Joe Biden has signed more executive orders in the first 12 days of his presidency than the combined number issued by his predecessors Donald Trump and Barack Obama for the same point in their tenures.
Since his inauguration, Biden has signed 25 executive orders—taking a raft of action to shape his agenda and to reverse moves taken by Trump which he disagreed with.
Over the same period, Trump signed seven. Obama signed nine in the same timeframe—making 16 between the pair. This comes with Biden having also outstripped the pair in terms of executive actions taken in their first week in power.
Prior to January 20, Biden announced a raft of presidential actions focused on issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and racial equity. Apart from executive orders, Biden has also issued a number of presidential proclamations and memos.
“President-elect Biden will take action—not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration—but also to start moving our country forward,” a previous statement from his transition team, outlining what his initial orders would be, said.
His first orders came on day one of his presidency.
Republican lawmakers swiftly criticized the president for the number of presidential actions he took at the start of his term, questioning such moves in the wake of calls for unity. There have been claims his climate actions could impact job numbers as well as suggestions his moves “cater to the left.”
Several energy states questioned his climate actions, suggesting he might overstep his authority and that they would challenge this if it were to happen. Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and an executive order which blocks the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline were two key matters which irked some Republican adversaries.
While Republicans have criticized him for too much, progressives have suggested his actions do not go far enough. As previously reported by Newsweek, some progressive groups feel Biden should be taking stronger action on points such as climate change and the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though Biden has been criticized over what Republicans have deemed a juxtaposition between his unity rhetoric and presidential actions, he has continued to speak of his desire for bipartisanship.
On COVID-19 relief, for example, he has agreed to meet a number of Republican senators in a bid to move forward in formulating a proposal capable of gaining support across both sides of the aisle in Congress.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment on the number of executive orders issued by the president.