The White House is defending President Biden’s heavy use of executive orders in his first days in office. It’s a move that is drawing growing scrutiny and leading to criticism from Republicans.
Biden issued 22 executive orders in the first week of his administration, compared to four for President Trump, five by President Obama, and none for President George W. Bush.
Even the liberal editorial board of The New York Times wrote this week: “Ease up on the executive actions, Joe”, writing, “But this is no way to make law. A polarized, narrowly divided Congress may offer Mr. Biden little choice but to employ executive actions or see his entire agenda held hostage.”
“These directives, however, are a flawed substitute for legislation. They are intended to provide guidance to the government and need to work within the discretion granted the executive by existing law or the Constitution,” the op-ed noted. “They do not create new law — though executive orders carry the force of law — and they are not meant to serve as an end-run around the will of Congress. By design, such actions are more limited in what they can achieve than legislation, and presidents who overreach invite intervention by the courts.”
“Mr. Biden’s legacy will depend on his ability to hammer out agreements with Congress,” the editorial continued.
During the 2020 presidential campaign last October, then-candidate Biden told ABC News in a town hall interview, “We are a democracy. Some of my Republican friends and some of my Democratic friends even occasionally say, ‘Well, if you can’t get the votes, by executive order, you’re going to do something.’ Things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”
Several media outlets noted some of Biden’s executive orders will certainly start new court battles or restart old ones, especially on the orders involving LBGTQ rights and DACA , the program protecting hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children, which the Supreme Court blocked Trump from ending.
Reuters noted, “on both of these issues, the Supreme Court is likely to have the final say absent the passage of legislation by Congress that cements the policies into law.”
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Biden’s early reliance on executive action is at odds with the Democrat’s pledge as a candidate to be a consensus builder.
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield bristled at the criticism by the New York Times of Biden’s executive orders in a series of tweets, adding, “Of course we are also pursuing our agenda through legislation. It’s why we are working so hard to get the American Rescue Plan passed, for starters.”
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