Donald Trump has done what presidents of the United States have actively declined to challenge in the past - and it could greatly expand his power, experts say.
Trump’s second term in office has already been marked with a flurry of executive orders being signed, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, tax tariffs on Canada and China, and one targeting transgender women in sports.
Earlier this month, the father-of-five also signed orders to end Covid-19 vaccine mandates in schools, eliminating the procurement of paper straws and creating a new White House Faith Office to replace the ‘White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives’.
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On Tuesday (February 18), President Trump, 78, signed his latest executive order to bring notoriously independent agencies under the White House’s control.
How the executive order would affect independent agencies
This now means all agencies - such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - must submit draft regulations for the president to review instead of just giving them the green light themselves.
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They must also consult with politicians on their ‘priorities and strategic plans’.
It’s also stipulated that there will be ‘no carve-out’ for the former independent agencies. The only exemption to this rule is the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy functions.
The order states that all executive branch officials and employees are now subject to Trump’s supervision and that the Office of Management and Budget will ensure tax dollars are being ‘spent wisely’.
“The President and the Attorney General (subject to the President’s supervision and control) will interpret the law for the executive branch, instead of having separate agencies adopt conflicting interpretations,” the order continues.
The FTC, the SEC, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are the three former independent agencies named in the document.
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Trump claims they have all previously ‘exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight’.
The executive order alleges that this trio have issued rules and regulations that cost the country billions of dollars in the past and that they will ‘no longer impose rules on the American people without oversight or accountability’.
According to the writ, executive power has ‘no place’ in the United States.
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“Executive power without responsibility has no place in our Republic. The United States was founded on the principle that the government should be accountable to the people,” the order reads.
“That is why the Founders created a single President who is alone vested with ‘the executive Power’ and responsibility to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’.”
According to Politico, it will now be up to Russell Vought - acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - to ‘establish performance standards and management objectives’ for the heads of the independent agencies’.
It's said that he will ‘report periodically to the president’ on the agencies’ performance and efficiency while making ‘necessary and appropriate’ changes to the agencies’ budgets.
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This will all be completed in line with the advancement of the President’s ‘policies and priorities’.
How the executive order could make Trump one of the most powerful presidents in history
By ‘reigning in’ and intruding on the independent agencies, Trump has greatly expanded his power as the 47th President of the United States, says Politico.
He is also breaking the mould, as former leaders like Barack Obama have not only declined to challenge the independent nature of the FTC, the SEC and the FCC in the past but have actively tried to avoid the appearance of interference.
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The publication claims that some leaders of the independent agencies - who will now have to report to Trump - have lasted longer in office than actual presidents.
This is reportedly in an effort to ‘help shield them from political pressure’.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Ella Scott