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Biden could make flexible or remote working the norm for more federal employees post-pandemic, according to a report

• The White House may expand remote working for federal employees post-pandemic, The Washington Post reported.
• Biden is likely to offer many federal employees a hybrid model, per The Post. An official announcement is set for June.
• Before the pandemic, just 3% of federal employees worked permanently from home.

The White House is considering making flexible working the norm for more federal employees after the pandemic, according to a report by The Washington Post .

The Biden administration is likely to change flexible working rules permanently so that more people can mix working from home with some time in the office, per the report.

President Donald Trump rolled back some remote-working policies introduced by Barack Obama.

Before the pandemic, only 3% of the 2.1 million federal employees worked from home every day. This grew to 59% at the peak of the pandemic, according to a report by the Office of Personnel Management , and federal employees are increasingly asking for clarity on long-term plans, per The Post.

The administration is set to release information on which staff can work from home, and for how long, in June.

Read more:  Google's push to bring employees back to offices in September is frustrating some employees who say they'll quit if they can't be remote forever

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Department of Agriculture spokesperson Matt Herrick told The Post that requests to permanently work from home were "number one question employees ask."

Long-term, the department will allow staff to work from home for up to four days a week and with more flexible schedules, the publication reported.

"This will allow us to recruit and retain the absolute best talent," Herrick said.

Susan Gough, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department, told The Post that around 11% of civilian and active-duty Pentagon employees sometimes worked from home pre-pandemic. This rose to 75% at one point in 2020, she said.

"Collectively, the federal government has an opportunity for a 'leapfrog' moment to shape the future of work," she said.

Sources told The Post that agencies were surveying staff about their working preferences. One option is letting people work from different states while still managing a team based in Washington, DC, per The Post.

There is growing momentum for companies to let employees  work from home permanently .

Facebook, Twitter ,  Salesforce , and  Ford have said their employees can work remotely post-pandemic, and some companies are canceling office leases . Coinbase is even scrapping its former San Francisco headquarters in favor of a decentralized and remote model.

But some companies are hesitant to let staff work from home permanently. Google is opening new offices in Houston and Portland and has resisted going fully remote . A report by the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that working from home means longer hours, fewer sick days, and fewer bonuses .

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President Biden wants to give homebuyers a $10,000 tax credit. Here's who would qualify.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Alain Sherter

Updated on: March 11, 2024 / 11:39 AM EDT / CBS News

Buying a home has become increasingly out of reach for Americans, who are grappling with a double whammy of high interest rates and surging home values. In his State of the Union address on Thursday, President Joe Biden proposed a new tax credit that would provide $10,000 to first-time home buyers. 

Biden is also proposing a separate $10,000 tax credit for current homeowners who sell their "starter home" in order to jump into a bigger house. That could help melt a real estate market in which homeowners who locked in low mortgage rates during the pandemic and are hesitant to move because they now face significantly higher mortgage rates. 

Biden's proposals — which must be enacted by Congress — were cheered by advocates of affordable housing, with National Housing Council CEO David M. Dworkin calling it "the most consequential State of the Union address on housing in more than 50 years." On a practical level, the tax credits would lower the cost of purchasing a home, an issue that affects Americans of all ages and stripes.

"Housing affordability has become a key issue for Americans spanning all demographics and political divides, and housing policy has mostly remained steady in recent congressional budgets," noted Moody's associate economist Nick Luettke in a report touching on Biden's efforts.

Here's what to know about the proposals. 

What are Biden's homebuying tax credits?

Biden is proposing two tax credits aimed at helping Americans buy homes at a time when housing affordability is near an all-time low .

Currently, Americans must earn a six-figure salary to comfortably buy a typical home, compared with $59,000 just four years ago. Home prices have surged about 27% since the start of the pandemic, while mortgage rates have spiked, making it costlier to purchase.

To help offset the cost of buying a home, Biden is proposing the following tax credits:

• A first-time homebuyer tax credit of $10,000
• A one-year tax credit of up to $10,000 to current homeowners who sell their starter homes

The tax credits are viewed as a bridge to help people afford a home while mortgage rates are high. As a result, they wouldn't be permanent, but instead would be offered for homebuyers who purchase properties in 2024 or 2025, a senior Biden administration official told CBS MoneyWatch.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut its key interest rate later this year, which would ease the cost of borrowing for all types of loans, from mortgages to credit cards.

Who would qualify for the tax credits?

First-time homebuyers would qualify for an annual tax credit of $5,000 per year for two years, for a total of $10,000.

The one-year tax credit for current homeowners would be available to people who own starter homes, defined as homes below the median home price in their county. The owners would have to sell to another owner-occupant, rather than an investor, according to the White House. 

Both tax credits are geared toward "middle-class families," with the Biden administration official telling CBS MoneyWatch that the credits would be limited to households earning less than $200,000.

How would the tax credits impact the housing market?

The Biden administration said the tax credits would help unfreeze the real estate market and make homebuying more affordable for millions. 

The first-time buyer tax credit could help 3.5 million middle-class families buy their first home, with the tax credit providing an equivalent reduction of about 1.5 percentage point for two years on the median-priced home, the White House said in a statement. The homeowner tax credit would help about 3 million families buy a bigger home, it added.

"Many homeowners have lower rates on their mortgages than current rates," the White House said. "This 'lock-in' effect makes homeowners more reluctant to sell and give up that low rate, even in circumstances where their current homes no longer fit their household needs."

When would these tax credits go into effect?

That's unclear, because Congress would need to pass legislation to change the tax code — an uphill climb as Democrats and Republicans spar ahead of the November election. 

Passing tax credits could be "a particularly arduous task in an election year – though their inclusion in the address underscores the salience of the skyrocketing cost of housing for Americans nationwide," noted Luettke of Moody's. 

The White House wants to see Congress pass legislation to enact the tax credits this year, which would allow homebuyers and homeowners to receive the tax credits starting in the 2024 tax year. Homebuyers would receive the credit for a two-year period that they could claim on their tax returns starting with either the 2024 or 2025 tax year, the Biden official said.

Are there tax credits for building new homes?

Yes, Biden also proposed several new efforts to fund the construction of affordable homes and rental units. That includes a new Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which would provide an incentive to build or renovate so-called "starter homes," or properties geared for first-time homebuyers. 

The White House said the plan would lead to the construction of 2 million new units. 

Such proposals to build new homes and rental units may be more effective in dealing with the housing crisis than tax credits for homebuyers, some experts said. Because of underbuilding during the past decade, there is a severe  undersupply of housing across the U.S.

"Ultimately, the president's most substantial comments made about housing were those related to new construction," said LendingTree chief economist Jacob Channel in an email. "High home prices in the United States are largely a function of the fact that we simply do not have enough housing supply to meet demand and bring prices down."

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Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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Press Releases

News from EPI › President Biden has advanced worker rights in the first 18 months of his administration, but there’s much more to do : New EPI report assesses the Biden administration’s record for workers

Press Releases • August 25, 2022

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A new EPI report lays out the major actions Biden and Democrats have taken to protect and support workers in the first 18 months of the Biden administration—including passing a major fiscal stimulus package to address the COVID-19 pandemic and appointing pro-worker leaders to key federal positions.

At the beginning of President Biden’s term, of the 22 million jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic recession, 60% had yet to be restored and the recovery had stalled. President Biden took office faced with the enormous task of restarting the recovery and halting, reversing, and withdrawing Trump’s pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda.

