Conway, Ark. — Yesterday, the Log Cabin Democrat featured Rep. French Hill's op-ed stating that President Biden's executive actions undermine the important constitutional role that the Founding Fathers granted to Congress and the president's pledge for unity and consensus in Washington.
The full op-ed is copied below.
Executive orders undermine constitutional role of Congress
Log Cabin Democrat
By: Congressman French Hill
January 31, 2021
President Joe Biden comes into office with a razor-thin, 10-seat majority in the House of Representatives and an even 50-50 tie in the Senate. Many of his allies in the Democratic Party are encouraging him to implement sweeping policy initiatives that will push our country further to the left. While checking boxes on a progressive wish list may play well in New York and California, it does not represent the interests of people in Arkansas and much of the rest of our country.
President Biden has begun his term with a slew of executive actions, 34 as of the publication of this piece. Governing by executive order is not the right way for the president to begin his first 100 days. In fact, he already is at 28 more executive orders in the first days than President Trump, 29 more than President Obama, and 34 more than President George W. Bush. In his inaugural address, President Biden called for unity and consensus building, but governing by executive action already is an affront to the important constitutional role the Founders granted to Congress and the consensus President Biden himself pledged to build.
In my time in Congress, I have now seen the end of two presidencies and how the incoming president of a different party treats his predecessor’s policies. Executive action may be easy, but passing laws takes bipartisan compromise and executive leadership and serve as the foundation for a president’s legacy. Governing like his predecessor, by pen and by phone, will only result in those proposals being thrown out in the future. I hope that President Biden will see what happened with his predecessors’ executive actions and, instead, will work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on key issues like enforcing legal immigration, protecting the environment, and defeating COVID-19.
Regardless of party, the president and I share a clear common goal: defeat COVID-19. This includes putting forth a sound relief plan that provides critical aid to suffering Arkansas small businesses and their employees, helps families in need, and alleviates stress on our health care system. It also includes continuing efforts to ramp up testing and ensure the successful distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines. Finally, it also includes making sure that the United States is prepared for future health crises by ending medical supply chain dependence on China and bringing pharmaceutical and other critical manufacturing back to our shores.
Congress just passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package in December to address the immediate and critical needs of Americans. It’s now the end of January, and much of the funds for the Paycheck Protection Program, unemployment, schools, hospitals, and other areas have not yet been distributed. This is unacceptable. And, instead of pushing out another massive spending bill, President Biden should work with Congress to ensure a successful vaccine rollout and monitor the impact of this last round of funding on our economic recovery. We can do better than rushing to spend more money when we do not even know the success or failure of what was allocated in December.
I was also disappointed to see President Biden rush into re-entering the Paris Climate Accords and revoking the Keystone XL pipeline permit. The Paris agreement did nothing to hold polluting countries like China accountable and placed an unfair burden on the U.S. economy, which means higher energy costs for families in Arkansas. Further, revoking the Keystone XL pipeline permit will almost immediately kill good-paying jobs in the energy sector, including many right here in Arkansas. Being in the middle of an economically crushing pandemic is not the time for executive action that puts more Americans out of work. As our economy recovers, I am focused on implementing policies that create jobs — not cost them, making more Americans reliant on the government for assistance.
If President Biden wants to deliver on his promises of Jan. 20, he must use his experience from Capitol Hill and work with Congress. I stand ready to work with the new administration and my colleagues in Congress to craft and support legislation that will best serve central Arkansas and our country as a whole.
