Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden To Sign Day One Orders Shifting US Virus Fight
The Washington Post: Biden To Sign Day One Executive Order To Shift Coronavirus-Fighting Strategy
President-elect Joe Biden plans to take his first steps Wednesday to demonstrate a new strategy to fight the coronavirus, signing executive orders to require masks on federal property, renew emphasis on biodefense and reengage with other nations trying to conquer the global health crisis. These orders, which advisers say Biden will sign from the Oval Office in the afternoon after his swearing-in, follow through on commitments he made either during his campaign or after he won the November election. (Goldstein and Stanley-Becker, 1/20)
AP: On Day One, Biden To Undo Trump Policies On Climate, Virus
In his first hours as president, Joe Biden will aim to strike at the heart of President Donald Trump’s policy legacy, signing a series of executive actions that reverse his predecessor’s orders on immigration, climate change and handling of the pandemic. Biden on Wednesday will end construction on Trump’s border wall, end the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization, and revoke the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, aides said Tuesday. The new president will sign the orders almost immediately after taking the oath of office at the Capitol, pivoting quickly from his pared-down inauguration ceremony to enacting his agenda. (Miller, 1/20)
AP: Facing Crush Of Crises, Biden Will Take Helm As President
Joe Biden swears the oath of office at noon Wednesday to become the 46th president of the United States, taking the helm of a deeply divided nation and inheriting a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors. The very ceremony in which presidential power is transferred, a hallowed American democratic tradition, will serve as a jarring reminder of the challenges Biden faces: The inauguration unfolds at a U.S. Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago, encircled by security forces evocative of those in a war zone, and devoid of crowds because of the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. (Lemire, 1/20)
AP: Biden Charts New US Direction, Promises Many Trump Reversals
Stop. Stabilize. Then move — but in a vastly different direction. President-elect Joe Biden is pledging a new path for the nation after Donald Trump’s four years in office. That starts with confronting a pandemic that has killed 400,000 Americans and extends to sweeping plans on health care, education, immigration and more. The 78-year-old Democrat has pledged immediate executive actions that would reverse Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement and rescind the outgoing president’s ban on immigration from certain Muslim nations. (Barrow, 1/20)
More on Biden's planned pandemic actions —
Stat: The 9 Biggest Challenges Biden Will Face On Covid-19, From Today On
No president wants a federal emergency. No one in that role is waiting to call in FEMA reservists or deploy the National Guard. But on Wednesday, after Joe Biden raises his right hand and swears his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution, that’s exactly the plan. Their mission: to set up a slew of new vaccination clinics. (Florko, Facher, Cohrs, Joseph and Ross, 1/20)
KHN: Biden’s Covid Challenge: 100 Million Vaccinations In The First 100 Days. It Won’t Be Easy.
It’s in the nature of presidential candidates and new presidents to promise big things. Just months after his 1961 inauguration, President John F. Kennedy vowed to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade. That pledge was kept, but many others haven’t been, such as candidate Bill Clinton’s promise to provide universal health care and presidential hopeful George H.W. Bush’s guarantee of no new taxes. Now, during a once-in-a-century pandemic, incoming President Joe Biden has promised to provide 100 million covid-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. (Knight, 1/20)
The Hill: Biden Administration To Enforce Strict COVID-19 Guidelines For White House Staff: Report
The incoming Biden administration is planning on enforcing far stricter guidelines to protect against the spread of COVID-19 in the White House than its predecessor, according to new guidance sent to staffers Tuesday. The guidelines, reported by Axios, say that staffers will be required to take daily coronavirus tests and wear N95 face masks at all times. (Axelrod, 1/19)
The Hill: Senate Democrats Call On Biden To Immediately Invoke Defense Production Act
Senate Democrats called on President-elect Joe Biden Tuesday to immediately invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to boost production and stockpiling of testing supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical equipment. Twenty-six senators, led by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), wrote a letter to Biden asking him to fully utilize the DPA just one day before he is sworn into office. (Gangitano, 1/19)
First on his plate: Covid guidelines, WHO membership, climate rules and immigration —
The Hill: Slew Of Biden Orders On COVID To Include Resuming WHO Membership
President-elect Joe Biden is slated to issue numerous executive orders on his first day in office aimed at improving the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, including one that will have the country resume its membership in the World Health Organization (WHO). “[Today] starts a new day, a new different approach to managing the country's response to the coronavirus crisis,” said Jeff Zients, coordinator of Biden’s COVID-19 response, in a press call with reporters. (Hellmann, 1/20)
The Hill: Biden Will Join WHO-Backed Vaccine Initiative
Secretary of State designee Antony Blinken said President-elect Joe Biden intends to join Covax, the World Health Organization-led effort to develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine to low- and middle-income countries. Biden previously had not officially committed to participating in the initiative. (Weixel, 1/19)
The Washington Post: What Biden’s Repeal Of The ‘Global Gag Rule’ Means For International Access To Abortion Funding
In 2019, Melvine Ouyo, a health policy expert and reproductive rights activist, attended a conference in her city of Nairobi, where antiabortion campaigners were protesting the event. Shortly after that, Ouyo said, she met a pregnant 14-year old girl who had no information about how she could access a safe abortion if she chose. Ouyo said she believes that if the Trump administration’s “global gag rule” — a U.S. foreign aid policy that restricts funding for abortion-related services — had not been in place, the campaigners wouldn’t have had such a prominent platform, and the girl would have had more information about her reproductive health options. (Jamal, 1/19)
AP: Biden's First Act: Orders On Pandemic, Climate, Immigration
In his first official acts as president, Joe Biden is signing executives orders on a broad range of issues, from the coronavirus pandemic to climate change and immigration, to fulfill campaign promises. Highlights of actions Biden is taking Wednesday. (1/20)
