Building speed

Follow Us Get the newsletter In office barely a week, President Joe Biden has undone Donald Trump's policies at the stroke of a pen on everything from immigration to climate to the wearing of face masks in public. Making more lasting change, however, will require legislative action by Congress. In most cases, that will mean cooperation from at least some Republicans. As Ryan Teague Beckwith writes, Biden can learn a lot from the successes and stumbles of his former boss, President Barack Obama. When Obama took office in 2009, Democrats similarly controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress, albeit by far wider margins than now. The biggest lessons? Move fast, keep it simple and don't chase bipartisanship too hard. That last one might not be as feasible for Biden, given Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority. Republican opposition already has stymied Democrats' efforts to convict Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial and to garner the necessary support for Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package. That could help explain why Biden has relied so heavily on his executive power, signing more than two dozen actions so far. On climate and clean energy issues, he's moved even faster than Obama. Biden today will attempt to make it easier for Americans to buy health insurance during the pandemic by issuing an order reopening the federal Obamacare marketplace, which Trump tried to eliminate. But the speed with which he has overturned Trump's policies underscores the fragility of Biden's changes by demonstrating how easily executive actions can be undone. — Kathleen Hunter Biden with Obama after the latter presented him with the Medal of Freedom in Washington on Jan. 12, 2017. Photographer: Olivier Douliery/Sipa USA Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Global Headlines High noon | The U.S. finance industry is facing a nervous question: Can the next sheriff of Wall Street tame the wild markets epitomized by the mania engulfing GameStop and penny stocks? As Ben Bain and Robert Schmidt explain, Gary Gensler, Biden's pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, is about to confront a run-up in share prices with few parallels in modern history. The saga that is GameStop has turned into nothing short of a national sensation. Tensions rising | India's foreign minister signaled a hardening of New Delhi's stance toward China today amid deadlocked peace talks to resolve a deadly border conflict. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the military standoff had placed relations between the two nations under "exceptional stress," just days after reports of a fresh outbreak of violence between the troops along their contested Himalayan border. Vaccine spat | Drug maker AstraZeneca refused a European Union demand to use vaccine supplies from its U.K. factories to increase doses going to the mainland, signaling further potential delays to the bloc's sluggish inoculation campaign. In a virtual meeting yesterday, the company stuck to its decision to prioritize the U.K. over the EU following a Belgian production glitch, in what Brussels claims to be a breach of contractual commitments. Public support | Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam backed HSBC's presence in the city as the lender faces criticism for freezing accounts of activists and supporting the financial hub's controversial security law. "HSBC is very strong in Hong Kong and an important part of the financial industry," Lam told Bloomberg Television, after the bank's CEO was grilled by U.K. lawmakers over the move to halt a former Hong Kong legislator's account. An expert team investigating the roots of the pandemic ends quarantine today and will begin site visits in China, after a rocky start when two members were denied entry for failing to clear screening procedures. Calendar clash | Everyone in Haiti agrees that President Jovenel Moise's term ends on Feb. 7, but a dispute over whether that means next month or next year has triggered violent protests in the poorest nation in the Americas. Moise maintains his five-year term began when he took power in 2017, while the opposition and some legal scholars say the clock started ticking in 2016, in the wake of chaotic and disputed elections that led to an interim presidency and a new vote. Protesters walk past a burning barricade as opponents of Moise demonstrate in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 15. Photographer: VALERIE BAERISWYL/AFP What to Watch Newly minted Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. will meet its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal only after leaders in Tehran do so, highlighting a dispute that's set to become one of the Biden administration's most politically charged foreign-policy challenges. Victims in roughly $900 million of medical malpractice claims languishing at the Pentagon are asking U.S. courts to force officials to stop delaying payouts, a year after Congress eased a ban on troops seeking compensation for injury or death at the hand of military hospitals. The Democratic Republic of Congo's government collapsed in a victory for President Felix Tshisekedi, who's been trying to cut the influence of former President Joseph Kabila's allies in parliament and in most government ministries. And finally … The world's most rapidly aging society has long struggled to talk to its youth. That's a disconnect that's turning deadly in the pandemic for Japan, where nearly a third of residents are aged over 65. Legally unable to enforce lockdowns, the government has relied on persuasion in its largely successful fight against Covid-19. But as virus fatigue mounts among young people, officials are struggling to convince a demographic to stay home that's least likely to fall seriously ill, but most likely to pass the pathogen on. Attendees at a Coming of Age day ceremony, which marks those turning 20, in Namie, Japan on Jan. 9. Source: STR/AFP   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022