President Biden's Executive Orders

Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed a slew of Executive Orders.

Revoking Keystone XL: An Early Mistake

Hours after President Biden bemoaned the loss of millions of jobs during COVID-19 and promised to put Americans back to work, he took action to eliminate thousands more jobs by signing an Executive Order revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. This is an early mistake by the President and a nod to far-left environmental extremists.

Earlier last week I joined my colleagues in sending President Biden a letter urging him to support the pipeline.

Easing Travel for Foreign Terrorists

President Biden rescinded an Executive Order - signed by President Trump and upheld by the Supreme Court - that was designed to protect the United States from foreign terrorists easily entering the country. The threat of foreign terrorism is far from over, especially from state sponsors of terrorism like Iran. President Biden's action will almost certainly make American soil more vulnerable to attack.

Rejoining the Paris Climate Accord

President Biden took action to rejoin the United States with the Paris Climate Accord. I have always thought rejoining the Accord could be a success and a unifying moment if the President and his team do it the right way. Abandoning our leadership on the world stage only benefits our competitors, though being on the world stage and just caving to them is even worse.

If President Biden reworks our pledge then defends American interests, protects taxpayer dollars, and focuses on bipartisan areas of agreement like nuclear energy or carbon capture utilization and storage, this could prove to be a prudent move that can garner the support of the American people.

Planning to Reverse the Mexico City Policy

President Biden is preparing to reverse the Mexico City policy, which prohibits U.S. funding for nongovernmental groups to provide or refer patients for abortions. It's hard to take President Biden's comments on the importance of life, faith, and American leadership seriously when he plans to allow our taxpayer dollars to be spent on abortions in other countries. This is a shameful disregard for the sanctity of life by the Biden Administration, and I hope the President realizes lives of unborn children - who never had a chance to defend themselves - will be lost forever because of this action.

United States Rejoining The WHO

President Biden also reversed the United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO).

This is a terrible idea. Improving American leadership on the world stage does not mean reforming an alliance with communist sympathizers like the WHO. The WHO's failure to scrutinize the Chinese Communist Party is one reason why COVID-19 became a global pandemic and inflicted such damage on the United States, yet we still do not have sufficient answers for how that happened.

Blocking of Fossil Fuel Leasing and Drilling

The U.S. Department of the Interior under President Biden released an order temporarily blocking fossil fuel leasing and drilling on federal lands. This is reckless and another attack on good-paying American energy jobs just hours into President Biden's term. It will blow million-dollar-sized holes in already-tightening state budgets, not to mention the federal government’s budget, which receives significant funding from places in North Dakota like the Bakken.

The Biden Administration's action means fewer opportunities for American workers, decreased funding for important programs like education and infrastructure, and more control for Washington bureaucrats and far-left environmental extremists who want to upend America’s energy security.

Stopping Border Wall Construction

Lastly, President Biden signed an Executive Order to stop construction of physical barriers along the southern border.

Securing the border should be one of our nation's highest priorities, but even as a caravan makes its way to the southern border and parts of the border wall remain unbuilt, President Biden has apparently decided to stand down. I urge the President to reconsider this poor decision and to work with Congress to properly equip our immigration law enforcement officers so they can protect our country and deter the free flow of illegal immigrants.