In the last year and a half, Biden has:

• Passed comprehensive fiscal stimulus to address the coronavirus pandemic
• Passed critical and historic infrastructure and climate investments
• Raised the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15/hour 
• Restored NLRB’s purpose of protecting workers and advancing collective bargaining rights
• Nominated pro-worker, pro–racial economic justice individuals to key positions
• Nominated a Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, with a history of protecting workers’ rights
• Withdrew Trump-era executive orders and rules that would have curtailed efforts to combat federal workplace discrimination and undermined federal workers’ rights to unionize

“These actions are incredibly important for workers, but they are just a start. The freedom to form a union, and a strong national wage floor, are foundational and are two of the most powerful tools Congress can grant workers to advance their rights. Not until these measures are in place can we begin to make real progress toward reducing racial and gender wage gaps and addressing economic inequality overall,” said Margaret Poydock, Policy Analyst and Government Affairs Specialist at EPI.

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President Biden holds news conference to mark one year in office

By Maureen Chowdhury, Meg Wagner , Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani , Fernando Alfonso III and Mike Hayes, CNN

Key takeaways from Biden's remarks reflecting on his first year in office

President Biden marked his first year in office with an address and news conference from the White House.

Biden highlighted his administration's accomplishments as well as the challenges that lie ahead as many priorities in his agenda remain stalled, including the Build Back Better Act and voting rights legislation.

The President said he thinks his report card going into the midterms is "pretty good," and is confident his administration will be able to sign into law "good chunks" of his agenda.

Biden took questions from reporters and spoke for more than 90 minutes.

Here are the key take aways:

• Build Back Better Act : Biden signaled he's willing to break up the Build Back Better Act and pass sections of the law separately. “I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now, come back and fight for the rest later,” the President said. The economic package was stalled last month, when a deal with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin could not be reached.
• Voting rights : The President admitted that the current voting rights legislation will likely not pass. He added that it will be "difficult" to have fair elections if voting rights laws aren't passed. "It's going to be difficult. I make no bones about that, it's going to be difficult, but we're not there yet. We've not run out of options yet and we'll see how this moves," he said. The Senate is scheduled to vote on procedures later tonight in an effort to clear a path to pass voting rights legislation, but those efforts are expected to fail.
• Russia and Ukraine : During his news conference, Biden suggested a "minor incursion" by Russia would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.
• Inflation : Biden acknowledged Americans are struggling with the high cost of living and threw his weight behind the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation. 
• Pandemic : The President admitted that more should have been done in terms of Covid-19 testing availability. "Look, we're also increasing testing. Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes. But we're doing more now," he said.

White House clarifies Biden's comments on Russia

From CNN's Kevin Liptak

The White House has issued a high-level clarification following President Biden's remarks suggesting potential disunity within NATO over how to respond in the event of a "minor incursion" by Russia into Ukraine.

"President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies," said press secretary Jen Psaki in a statement.

Psaki continued by noting that the president "knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics."

Additionally, the statement continued with Psaki adding that Biden "affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response."

Earlier Wednesday: As part of a live press conference marking his first full year in office, Biden intimated that Western nations may not be fully aligned on how to react should Russia commit a lesser violation. 

"It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do," Biden told reporters at an East Room news conference. "But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine."

Biden says it's now clear to him that he is the President, not a "President-senator" 

From CNN's Sam Fossum

President Biden said one thing that has been made clear to him is the different role he now plays as President, opposed to his decades of service in the US Senate. 

"One of the things that I do think that has been made clear to me, speaking of polling, is the public doesn't want me to be the President-senator. They want me to be the President, and let senators be senators," Biden said during a news conference to mark his first year in office. 

"And so, I've made many mistakes I'm sure, if I've made a mistake, I'm used to negotiating to get things done. And I've been, in the past, relatively successful at it in the United States Senate, even as vice president. But I think that role as president is a different role," he added. 

Biden says he's "unsure" the child tax credit can pass

From CNN's Betsy Klein

President Biden said Wednesday that he was unsure that the child tax credit could pass in a scaled-back version of his Build Back Better agenda, a key provision Democrats have sought to extend that lacks support from moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. 

Earlier in the news conference, Biden expressed openness to splitting the Build Back Better bill into smaller pieces or “big chunks” that could pass, but notably did not mention the child tax credit .

When asked whether that would have to wait, Biden said it was one of two major priorities he campaigned on that he was unsure he could get in a scaled-back package.

“There's two really big components that I feel strongly about that I'm not sure I can get in the package. One is the child care tax credit. The other is help for the cost of community colleges. They are massive things that I have run on and I care a great deal about,” he said. 

Some context: Eligible American families received monthly payments of up to $300 per child from July 2021 until they expired in December 2021.

Manchin had expressed opposition to the provision, citing the cost of the sweeping bill to expand the social safety net. 

Biden defends not prioritizing voting rights legislation earlier

President Biden defended his record on voting rights amid criticism that he did not prioritize election reform earlier in his administration.

“I started on the voting right issues long, long ago," Biden said at a news conference at the White House to mark his first year in office. "That's what got me involved with politics in the first place.”

“I'm sure there are those who are saying that, why didn't Biden push [the] John Lewis bill as hard as he pushed it the last month,” Biden said. “Why didn't he push it six months ago as hard as he did now? The fact is that there is – there's a timing that is not of one's own choice. It's dictated by events happening in country and around the world as to what the focus is,” he added.

Biden went on to say that he hasn't left Washington enough in the last few months to promote his agenda to the American people.

"I think that's a problem that is my own making, by not communicating as much as I should have," he said.

Ukraine shocked at Biden "green light to Putin" incursion 

From CNN’s Matthew Chance

A Ukrainian official told CNN’s Matthew Chance he is “shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion” and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions but an invasion would. 

“This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,” the official added.

During his news conference marking one year in office, Biden suggested a "minor incursion" by Russia would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.

The Ukrainian official added he’d never heard any nuance like this from the US administration before. 

“Kyiv is stunned,” he added, referring to the Ukrainian government.

Biden outlines what he hopes to do differently in 2022, including soliciting more outside advice 

President Biden says he wants to pierce the White House bubble during his second year in office.

He told CNN during the news conference that after containing a series of crises, he wants to solicit more outside advice and speak to more people outside the building.

"I'm satisfied with the team," Biden said, but went on to list three things he hopes to do differently in 2022.

"Number one, out of this place more often," he said. "I'm going to go out and talk to the public. I'm going to do public fora. I'm going to interface with them. I'm going to make the case of what we've already done, why it's important and what we'll do, what will happen if they support what else I want to do."

Biden has traveled less often than his predecessors due to being restrained by the pandemic. He has visited comparatively fewer states and has only been outside the US twice.

Biden said his second change would be consulting a wider range of advice from people outside the White House.

"I am bringing in more and more now that I have time," he said, noting he works as much as 14 hours a day. "Now that certain big chunks have been put in place and we know the direction, I'm also going to be out there seeking the more advice of experts outside from academia to editorial writers to think tanks, and I'm bringing them in, just like I did early on bringing in presidential historians to get their perspective on what we should be doing. Seeking more input. More information. More constructive criticism about what I should and shouldn't be doing."

Biden said his third change would be engaging more with Democrats during the midterm elections.

"I'm going to be deeply involved in these off-year elections," he said. "We're going to be raising a lot of money. We're going to be out there making sure that we're helping all those candidates and scores of them already asked me to come in and campaign with them to go out and make the case in plain simple language as to what it is we have done, what we want to do and why we think it's important."

As Biden speaks, Sen. Joe Manchin slams Democrats' push to gut filibuster

As President Biden held a news conference to tout his administration's achievements during his first year in office, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin criticized his party over their push to end the filibuster in order to advance legislation on voting rights.

In remarks on the Senate floor, Manchin said he was speaking out against "a great misleading of the American people."

