President Donald J. Trump has had a very busy past few weeks. Since his first day in office, he has been seen signing executive order after order. He has signed 12 executive orders as of Feb. 13. Trump signed five orders within his first week. But how many has he really signed in comparison to previous presidents?
Barack Obama signed five executive orders within his first week. Bill Clinton only signed two orders in his first week and George Bush II signed none. Over his two terms, Obama signed 276 orders. Bill Clinton signed 364, and George Bush II signed 291. The most amount of orders ever signed goes to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed more than 3,500. It will be interesting to see how Donald Trump fairs in comparison to previous presidents.
There are some people left feeling with his executive orders that he is moving “fast,” but
in terms of Obama’s pace, they seem to be relatively on the same level. One of Obama’s first orders, and considered one of his most important, was the “Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained At the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities” order. He made an act to end the use of the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. This order was a decision to put an end to the controversy. Most of President Trump’s orders have revolved around our nation’s security. His most prominent orders so far have been the “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements” order and the “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” order. The Border Security order was signed in a direct fulfillment to his campaign promise to “build the wall”. The Foreign Terrorist Entry act was a security act put into place to have a temporary travel ban from the following countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. This order was overturned by the Supreme Court, and President Trump is currently in a legal battle to reenact it.
Some of his other orders have included cuts on environmental regulations, enhancing
public safety, and controlling regulations costs. Most recently (as of February 13th) , President Trump has passed orders dealing with the prevention of violence against all law officials, including federal, state, local, and tribal officers, as well as other orders dealing with order of succession within the Department of Justice, and the prevention of international trafficking dealing with the illegal behavior of the drug cartels. Another one of his latest includes the Presidential Executive Order on a Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety.
His first few weeks have proven to be extremely busy, and he also seems to be working on trying to fulfill as many as his campaign promises as soon as possible. Only time will be able to tell us just how much of his word he will carry out.
