House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Thursday that congressional Republicans plan to codify President Donald Trump’s executive orders to prevent future presidents from “unwinding” his agenda.
Trump has signed 108 executive actions in his first four weeks in office, including 73 executive orders, 23 proclamations, and 12 memorandums. During his appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the House speaker revealed that Congress would organize these orders into a systematic code to safeguard them from being overturned by future administrations.
“The president [has] 300 executive actions already, and we’re going to codify so much of what he’s doing so the next team can’t unwind it,” Johnson said to applause from the audience.
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On his first day in office, Trump signed 11 executive orders addressing the border crisis, which included declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, revoking birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants, reinstating the previously revoked Remain in Mexico policy, and ending catch and release.
Additional executive orders directed the Office of Management and Budget to end diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, required federal agencies to recognize only two sexes, and withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, the Daily Wire reported.
Trump also created the Department of Government Efficiency to investigate and reduce wasteful spending by downsizing federal agencies. The newly established agency reported on Monday that it saved the federal government $55 million, dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development for wasting funds on left-wing causes, and fired four employees from the Federal Employment Management Agency after discovering they spent $59 million of taxpayer money on housing illegal immigrants in luxury hotels.
The president also signed an executive order on February 5 banning men from competing in women’s sports. This action reversed the Department of Education’s proposed measures under former President Joe Biden to expand Title IX protections to include discrimination based on gender identity.
The president’s agenda, while much of it has gone through thus far, has been challenged in court by Democrat-aligned left-wing groups, to some degree of success. Those successes have led Vice President JD Vance to send another warning to “rogue” federal judges who he feels are abusing their authority to improperly impede the constitutional authority of the Executive Branch.
So far, the courts have blocked Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, freeze federal grants, and overhaul federal agencies.
Last weekend, the administration faced another setback when a federal judge temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department’s extensive federal payment system, which holds sensitive information about millions of Americans, ABC News reported.
Musk accused the judge of corruption and called for his immediate impeachment.
Vance has also spoken out against several of the judges who he believes are improperly encroaching on Executive Branch authority.
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance said over the weekend, per ABC.
On Sunday, Trump was asked about Vance’s comments and his court setbacks.
“When a president can’t look for fraud and waste and abuse, we don’t have a country anymore,” Trump told reporters. “So, we’re very disappointed, but with the judges that would make such a ruling. But we have a long way to go.”
“No judge should, frankly, be allowed to make that kind of a decision,” the president added. “It’s a disgrace.”
Republicans are largely united in their support of the president. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton criticized the judge who blocked DOGE’s access to Treasury data, calling him an “outlaw.” Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, mostly defended Musk’s actions on CNN Sunday, asserting that he was “carrying out the will” of the president who appointed him.