"Allowing one party to exert complete control in the Senate with only a simple majority will only pour fuel on the fire of political whiplash and dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart," Manchin said. "You don't have to look very far to see how we're tearing ourselves apart. Every part of this country, people are divided now." 

The West Virginia Democrat has repeatedly said he will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster, which sets a 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation, creating an obstacle for his party as Senate Democrats push for a rules change.

At the same time, Biden was asked about voting rights, specifically about Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney's recent remarks, attacking the White House for keeping Republicans out of discussions over election reform.

"The fact is that I do think that Mitt is a serious guy," Biden said. "I think we can get things done. I predict that we'll get something done on the electoral reform side of this."

He continued, "But rather judge what we'll get done and not get done, all I can say is I'll continue to make the case why it's so important to not turn electoral process over to political persons set up to change the outcome of elections."

Some background: The Senate is on track to hold a vote Wednesday evening to attempt to break a GOP filibuster on voting legislation that combines key provisions of two bills: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Debate for the legislative package is under way Wednesday afternoon, and a vote is expected around 6:30 p.m. ET.

Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal: There is no way to get out after 20 years easily

President Biden defended the US withdrawal from Afghanistan nearly five months later.

"Raise your hand if you think anyone was going to be able to unify Afghanistan under one single government? It's been the graveyard of empires for a solid reason: It is not susceptible to unity," Biden said during today's news conference.

Citing the weekly spending of nearly one billion dollars to keep American forces in the state, Biden noted what he called no possibility at a peaceful resolution.

"The question was, do I continue to spend that much money per week in the state of Afghanistan knowing that the idea that being able to succeed, other than sending more body bags back home, is highly, highly unusual," he said.

"There is no way to get out of Afghanistan after 20 years easily. Not possible, no matter when you did it. And I make no apologies for what I did," the President said.

Biden did, however, express empathy for the lives lost amid the withdrawal.

"I have a great concern for the women and men who were blown up on the line at the airport by a terrorist attack against them," he said.

Placing blame on previous administrations, Biden continued to defend the late August operation.

"Had we not gotten out, the acknowledgment is we'd be putting a lot more forces in ... do I feel badly [about] what's happening as a consequence of the incompetence of the Taliban? Yes, I do," Biden said, adding that there are "a whole range of things around the world, that we can't solve every problem. And so I don't view that as a competence issue."

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Here's the full list of Biden's executive actions so far

In his first days in office, President Joe Biden moved to dismantle a slew of Trump-era regulations and make sweeping measures to bolster the nation’s Covid-19 response .

The new president also ordered the establishment a variety of environmental protections and changes to immigration policy.

As he embarks on his first full work week as president, Biden is poised to continue scrapping a number of the Trump administration’s policies, including the controversial transgender military ban .

Here’s a round-up of the measures that the president has taken so far.

Memorandum freezing approval of rules passed in final days of Trump presidency

According to Biden’s memorandum , all new and pending rules passed in the last days of Trump’s tenure will be reviewed by department and agency heads.

Executive order rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change

Fulfilling one of his top campaign promises , Biden committed to putting the U.S. back in the Paris Agreement on climate change — an international pact aimed at curbing emissions that cause global warming. Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2017, citing costs to American taxpayers.

Executive order to promote racial equity

Biden ordered his government to conduct equity assessments of its agencies and reallocate resources to “advanc[e] equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.”

Proclamation ending ban on U.S. entry from majority-Muslim countries

Biden’s proclamation reversed Trump’s policy that barred entry to the U.S. for refugees and residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries and orders plans within 45 days for resuming visa processing.

Executive order requiring mask-wearing on federal property

Biden has mandated mask-wearing and social distancing on all federal properties. While the president lacks the authority to institute a nationwide mask mandate, the order also “encourage[s] masking across America.”

Executive order coordinating a government-wide Covid-19 response

With the U.S. surpassing 400,000 COVID-19 deaths earlier this month, Biden’s order created the position of Covid-19 response coordinator, who will advise the president and oversee the distribution of vaccines, tests and other supplies.

Executive order revising immigration enforcement policies

Revoking a Trump-era policy that cracked down on communities shielding undocumented immigrants from deportation, Biden vowed to “protect national and border security” and “address the humanitarian challenges at the southern border.”

Executive order undoing regulatory restrictions on federal agencies

Biden’s order scrapped a batch of Trump-era executive actions that restricted how federal agencies make regulatory changes, including one measure requiring agencies to discard two regulations for every one proposed.

Executive order incorporating undocumented immigrants into census

Undocumented immigrants will be counted in the national decennial population count, according to Biden’s order , which overturned Trump’s attempt to exclude them during the 2020 census.

Executive order refocusing on the climate crisis and canceling the Keystone XL permit

Alongside a variety of actions to “advance environmental justice,” Biden revoked the permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline — a 1,200-mile pipeline system projected to carry crude oil from Canada to the U.S. that cuts through Indigenous lands.

The measure also restored several national monuments whose footprints were reduced by Trump and paused oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Executive order banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation

In a move lauded by LGBTQ advocates , Biden’s order will extend federal nondiscrimination protections to members of the LGBTQ community, building off the landmark Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, last year to expand protections against discrimination based on sex in federal agencies to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as well.

Memorandum revamping regulatory review

In a memorandum , Biden directed the head of the Office of Budget and Management to oversee an effort to “modernize and improve” the regulatory review process.

Executive order mandating ethics pledge for government appointees

On the heels of Trump’s midnight bid to reverse ethics commitments for executive branch employees, Biden signed an order requiring all government appointees to sign an ethics pledge prohibiting the acceptance of gifts from registered lobbyists and lobbying for at least two years after exiting the government.

Proclamation pulling funds from border wall

Biden terminated the construction and funding of the wall at U.S. southern border — a key promise of the Trump administration that has drawn backlash for its environmental impacts and is being litigated at the Supreme Court for the allegedly improper use of funds .

Executive order pausing federal student loan payments

Biden requested an extension of the freeze on federal student loan payments, writing that “[t]oo many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families.”

Memorandum reinstating deferred enforced departure for Liberians

Biden’s memorandum blocked the deportation of Liberian refugees living in the U.S., reinstating the deferment of their enforced departure granted by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Memorandum strengthening Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Biden reaffirmed DACA, an Obama-era program that Trump had long sought to dismantle that shielded undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children from deportation.

Executive order promoting Covid-19 safety in domestic and international travel

In an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 through travel, Biden mandated mask-wearing on all forms of public transportation, including in airports, airplanes and buses.

Executive order expanding access to Covid-19 treatments

Biden’s order has directed the secretary of health to support research on Covid-19 treatments and increase support for critical care and long-term care facilities like nursing homes — which have been among the sites hit hardest by the pandemic .

Executive order promoting data-driven response to Covid-19

Another of Biden’s orders on the nation’s Covid-19 response directed all department and agency heads to “facilitate the gathering, sharing and publication of Covid-19-related data” in order to inform their decision-making and public understanding of the pandemic.

Memorandum supporting states’ use of National Guard in Covid-19 response

Biden’s memorandum directed the secretaries of defense and homeland security to support governors’ deployment of the National Guard in efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which will be fully funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Executive order strengthening public health supply chain

Biden’s order invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up supplies for the pandemic response and requested the heads of various departments to assess the nationwide availability of personal protective equipment and other resources needed to distribute Covid-19 tests and coronavirus vaccines, as well as to develop a strategy to manufacture supplies for “future pandemics and biological threats.”

Executive order establishing the Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force

In an effort to address social inequities exacerbated by the pandemic, Biden’s order created the Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force, which will provide recommendations on the allocation of resources and funding in light of “disparities in COVID-19 outcomes by race, ethnicity and other factors.”

