Biden issued 25 executive orders in January 2021, more than any other month of his presidency. He did not issue any executive orders in November 2022 and January 2023.
Biden is averaging 48 executive orders per year, tied with Ronald Reagan (R) for the second-most among presidents since 1981. Donald Trump (R) averaged 55 executive orders per year, the most in that time. Barack Obama (D) averaged 35 per year, the fewest in that time.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) issued 307 executive orders per year on average, the most of all U.S. presidents. William Henry Harrison (Whig) averaged the fewest, issuing none during his one month in office. Three presidents issued only one executive order each: James Madison (Democratic-Republican), James Monroe (Democratic-Republican), and John Adams (Federalist).
In May 2023, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviewed 35 significant regulatory actions issued by federal agencies. OIRA approved one rule with no changes and approved the intent of 30 rules while recommending changes to their content. Two rules were withdrawn from the review process by the issuing agency. Two rules were subject to a statutory or judicial deadline.
OIRA reviewed 45 significant regulatory actions in May 2022, 35 significant regulatory actions in May 2021, 56 significant regulatory actions in May 2020, 36 significant regulatory actions in May 2019, 22 significant regulatory actions in May 2018, and four significant regulatory actions in May 2017.
OIRA has reviewed a total of 220 significant rules in 2023. The agency reviewed a total of 485 significant rules in 2022, 502 significant rules in 2021, 676 significant rules in 2020, 475 significant rules in 2019, 355 significant rules in 2018, and 237 significant rules in 2017.
As of June 1, 2023, OIRA’s website listed 128 regulatory actions under review.
OIRA is responsible for reviewing and coordinating what it deems to be all significant regulatory actions made by federal agencies, with the exception of independent federal agencies. Significant regulatory actions include agency rules that have had or may have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state and local governments and communities. These regulatory actions may also conflict with other regulations or with the priorities of the president.
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity, accounting for both regulatory and deregulatory actions.
From May 1, 2023, through May 5, 2023, the Federal Register grew by 3,068 pages for a year-to-date total of 29,534 pages.
The Federal Register hit an all-time high of 95,894 pages in 2016.
This week’s Federal Register featured the following 605 documents:
496 notices
17 presidential documents
55 proposed rules
37 final rules
Twelve proposed rules, including proposed amendments to the prudential management and operations standards rule from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and two final rules, including amendments to records management regulations regarding digitizing permanent records from the National Archives and Records Administration, were deemed significant under E.O. 12866—defined by the potential to have large impacts on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. Significant actions may also conflict with presidential priorities or other agency rules. The Biden administration in 2023 has issued 144 significant proposed rules, 86 significant final rules, and four significant notices as of May 5.
Ballotpedia maintains page counts and other information about the Federal Register as part of its Administrative State Project. The project is a neutral, nonpartisan encyclopedic resource that defines and analyzes the administrative state, including its philosophical origins, legal and judicial precedents, and scholarly examinations of its consequences. The project also monitors and reports on measures of federal government activity.
In April 2023, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviewed 37 significant regulatory actions issued by federal agencies. OIRA approved three of these rules with no changes and approved the intent of 32 rules while recommending changes to their content. Two rules were withdrawn from the review process by the issuing agency.
OIRA reviewed 39 significant regulatory actions in April 2022, 22 significant regulatory actions in April 2021, 45 significant regulatory actions in April 2020, 44 significant regulatory actions in April 2019, 32 significant regulatory actions in April 2018, and seven significant regulatory actions in April 2017.
OIRA has reviewed a total of 185 significant rules in 2023. The agency reviewed a total of 485 significant rules in 2022, 502 significant rules in 2021, 676 significant rules in 2020, 475 significant rules in 2019, 355 significant rules in 2018, and 237 significant rules in 2017.
As of May 1, 2023, OIRA’s website listed 117 regulatory actions under review.
