Presidential policies potential impact on Michiana

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Even though Joe Biden won’t take office until January 20, he’s been vocal about the changes he hopes to put in place once he does.

“There are many things that Joe Biden will want to do and will be able to do through executive order. There are other plans that he has that he will not be able to move forward with unless he gets a democratic senate. Because all legislation needs to pass both the house and the senate,” Elizabeth Bennion, a political science professor at the University of Indiana of South Bend said.

President-elect Joe Biden wants to put America on a different track from what we’ve seen under the Trump administration. In fact, a political science professor at IU South Bend said we can expect Biden to reverse some of the executive orders and executive agreements from President Donald Trump.

Some of the issues Biden wants to tackle differently include environmental regulation policies, the handling of the coronavirus, the reinstatement of DACA, and expanding Obamacare.

Biden has mentioned that he wants to issue a mandatory mask mandate, and wants to make testing and vaccines; once they become available, accessible to all. He also wants to rescind Trump's tax cuts, more specifically targeted towards big corporations and the wealthy.

Professor Bennion said that there are a number of Obama era foreign policy programs that we can expect Biden to re-instate as well.

“We do expect that Joe Biden from day one will be working to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, as well as, rejoining the World Health Organization and reinstating the Iran Nuclear Deal, as well as, the Nuclear Perforation Treaties with Russia,” Bennion said.