Joe Biden's executive orders and actions

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Biden Administration
Joe Biden • Kamala Harris

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As of April 24, 2024, President Joe Biden (D) had signed 138 executive orders, 173 presidential memoranda, 587 proclamations, and 121 notices.

Biden has issued an average of 41 executive orders per year in office, the third-lowest average among the seven presidents who have held office since 1981. Donald Trump's (R) average is highest within this timeframe, at 55 executive orders, and Barack Obama’s (D) average is lowest, at 35.

Each of these presidential documents is different in authority and implementation. Executive orders are directives written by the president to officials within the executive branch requiring them to take or stop some action related to policy or management. They are numbered, published in the Federal Register, and cite the authority by which the president is making the order.[1][2]

Presidential memoranda also include instructions directed at executive officials, but they are neither numbered nor have the same publication requirements. The Office of Management and Budget is also not required to issue a budgetary impact statement on the subject of the memoranda.[3]

In his 2014 book, By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action, Phillip J. Cooper, a professor of public administration at Portland State University, wrote, "As a practical matter, the memorandum is now being used as the equivalent of an executive order, but without meeting the legal requirements for an executive order."[4]

Proclamations are a third type of executive directive that typically relate to private individuals or ceremonial events, such as holidays and commemorations.[3][5]

This page provides a list of the executive orders, presidential memoranda, and proclamations issued by Biden in reverse chronological order.

Executive orders issued by Biden

Executive orders are directives written by the president to officials within the executive branch requiring them to take or stop some action related to policy or management. They are numbered, published in the Federal Register, and cite the authority by which the president is making the order.[1][2]

April 2024

March 2024

Memoranda issued by Biden

Presidential memoranda are similar to executive orders, but they are neither numbered nor have the same publication requirements. The Office of Management and Budget is also not required to issue a budgetary impact statement on the subject of the memoranda.[3]

April 2024

March 2024

Proclamations issued by Biden

Proclamations are executive directives that typically relate to private individuals or ceremonial events, such as holidays and commemorations.[3]

April 2024

March 2024

Notices issued by Biden

April 2024

March 2024

Historical use of executive orders, 1789-2024

Overview

The following chart shows the number of executive orders and average executive orders per year issued by each president of the United States from 1789 to 2024.

Average number of executive orders issued each year by president, 1921-2024

The following chart compares the average number of executive orders issued each year between 1921 and 2024. The number of executive orders issued declined during this time period with Presidents Barack Obama (D) and George W. Bush issuing the fewest on average at 35 and 36 each year, respectively.

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Cooper, Phillip. (2014). By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. (pgs. 21-22)
  2. 2.0 2.1 USA Today, "Presidential memoranda vs. executive orders. What's the difference?" January 24, 2017
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Executive Order, "Executive Order, Proclamation, or Executive Memorandum?" accessed January 28, 2021
  4. Cooper, Phillip. (2014). By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. (pg. 120)
  5. American Bar Association, "What Is an Executive Order?" January 25, 2021