Biden sworn in US Prez, Kamala first woman VP

New Prez has promised raft of executive orders on first day in office

Washington, January 20

Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country reeling from deep political divides, a battered economy and a raging pandemic that has killed more than 4 lakh Americans.

Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, became the first Black person, first woman and first Asian American to serve as Vice-President after she was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Biden, 78, became the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that was largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus and security concerns following the January 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

With his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, Biden took the presidential oath of office just after noon, vowing to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.

The norm-defying Trump flouted one last convention on his way out of the White House when he refused to meet with Biden or attend his successor’s inauguration.

Top Republicans, including Vice-President Mike Pence and the party’s congressional leaders, attended Biden’s inauguration, along with former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Biden takes office at a time of deep national unease, with the country facing what his advisers have described as four compounding crises: the pandemic, the economic downtown, climate change and racial inequality. He has promised immediate action, including a raft of executive orders on his first day in office. — Reuters