity and receive the pay, benefits and workplace protections they deserve.” The directive is beneficial to working-class Americans because it orders companies to stop stealing from their workers. 

Biden also issued another directive that lays the foundation for a $15 minimum wage for civil servants. Civil servants work for Federal employers like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Census Bureau, and many more. The directive or policy regulates the federal government to enact a $15 minimum wage for federal workers and explore pathways to rebuild the federal workforce. These jobs are often desirable and, in some cases, allows for student loan forgiveness. 

What Biden has done in his short time in office exceeds expectations and predicates a hopeful future.