Trump Tracker: Executive Orders and Presidential Memorandum Issued by the President

Politics Features Donald Trump
Trump Tracker: Executive Orders and Presidential Memorandum Issued by the President

Current Executive Order Total: 36

Current Memoranda Total: 29

Current Pace for Year One: 116.28


In the early days of a presidential administration there’s a lot of hurly-burly activity to keep tabs on. There are presidential cabinet nominees, potential Supreme Court appointments, daily briefings, Congressional meetings, executive orders and presidential memoranda.

The latter two have arguably been the biggest headline grabbers in the first month-plus of Donald Trump’s presidency, as the 45th President has issued 65 thus far (36 orders and 29 memoranda). It started with an attack on the Affordable Care Act, weakening the mandate for everyone to buy insurance in what serves as a prelude to a total repeal. Since then, Trump has issued other executive actions that deal with federal hiring, abortions, TPP, the Dakota and Keystone XL Pipelines, extreme vetting of refugees from “terrorist countries” (which was challenged in court and then revised), creating task forces to reduce violent crime, reviewing parts of the Clean Water Act, overhauling Obama-era climate regulations, taking a second look at the NAFTA deal and promoting free speech and religious liberty. The current administration’s executive order pace—as of now is 116.28 in the first year—though that number is fluid and will wax and wane.

In the past such orders and memoranda have helped to free slaves, desegregate schools and end deportation of so-called DREAMers.

To aid in this endeavor, we’ll have this post: a running “Trump Tracker” that will be updated anytime the President issues a new executive order or memorandum. We’ll note what number the order is, what it is and what it actually means. So anytime there’s talk of a new executive order, stop by Paste and we’ll break it down for you.


Executive Orders #36
What It Is: An executive order forming a commission on alleged voter fraud and elections that will be led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
What It Means: Kobach’s part in this immediately pissed a lot of people off because the Kansas Secretary has brought numerous voter frauds cases that have lost in court, has misrepresented the details of certain cases to prove his point (something that happened on Politico’s Off Message when he told Glenn Thrush about a Kansas City election) and he’s been accused of having ties to white nationalists. After the order came out, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any info that the Trump administration uses during its investigation of alleged voter fraud. And numerous Congressional Democrats, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), are worried that the commission of the investigative team is a “transparent attempt to justify President Trump’s false claim that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election.” While not naysaying the the possibility of voter fraud, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has previously said that no federal money should be spent on investigating voter fraud so it’s tough to say where the money for this project will come from.


Executive Orders #35
What It Is:A rather lengthy order that’s aimed at strengthening some of the numerous vulnerabilities of the federal government’s cybersecurity. One section places ultimate responsibility for cybersecurity on the director of each agency while another section essentially establishes a structure that centralizes all federal IT networks.
What It Means:Considering the reports that drafts of this order have existed almost since the start of the Trump administration, it’s difficult to not view this through the lenses of a. Russian hacking during the 2016 election and b. the numerous leaks during the administration thus far. Security hawks such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have praised the order and said it is “the urgent business of formulating a strategy to deter, defend against and respond to cyberattacks on our nation” while Reuters has a quote from former President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity coordinator Mitch Daniel saying that this is largely “a plan for a plan.”


Executive Orders #34
What It Is: An order signed by President Trump, on “National Prayer Day,” intended to “promote free speech and religious liberty.” The instructs the Internal Revenue Service to “not take any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization” that endorses or opposes a candidate, which is currently not allowed under the Johnson Amendment. It also tells the Departments of: Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury to weigh amending ACA regulations that require employers to cover contraception in insurance plans.
What It Means: The EO is an act of promise keeping by President Trump for social conservatives who voted for him but, as The Atlantic reports, certain social conservative figures aren’t thrilled with the order. National Review columnist David French called it “total weaksauce” on Twitter while the Southern Baptist Convention’s Russell Moore shared that “I am hoping that the draft we are seeing this morning is not the entire project, and that more will be forthcoming.” And the order’s perhaps even more unpopular with socially liberal groups such as the ACLU who have promised to fight the order in court. Their primary concern is that certain components of the order would allow for discrimination of LGBTQ Americans and religious minorities.


Executive Orders #33
What It Is: An order that looks to bring federal government officials together with tech luminaries to figure out how to change, or modernize, the “aging bureaucracy” and the way the government uses and delivers information.
What It Means:As Recode points out, there aren’t really any permanent members of the council yet so it’s somewhat difficult to tell what shape it will take. Moreover, President Trump still hasn’t filled several federal science and tech posts so that will also make such change and modernization difficult.