OIRA is responsible for reviewing and coordinating what it deems to be all significant regulatory actions made by federal agencies, with the exception of independent federal agencies. Significant regulatory actions include agency rules that have had or may have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state and local governments and communities. These regulatory actions may also conflict with other regulations or with the priorities of the president.
Biden issued 25 executive orders in January 2021, more than any other month of his presidency. He did not issue any executive orders in November 2022 and January 2023.
Biden is averaging 48 executive orders per year, tied with Ronald Reagan (R) for second-most among presidents since 1981. Donald Trump (R) averaged 55 executive orders per year, the most in that time. Barack Obama (D) issued 35 per year, the fewest in that time.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) issued 307 executive orders per year on average, the most of all U.S. presidents. William Henry Harrison (Whig) averaged the fewest, issuing none during his one month in office. Three presidents issued only one executive order each: James Madison (Democratic-Republican), James Monroe (Democratic-Republican), and John Adams (Federalist).
President Joe Biden (D) issued an executive order on April 21 creating a White House Office of Environmental Justice and directing all federal agencies to prioritize what it described as environmental justice in their policymaking whenever and however possible. According to Fox News:
“President Biden will sign an executive order Friday in the Rose Garden that will direct every agency of the federal government to incorporate ‘environmental justice’ into its mission, the White House said.
“The White House has invited environmental justice leaders, climate advocates and community leaders to join the president at the signing ceremony today. There, Biden will reaffirm his administration’s commitment to fighting climate change and correcting ‘disproportionate environmental harms,’ including those inflicted by a ‘legacy of racial discrimination including redlining.’
“‘The executive order will direct agencies to address gaps in science and data to better understand and prevent the cumulative impacts of pollution on people’s health. It will create a new Office of Environmental Justice in the White House to coordinate all environmental justice efforts across the federal government. And it will require agencies to notify nearby communities in the event of a release of toxic substances from a federal facility,’ a White House official said….
“The new White House Office of Environmental Justice created by Biden’s action will be led by a Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer, who will be tasked with coordinating ‘environmental justice’ policy across the whole federal government….
“The White House contrasted Biden’s planned action with policies favored by House Republicans and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., accusing ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ of being in the pocket of Big Oil.”
As of April 14, 2023, six noteworthy candidates are running in the 2024 presidential election, including one Democrat and five Republicans. Additionally, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced he had formed a presidential exploratory committee on April 12.
Below is a summary of each candidate’s campaign activity from April 7 to April 14.
Author and 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson (D) spoke at an event hosted by the Yale Political Union on April 11. She is also beginning a campaign tour of New Hampshire today, and will appear across the state through April 17.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (R) campaigned in Iowa from April 10 to April 12. She held her first Women for Nikki campaign event in Des Moines on April 12.
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) is campaigning in Iowa today and tomorrow, his first campaign stop in the state since announcing his candidacy on April 2.
Entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy (R) campaigned in New Hampshire on April 13. He’s set to continue campaigning across the state through April 17.
Former President Donald Trump (R) will appear today at the National Rifle Association conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) endorsed Trump on April 10, bringing the total U.S. House endorsements we have tracked for his campaign to 39.
Ballotpedia did not identify any campaign activity from former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton (R).
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) also made major announcements about the presidential election this week. On April 11, the DNC announced it will hold the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced that Fox News will host the first Republican primary debate. The RNC previously announced the debate will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August 2023.
At this point in the 2020 cycle, 20 noteworthy candidates were running for president. Nineteen were seeking the Democratic nomination, and one (Trump) was seeking the Republican nomination.
Notable stories at the time included Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) announcing his presidential campaign on April 9, 2019, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) reaching the fundraising threshold to qualify for the first Democratic primary debate on April 11. Swalwell would later drop out of the race on July 8, 2019. Before Gabbard dropped out of the race on March 10, 2020, she received two pledged delegates from American Samoa where she received 29.3% of the primary vote.