Executive order supporting the reopening and continuing operation of schools

In consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education will develop guidance for elementary and secondary schools “in deciding whether and how to reopen, and how to remain open, for in-person learning; and in safely conducting in-person learning.”

Executive order promoting workplace safety amid the pandemic

Biden’s order directed the Department of Labor to revise and issue new guidance for employers to promote the health and safety of their workers, such as mask-wearing in the workplace.

Executive order establishing a Covid-19 pandemic testing board

Biden’s newly created pandemic testing board will coordinate national efforts to “promote Covid-19 diagnostic, screening and surveillance testing,” as well as facilitate the distribution of free Covid-19 tests to those without comprehensive health insurance.

Executive order expanding food assistance programs

Biden’s order aims to extend the 15% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and allow states to increase SNAP emergency allotments, as well as increase benefits under another aid program, the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer, which gives students money for food.

Executive order assisting veterans with debt

Biden’s order asked the Department of Veterans Affairs with considering a freeze on federal debt and overpayment collection from about 2 million veterans.

Executive order guaranteeing unemployment insurance for workers who refuse work due to Covid-19

Biden has requested that the Department of Labor consider clarifying its rules to establish that workers “have a federally guaranteed right to refuse employment that will jeopardize their health,” and that workers who do so will still qualify for unemployment insurance.

Executive order establishing "benefit delivery teams"

Biden’s order established “a network of benefit delivery teams,” which will coordinate with state and federal agencies to facilitate the distribution of federal aid amid the pandemic.

Executive order facilitating delivery of stimulus payments

Biden’s order requested the Treasury Department to consider taking “a series of actions to expand and improve delivery" of direct stimulus payments, including the creation of online tools for recipients to claim their checks.

Executive order to address Covid-19 economic relief

Biden’s order directed all government departments and agencies to “promptly identify actions they can take within existing authorities to address the current economic crisis resulting from the pandemic.”

Executive order empowering federal workers and contractors

Undoing Trump-era regulations that rolled back protections for federal employees, Biden revoked a variety of measures, including a rule that made it easier to hire and fire civil servants in policy-making positions.

The order also requested the Department of Labor to develop recommendations that all federal government employees receive a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

Executive order reversing transgender military ban

Biden repealed the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military and ordered the defense secretary to “immediately prohibit involuntary separations, discharges and denials of reenlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity or under circumstances relating to their gender identity.”

Proclamation reinstating Covid-19 travel restrictions

Biden reinstated Covid-19 travel restrictions affecting non-U.S. citizens traveling from Brazil and much of Europe, which Trump had scrapped days before his term ended. Additionally, the ban will bar most non-U.S. citizens from entry if they have recently been in South Africa, where a new strain of Covid-19 has been identified.

Executive order promoting 'Buy American' agenda

In an effort to bolster American manufacturing, Biden signed an executive order directing agencies to strengthen requirements about purchasing products and services from U.S. workers and businesses and to “close loopholes that allow companies to offshore production and jobs while still qualifying for domestic preferences.”

Executive order calling for evaluation of Trump’s housing policies

Biden directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development to “examine the effects of the previous Administration’s regulatory actions that undermined fair housing policies and laws” and use its findings to implement the Fair Housing Act’s standards as needed.

Executive order to end reliance on private prisons

In an effort to terminate the federal government’s use of privately owned detention facilities, the Attorney General has been directed not to renew Department of Justice contracts with private prisons.

Executive order reaffirming commitment to tribal sovereignty

Emphasizing the administration’s commitment to respecting the sovereignty of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, Biden’s order reaffirmed a Clinton-era policy mandating all department and agency heads regularly consult with tribal officials on policy matters that may affect them.

Executive order denouncing anti-Asian discrimination and xenophobia

In response to a surge in anti-Asian bias amid the coronavirus pandemic, Biden’s order urged the Department of Health and Human Services to consider issuing guidance on cultural competency and sensitivity toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as part of the nation’s Covid-19 response. Additionally, the order directed the attorney general to work to prevent discrimination and hate crimes.

Executive order initiating plan to combat climate change

In accordance with the Paris Agreement on climate change, Biden’s plan to tackle climate change called for the U.S. to determine its target for emissions reduction and directed federal agencies to incorporate climate considerations into their international plans. The order also directed agencies to purchase American-made, zero-emission vehicles in an effort to create union jobs as part of Biden’s “Buy American” agenda , suspend new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and conserve at least 30 percent of federal lands and waters by 2030.

Additionally, the order established the Office of Domestic Climate Policy and a national climate task force, as well as a working group to assist communities impacted by coal mining and power plants and an environmental justice council to “address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.”

Memorandum on scientific integrity

According to Biden’s memorandum, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will review agency policies on scientific integrity, and agencies that oversee research must designate a senior employee to “ensure agency research programs are scientifically and technologically well-founded and conducted with integrity.”

Executive order re-establishing presidential council on science and technology

The president will solicit input from a council of advisors on science and technology , which will advise Biden on “scientific and technical information that is needed to inform public policy relating to the economy, worker empowerment, education, energy, environment, public health, national and homeland security, racial equity and other topics.”

Executive order reinforcing Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act

In an effort to counter Trump’s attempts to strike down the Affordable Care Act , Biden signed an order directing agencies to re-examine policies that undermined protections for people with pre-existing conditions, complicated the process of enrolling in Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and reduced coverage and affordability of the programs.

The order also designated Feb. 15 to May 15 as a “special enrollment period” for uninsured Americans to sign up on healthcare.gov for health insurance amid the pandemic.

Memorandum expanding access to reproductive health care

Biden’s memorandum immediately revoked the “Mexico City policy,” also referred to as the global gag rule , a Reagan-era policy reinstated by Trump that blocks federal funding to foreign organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling or referrals.

Additionally, Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate whether to rescind Trump regulations under the Title X family planning program, which pulled funding from hundreds of women’s health clinics across the country in 2019.

Elizabeth Janowski writes for NBC News digital politics. 

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• Candidate Biography

President Joe Biden speaks at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., on April 14, 2022. (AP)

Fact-checking Joe Biden on being a full professor for four years

If your time is short.

• Biden served as Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania between his tenure as vice president and the start of his presidential campaign. 

• However, the duration of his position was closer to two years than it was to four, since he was on unpaid leave while running for president.

• Biden’s duties did not include the same degree of teaching, research and administrative responsibilities that some may associate with the term "full professor."

During a visit to North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., President Joe Biden broke the ice with his audience by saying he shared some common ground with members of the university community.

"I've been to a lot of university campuses," Biden said April 14. "Matter of fact, for four years, I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania. And this is really an impressive place with a lot of impressive students."

A reader asked us to fact-check whether Biden really was a full professor for four years. 

Biden served as Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania between his tenure as vice president and the start of his presidential campaign. However, the duration of the position was closer to two years than four, since he was on leave while running for president. Also, his duties might not conform to the full range of activities that the public might associate with the term "full professor," including teaching semester-long classes, conducting independent research, and handling administrative responsibilities.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the university’s faculty handbook , the rank of practice professor "is confined to a small number of untenured full-time professorships" in certain schools at Penn that permit the addition to the faculty of "distinguished, highly experienced individuals who have achieved success in their fields and whose skills and knowledge are essential to the educational process at both the undergraduate and graduate levels."

The handbook describes the "primary" activity of a practice professor as teaching, though they may also "supervise independent studies and internships, serve on committees and attend school faculty meetings."

According to the tax forms he has released, Biden received more than $900,000 from the university for holding the position between 2017 and 2019. His post "involved no regular classes and around a dozen public appearances on campus, mostly in big, ticketed events," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported . 

