BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION CAN DO A LOT WITH EXECUTIVE ACTIONS Part 2

There are literally hundreds of important executive actions that the Biden-Harris Administration could take on day one (or shortly thereafter) that are well within its existing authority. The American Prospect magazine and the Biden-Sanders unity taskforce (which was created at the end of the Democratic primaries last summer) have identified 277 executive actions that it could take. All of them are policies that have broad support within the Democratic Party. Many of them simply more fully implement or better enforce current laws. They would take important steps toward addressing important problems. [1] [2]

In summary, the Biden-Harris Administration could, without having to wait for Congress to act:

• Revamp many aspects of our immigration system (specific examples were in my previous post),
• Address climate change along with energy and environmental issues (see my previous post),
• Improve our education system and reduce the burden of student debt (see my previous post),
• Make our tax system and economy fairer (see specific examples below),
• Make important reforms in the criminal justice system (see below),
• Expand access to health care and lower drug prices (see below), and
• Strengthen the safety net by expanding unemployment benefits as well as housing and food assistance (see below).

Specific executive actions could include:

• Change economic and tax policies
  • Require federal contractors to pay a $15 minimum wage and not to oppose unionization of their workers, not to move jobs overseas, and not to have violated labor laws
  • Enforce antitrust laws and broaden antitrust criteria to include factors other than hypothetical consumer cost savings
  • Strengthen the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and regulation of the financial industry, especially payday lenders and the vulture capitalists of private equity
  • Ensure strong and binding labor, environmental, and human rights standards in every trade agreement
  • Direct the National Labor Relations Board to make unionization easier and to penalize companies that don’t bargain in good faith with their workers
  • Enforce existing tax laws to reduce tax avoidance and close tax loopholes, including ones created under the 2017 tax cut and especially those for multi-national corporations
  • Re-prioritize and expand IRS tax law enforcement with a focus on high-income individuals and large corporations instead of on low-income individuals [3]
  • Roll back policies that gutted fair lending and fair housing protections
  • Restore the requirement for net neutrality by Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
  • Catalyze the creation of public banking by initiating banking and financial services through the U.S. Postal Service
  • Ban arbitration clauses in consumer and employment contracts that prohibit aggrieved parties from suing in court
  • Direct government procurement of goods and services to prioritize purchasing from small businesses and those owned by people of color, women, and veterans
  • Expand job training programs particularly for green and environmental jobs, as well as for formerly incarcerated persons
• Reform the criminal justice system
  • Rescind the policy directing prosecutors to pursue the harshest criminal penalties possible
  • Stop executions of federal prison inmates
  • Withhold funds from states that use cash bail
  • Reduce criminal penalties for drug possession and increase availability and use of treatment instead of incarceration for drug crimes
  • Investigate racial discrimination by police departments, prosecutors, and others in the criminal justice system
  • Enforce the requirement that police departments capture and report data on use of force
  • Establish national standards on police use of force and create a national police review commission to provide oversight and make recommendations to local departments
  • Empower the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to aggressively fight racial discrimination within the federal government and in all federal policies
  • Nominate judges with backgrounds as public defenders, legal aid attorneys, and civil rights lawyers
  • Prosecute white collar crimes from illegal polluting to money laundering
  • Prosecute employers who violate wage and labor laws
  • Launch a federal restorative justice program
• Improve health and health care
  • Re-join the World Health Organization
  • Allow new enrollments in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (aka Obama Care) outside of the normal enrollment period due to COVID-19
  • Direct Medicare to reduce excessive prices and price increases for drugs
  • Issue and enforce strong workplace safety standards related to infectious diseases
  • Commit to study gun violence as a public health issue
  • Enforce the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
• Address other issues
  • Reestablish the White House’s pandemic response unit
  • End the work requirement for receiving food stamps
  • Change the definition of poverty and the eligibility for government assistance programs based on it
  • Make housing subsidy vouchers an entitlement to all those who qualify
  • Direct the Federal Communication Commission to use its Lifeline program to offer subsidies for high-speed internet access to low-income households
  • Strengthen enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Once President Biden and Vice President Harris have been inaugurated, I urge you to contact them and encourage them to act boldly using executive orders to improve racial and social justice as well as the economic well-being of every working American. Taking these bold policy actions will go a long way toward restoring the public’s faith in government and their belief that government can and is working for their benefit and not just for the benefit of big businesses and the wealthy. This is essential to rebuilding our economy, strengthening our society, and unifying our country by showing that the Biden-Harris Administration and the federal government are actively working to advance the principles and ideals of our democracy, namely liberty, justice, and equal opportunity for all.

[1]      Moran, M., 7/28/20, “The 277 policies for which Biden need not ask permission,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda/277-policies-biden-need-not-ask-permission/)

[2]      Dayen, D., Fall 2019, “The day one agenda” and related articles, The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda)

[3]      Wamhoff, S. & Gardner, M., 12/16/20, “The day one agenda for corporate taxes,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda/day-one-agenda-for-corporate-taxes/)