Biden plans to issue orders reversing Trump policies immediately upon taking office: report

President-elect Joe Biden plans to issue executive orders reversing a number of President Trump’s policies as soon as he takes office, The Washington Post reported Saturday.  

The report comes hours after Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

People close to Biden’s plans told the Post that he plans to rejoin the Paris climate accords, which the U.S. officially left on Wednesday. He’s also reportedly planning to reverse the U.S.’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, which is slated to take effect July 6, 2021. 

Biden also wants to immediately repeal the ban on immigration that targeted many Muslim-majority countries and reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to the Post. 

During his campaign, Biden pledged to take action on all of these issues on his first day in office.  

Even though he was declared the winner on Saturday, Biden has already started transition planning. The New York Times reported Friday that he is planning to announce his choices for Cabinet positions around Thanksgiving should he win the election. 

During an address later that day in Wilmington, Del., the President-elect signaled that his team was considering next steps. 

“While we’re waiting for the final results, I want people to know we are not waiting to get the work done,” Biden said while appearing with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, at a convention center near his home.

A source told The Hill that transition planning is being led by Ted Kaufman, his longtime ally and former chief of staff. 

Meanwhile, Biden said on Saturday night that he would announce his COVID-19 task force next week.

“Our work begins with getting COVID under control,” Biden said during a prime-time speech.

“On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will start on Jan. 20,” he added.

Axios reported earlier in the day that the 12-member group will be co-led by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University professor Marcella Nunez-Smith.

Multiple news outlets declared Biden the winner shortly after 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Saturday after he was projected to win the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, giving him the 270 Electoral Votes needed to secure the presidency. 

Trump has not accepted defeat, and has promised legal challenges ahead to contest the election results.