WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has a lot of plans for his first day as president, and some of it can actually happen in a single day — a fair amount of which he can set in motion right away even though Democrats have so far fallen short of capturing the Senate.
Biden has promised to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, reverse President Donald Trump's rollbacks of public health and environmental rules and call allies worldwide to reassure them, all on his first day in the White House. Before that day is done, he says he will put in place a national strategy for containing the coronavirus pandemic, rejoin the World Health Organization, end the ban on immigration from several predominantly Muslim nations and expand rights for Latin American asylum seekers.
Biden has also promised swift action on housing, labor, gun control, LGBTQ rights and government reform.
While some of those plans can be carried out on Day One, several other moves will run into familiar obstacles in the regulatory process that could drag out completion for months. And some of the items require congressional action, which can't happen in a day and will grow increasingly unlikely if Republicans maintain control of the Senate as appears likely.
Control of the Senate hinges on a pair of run-off elections in Georgia in January.
"Announcements and executive orders that don't require acts of Congress, sending positive messages to foreign leaders and government employees, those are easy to do and he can do them on Day One," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic consultant and longtime adviser to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. "But the biggest thing he can do is to immediately change the tone: This is not going to be about Twitter storms or outlandish ideas, but being very focused on practical things."
Here's a look at Biden's plans for his first day in office and how they may affect his presidency and the country over time:
