Still, Rudalevige says that comparing executive orders from one president to the next can provide a misleading snapshot of a president’s propensity for taking executive action. By comparison, Obama issued 108 in his first three years. Trump has so far issued 130 executive orders. His biggest legislative achievement so far, a $1.5 trillion tax cut, failed to gain one Democratic vote. But Trump himself has had little success with Congress in that regard. He reasoned that Obama’s use of executive orders made him look like a weak negotiator. I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone.”įew candidates for office have placed so much emphasis on criticizing a predecessor’s executive orders as Trump did. He famously declared in 2014: “We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need. When Obama became frustrated with how difficult it was to push legislation through Congress, he warned Republicans he would take executive action when he considered it necessary. And President Dwight Eisenhower used an executive order to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock. President Harry Truman mandated equal treatment of all members of the armed forces through executive orders. President Franklin Roosevelt established internment camps during World War II. Congress can pass a new law to override an executive order and future presidents can undo them.Įvery president since George Washington has used the executive order power, according to the National Constitution Center, and some of those orders played a critical role in American history. He surpassed Obama’s third-year total when, in the last two weeks, he issued five executive orders relating to Medicare, government transparency, federal spending and imposing sanctions on Turkish officials.Īn executive order can have the same effect as a federal law - but its impact can be fleeting. The White House declined to comment on Trump’s use of executive orders.

Obama executive memoranda