When President Biden was campaigning, he was clear that there were limits to the use of executive orders “unless you’re a dictator.”
Now that he is in power, things look different. In his first eight days, he signed 24 orders, as well as nine memorandums and four proclamations, on everything from mandated mask-wearing on federal property to rejoining the Paris climate accords.
The result is a slew of accusations of hypocrisy and presidential overreach, while even allies worry this unilateral approach is undermining his claims to be a consensus-builder.
Republican strategist John Feehery said many of the executive orders were designed to placate the left wing of his party.
“It is hypocrisy, and the sad thing is that hypocrisy has become the coin of the realm,” he said. “No one believes anything anyone says anymore. This is why people hate politicians.”
Biden made clear his concern about the use of executive actions during an ABC News town hall in October.
He told George Stephanopoulos that Republicans and Democrats had suggested to him that he could use presidential powers to force through policies if he couldn’t garner the votes to steer legislation through Congress.
“Things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator,” he said. “We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”
Yet, his early presidency has been marked by a cavalier approach to using the power as he rolls back Trump administration policies and sets out his own agenda.
He signed 22 executive orders in his first week. In contrast, former President Donald Trump, frequently criticized by Democrats for his reliance on presidential powers, issued four. Barack Obama signed five, and George W. Bush did not put his signature on any at all.
On Thursday, Biden added to his tally, using his presidential powers to reopen enrollment to the health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and strengthen Medicaid.
And he signed a memorandum overturning Trump administration restrictions on American funding for clinics that refer patients for abortions, both at home and abroad.
Republicans assailed the content of the actions, as well as the mechanism.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “As recently as October, now-President Biden said you can’t legislate by executive action unless you’re a dictator.”
The slew of unilateral actions, he added, meant “working Americans are getting short shrift.”
The White House said the “dictator” comment had been taken out of context, pointing out that Biden had been answering a question on raising taxes and had said executive actions could not be used for everything.
In her daily briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had taken power at a time of immense crisis when swift action is essential.
“There are steps including overturning some of the harmful detrimental and, yes, immoral actions of the prior administration that he felt he could not wait to overturn,” she said. “And that’s exactly what he did.”
Even so, allies have expressed concern. The New York Times editorial board warned that extensive use of the strategy risked allowing the next administration to reverse direction with the stroke of a pen.
“This creates instability and uncertainty that can carry significant economic as well as human costs,” it said, citing Biden’s efforts to protect “Dreamers,” immigrants brought illegally into the country as minors.
They deserve better than to be subject to the “whims” of whoever holds the White House, it argued.
We are not taking executive action in lieu of legislation: we are taking executive action to fix what Trump broke in the executive branch, and to keep the President’s commitments to use his power — within appropriate limits — to make progress on four crises. https://t.co/BUHLWRaYcp
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) January 28, 2021
Robert Shapiro, professor of law at Columbia University, said Biden’s use of executive actions had not gone beyond the usual norms. But he said the topics (environment, Obamacare, and abortion), suggested a motivation.
“They are things that the Left of his party would like legislation on, but that’s a nonstarter,” he said. “A lot of these executive orders, I read as him saying he cares about these issues, he’s going to try as hard as he can.”
The question now is how long he continues using executive orders at such a rapid pace, according to veteran Democratic operative Hank Sheinkopf.
“He’s trying to erase Trump with the stroke of a pen, and it’s important for him to make the distinction between him and Trump,” he said. “Is it hypocrisy? It is likely to stop, and if it doesn’t, then it will give Republicans an argument that it violates democracy.”
