On his first day as US president, Joe Biden hit the ground running. He issued more executive actions than his three immediate predecessors—Trump, Obama, and Bush—combined. Now, 100 days into his term, he has hardly slowed down.
Biden has issued 106 executive actions since taking office, more than any recent president following a partisan change, according to the Presidency Project, which collects data on past and current US administrations. This tally includes executive orders, presidential memos, and proclamations, which are all directives that come straight from the desk of the president, in contrast to laws passed by Congress. Executive orders are legally binding, and in practice, memoranda are treated very similarly. Both executive orders and memoranda typically instruct government employees how to enforce certain laws, or implement various policies. Proclamations tend to be ceremonial.
In particular, Biden’s output is notable for the number of prior orders he has revoked. According to the Presidency Project, no recent president has reversed policies as often as Biden has reversed Donald Trump. Twenty of the president’s executive orders include reversals of Trump administration policies, with over 60 prior orders revoked in total. In comparison, Trump reversed 14 orders in his first 100 days.
All of Joe Biden’s executive orders
Joe Biden has issued 42 executive orders in his first 100 days. Twenty of them include revocations, including reversing an order excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census, repealing proclamations that banned many muslims from entering the US, and ending a policy restricting certain transgender individuals from serving in the military.
All of Joe Biden’s presidential memos
During his first 100 days, Biden issued 15 presidential memos. Eleven of these were published in his first two weeks in office.
All of Joe Biden’s presidential proclamations
Presidential proclamations are the least substantial of the executive actions, as they tend to be primarily symbolic statements. In the last month alone, Biden has made 16 proclamations, including ones about Transgender Day of Visibility and World Autism Awareness Day.