Lame-duck Biden signs 32 executive actions in effort to hamstring Trump agenda

Outgoing President Joe Biden has used a flurry of last-minute executive actions to try to hamstring the incoming Trump administration.

The 32 executive actions he’s signed thus far cover everything from immigration to offshore drilling, two areas that incoming President-elect Donald Trump was looking to take immediate action on.

For example, the president has granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months to an additional one million illegal aliens, including 234,000 Salvadorans, 1,900 Sudanese, 104,000 Ukrainians and 600,000 Venezuelans.

“Trump’s appointees at the Department of Homeland Security can move to revoke the TPS designations, but it will likely require a lengthy legal fight,” according to the New York Post.

The outgoing president has also used executive actions to ban oil/gas drilling off most of the country’s coastline. The off-limits areas are reportedly larger than the states of Alaska and Texas combined.

On Friday a group of Republican-led states filed a lawsuit challenging the ban.

“The lawsuit seeks a reversal of Biden’s ban with declaratory and injunctive relief, according to a court filing that argued Biden did not have the authority to impose such a ban and that the power to do so rests with the U.S. Congress,” according to Reuters.

Trump, for his part, has vowed that the order won’t stand.

“President Biden’s actions yesterday on offshore drilling, banning offshore drilling will not stand,” he said during a news conference. “I will reverse it immediately. It’ll be done immediately and we will drill, baby, drill.”

However, whether Trump will actually be able to undo the ban remains unclear.

“[T]he president-elect faces a legal hurdle due to the fact that the law Biden used, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, has no clear mechanism for future presidential reversals, meaning Congress may need to repeal Biden’s memo themselves,” the Post notes.

Which isn’t good, because Senate Democrats can just block the ban reversal using the filibuster.

In his final days in office, President Biden has also commuted the death sentences of 37 men, including five child killers and a couple of mass murderers.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing Trump can do to reverse this. But in a Truth Social post, he did deliver a final parting shot to the inmates.

“[T]o the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL!” he wrote.

President Biden has also forgiven another $4.28 billion in federally owed student debt. This brings the total he’s forgiven to $180 billion.

“With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

“The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people,” he added.

Trump’s team is reportedly considering multiple options on how to roll back at least some of the payouts.

Despite the obstacles he faces, the incoming president and his team nevertheless remain confident that they’ll be able to fix most of the mess that Biden has created.

“Joe Biden’s legacy is marred by crippling inflation, a migrant crime invasion, and American weakness on the world stage,” a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post.

“Thankfully, in just five days, President Trump will usher in a new Golden Age of American Success and carry out his mandate to Make America Wealthy, Safe, and Great Again,” they added.

Vivek Saxena

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