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What is a President to do?

Obama uses executive orders to bypass Congress

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40 years ago, I was more Republican than Democrat ... but I have been disgusted at the Republican agenda more and more as they set the stage for the looting of America. I used to be in favor of a low regulation economic environment until I watched corporate behavior in the 1980s when Reagan rolled back regulation and immediately the corporate hot-dogs started to do anything and everythiong to make profit, not matter what the economic consequences for society as a whole.
Peter Burgess

Obama uses orders to bypass Congress

Barack Obama’s new slogan – “we can’t wait” – appears to be more than just rhetoric as the president increasingly relies on executive orders rather than risk his proposals being voted down in Congress.

Mr Obama signed a new executive order on Monday requiring the Food and Drug Administration to address a shortage in prescription medicine, the fifth such order in a week.

The president used the power of his office last week to issue new orders tackling everything from student loans and house refinancing to support for research and development – and said he would launch a new initiative every week until the end of the year.

The president’s $447bn American Jobs Act has stalled on Capitol Hill and his attempts to pass pieces of it – such as bills to help local governments retain teachers, firefighters and police officers – have also failed in the face of Republican opposition to any increased spending. Another part of the act, including new spending on infrastructure and the creation of a national infrastructure bank – was expected to be blocked again by the Senate this week.

But with the executive orders, Mr Obama has signalled a new strategy to advance his agenda without Congress. It also marks the beginning of a public campaign, a year out from the presidential election, to show voters that he is taking concrete action to create jobs while Republicans are not. “He needs people in Congress who are not going to obstruct job creation,” said Thomas Mann, a Congressional expert at the Brookings Institution think tank, adding that the president had little choice.

“So he has no alternative but to use executive orders. He should turn it into a virtue,” he said.

The problem, some analysts said, is that executive orders have a much more limited scope than legislation. And with the economy stuck in first gear, bolder action is needed.

“Nobody should be fooled into thinking that you can construct through executive orders the kind of stimulus you could create through Congress,” said Bill Galston, a former Clinton administration official. “This is really just tinkering at the margins.”

Bill Daley, Mr Obama’s chief of staff, bluntly described the new strategy in an interview with the Politico website published on Friday. “Let’s re-emphasise what powers we have! What we can do on our own! Push the envelope!” he is quoted as saying.

The Republican leadership of the House is not happy. “This idea that you’re just going to go around the Congress is just, it’s almost laughable,” John Boehner, the speaker, told conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham last week.

Mr Boehner said he was “keeping a very close eye” to make sure he was not doing anything unconstitutional.

But Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said Mr Obama was “operating well within the bounds of his authority,” in a similar way to previous presidents, both Republican and Democrat.

“I would respectfully suggest to the speaker that perhaps he should and the House should focus on what the American people are insisting that Washington in general focus on, which is the need to grow the economy and create jobs,” Mr Carney said.

George W. Bush signed numerous executive orders during his presidency, including orders authorising the creation of military tribunals for terrorist suspects, and blocking stem cell research.

Laws made with the stroke of the president’s pen, executive orders are generally used to tell federal agencies how to carry out acts of Congress. Major policy changes have been implemented this way – such as Dwight Eisenhower’s order to desegregate schools and Ronald Reagan’s directive that federal money could not be used to advocate abortion.

But executive orders are also used on many occasions to act when Congress will not and allows the president to circumvent the legislative branch of government. This could be interpreted as unconstitutional – the Constitution says no one should have power to act unilaterally – and the Supreme Court has occasionally upheld challenges to orders.

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