Joe Biden, Kamala Harris to take oath today, Washington turns into fortress

WASHINGTON, January 19

Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, while Kamala Harris will take oath as the first woman Vice-President on Wednesday, in the midst of growing concerns over the safety of the historic inauguration following the recent violent attack on the Capitol Hill by pro-Trump supporters.

Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to Biden just after the clock strikes 12 (local time) at the West Front of the Capitol — the traditional location — under the unprecedented security umbrella of more than 25,000 National Guards, who have transformed the capital into a garrison city. Biden, 78, will take the oath on his 127-year-old family Bible. Biden, who will be the oldest President in American history, will deliver his first presidential address after taking oath shortly after noon.

The historic speech, with the theme of unity and healing, is being prepared by Indian-American writer Vinay Reddy. Harris, 56, will make history as the first female and first Black US Vice-President when she will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. — PTI

Policies Joe Biden plans to focus on

• Seek a $1.9 trillion spending proposal aimed at accelerating the distribution of Covid vaccine.
• Impose a mask-wearing requirement on all federal properties, planes and buses.
• Extend relief on federal student loan and extend an eviction moratorium.

CLIMATE

• Bring the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement.
• Reimpose methane pollution limits for new and existing oil, and gas operations repealed by Trump.
• Cancel the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will carry oil from Canada to the United States.

IMMIGRATION

• Repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries.
• Send to Congress a sweeping immigration Bill that could legalise millions of immigrants living in the United States without legal permission.
• Reinstate the programme allowing “Dreamers”, people who were brought to the US illegally as children, to remain in the country.
• Reverse policy that separated immigrant parents from their children at the border, including ending prosecution of parents. Reuters

Court strikes down Trump climate rollback

• A federal appeals court struck down one of the Trump administration’s most momentous climate rollbacks on Tuesday, saying the administration acted illegally in issuing a new rule easing federal regulation of air pollution from power plants.
• Trump is likely to grant clemency to rapper Lil Wayne in a final wave of pardons and commutations that is not expected to include lawyer Rudy Giuliani or ex-aide Steve Bannon, sources say. He is expected to issue more than 100 pardons.

Biden to engage world ‘as it is’, not ‘as it was’

• Underlining America’s “growing rivalry” with China and Russia, US Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would engage the world “as it is” and not “as it was”.
• Before the Senate panel on Foreign Relations, he did not rule out a military intervention overseas if the lives of Americans were at stake. PTI