EDITORIAL: Biden makes liberal use of his ‘pen’ and ‘phone’

In his first two weeks in the Oval Office, President Biden has signed 28 executive orders. That’s just two shy of the 30 orders presidential record holder Franklin Roosevelt signed during his first month in office in 1933.

It’s true that former President Donald Trump used the same power repeatedly to undo the work of his predecessor, Barack Obama, who himself once famously talked about his “pen” and “phone” when declaring his own willingness to use executive orders to further his agenda. That boldness certainly rubbed off on Mr. Biden, who has sprinted past his former boss’s pace.

Intellectual consistency has all but vanished in politics, so it’s not surprising to see Republicans who cheered Mr. Trump’s executive orders decrying those issued by Mr. Biden. In the same vein, Democrats who applaud today or when Mr. Obama took unilateral action called it a threat to democracy when Mr. Trump did the same.

But while there is a place for limited use of the executive order, defenders of our democratic republic should be troubled by an ongoing trend that has seen the executive branch seizing more and more power from Congress.

It was in that vein that The New York Times last week raised concerns about Mr. Biden’s flurry of edicts, arguing that “legislation through Congress is a better path.” While the Times’ political outlook isn’t ours, the Grey Lady has a point.

Mr. Biden, the Times notes, has already “committed to rejoining the Paris climate change agreement, ended the Muslim travel ban, canceled the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, rescinded funding for and halted construction on the wall at the southern border, reaffirmed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, mandated mask-wearing on federal grounds, moved to end the federal government’s reliance on private prisons, reversed the ban on transgender military service and called for agency assessments aimed at advancing racial equity — just to name a few.”

And that doesn’t even include his orders on the economy.

Over the past two weeks, Mr. Biden has extended the ban on evictions and foreclosures, extended a freeze on student loan payments, increased food aid payments for millions of low-income households and started the ball rolling to increase the minimum wage for federal workers to $15 per hour.

But the United States doesn’t have a king. Relying too heavily on the power of the pen is a bad approach, no matter whether the occupant of the White House has an “R” or “D” next to his name.

It’s the job of Congress to legislate and the job of an effective president to work with lawmakers to achieve his goals. As the Times aptly notes, President Biden campaigned as an experienced legislator with a keen ability to compromise. If he truly seeks lasting change, now would be the time to put those traits to work.