The 6 Biden-Harris Day One actions that mattered most
21 January 2021
The Axios experts help you sort significance from symbolism. Here are the six Day 1 actions by President Biden that matter most.
Driving the news: Today, on his first full day, Biden translates his promise of a stronger federal response to the pandemic into action — starting with 10 executive orders and other directives, Caitlin Owens writes.
- Biden's executive actions direct federal agencies to boost supply chains — including by using the Defense Production Act. Go deeper.
Biden's executive orders on climate change, including rejoining the Paris Agreement and reinstating a raft of environmental regulations, are forcing Washington's biggest business lobbying groups to the table in a new way, Amy Harder and Ben Geman tell me.
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute say they support Biden's plan to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas wells. Go deeper.
Biden instructed the EPA and the Transportation Department to re-establish stricter fuel efficiency mandates, which President Trump had weakened. Joann Muller says this is part of a broader agenda that calls for widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
Biden's move to freeze student loan repayments through September — and the suggestion he'll swiftly place consumer champion Rohit Chopra in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — puts lenders on notice that their actions will be scrutinized.
Big cities rejoice at Biden's actions on immigration, Jennifer A. Kingson tells me: Revoking Trump's executive order that excluded undocumented immigrants from the census and congressional apportionment has huge implications for the nation's big urban centers, which fear that a bungled and incomplete census could lead to a massive loss of federal representation.
Tech companies applauded the president's action on DACA, as well as his rescission of an executive order that limited diversity training at companies that do business with the federal government, Ina Fried reports from S.F.
Vice-President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff watch fireworks in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Photo: Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.