Within only one month of being in office, Joe Biden has issued as many executive orders as Donald Trump and Barack Obama did in the same period, together. In his first 12 days in office, Biden took the lead in delivering 25 executive orders, 10 presidential memoranda, and 4 proclamations.
These three types of executive orders, presidential memos, and proclamations are all directives issued by the president, while federal laws are made by Congress. The right to take these executive acts, however, is not laid down in the Constitution, and can therefore be difficult to describe. Management directives are legally binding and memoranda are addressed equally in practice. Proclamations are typically formal.
In terms of approach, Biden has been more effective than his recent predecessors. His four proclamations are triple the number of proclamations of the other candidates, and on par with Obama and Bush. The greater the number of executive orders he has signed, the greater he is by comparison to previous presidents. Only presidential memoranda can be submitted for a competition. Trump issued 113, while Biden and Obama issued 10 each.
Biden’s early executive actions focus on issues such as immigration reform, climate change, and racial justice. There exists the reversal of President Trump’s decision to remove the US from the World Health Organization, preservation of DACA, repeal of the so-called Muslim ban, and other orders aimed at addressing climate change. At least 13 executive orders undoing the previous administration’s work have been issued.
One particular action by this Secretary of State represents a continuation of the earlier failed policies established by previous administrations. This memo eliminates the policy that used to prohibit US funding for family planning and foreign organizations that provide abortions. The last five presidents either reinstated (Clinton, Obama, Bush, Biden) or amended (Trump) this directive.
