By Rita Cook
Texas Metro News
This week I will begin my series on President Donald Trump’s Executive Orders and what Americans need to know.
To begin, I am going to offer some background information on executive orders. I have never been a fan of any president, no matter the side of the aisle, using executive orders to dance around lawmakers to pass a piece of legislation.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Presidents use these orders to create various needed councils or commissions when they arrive in office. Executive orders can also be used to set policies on a wide scale for hiring and purchasing, as needed.
The only way to rescind or amend an executive order is by an act of Congress, a court order, or another executive order, which did happen on Jan. 20 when President Trump rescinded 78 of the executive orders Joe Biden had put in place during his time in office.
The rescinded orders ranged from topics as diverse as greenhouse gas emissions, oil drilling on federal land and the cost of prescription medications.
When Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, he signed 26 executive orders and two more a few days later, making his total at press time 28.
As a point of reference, during his last term he signed one executive order on his first day in office and 220 during his first administration.
Former President Joe Biden signed nine executive orders on his first day as President, but he did sign an additional 15 executive orders in his first week and 162 executive orders overall during his administration.
Former President Barack Obama signed two executive orders on the first day of this first term and zero on the first day of his second term. In all, Obama signed 276 executive orders during his eight years in office.
For former President George W. Bush, no executive orders were signed on his first day of either of his two terms, but overall, he did end up signing 291 executive orders during his eight years as President.
Trump’s signing of 26 executive orders was more than any previous U.S. president.
TRUMP’S SIGNINGS
While there are many Democrats who are certainly aghast at his busy pen, Trump is definitely keeping his campaign promises to those who voted for him and he began keeping those promises on day one.
I looked at the breakdown of the executive orders for topic relevance and saw he signed six executive orders relating to immigration, three relating to energy and environment, 14 relating to governmental changes, four relating to crime, and one relating to the economy.
Some of the high-profile orders Pres. Trump signed range from pardoning or commuting sentences for almost everyone who was convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, incident in the U.S. Capitol.
As for the difference between a pardon and a commuted sentence, the latter is a form of clemency to reduce the punishment for a crime.
Trump also paused the TikTok ban on his first day, removed the United States from the World Health Organization and he took a very deep dive into the immigration situation in the United States.
A dive that will certainly impact the future of immigration in this country for years to come.
If there is a particular executive order you would like me to break down first let me know. Watch for this series every week and find out the good, the bad and the ugly for each executive order including the implications that will be felt both positively and negatively for the United States and for you, the reader.
Rita Cook is a world traveler and writer/editor who specializes in writing on travel, auto, crime and politics. A correspondent for Texas Metro News, she has published 11 books and has also produced low-budget films.
