Editorial | A few of Biden’s most immediate priorities

Changes are coming.

As President Donald Trump leaves office and departs for Mar-a-Lago, an exhausted, demoralized country looks to the incoming administration of a new president, who will be sworn into office Wednesday in a time like few others in our nation’s history.

Joe Biden could be excused if in moments of reflection he asks himself, “Did I really want this?”

At age 78, the oldest president ever to take the oath, he won’t be basking in his sunset years, but confronting a series of challenges that will mean any political honeymoon won’t last long.

But it’s his moment, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s moment, and a host of appointed Cabinet secretaries’ moments, and so many others who will try to reclaim the government from the chaos and lawlessness of the past four years.

Foremost in these reclamation projects, of course, is controlling the pandemic, followed by finding a way to begin to address the political divisions that threaten to split the country. Biden will face a Congress more evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans than at any time in the past two decades.

Add to these mountains to climb are the continuing calls for racial justice and criminal justice reform, the largest national debt as a share of the economy in more than a half century, climate change, the rise of China as a totalitarian global competitor, and the call for immigration reforms.

We’re sure we’ve left out a number of pressing issues. But here are what we see as the most immediate priorities, with plans already circulating on what the Biden administration will attempt to undertake in its first 10 days.

The coronavirus pandemic is the most pressing issue. That means taking control of vaccine distribution, and ending the mixed messages from federal health officials on how many doses states will be getting, and when — and providing more money for states’ vaccination programs.

The administration also is prepared to increase economic stimulus, extend relief from evictions and student loan payments and put in place a mask mandate for federal buildings and interstate travel.

Biden won the presidency, in part, by promising to be a unifier after the polarization of the Trump years. But he takes office in a post-riot, heavily guarded Capital. Many of the 74 million Trump voters still believe the election was fraudulent, and that Biden will be unable to stand up to the most extreme progressive-left elements in his own party.

The postelection anger and disunity now will swirl around a second Trump impeachment and, perhaps, a trial in the Senate of a former president.

On immigration, Biden has signaled that he will move quickly to begin to reverse Trump’s hostile and divisive policies. Foremost, is his stated priority of treating people coming to the United States humanely. He can move quickly, using executive actions to undo some of the Trump administration damages, including overturning the travel ban directed at several Muslim-majority countries, lifting the threat of deportation for “Dreamers” brought to the country as young children, and ensuring policies are in place to reunite children who were separated from their families after crossing the border.

On climate change, Biden will be supporting actions that bring the U.S. back into the Paris climate accords, along with coordinated policies and approaches to reduce emissions. But here too he faces divisions, from businesses that don’t want to see a return to government regulations and mandates, to progressives’ calls for a Green New Deal.

And then there’s the growing national debt, a problem that is mostly unaddressed by both parties right now. But if it continues at the current pace, debt will amount to almost double the nation’s annual GDP by 2050.

Pandemic economic relief and continuing low interest rates have created magical thinking that government borrowing, on track to hit $2.3 trillion in the current fiscal year, can just continue. It can’t and it will be up to the new administration to figure out how to start scaling back the borrowing painful economic forces their hand.

Our hope is that making these shifts will convince most Americans better days are on the horizon.