Specifically, the Inquirer reported, Biden’s appearances included "three Q-and-As with Penn president Amy Gutmann, panel discussions on immigration and cancer, a talk about his book, a lecture to a Wharton class, and public conversations with former Mexico President Felipe Calderon and former United Kingdom Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, according to a tally by the student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian."

As part of the post, Biden also established the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington for the university. Biden’s professorship included affiliations with the Annenberg School for Communication, Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, and the Wharton School.

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However, shortly after Biden’s appointment was announced in 2017, Kate Bedingfield, a Biden spokesperson, told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Biden would not be teaching regular classes.

Joe Biden at a forum on the opioid epidemic at the University of Pennsylvania on April 11, 2019. (AP)

Biden was the first individual to hold the Franklin professorship, and his tenure overlapped with the second holder: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican. Biden and Bush held at least two joint events on campus, the Inquirer reported.

Biden went on an unpaid leave of absence in April 2019 , when he became a presidential candidate, meaning that his time as an active holder of the professorship was about two years, not four as Biden said in his North Carolina speech.

PolitiFact asked the University of Pennsylvania about the differences between Biden’s position and those of a rank-and-file full professor.

"Penn has many different models of professorships," Ron Ozio, the university’s director of media relations, told PolitiFact. "Not all are tenure-track and involve teaching regular classes. Some are clinicians, some are researchers, and others are professors of the practice, the category that applied to President Biden."

Ozio added that the university was satisfied with Biden’s tenure.

Biden was "phenomenally successful," Ozio said. "He helped to expand the university’s global outreach, while sharing his wisdom and insights with thousands of Penn students through University-wide events, talks and classroom visits."

Biden said, "For four years, I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania."

Biden served as a "professor of the practice" at the University of Pennsylvania. However, the duration of his position was closer to two years, since he was on unpaid leave while running for president. His duties of his particular professorship did not include the same degree of teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities that some would associate with someone holding a position as "full professor."

We rate the statement Half True.

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The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter

Our Sources

White House, remarks by Joe Biden at North Carolina A&T State University, April 14, 2022

University of Pennsylvania, faculty handbook , accessed April 22, 2022

University of Pennsylvania, " A Message to the Penn Community Regarding Vice President Joe Biden ," April 30, 2019

University of Pennsylvania, Joe Biden biography , accessed April 21, 2022

University of Pennsylvania, Jeb Bush biography , accessed April 21, 2022

Philadelphia Inquirer, " Penn Has Paid Joe Biden More than $900K since He Left the White House. What Did He Do to Earn the Money? " July 12, 2019

Daily Pennsylvanian, " No One Is Really Sure What Joe Biden Will Be Doing at Penn ," Feb. 28, 2017

Daily Pennsylvanian, " Joe Biden Came to Penn for the Fourth Time in 2018. Here’s His Role on Campus, Explained ," Dec. 11, 2017

Daily Pennsylvanian, " Jeb Bush just became Penn’s second presidential professor of practice. Here’s what that means ," Sept. 20, 2018

Daily Pennsylvanian, " Biden’s Claim of Being a "teacher" at Penn Drew Scrutiny. Here’s What His Role Really Was ," April 17, 2020

Daily Pennsylvanian, " Photo Essay: A look back at Joe Biden’s visits to Penn since becoming a professor ," Feb. 20, 2019

Tax Notes, presidential tax returns archive , accessed April 21, 2022

Snopes.com, " Was Biden a ‘Full Professor’ at the University of Pennsylvania? " April 15, 2022

Email interview with Kelly Benjamin, spokesperson for the American Association of University Professors, April 19, 2022

Email interview with Ron Ozio, director of media relations for the University of Pennsylvania, April 19, 2022

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Biden’s Cabinet and Senior Advisers

President Biden’s nominees are slowly making their way through Senate confirmation.

By Zach Montague

WASHINGTON — President Biden has chosen a team of cabinet members and senior advisers who bring government experience and expertise in their fields to confront four fronts of challenges: getting control of Covid-19, systemic racism, the economy and climate change.

Victories for Democrats in twin runoff races in Georgia in early January handed Mr. Biden’s party control of the Senate, and with it, the power to choose from a larger menu of potential executive department heads, with minimal need to win Republican approval. But even with a Democratic majority in the Senate, Mr. Biden has turned to a predominately established and moderate circle of advisers — one that is ethnically diverse, yet for the most part ideologically uniform.

Mr. Biden has now filled out his cabinet. Here are his picks:

Attorney General

Merrick B. Garland

Almost five years after his nomination to the Supreme Court was blocked by Senate Republicans in March 2016, Judge Merrick B. Garland has returned to the political stage as Mr. Biden’s pick to be the country’s chief law enforcement officer and oversee the Justice Department.

Judge Garland has extensive experience working for the department he has been selected to lead, having served under three former presidents — Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He also approaches the role with considerable knowledge of the judicial system informed by his work as a former clerk for Justice William J. Brennan Jr. on the Supreme Court and now on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he was chief judge from 2013 to 2020.

In choosing Judge Garland, Mr. Biden appears keen on restoring the Justice Department’s independence, particularly after the departments’ lawyers and former attorneys general repeatedly became ensnared in politicized investigations under Mr. Trump.

Several prominent Republicans including Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have expressed support for Judge Garland’s nomination, bolstering Mr. Biden’s hopes that his reputation and background leave him uniquely qualified to steer the department away from partisan politics.

Read more: Judge Garland brings a steady hand to a department overcome by partisan rancor.

Secretary of State

Antony J. Blinken

In tapping Antony Blinken to serve as secretary of state, Mr. Biden appears determined to rebuild relationships with foreign leaders and international organizations that have atrophied under the isolationist policies that defined former President Trump’s “America First” agenda.

Mr. Blinken is taking charge of a State Department that has shrunk in size and stature under Mr. Trump, as staff reductions and resignations have thinned its ranks.

Mr. Blinken, 58, is well versed in the mechanisms of diplomacy. He worked for the department under two previous administrations, including as deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama.

In Mr. Blinken, Mr. Biden hopes to install a measured and well-credentialed negotiator who can represent the United States internationally as well as restore a sense of purpose within the State Department.

Read more: Antony Blinken is looking to reverse the Trump administration’s confrontational approach to diplomacy.

Treasury Secretary

Janet L. Yellen

Looking for a trusted economist to lead the country’s economy out of a pandemic-driven downturn, Mr. Biden has selected Janet Yellen, the former chair of the Federal Reserve.

Ms. Yellen is the first woman to lead the Treasury in its 231-year history.

During her stint as Fed chair from 2014 to 2018, Ms. Yellen oversaw a record-long economic expansion that would go on to drive unemployment down to its lowest rate in 50 years and that helped produce a thriving economy that was upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

In selecting Ms. Yellen, Mr. Biden appeared to have opted for a safe and proven name. She easily won confirmation by a vote of 84 to 15. Other economists proposed by the Democratic Party’s progressive wing were likely to have been less acceptable to Republicans in the Senate.

Read more: Ms. Yellen’s first challenge will be to help steer Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package through Congress.

Secretary of Defense

Lloyd J. Austin III

Retired Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the former commander of the American military effort in Iraq, was confirmed by the Senate during Mr. Biden’s first days in office.

General Austin, 67, was for years a formidable figure at the Pentagon and the only African-American to have headed U.S. Central Command, but he is less known for his political instincts and has shown little interest in the public-facing parts of the job. He made history as the first African-American to lead the Defense Department.

The retired general was approved overwhelmingly, after Congress granted him a waiver from a law restricting those who are retired from military service fewer than seven years from leading the Pentagon.

Read more: General Austin is confirmed by the Senate.

