In his first week in power, U.S. President Donald Trump began rolling out his vision for America in a swift series of top-down orders from the White House.
Trump has signed 14 executive actions since his inauguration last Friday, including six executive orders and eight presidential memoranda, which allow the president to set policy directives.
Many of those decisions make real several of Trump’s most contentious campaign promises. The actions include an executive order to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, an announcement to move forward with approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and an order to cut funding from so-called sanctuary cities, such as New York and Seattle, that protect undocumented immigrants.
On Friday, Trump signed two new executive orders at the Pentagon. One called for “new vetting measures” to keep “radical Islamic terrorists” out of the U.S., a move that echoes Trump’s campaign call for an outright Muslim ban.
“We don't want 'em here," Trump said during the announcement. "We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas.”
A second executive order signed Friday seeks to build the U.S. military.
An executive order is a binding decision issued by a president that carries authority with the stroke of a pen. An executive order cannot kill a law passed by Congress, but it can scrap an executive order issued by a past president.
It’s fairly common for presidents to spend their first week in office issuing executive actions.
“We’ve been seeing a great number of these things happening in presidential transitions in the last several administrations,” Phillip Cooper, a professor of public administration at Portland State University, told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
Cooper says the trend of “taking control of government very quickly” through executive actions started with Ronald Reagan’s presidency and has become more or less the norm ever since.
“In each administration since then, we’ve seen an increase in the importance of these things, even to the point where when President Obama took office, the news media were expecting him to issue a significant number,” he said.
Trump’s fast action
But Trump’s speediness is notable. He’s the only president since Bill Clinton in 1993 to sign an executive order on his first day in office. Trump’s order attempts to roll back elements of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Trump cannot issue an executive order to flat-out kill Obamacare since it is a law passed by Congress. But Trump’s executive order attempts to weaken the legislation by asking the U.S. secretary of health and services to loosen their interpretation of the law to cut financial slack for health care providers, individuals and insurers.
In some cases, executive actions resemble a political tug-of-war between Republican and Democratic presidents. Trump’s decision to reinstate the Mexico City Policy on the third day of his term follows a longstanding history of back and forth on the decision, first introduced by Ronald Reagan, that limits U.S. funding for international NGOs that provide women with safe access to abortions.
The policy was revoked by Bill Clinton, revived by George W. Bush, killed again by Barack Obama and brought back to life again by Trump.
Legal battles loom
An executive order can be challenged by Congress. However, since Congress is controlled by Republicans, it’s possible that challenges to Trump’s executive orders will be brought forward by everyday Americans through the court system.
“Obviously since we have a Congress of the same political party as the president, then the question is: will the Congress conduct careful oversight of what the president is doing, or are we going to looking to lawsuits in the courts to challenge what the president has done?” Cooper said.
Here is a full list of Trump executive orders and presidential memoranda in his first week in office:
TRUMP’S FIRST SIX EXECUTIVE ORDERS
- Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal: This executive order attempts to loosen financial elements of Obamacare.
- Expediting environmental reviews and approvals for high profile infrastructure projects: An order to quicken environmental assessments of U.S. infrastructure projects.
- Border security and immigration enforcement improvements: The contentious order to construct a wall between Mexico and the U.S. southern border. Trump has repeatedly vowed that Mexico “will pay” for the wall, which the country has denied. This executive order led Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to cancel a meeting with Trump.
- Enhancing public safety in the Interior of the United States: Trump ordered more resources for immigration officers to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and to limit funding for sanctuary cities.
- Protection of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States: An order that suspends the U.S. refugee program for four months to weed out "radical Islamic terrorists" from entering the country.
- Order to grow military: On Friday, Trump signed an order to spur “a great rebuilding” of the U.S. Armed Forces.
TRUMP’S FIRST EIGHT PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDA
- Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies: An decision to pause any federal regulations put forward under the Obama administration until Trump’s team can review them.
- Mexico City Policy: An order to revive Reagan’s anti-abortion policy.
- Regarding Withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations and Agreement: An order to scrap negotiations regarding the TPP, a massive international trade agreement negotiated under Obama but not yet ratified by Congress.
- Regarding the Hiring Freeze: A decision to halt hiring of new federal workers, excluding military jobs.
- Construction of American Pipelines: According to this move, new pipelines should only be made with American-made materials.
- Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline: An early approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The gesture seen as a pre-emptive measure since firm plans for the project have yet to be formally approved. Since the executive action, TransCanada has submitted a new presidential permit application for the pipeline’s approval.
- Regarding Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline: The controversial pipeline project in North Dakota, where protesters have been camped out for months, has been prioritized by Trump.
- Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing: Under this action, Trump has asked for a plan to make the permitting process simpler for American manufacturers.
Previous presidents and executive orders
The infographic below shows the average number of executive orders per year issued by previous presidents, using information compiled by the American Presidency Project. It does not include memorandums or executive actions “that are not accompanied by a published presidential directive.”
