Biden’s never-ending use of executive orders (EOs) are not what the Founding Father’s intended, and their policy directives run counter to the values of the US.
The president’s constant stream of EO’s show that he is not serious about transparency and bipartisanship in Washington, despite what him and his staff say to the press. The president used EOs to revoke common sense government policies that were put in place under President Trump to increase government transparency.
President Biden reversed a Trump era policy that required government guidance documents be placed in a searchable database, so citizens can easily access them. Guidance documents help explain the agency interpretation of government regulations and how they apply to the public and private businesses. It is logical that if you are going to burden citizens with government regulation, you should at least give them easily accessible guidance as to how the regulation will be interpreted.
Senator Ron Johnson (Wis.-R) along with 20 Senate Republicans sent a letter to the President stressing their concerns over the policy change. The letter states:
“Since February, a number of federal agencies have taken steps to eliminate public access to guidance documents in order to comply with your directive. We believe these actions run counter to the principles of an open, transparent government and the rule of law… In the past, efforts to promote a more open and transparent government have been bipartisan, and we see on reason why they should not be today.”
The initial policy directive from President Trump came from the bipartisan legislation known as the Guidance Out Of Darkness Act (or the GOOD Act). The legislation was successfully voted out of committee in the last two Congresses by a bipartisan majority. One should also note that when serving in the Senate, Vice President Harris voted in support of the legislation.
The actions put into place by President Biden’s EOs should be concerning to all Americans. Couple that with the sheer volume of EOs he has signed and Americans should be very worried. Projections from UC Santa Barbara’s The Presidency Project estimates that if President Biden continues at his current EO signing pace he will average 160 EOs a year. Putting that into perspective, Trump averaged 55, Obama 35, Bush (43) 36, and Clinton 46. Moreover, the first ten US Presidents signed a total of 57 EOs.
Lawmakers, stakeholders, and citizens need to continue to shine a light on the negative impact President Biden’s EOs are having on the US and the core values we hold as a nation.