Biden seeks last-minute moves that could be hard for Trump to undo

From clemency to conservation, the outgoing president pushes to cement his legacy ahead of a successor determined to erase it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/16/biden-last-minute-moves-hard-for-trump-undo/

https://archive.ph/wTLhQ


President Joe Biden signs proclamations to establish the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

He’s designated national monuments in California and removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. He’s blocked a Japanese company’s takeover of U.S. Steel and extended temporary protected status to nearly 1 million immigrants. He’s commuted the sentences of nearly everyone who was on federal death row, and he’s granted to his son Hunter a sweeping pardon.

President Joe Biden is ending his time in office as he began, with a burst of executive actions meant to differentiate him from the man who preceded him and will succeed him: President-elect Donald Trump.

Biden’s actions have been far-reaching, touching nearly every area of government, and are likely to continue up until his final hours in office, according to administration officials. Even as many at the White House were packing up their offices — planning to vacate at the end of the day on Friday — there were still last-minute preparations for additional executive actions.

The president has been weighing action aimed at advancing the Equal Rights Amendment, which would prohibit discrimination based on sex, according to people familiar with the discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal plans. And Biden has been considering issuing preemptive pardons for figures who might face the hostility of the incoming Trump administration.

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