Executive Orders #31 and 32
What It Is:Two orders signed on President Trump’s 100th day in office that deal with the issue of trade. One (EO 31) that creates a trade policy office at the White House.and the other (EO 32) which directs a review of U.S. involvement in NAFTA.
What It Means: Similar to other recent EOs, these two involve a review by a cabinet secretary (again Wilbur Ross) and fit in with President Trump’s “America First” rhetoric which has been heavily pushed in the past week (April 24-30) by several EOs and memos. EO 32, in particular, is potentially at odds with a recent statement from the Trump administration that it wouldn’t be looking to pull out of NAFTA at this time. Per USA Today, these two orders put President Trump’s pace of executive action above every new president’s pace since FDR signed at least 99 in the first 100 days.


Executive Order #30
What It Is: The last order of the first 100 days, EO 30 implements an “America First” drilling strategy that allows for offshore oil and gas drilling in areas that have previously been protected or marked as “off limits,” as a way to boost domestic production. It also opens up parts of the Arctic that were previously a no go for drilling and development.
What It Means: EO 30 fits in with EO 27 and EO 19 as all three are examples of the federal government looking to develop on lands and in waters that haven’t been tapped before. While signing the order, President Trump said that: “Today we’re unleashing American energy and clearing the way for thousands and thousands of high-paying American energy jobs,” though a Reuters article about the signing points out that “the amount of money that oil companies spent in the central Gulf of Mexico’s annual lease sale dropped more than 75 percent between 2012 and 2017.” Such numbers were similar in the western Gulf of Mexico, which indicates that industry demand for such drilling is down. The Arctic expansion part of the order has been criticized by groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity who promised to fight the order in court.


Executive Order #29
What It Is: An executive order to give more protections to whistleblowers in the Department of Veterans and creates an office within the VA that will examine potential misconduct cases.
What It Means: The EO is President Trump’s first real move to fix the VA that he says has been failing our nation’s vets. However, individuals such as Germaine Clarno (a social worker in the VA system) say that there is a chance the same people who bungled the VA before will be in charge again. Clarno told USA Today “You can put together any office, pass legislation and put in place executive orders, but until whistle-blowers are honored and recognized for their courage and dedication nothing will be considered authentic.”


Executive Order #28
What It Is: An executive order aimed at decreasing the federal government’s role in education and giving more power back to state and local authorities. Part of the order directs Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to review current protocol and then revise or rescind regulations where it is deemed necessary.
What It Means: This is sort of why President Trump tapped Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education in the first place. DeVos is a major proponent of school choice and this order has all the language of school choice and local-level decision making. Democrats, such as DNC Communications Director Adrienne Watson have argued (to NBC News) that such a move “doesn’t actually do anything” and President Trump is simply putting a “a fake point on the board within his first 100 days because he doesn’t have any accomplishments of significance.” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also shouted down the order on Twitter and called it “federal overreach.”


Executive Order #27
What It Is: An executive order that is meant to look at national monuments that can be downscaled, redeveloped or deleted.
What It Means: The order argues that President Obama’s use of the 1906 Antiquities Act to create monuments was an “egregious abuse of federal power” and the Department of Interior under Ryan Zinke will conduct a review of 30 monuments to decide which should be protected and which should be opened up to the states for development. A piece from USA Today finds that several hundred million acres of land are “threatened” by the order which is of a piece with EO 19 that opens federal lands to coal leasing programs. Monuments potentially affected by this order include: Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument in California, Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico and Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.


Executive Order #26
What It Is: An order similar to other recent orders that will convene a task force to look for ways the federal government can increase rural development by getting rids of allegedly burdensome regulations. This task force will report back to President Trump within 180 days
What It Means: Part of the backdrop for this order is a recent complaint by President Trump that northern border state farmers have been unable to sell dairy in Canada. And that complaint follows the Commerce Department’s 24% punitive tariff on Canadian softwood lumber. At the signing of the order President Trump remarked: “People don’t realize Canada’s been very rough on the United States. Everyone thinks of Canada being wonderful and civil. I love Canada. But they’ve outsmarted our politicians for many years.” Again, this order is in keeping with other orders and memos that seek to reduce supposed burdens on economic growth.


