Biden should pursue lawmaking, rely less on executive authority

Back in December, during a virtual meeting with progressive organizations, then-Presidentelect Joe Biden insisted that he would abide by constitutional limits on his executive authority.

“I am not going to violate the Constitution. Executive authority that my progressive friends talk about is way beyond the bounds,” he said, citing as one example calls to use his executive authority to prohibit the sale of certain types of firearms. “[N]o one has fought harder to get rid of assault weapons than me, me, but you can’t do it by executive order.”

Now, having taken office, President Biden has signed off on dozens of executive actions, with more on the way. Signed and planned orders range on matters from climate change to the opioid crisis to “Buy American” requirements for the federal government.

As Politifact notes, Biden’s issuing of 17 executive orders in his first two days in office greatly exceeded the number issues by Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, who, in the same time period, issued one and two, respectively. To be sure, many of the orders have to do with the unprecedented pandemic at hand. And many of them are aimed at rolling back Trump administration policies.

“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, and that’s exactly what he did,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Whether any of his executive orders indeed exceed statutory authorities granted by Congress isn’t clear, considering the vast degree of power ceded by Congress to the executive branch.

Which brings us to a point we have repeatedly made over the years and across presidential administrations: instead of a continued reliance on executive orders, there ought to be a return to the way our federal government is supposed to run, with Congress taking up, debating, vetting and approving legislation.

The increasing tendency of Congress to rely on “must-pass” omnibus spending bills as the time to cram in new laws, and the tendency of presidents to sit back and use their executive authority to do what they’d like, is inconsistent with the vision of America’s founders.