Federal outlays
Employment share
IMF data
Power Shift
Summary
Federal outlays
Employment share
IMF data
Power Shift
Summary
Federal outlays
Employment share
IMF data
Power Shift
Summary
Executive Orders
Introduction
President Obama famously said, "I've got a pen, and I've got a phone...where Congress isn't acting, I'll act on my own." President Obama would go on to pass 277 executive orders. President Trump frequently criticized Obama, noting for example that "[President Obama] goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it." On October 13, 2017, CNN predicted that President Trump was on pace to sign more executive orders than any president since President Eisenhower.
How do these presidents compare historically, and what can we learn from analyzing the use of executive orders over time?
A Brief History
June 2025 - April 2026
July 2024 - May 2025
January 2023 - June 2024
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This is a Job Description. Briefly describe your specific position, including details about important achievements and milestones. Make sure to include relevant skills and highlights, and don't forget to adjust the timeframe in the subtitle.
This is a Job Description. Briefly describe your specific position, including details about important achievements and milestones. Make sure to include relevant skills and highlights, and don't forget to adjust the timeframe in the subtitle.
Executive Actions by President
Total Executive Orders (1789-)
To make sense of trends in executive action, we can begin with a simple comparison (raw count) of executive orders since the founding. Measured by volume, and when compared to wartime presidents (especially Franklin D. Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson) both President Obama and President Trump rank fairly low (see below, Total by President). Sorting by average per year, however, provides perspective. When factoring in the length of term, the gulf between Republican and Democratic administrations is less dramatic. By this measure, Herbert Hoover ranks second with 242 executive orders per year.
Click on "Average Per Year in Office" to toggle between charts: