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Before President Barack Obama leaves office, for the final time, the Chicago Tribune reports Obama executive pardons and clemency orders.
Executive actions have been a motif of the Obama era 鈥� or at least, that's how many Republicans see it - with him pushing the envelope on executive power with unilateral orders and agency policies that have allowed him to bypass a recalcitrant Congress.
According to PEW research, Obama has than any U.S. president in 120 years. But that fact hasn鈥檛 stopped President-elect Donald Trump from his rallying cry of repealing them all during his term in office.
, professor at the University of Houston, says Trump鈥檚 threats could just be hyperbole.
鈥淲e tend to try to campaign in poetry but people govern in IKEA instructions,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here's so many complex interconnected things that if you do it wrong it's hard to make it right. And if you do it right the first time it's hard to undo it. This is one of the problems of future presidents coming in trying to undo this kind of knotty, thorny mess of the interconnected rules."
That could be part of Obama鈥檚 strategy in issuing executive orders, Rottinghaus says.
"There's a defensive-offensive strategy here,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd that is to knot up so much of politics and the bureaucracy that it's hard to undo it 鈥� and pulling one string like a poorly woven sweater's not gonna get it done."
Rottinghaus says it鈥檚 unlikely Trump will get rid of all of Obama's executive actions, despite the president-elect's promise to do so within his . But both the Obama administration and Republicans have politicized some orders that Trump may have to act on them.
These include Obama upping the minimum wage, requiring sick leave and banning discrimination of LGBT people where federal contractors are concerned.
"These are all issues that have political and social implications and that run afoul of the Republicans and their generally conservative philosophy in terms of executive power but also specifically in terms of some of the economic issues," Rottinghaus says.
But some of Obama鈥檚 executive actions in line with policies Trump campaigned on, so he may be less likely to move on them 鈥� orders like the one that established a or the .
"The optics of eliminating those would be problematic,鈥� Rottinghaus says. 鈥淭here are some that would legitimately resonate positively with [President-elect] Trump's agenda.鈥�
Trump might especially keep orders that encourage jobs, Rottinghaus says.
"Ideologically there may not be a match, but certainly it's the case that he would agree with the premise that we need more jobs," he says.
Rottinghaus says it鈥檚 also unlikely Trump will use the power of executive action during his time in office since Congress is predominantly Republican.
鈥淢ost presidents don't frankly use this as a lever of power, especially with the 鈥� majority of Congress where you can legislate, as opposed to acting unilaterally,鈥� he says. 鈥淎cting with Congress is far superior for presidents because it establishes something more stable. You have better funding and you have more permanence."
Written by Beth Cortez-Neavel.
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