GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Now that the inauguration of President Joe Biden is over, there are a few things we can expect him to do first.
Doug Koopman, a political science professor at Calvin University, says the transition of power will happen quickly. As soon as Biden was inaugurated at noon Wednesday, former President Trump's staff left their desks, and new staffers moved in.
One of the incoming administration's first task will be putting together a budget proposal. There is already a budget before Congress from Trump. Now, President Biden will revise it, likely in two to three weeks.
Next, comes executive orders.
"You might look for a couple of requests for legislative action within the next couple of days," said Koopman. "For example, legislation on climate change or legislation on immigration reform. The other thing a president can do right now are executive orders to repeal Trump executive orders, and replace them with President Joe Biden executive orders."
Some of those executive orders could center around mask requirements in federal buildings, rejoining the World Health Organization, and rejoining the Paris Climate Accord.
See more on Biden's possible executive orders: Biden's first act: Executive orders on pandemic, climate, immigration.
Koopman said one of the largest issues Biden now faces is working with the House and Senate. He said it may be tempting to push through very liberal ideas, but it will be smarter to establish bipartisan relationships on a long-term basis.
"For success to happen legislatively, Biden has to go to the middle," said Koopman. "And there will be early signals about that. Does he want to include Republicans, such as West Michigan's Fred Upton or Peter Meijer in conversations? Is he going to hire staff that will have a history of working with both Republicans and Democrats? So to me, his critical calculation is how much true bipartisan cooperation does he want to have? And he will signal that by who he hires and who he reaches out to in person to talk to or to bring in."
Another challenge Biden faces is working with the political divide in the nation. Koopman said his task will to reestablish an exchange of ideas in Washington D.C. that is responsive to the people.
"You have 74 million disappointed people who voted for President Trump," said Koopman. "And who are very worried about these, I would say extreme democratic principles, extremely liberal, democratic principles. You cannot discount those people. As tempting as it is for Washington to discount people back home, you cannot forget those people."
Koopman said as far as the transition of power goes, it will move fairly quickly the first few days. However, it is a year-long project to move the government in the direction the incoming president sees it going. Koopman said this and the previous transition of power from former Presidents Obama to Trump both had a lack of cooperation, and he called it an "awkward and incomplete" process.
As far as former President Trump skipping the inauguration Wednesday goes, Koopman says it actually helps prepare the White House for the incoming residents faster, but ultimately does not mean much.
"I do think it's sort of symbolic of who he has been," said Koopman. "Because if he's not at the center of a ceremony, he doesn't really want to be a part of it, nd he doesn't want to be seen as sort of conceding or giving away things. Part of it is he certainly still probably believes he did win the election, so this is somewhat unfair. But substantively, for the for helping the new government get going, his presence or absence doesn't matter a whole lot."
Koopman called the new President's inaugural speech the most religious he has ever heard, and that it spoke to strength and unity as a nation.
RELATED VIDEO:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.