Secretary of the Interior

Deb Haaland

In emphasizing his intent to redirect the country’s course on environmental policy, Mr. Biden has picked Representative Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico, to oversee the Interior Department.

Ms. Haaland, who was confirmed by a 51-40 vote in the Senate, is the first Native American appointed to a cabinet secretary position, a barrier she broke after she and Sharice Davids of Kansas became the first two Native American women elected to Congress in 2018.

Ms. Haaland’s heritage as a 35th-generation New Mexican and a member of the Laguna Pueblo makes her nomination especially meaningful given the agency’s role in providing services to 1.9 million Indigenous people and helping maintain the government’s relationship with 574 federally recognized tribes. Both the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education operate within the department.

However, Ms. Haaland will also be tasked with overseeing elements of a sweeping and ambitious environmental agenda alongside several of Mr. Biden’s top climate aides such as Gina McCarthy and John Kerry.

As a candidate, Mr. Biden promised to “ transition away from the oil industry ,” a move he has said will involve banning new oil and gas permits on the public lands and waters that Ms. Haaland would oversee. She will also be at the forefront of Mr. Biden’s efforts to ramp up protection of vast tracts of the 500 million acres of federal land that the Trump administration has opened up to mining, logging and construction.

Ms. Haaland served on the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department. That experience could help inform her vision for the department.

Read more: A historic choice would place a Native American in charge of the agency that aids Indigenous communities.

Secretary of Agriculture

Tom Vilsack

Tom Vilsack, who was the secretary of agriculture for eight years under Mr. Obama, was confirmed by the Senate to lead the department again.

Mr. Vilsack, 70, was a traditional choice to lead the agency — he is a former governor of Iowa, an important rural farming state — and was approved overwhelmingly by a vote of 92 to 7.

“It’s not lost on me, ironically, that this is Groundhog’s Day, and I realize that I’m back again,” Mr. Vilsack said during his confirmation hearing. “But I also realize that this is a fundamentally different time and I am a different person, and it is a different department.”

Mr. Biden’s pick for the agency was a source of friction with prominent Black leaders, who had urged the president to instead nominate Marcia L. Fudge, now the nominee for housing secretary , and called to shift the agency’s focus away from farming and toward hunger.

In the end, Mr. Biden struck a compromise: tapping a safe, white candidate to champion at least some of the hunger policies aimed at aiding communities of color.

“I think we face a ‘why not’ moment with reference to food security that plagues millions,” Mr. Vilsack said at his confirmation hearing. “A ‘why not’ moment on nutrition and security that causes millions of Americans, especially people of color, to cope with obesity and diabetes and other chronic diseases.”

Read more: Mr. Vilsack is the seventh cabinet member Mr. Biden has chosen.

special presidential envoy for climate

John F. Kerry

Emphasizing his intent to make addressing the global threat posed by climate change a pillar of his policy agenda, Mr. Biden selected John Kerry, the former secretary of state, to take up a newly created cabinet-level position as his “climate czar.”

Mr. Kerry’s job also includes a seat on the National Security Council. It is the first time that an adviser wholly dedicated to the issue of climate change will join the forum, placing him among other top advisers in the national security and foreign policy arena.

Mr. Kerry’s approach to the role is likely to be heavily informed by his experience working with other countries on agreements to set meaningful benchmarks on carbon emissions and encourage sustainable growth. While secretary of state under Mr. Obama, Mr. Kerry was a chief negotiator for the United States on the Paris Agreement on climate change, which Mr. Biden recommitted the nation to on his first day in office.

Read more: Mr. Kerry is charged with making climate change “ an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security.”

Secretary of Commerce

Gina Raimondo

Mr. Biden selected Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, to run the Commerce Department, a role atop what is often described informally as the country’s data agency.

Before being elected governor in 2015, Ms. Raimondo served as general treasurer of Rhode Island and founded a joint venture firm that helped finance a number of start-ups. She is viewed by many as a traditional choice for the post, in which she will oversee relations with businesses as well as technology regulation, weather monitoring and economic data collection.

Ms. Raimondo, who was confirmed on a vote of 84 to 15, is immediately faced with completing the collection and analysis of the country’s 2020 census data, which was not completed by the end of Mr. Trump’s term.

While Ms. Raimondo has been hailed for her business acumen, some progressive groups have resisted her nomination, pushing for candidates who might be more inclined to pursue goals such as decreasing gerrymandering through census changes and regulating prescription drug costs.

Read more: Ms. Raimondo’s moderate credentials are another disappointment for progressives.

Secretary of Labor

Martin J. Walsh

Facing a backsliding economy in which millions of workers have suffered from anemic pandemic relief and persistent unemployment, Mr. Biden has selected the mayor of Boston, Martin Walsh, to help alleviate the plight facing workers as head of the Labor Department.

Mr. Walsh has been mayor since 2013, ascending to the office with strong support from organized labor. Mr. Walsh himself has been a union member since early adulthood, rising through the ranks to serve as president of Laborers Local 223 in South Boston, and previously led Boston’s Building and Construction Trades Council from 2011 to 2013. He was a state representative in Massachusetts for 17 years.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Walsh would be expected to focus on policies promoting higher wages and protections for workers, as well as revitalizing the country’s manufacturing sector, as Mr. Biden promised throughout his campaign.

Mr. Walsh would also oversee the resuscitation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has been criticized for poor workplace oversight during the pandemic when meatpacking plants experienced virus outbreaks .

Read more: Mr. Walsh comes to the job with longstanding connections to the labor movement .

Secretary of Health and Human Services

Xavier Becerra

Xavier Becerra , Mr. Biden’s surprise pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is an outspoken advocate of improved health care access and has led legal efforts on health care as the attorney general of California.

Mr. Becerra is a Democratic former congressman and is the first Latino to serve as health secretary after the Senate confirmed him on a vote of 50 to 49 . He faces a daunting task in tackling the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken a particularly devastating toll on people of color .

As California’s attorney general, Mr. Becerra filed more than a dozen lawsuits about health care alone, including one in which California led 20 states and the District of Columbia in a campaign to protect the Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by his Republican counterparts.

He is also expected to bring to the forefront the unequal effect that environmental damage has had on the health of Americans in vulnerable communities.

Read more: Some medical experts are unhappy with Mr. Becerra’s selection .

National Security Adviser

Jake Sullivan

Mr. Biden picked Jake Sullivan to advise him on matters of national security. Mr. Sullivan has been hailed in Washington as a gifted legal mind, one who has a long history of working with Mr. Biden. He does not need to be confirmed by the Senate for this position.

Mr. Sullivan’s list of accomplishments is extensive. A Rhodes scholar and graduate of Yale Law School, Mr. Sullivan has built a lengthy résumé including a clerkship for Justice Stephen G. Breyer and work as chief counsel to Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom he worked for as the department’s head of policy planning, has described him as a “once-in-a-generation talent.”

Mr. Sullivan has also worked closely with other members of Mr. Biden’s planned cabinet, succeeding Mr. Blinken as Mr. Biden’s national security adviser in 2013, when he was vice president. Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Blinken maintain a close friendship and a shared philosophy about the United States’ role in the world that is expected to shape Mr. Biden’s approach in international affairs.

Read more: Mr. Biden picks a close confidant to head national security.

U.N. Ambassador

Linda Thomas-Greenfield

The Senate confirmation of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to become the United States ambassador to the United Nations, comes as President Biden’s administration seeks to become a more active force in the global body.

“Diplomacy is back,” said Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, when Mr. Biden announced her nomination in November, echoing a theme of Mr. Biden’s in talks with other world leaders. “Multilateralism is back. Diplomacy is back.”

