Time to Do Away with Executive Actions
The use of executive orders and actions has gotten completely out of control. I understand that some would argue that there is no alternative when Congress is constantly infighting and deadlocked. That works great when it’s your guy or gal in the Oval Office. But what about when it isn’t your guy or gal? What then? Many of those opposed to President Trump’s use of executive actions are now rallying around President Biden as he wields his presidential pen at a furious pace.
President Biden signed somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 executive actions in his first ten days in office. This rate of rule by decree has to be based on the assumption that Congress can’t or won’t get things done, because surely Congress hasn’t even had the chance to act on Biden’s agenda. Biden is signing orders faster than any of his predecessors, and while I know he wants to start his administration with action and not passivity, this is a recipe for disaster. And it’s not how this country is supposed to work. We send our representatives to Congress as a co-equal branch of our representative republic. But those representatives are marginalized when presidents govern unilaterally instead of in conjunction with the House and Senate.
Some of President Biden’s executive actions are starting to be scrutinized more closely, and that’s a good thing. The President vowed to build consensus and bipartisanship, as they all do, but unilaterally issuing orders and actions isn’t the way to get that done. It didn’t build partnerships across the aisle for George W., for Obama, or for Trump — and it certainly isn’t going to gather support from Republicans for Biden’s agenda.
As I mentioned on my blog, the real issue here is that presidents can put policies in place that benefit or harm specific groups, only to have those policies reversed in four or eight years if the other party wins the White House. Take the lifting of the ban on transgender service in the military. The ban was not in effect under President Obama, but was largely reinstated under Trump, only to be lifted again under Biden. Massive organizations like the Pentagon, with millions of people, don’t get policies working right without lots of deliberation, practice, refinement, and time to work out the kinks to fix what doesn’t work. Executive actions and orders don’t allow that to happen. They are subject to the whims of whoever holds the presidency and they are too easily reversed with the stroke of a pen. That’s unfair to everyone involved and isn’t an effective way to govern.
An even better example is the policy requiring those receiving foreign family planning aid to agree not to provide or promote abortions. The policy was in effect under Reagan, in effect under Bush 41, reversed under Clinton, in effect under Bush 43, reversed under Obama, in effect under Trump, and now reversed again by President Biden. Get the picture? This is ridiculous and has to stop. President Biden can and should do better. He has decades of practical experience working with the Senate, representing Delaware and being President Obama’s Vice President. That experience has built relationships on both sides of the aisle and those relationships should be leveraged for maximum effect instead of being bypassed with executive actions. As a people we should demand more of our president and our Congress.
The bottom line is that the only real way to govern is through legislation, negotiated between the White House, the House and Senate, with bipartisan laws that can be enforced and are not so easily overturned. The use of executive actions, by presidents of both parties, has been completely ineffective in shaping the direction of this country. No one is innocent here and there’s plenty of blame and finger pointing to go around. I firmly believe we’d all be a whole lot better off if the people we send to Washington to represent us actually did their jobs and worked with each other instead of constantly looking for a way to gain an advantage or to score political points. Maybe then we could have real debate on real issues, with real results.
