After weeks of debate over the election results, rioting, and protesting on both sides, former President Donald Trump has finally been replaced.  Joe Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20 as the 46th President of the United States. So what has Joe Biden done in his first couple of weeks exactly? 

As of February,  Biden has passed and signed over 25 orders so far beating the record over any president in US history. Biden’s early executive actions range in their focus, touching on immigration, racial justice, transgender rights, coronavirus, climate change, and health. There’s the reversal of Trump’s decision to remove the US from the World Health Organization, a directive to preserve the DACA program, and a slew of orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis. At least 13 executive orders and memos directly undo work from the previous administration.

A few of the spotlights of his current orders are:

• Require masks on federal property
• Rejoin the WHO (World Health Organization)
• Freeze student debt collection
• Rejoin the Paris climate accords
• Revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline
• Halt the Construction on the US – Mexican Border Wall
• Reverse the transgender ban from the US military

A lot of people can see this as a great thing for our country while others might not think the same. Every policy has its ups and downs. For example, the revoking of the pipeline construction and reduction of other ways of getting resources, limits our independence on resources and the United States becomes more dependent on other nations as well as thousands of American jobs will be lost from it. Biden bringing the US back into the WHO and Paris Climate Accord has received much criticism from the GOP, predicting that it will bring with it a heavy loss of American jobs in the US and a decrease in the economy. His hands-off approach with China is also under scrutiny. Which is predicted to overtake the United State’s position as world leader by 2028, according to Reuters. 

There is also much in question about his promises and if he will fulfill those promises to the 74 million that voted for him. This includes police issues and the COVID-19 relief bill/vaccine distribution. Biden laid out his plans for a federal COVID-19 strategy and declared it “a wartime undertaking.”  He issued an immense amount of virus-related executive orders, signaling the pandemic as his first priority and laying the groundwork of a national approach markedly “different” from former President Donald Trump. Though Biden acknowledged it would take “months” for his administration to get the virus under control, experts said the rest of his agenda hinges on whether he’ll be able to deliver on his COVID-19 strategy. His biggest promise is delivering 100 million vaccines COVID-19 vaccines within his first 100 days of office.

It is important that young adults keep themselves well informed on politics. Look at information critically and don’t believe everything that is shown on the internet and mainstream media.