Mr. Biden has restored the post of U.N. ambassador to cabinet-level status after Mr. Trump downgraded it, giving Ms. Thomas-Greenfield a seat on his National Security Council. As America’s top representative to the United Nations, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, 68, said she will work to restore alliances and re-engage in multilateral efforts to address global problems like the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms. Thomas-Greenfield has more than 35 years of experience in the Foreign Service, having worked as the U.S. ambassador to Liberia and having served in posts in Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, Gambia, Nigeria and Jamaica.

She has also worked in the private sector, as a senior vice president at the Albright Stonebridge Group, the consulting firm founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, overseeing the firm’s Africa practice.

Read more: After the Trump administration pushed for American retreat from the United Nations, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield has said she will set about re-engagement .

U.S. Trade Representative

Katherine Tai

Mr. Biden has turned to Katherine Tai to be the country’s trade representative, a role that took on greater importance under the previous administration, which used the post to impose substantial tariffs against foreign countries and negotiate a series of trade deals, both small and large.

Ms. Tai has served as the chief trade lawyer in the House and has extensive experience with China. She also played a key role in hammering out the new North American Free Trade Agreement. Her nomination was approved by a vote of 98 to 0 , making her the first member of President Biden’s cabinet to be confirmed with no opposing votes.

In this cabinet-level role that carries the rank of ambassador, Ms. Tai will be responsible for rebuilding trade relationships and helping to decide whether to continue collecting tariffs on Chinese goods.

Ms. Tai, who is Asian-American, is also the first woman of color to be the U.S. trade representative.

Read more: Ms. Tai’s tasks would most likely include fighting climate change and encouraging domestic investment.

Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council

Mr. Biden has chosen Susan Rice, a former national security adviser to Mr. Obama, to be the director of his Domestic Policy Council. In this role, Ms. Rice will oversee a large part of the president’s agenda, including the administration’s response to the pandemic. The position does not require Senate confirmation.

At one point, Ms. Rice was on Mr. Biden’s short list to be vice president. She has been a favorite target of Republicans, who criticized her role in responding to the 2012 terrorist attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The attack left four Americans dead and prompted months of Republican-led congressional hearings.

Ms. Rice brings years of experience to the job, having served as an assistant secretary of state and ambassador to the United Nations. She is widely known for coordinating Mr. Obama’s foreign policy portfolio.

She was a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times for three years; her last column was published on Dec. 1.

Read more: Ms. Rice, a lifelong national security professional, is being placed in a top domestic policy job .

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Denis McDonough

Mr. Biden has selected Denis McDonough to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency that runs the largest health care system in the country and has a history of career-ending scandals.

Mr. McDonough assumes leadership at a tenuous time. Thousands of veterans and more than 100 V.A. employees have died from the coronavirus, and the department fell behind on thousands of appointments during the most acute phase of the pandemic.

The V.A.’s “capabilities have not always risen to the needs of our veterans,” Mr. McDonough said at his confirmation hearing in January. “I promise to fight every single day to ensure that our veterans have the access to the world-class, compassionate care they have earned.”

While Mr. McDonough is only the department’s second nonveteran leader since it became a cabinet position in 1989, he has worked on behalf of military families and with Robert A. McDonald, the former veterans affairs secretary, on improving care for veterans after devastating reports of long waits to see doctors. He has also made frequent trips to meet with members of the military.

During the Obama administration, Mr. McDonough served as the president’s deputy national security adviser and later his chief of staff, roles in which he worked closely with Mr. Biden.

Read more: Mr. McDonough enjoyed bipartisan praise during his confirmation hearing.

Director of National Intelligence

Avril D. Haines

Avril Haines was the first member of Mr. Biden’s cabinet to win Senate confirmation and she is the first woman to serve in the top intelligence role. She has strong ties to the intelligence community after serving in both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations.

A trained physicist, Ms. Haines also helped oversee a number of covert programs at the National Security Council beginning in 2010 and then as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2013 to 2015. They included the controversial targeted killing program involving precision drone strikes, some of which killed civilians.

Read more: The Senate confirmed Avril Haines as intelligence director, Biden’s first and only Cabinet official to be approved on Day 1.

SECRETARY OF Homeland Security

Alejandro N. Mayorkas

After four years of immigration policy narrowly tailored to President Donald J. Trump’s personal whims, Mr. Biden tapped Alejandro Mayorkas, a lawyer and former deputy homeland security secretary, to reorient the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Mayorkas is charged with overseeing the rollback of the Trump administration’s more punitive immigration policies in his new role. He approaches that task as the first immigrant to hold the position, as well as the first Latino.

Mr. Mayorkas faces the challenge of rebuilding an agency that suffered from unfilled vacancies and a chain of interim leaders in recent years. It has also been embroiled in scandal over, among other issues, the Trump administration’s family separation policy .

Read more: Mr. Mayorkas will lead a task force aimed at reuniting families separated at the border.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Marcia L. Fudge

Mr. Biden selected Representative Marcia L. Fudge, Democrat of Ohio, to serve as the secretary of housing and urban development.

The decision has the potential to disappoint allies of Ms. Fudge, 68, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, of which she was a chairwoman. Allies of Ms. Fudge had urged Mr. Biden to put her at the Agriculture Department, where she had hoped to shift the agency’s focus away from farming and toward hunger, including in urban areas.

But after news of her selection leaked out, Ms. Fudge told reporters: “If I can help this president in any way possible, I am more than happy to do it. It’s a great honor and a privilege to be a part of something so good.”

Ms. Fudge has been in the House since 2008. In 2018, she mulled a challenge to Speaker Nancy Pelosi before dropping the idea and endorsing her. Now, Ms. Fudge will leave Congress to lead the nation’s sprawling housing agency instead.

Read more: Ms. Fudge had openly campaigned to become Mr. Biden’s agriculture secretary.

SECRETARY OF ENERGY

Jennifer M. Granholm

Jennifer Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, has been confirmed as the secretary of energy.

A longtime champion of renewable energy development, Ms. Granholm, 61, is widely credited with steering Michigan through the 2008 recession and working with the Obama administration on the subsequent bailout of the automobile industry, which included clean energy investments.

Though Ms. Granholm is not necessarily steeped in the core mission of the department — ensuring the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal — her selection was seen as a nod to environmental groups. She is expected to lead with a vision for driving a clean-energy transformation.

After her second term as governor ended in 2011, Ms. Granholm became an advocate for renewable energy development, including giving a TED Talk on how investing in alternative energy resources can bolster state economies, something Mr. Biden has focused on in his coronavirus recovery plan.

Ms. Granholm, a longtime champion of renewable energy development, was confirmed by a vote of 64 to 35, with support from both Democrats and Republicans. She will be the second woman to lead the Department of Energy, after Hazel R. O’Leary, who served under President Bill Clinton.

Read more: Several people close to the transition said advisers had struggled over the pick to lead the Energy Department.

SECRETARY of Transportation

Pete Buttigieg

Hoping to cut through years of gridlock that have stalled bipartisan efforts to overhaul and repair the country’s infrastructure and transportation systems, Mr. Biden selected Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., to lead the Transportation Department.

The selection was immediately hailed as a major breakthrough by L.G.B.T. advocacy groups. Mr. Buttigieg is the first openly gay person to be confirmed as a cabinet secretary.

Taking advantage of the slimmest possible majority in the Senate, Mr. Biden may make an early priority of pushing through a major infrastructure bill that would create desperately needed jobs in an economy ravaged by the pandemic.

How much Mr. Buttigieg may be able to guide those plans is less certain.

Throughout his bid for the presidency in 2020, Mr. Buttigieg drew criticism for his relatively limited political credentials, running as a small-town mayor while losing some support over his handling of police brutality and other issues during his tenure. Mr. Biden selected him over other prospective candidates with more direct experience overseeing major urban transportation networks and public transit agencies.

