President-elect Biden has already committed to reentering the Paris Climate Accord, reinstating DACA, and ending the travel ban against certain Muslim countries. But there are lots of big changes that a Biden-Harris administration can achieve on day one:
1. Biden-Harris can cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt, giving tens of millions of Americans an immediate financial boost and helping to close the racial wealth gap. This is the single most effective executive action available for a massive economic stimulus.
2. Biden-Harris can lower drug prices for millions by producing key drugs like insulin, naloxone, hepatitis C drugs, and EpiPens at low costs using the federal government's existing authority to bypass patents for pressing public health needs.
3. Biden-Harris can issue enforceable OSHA health and safety standards for COVID-19 – so giant companies don't escape accountability for workplace conditions that expose workers to serious harm and even death.
4. Biden-Harris can raise the minimum wage for all federal contractors to $15 an hour.
5. Biden-Harris can build on their commitment to establish a Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force by collecting and reporting COVID-19 data and reviewing racial disparities in pandemic funding.
6. Biden-Harris can declare the climate crisis a national emergency to start marshaling resources toward addressing this challenge.
7. Biden-Harris can restore balance and competition by prioritizing strong anti-monopoly protections and enforcement.
8. Biden-Harris can issue the strongest ethics and anti-corruption standards for executive branch personnel ever to padlock the revolving door between jobs in government and industry, reduce the influence of lobbyists, and eliminate conflicts of interest.
Biden-Harris ran on the most progressive economic and racial justice platform of any general election nominee ever. Now isn't the time to hand over the keys to corporate lobbyists. Read my op-ed on why Dems need to take bold steps for the American people. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/11/elizabeth-warren-biden-harris-first-day