In the 2016 election cycle, four noteworthy candidates had announced their campaigns as of April 14, 2015. There was one Democrat, the eventual 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton (D), and three Republicans, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). At this point in the 2016 cycle, media outlets reported on Clinton hiring Troy Price as her campaign’s Iowa political director on April 8, 2015, and the release of Clinton’s campaign mission statement. Trump, the eventual Republican nominee, also spoke at the National Rifle Association annual conference on April 10, where he said, “If I run, and people are going to be very surprised, and if I win, America will be great again.”
President Joe Biden (D) signed a bill ending the national coronavirus state of emergency on April 10, 2023.
The House voted to approve the bill 229-197 on Feb. 1, 2023, and the Senate voted to approve the bill 68-23 on March 29, 2023. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) introduced the bill on January 9, 2023. Biden had previously said he planned to end the state of emergency through executive action in May 2023.
The national coronavirus state of emergency began on March 1, 2020. Donald Trump (R) issued the proclamation on March 13, 2020, making the state of emergency retroactively begin on March 1 of that year.
The president can declare national states of emergency under the authority of the National Emergencies Act. During a national state of emergency, additional powers and authorities are granted to the executive branch, often through the provisions of other laws.
For example, the Biden administration enacted its student loan debt cancellation plan under the HEROES Act of 2003, which provides the executive branch authority to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs” in a national state of emergency. The student loan debt cancellation is paused pending a United States Supreme Court ruling.
In addition to the coronavirus state of emergency, Trump issued at least 10 other national states of emergency during his tenure related to international affairs, government ethics, and elections. Biden has issued at least seven national states of emergency relating to international affairs.
President Joe Biden (D) vetoed the second bill of his presidency on April 6, 2023. Biden vetoed H.J.Res.27, a joint resolution of disapproval under the terms of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that sought to void an Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers rule from 2023 that specified “which bodies of water fall under the scope of the Clean Water Act and are thereby under federal jurisdiction and protected.”
In his veto message, Biden said, “The resolution would leave Americans without a clear definition of ‘Waters of the United States’. The increased uncertainty caused by H.J. Res. 27 would threaten economic growth, including for agriculture, local economies, and downstream communities. […] The resolution would also negatively affect tens of millions of United States households that depend on healthy wetlands and streams.”
Overriding a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress. The House of Representatives and Senate both initially passed the resolution by a simple majority.
The House of Representatives voted 227-198 to approve the resolution on March 9, 2023. The Senate voted 53-43 to approve the resolution on March 29. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) introduced the resolution on Feb. 2.
President Ronald Reagan (R) issued the most vetoes (87) of all presidents since 1981. Biden, with two vetoes, has issued the fewest. President Donald Trump (R) issued the second-fewest vetoes (9) within this timeframe.
Presidents have issued 2,586 vetoes in American history. Congress has overridden 112. President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed 635 bills, the most of any president. Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Q. Adams, William H. Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, and James A. Garfield did not issue any vetoes.
In March 2023, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviewed 70 significant regulatory actions issued by federal agencies. OIRA approved 10 of these rules with no changes and approved the intent of 55 rules while recommending changes to their content. Four rules were withdrawn from the review process by the issuing agency. One rule was subject to a statutory or judicial deadline.
OIRA reviewed 46 significant regulatory actions in March 2022, 28 significant regulatory actions in March 2021, 41 significant regulatory actions in March 2020, 27 significant regulatory actions in March 2019, 19 significant regulatory actions in March 2018, and one significant regulatory action in March 2017.
OIRA has reviewed a total of 148 significant rules in 2023. The agency reviewed a total of 485 significant rules in 2022, 502 significant rules in 2021, 676 significant rules in 2020, 475 significant rules in 2019, 355 significant rules in 2018, and 237 significant rules in 2017.
As of April 3, 2023, OIRA’s website listed 107 regulatory actions under review.
OIRA is responsible for reviewing and coordinating what it deems to be all significant regulatory actions made by federal agencies, with the exception of independent federal agencies. Significant regulatory actions include agency rules that have had or may have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state and local governments and communities. These regulatory actions may also conflict with other regulations or with the priorities of the president.
