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President Biden entered office on January 20, 2021, without the usual parades, inaugural balls, and so forth that are the hallmarks of the establishment of a new administration. Typically only a few Executive Orders are issued in the early days while the Administration gets its sea legs and focuses on the confirmation and appointment of its key members. However, the first day, and subsequent days, of this new administration have been anything but usual.

President Biden signed so many Executive Orders that he is reported to have broken the record for most Executive Orders issued on the first day and during the ensuing week. By all indications, the President is not done issuing Executive Orders in the days ahead, so stay tuned as this is a significant development on how things are being and will be done to promote change and implement policy. The Executive Orders issued so far cover a variety of topics. Some seek to roll back changes that were implemented in the prior Trump Administration and others seek to implement new policies. The list of Executive Orders rolled out in President Biden’s first week in office includes:

  • Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government to Provide a Unified and Effective Response to Combat COVID-19 and to Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on the Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identify or Sexual Orientation (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel (January 20, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Improving and Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19 (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on a Sustainable Public Health Supply Chain (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats (January 21, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Economic Relief Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce (January 22, 2021)
  • Executive Order Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform (January 25, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers (January 25, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities (January 26, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Racial Equity (January 26, 2021)
  • Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (January 27, 2021)
  • Executive Order on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (January 27, 2021)

In addition to Executive Orders, the President has also issued Executive Actions, such as those to “Deliver Relief for Families Across America Amid Converging Crises” (January 20, 2021), as well as proclamations, directives, memorandum, and more.

The actual impact of these various Executive Orders and other actions needs to be closely analyzed. It is clear that these actions are an attempt to take swift steps to implement change. We can expect that rulemaking, to implement these orders, directives, memoranda, and actions will be forthcoming so stay tuned. As the weeks ensue, we will endeavor to identify what these pronouncements will mean for you as a government contractor, starting with an article this week on the President’s Executive Order on Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers.

If you have questions about this blog, or other government contracts matters, contact the author or your Stinson counsel.