However, in his time as mayor, Mr. Buttigieg notched noted wins on transportation policy , bringing to fruition an ambitious $25 million project aimed at revitalizing the downtown area of South Bend with thoughtfully placed traffic corridors, bike lanes and parking improvements.

The plan helped to significantly reshape the city’s core, leading to more than $100 million in private investment and a thriving downtown center.

Read more: Mr. Buttigieg takes charge as the county’s public transportation systems are reeling from the pandemic.

White House Climate Coordinator

Gina McCarthy

Gina McCarthy, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under Mr. Obama, is Mr. Biden’s senior White House adviser on climate change.

Ms. McCarthy is known as the architect of some of Mr. Obama’s most far-reaching regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions, including the Clean Power Plan, which set the first national limits on carbon emissions from power plants.

As the senior White House adviser on climate change, Ms. McCarthy will coordinate domestic climate policy and help make good on Mr. Biden’s campaign promise of putting the United States on track to reach carbon neutrality before 2050.

Advocates for stronger action to fight climate change have lauded the choice. They have said Ms. McCarthy’s selection signals that the administration is prepared to bypass Congress and use executive authority to begin reducing greenhouse gases after the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal and weaken much of Ms. McCarthy’s work as the E.P.A. administrator.

Since January, Ms. McCarthy has served as the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

Read more: In the Biden administration, Ms. McCarthy’s role as climate adviser may have significantly more influence than before.

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Michael S. Regan

Mr. Biden picked Michael Regan, the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

A longtime air-quality specialist at the E.P.A. in both the Clinton and the George W. Bush administrations, Mr. Regan later worked for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group. In 2017, Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, tapped Mr. Regan to lead North Carolina’s environmental agency.

There he replaced Donald R. van der Vaart, a Trump administration ally who has questioned the established science of climate change. Mr. van der Vaart also fought Obama-era rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and championed a pro-business agenda of deregulation.

Mr. Regan was confirmed by a vote of 66 to 34 , with all Democrats and 16 Republicans in the Senate voting in favor.

Supporters of Mr. Regan said he improved low morale and emphasized the role of science at the department. Several called it an obvious parallel to what he would be expected to do at the E.P.A., where Andrew Wheeler, Mr. Trump’s administrator and a former coal lobbyist, has discouraged the agency from working on climate change and independent auditors have identified a “ culture at the top ” of political interference in science.

The selection of Mr. Regan is in many ways a conventional choice. Democratic presidents have a history of elevating E.P.A. leaders from state environmental agencies. Ms. McCarthy and Lisa Jackson, who both ran the agency under Mr. Obama, had been the heads of state environmental agencies.

Mr. Regan, who is the first Black man to lead the agency, is expected to bring a strong focus on racial equity.

Read more: Mr. Regan will be on the front lines of the effort to undo one of Mr. Trump’s most sprawling transformations of the federal government.

Secretary of Education

Miguel A. Cardona

Dr. Miguel A. Cardona, a career educator who rose through the ranks of Connecticut’s school system, was confirmed as Education Secretary.

Since 2019, Dr. Cardona served as Connecticut’s first Latino commissioner of education after two decades of experience in public schools, including as a kindergarten teacher and a school principal.

He now leads a department responsible for bringing elementary, secondary and higher education systems back from the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has widened the achievement gap between affluent students and poorer pupils.

In interviews, Dr. Cardona has emphasized his parents’ Puerto Rican roots and his upbringing in Connecticut’s public housing and education systems as experiences that have anchored his career.

“It’s not lost on me, the significance of being the grandson of a tobacco farmer who came here for a better life, who despite having a second-grade education was able to raise his family and create that upward mobility cycle,” he said in a profile in The Connecticut Mirror in 2019.

Read more: Dr. Cardona has emerged as an urgent voice pressing to reopen schools safely during the pandemic.

Aishvarya Kavi and Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article overstated the breakthroughs Miguel A. Cardona achieved as a top education official. He served as Connecticut’s first Latino commissioner of education; he would not be the first Latino to be confirmed as Secretary of Education. 

How we handle corrections

Zach Montague is based in Washington, D.C. He covers breaking news and developments around the district. More about Zach Montague

clock This article was published more than  42 years ago

HOMEWORK -- not the kind that your kids are supposed to do after school, but the industrial kind -- is one of those red-flag issues for organized labor. It is obviously much more difficult for workers to protect themselves against unfair dealing by an employer if they are isolated in their homes rather than working in a factory. Homeworker exploitation was so widespread 40 years ago that the Labor Department decided then to ban it altogether in the apparel industries, except in individual hardship cases.

Times change, however, and with more mothers and other home-bound people wanting jobs, homework has been cropping up again not just in the old-time apparel industries but in jet-age fields as well, such as electronics and data processing. When the Labor Department last year closed down a seemingly idyllic ski-cap knitting arrangement in Vermont, many people thought it was time for a new look at the issue.

Now after some hearings, Labor Secretary Ray Donovan has proposed removing restrictions on homework altogether. That isn't right either -- he went too far. Properly regulated, homework could offer convenient, low-cost opportunities for mixing job and home responsibilities. Operating without regulation, as it now does illegally in many areas, homework often becomes a domesticated form of sweatshop. With no organized protection, many homeworkers are now gulled into buying equipment and supplies from contractors who then refuse to purchase the goods produced except at rates far below the minimum for the hours worked. Encouraging this sort of fly-by-night operation is no improvement.

What is needed is a more flexible employer certification than was provided under the old "individual hardship" rules. Local conditions should be taken into account and minimum payment rates set, and enforced, for each type of goods. Finding out whether Mrs. Jones takes so many hours to finish knitting a cap that the amount she is paid is less than the legal minimum isn't really necessary. All that matters is that employers can't buy goods from Mrs. Jones at a rate that unfairly undercuts factory wages.

Establishing such a program will take some thought, and enforcing it will require more resources than the department now devotes to policing either the present ban or the operation of those factory sweatshops that Secretary Donovan has vowed to eliminate. But the effort is worth it.

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Parts of Moscow Oblast without power as explosions hit energy plants

Several areas in Moscow Oblast including the entire town of Lytkarino are without power after explosions were reported near electricity substations early on Nov. 23 , local Russian media report.

Residents In Lytkarino reported a bright flash and a fire breaking out around 1am.

We’ve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent .

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Explosions occurred in Moscow region, several settlements lost power

E xplosions were heard in the town of Lytkarino, Moscow region, tonight, November 23. Several settlements in the Moscow region are without power, according to Baza.

Around 1 a.m., local residents allegedly heard a bright flash from the substation. Afterward, the lights went out in the Lytkarivsky district. A fire reportedly broke out at the site of the explosion.

According to Russian media, power was lost in several settlements in the Moscow region.

It should be noted that Lytkarino is situated 30 kilometers from the Russian capital.

Shots fired in Russia

In 2023, the number of attacks in a number of regions of the Russian Federation by attack drones increased. Also, something often burns and explodes on the territory of Russia. Different regions, including Moscow, are under attack.

At the same time, Ukrainian intelligence has already warned residents of the Russian capital that they should hardly relax, as the number of drone attacks will only increase.

In particular, on the evening of November 10, explosions occurred near the Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering corporation in the Moscow region, where Kinzhals and Iskandars are manufactured.

One of the largest attacks took place on the night of July 30, when unidentified drones struck the business center of the Russian capital, Moscow City. The drones hit the so-called "government tower," which houses the offices of the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Ministry of Communications.

Brigadier General Sergei Baranov recently said that Ukrainian troops are preparing for a large-scale winter attack on various regions of Russia with the help of kamikaze drones.