Sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office for the first time, President Joe Biden hit the ground running, taking quick executive action to help American families struggling through economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as undo a number of measures enacted by his predecessor, President Donald Trump.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden enacted a series of sweeping executive actions on Day 1 of his presidency

  • Biden directed the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and signed an order mandating masks and social distancing on federal property

  • Other sweeping climate initiatives include placing a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revoking the Presidential permit granted to the Keystone XL pipeline

  • Biden's actions also included the 1776 Commission, a Trump Administration policy which calls for a "patriotic education," that the Biden team accuses of seeking to "erase America’s history of racial injustice"

"There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face," President Biden wrote on Twitter in his first post from the official @POTUS account. "That's why today, I am heading to the Oval Office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for American families."

Biden signed three executive orders first, including an order mandating "masks and physical distancing in all federal buildings, on all federal lands, and by federal employees and contractors."

Wednesday will be the official launch of the "100 Days Masking Challenge; Biden will not mandate masks nationwide, preferring instead to ask Americans to do their part to slow the spread of COVID-19.

"Some of the executive actions I'm going to be signing today are gonna help change the course of the covid crisis, are gonna combat climate change in a way that we haven't done so far and advance racial equity and support other underserved communities and we're gonna rebuild our economy as well," Biden said in the Oval Office. "And these are all just starting points."

Biden also signed an order supporting underserved communities, and made good on a promise he made throughout his campaign: Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, which the United States formally left on Nov. 4, one day after the presidential election. 

The president also referenced the letter President Donald Trump left him: "The president wrote a very generous letter. Because it was private, I won’t talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous."

In all, Biden took 17 actions – 15 executive actions and 2 agency actions – which his office described as "a combination of executive orders, memoranda, directives, and letters to take initial steps to address these crises."

"The United States will be back in position to exercise global leadership in advancing the objectives of the Agreement," the transition said of the move to rejoin the Paris agreement, which Trump announced the U.S. would exit on June 1, 2017.

Other sweeping climate initiatives Biden took include placing a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revoking the Presidential permit granted to the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as directing agencies to review Trump administration environmental policies.

Biden also took action to end President Trump's "Muslim Ban," which the Biden team called "a policy rooted in religious animus and xenophobia," and pull funding for the Border Wall, another one of Trump's central campaign promises.

On the pandemic, Biden will cease the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization, "an entity that is critical to coordinating the international response to COVID-19, advancing preparedness for future epidemics and pandemics, and improving the health of all people," and announced that the Biden-Harris Administration will participate in this week's WHO Executive Board meeting, with Dr. Anthony Fauci representing the U.S. as Head of Delegation.

Fauci will address the WHO Executive Board on Jan. 21.

Biden also signed an executive order creating the position of COVID-19 Response Coordinator in an effort to structure the federal government to create a unified response to the coronavirus pandemic. This order will also restore the NSC Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which the Trump White House dissolved in 2018.

For Americans impacted by the economic crunch of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden asked the CDC "to consider immediately extending the federal eviction moratorium until at least March 31, 2021" and asked the Department of Education "to consider immediately extending the pause on interest and principal payments for direct federal loans until at least September 30, 2021."

Biden also asked federal agencies to implement a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures.

Biden will also rescind the 1776 Commission, a Trump Administration policy which calls for a "patriotic education," that the Biden team accuses of seeking to "erase America’s history of racial injustice," and will revoke Trump's executive order "limiting the ability of federal government agencies, contractors and even some grantees from implementing important and needed diversity and inclusion training" as part of a sweeping group of reforms aiming to advance racial equity.