President Joe Biden will sign a slate of executive orders and presidential memorandums Tuesday addressing racial “equity,” as previously promised.
In particular, two items will undo highly touted actions taken by former President Donald Trump that rolled back prior Obama administration initiatives. One involves the demilitarization of local police forces while the other reinstates a fair housing rule at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (RELATED: Biden’s Economic Plan For ‘Advancing Racial Equity’ Includes Reforming 2 Of The Trump Administration’s Hallmark Actions)
“America has never lived up to its founding promise of equality for all, but we’ve never stopped trying,” Biden tweeted Tuesday morning ahead of the signing ceremony. “Today, I’ll take action to advance racial equity and push us closer to that more perfect union we’ve always strived to be.”
America has never lived up to its founding promise of equality for all, but we’ve never stopped trying. Today, I’ll take action to advance racial equity and push us closer to that more perfect union we’ve always strived to be.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 26, 2021
The first action, which CNN reported Tuesday morning will reinstate an order signed in 2015 by former President Barack Obama, will prevent federal agencies from supplying local police forces with military-grade equipment. Trump revoked the order in 2017 shortly after being sworn into office, an action that gained new public scrutiny in the wake of the death of George Floyd and other black Americans in the summer of 2020. Biden had vowed to reinstate the Obama-era rule throughout his 2020 campaign.
The second aforementioned action will reinstate HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which Trump and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson formally ended in 2020. The Trump administration claimed at the time the rule, designed to promote housing investments in low income communities, provided too high a regulatory threshold for local municipalities and indirectly funneled federal funds into wealthier neighborhoods. Again, Biden immediately vowed to reinstate the rule, and according to CBS, his action is expected to go “further” than the Obama-era variant.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 25: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) looks on as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks after signing an executive order related to American manufacturing in the South Court Auditorium of the White House complex on January 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Biden’s Tuesday orders are also expected to take steps toward eliminating private prisons, address discrimination against Asian Americans and create a federal commission to promote policing reform, all campaign promises.
The racial equity plan Biden released during the campaign additionally vowed to reform the Opportunity Zones often touted by Trump and Senate Republicans, invest hundreds of billions into minority-owned small businesses and institute a $15,000 tax credit for first-time minority home buyers.
The president has signed a record number of executive orders in his first week in office, many of which directly overturned Trump administration policies, including a ban on transgender Americans serving in the military.
The White House did not respond to Daily Caller’s inquiries on the subject by press time.