Last week, an increasing number of Republicans began to sound the alarm about the number and content of executive orders issued by President Biden.
“In the first week in office, what did Joe Biden do? He signed an executive order shutting down the Keystone pipeline, destroying 11,000 jobs, ”Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview Tuesday with Fox News.
“The scale of Joe Biden’s executive orders and their impact on Americans is stark,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Last week.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Criticized Biden for issuing “more executive fiats than anyone in such a short period of time, ever. More than Obama, more than Trump, more than anyone. Second, these are not just normal executive fiats, this is literally going down the far left wish list and checking them all out. “
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Has been especially vocal about her opposition to Biden’s executive orders.
Can anyone hide Joe’s pens in the White House?
– Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 26, 2021
Biden, in fact, is at a record pace for executive orders, signing more than 40 of them in his first week in office. Most, however, were written to overthrow those of his predecessor, Donald Trump. They included an end to the travel ban in some Muslim-majority countries, a reversal of Trump’s immigration policies, a resumption of the Paris climate deal, the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline authorization and an end to the transgender service ban policy in the US armed forces.
After years of complaints that former President Barack Obama had used executive orders as an end to a deadlocked Congress, Republicans were silent when Trump did the same thing. Not surprisingly, the pace of Trump’s executive orders increased after Democrats took back control of the House of Representatives, thereby blocking their prospects for passing legislation. When his term ended, Trump had signed 220 executive orders in a single term. Obama, by comparison, signed 276 in his two terms. From a historical perspective, both pale compared to the 3,721 issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 12 years in office, although the nature of the orders and the debate over whether it would be better to leave Congress to legislate have also changed Tempo. Roosevelt’s most important initiatives, including Social Security and most New Deal programs, were enacted by law.
With the U.S. Senate equally divided when Biden took office and the heated debate over whether Democrats should try to end the Senate obstruction to approve his agenda, the flood of executive orders from the president predictably drew praise from Democrats and condemnation from Republicans.
But when it was Trump signing his executive orders with a Sharpie, criticism from members of his own party was hard to spot.
In May, Cruz issued a statement praising Trump for his executive order that sought to amend a federal law that protected technology companies from being sued for the content of their users’ posts.
“This executive order is an important recognition that we can no longer allow Big Tech to be out of control,” said Cruz.
When Trump signed a 2017 executive order repealing an EPA clean water regulation, Cotton applauded him.
“President Trump has promised farmers in America that he will grant them relief from the regulatory attack of the past eight years, and this is a good way to start,” Cotton said in a statement.
Rubio responded to Trump’s executive order that prevented Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from selling equipment in the United States, saying the president “deserves huge credit”.
“I strongly support the executive order of the president and the decision by Secretary Ross to deny export privileges against Huawei,” said Rubio in a statement.
When Trump signed an order in September making it mandatory for hospitals in the U.S. to provide life-saving medical care for critically premature babies, those born with disabilities or those who survive late abortions, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., Issued a statement celebrating “President Trump’s executive order taking decisive new steps to protect life.”
A bill to achieve the same thing failed in Congress.
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