Executive Order #25
What It Is: An executive order for Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin to review tax code rules under the Obama administration from 2016 through 2017. President Trump says that the order is aimed at “identifying and reducing tax regulatory burdens.”
What It Does: In a piece by Bloomberg, Former Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Mazur said that an executive order reviewing such regulations “won’t have much substance” and largely exists to give off a sense of accomplishment. The order is another that fits in with President Trump’s continued promises to hack through bureaucratic red tape and free up businesses that he believes are unduly burdened by the government.


Executive Order #24
What It Is: An order that would privilege American companies over foreign-based businesses for federal contracts. The order also reforms the visa program for foreign professional workers.
What It Does: Enforces Trump’s consistent campaign promises to “buy American, hire American.” One aspect of the EO that has businesses worried is the change to the H1-B visa program that tech companies have used in their hiring process. Per The New York Times’ reporting, some 600,000 to 900,000 immigrants are currently in the United States on H-1B visas. President Trump wants to take that program to a more lottery-based system rather than a “first-come, first-serve” basis.


Executive Order #23
What It Is: An executive order aimed at “establishing enhanced collection and enforcement of antidumping and countervailing duties and violations of trade and customs laws” in order to promote the efficient and effective administration of U.S. trade laws.
What It Means: EO 23 is interrelated with EO 21 and will also factor into a developing review of U.S. trade deficits and policies.


Executive Order #22
What It Is: An executive order that says that attorneys general of various state districts shall “act as and perform the functions and duties of the office of Attorney General” during any period where where the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General and any “officers designated by the Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 508 to act as Attorney General, have died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to perform the functions and duties of the office of Attorney General.”
What It Means: This executive order is related to executive order number 12 which also laid out succession plans after acting Attorney General Sally Yates was fired for refusing to enforce the original travel ban.


Executive Order #21
What It Is: An examination of the causes of trade deficits with China and other major U.S. trade partners.
What It Means: A report from the Commerce Department and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the trade deficits is due to President Trump within 90 days and would set up the chance for possible trade actions. China will be at the top of the list of reviewed partners because it had a $350 billion trade surplus with the U.S.


Executive Order #20
What It Is: This EO aims to confront the developing opioid problem, which numerous health officials have called a public health “crisis.”
What It Means: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will lead a national opioid commission created by the EO and submit an interim report to Trump with its findings. The order will also assess availability and access to addiction treatment centers, measure how effective state prescription monitoring programs are, assess public campaigns about prescription drugs and opioids and identify existing federal money for combatting drug addiction. This final measure somewhat runs up against proposals in the failed Affordable Healthcare Act bill that would’ve excluded drug addiction treatment as an essential benefit that health insurers must provide. Policy experts insisted that such a move would only worsen this ongoing crisis.


Executive Order #19
What It Is: An executive order aimed at “promoting energy independence and economic growth” that aims to ensure “the Nation’s electricity is affordable, reliable, safe, secure, and clean, and that it can be produced from coal, natural gas, nuclear material, flowing water, and other domestic sources, including renewable sources.” It reviews policies that have a potential economic burden and revives federal land coal leasing activities.
What It Means: The Obama administration’s “Clean Power Plan” will be steadily rolled back under Scott Pruitt’s EPA. That rule aimed to cut emissions from existing US power plants 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. EO 19 would also take a second look at existing carbon standards for new coal plants. In the Obama years, a new coal-burning facility had to capture emissions and put them under ground. As mentioned above, the EO lifts the moratorium on the federal land coal leasing program and now the Department of the Interior can begin handing out new leases to mining companies. However, Vox points out in an excellent piece that there is a major surplus so companies won’t be incredibly eager to pursue new contracts. As that piece also points out, this new EO further demonstrates the Trump administration’s attitude toward energy and climate policy but still doesn’t tip off if the U.S. will continue to be a part of the Paris climate deal.


Executive Order #18
What It Is: A revocation of President Obama’s Executive Order 13673 and a reconsideration, by relevant departments, of other existing rules.
What It Means: Order 13673 required federal contractors to: report alleged labor violations to federal agencies as part of the bid process, implement procedures to comply with required paycheck transparency and prohibited federal contractors from undertaking mandatory arbitration agreements related to employee Title VII claims about discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Though not as environmentally focused as EO 13, this order is similarly focused on getting rid of regulations that the Trump administration believes stymie economic progress and prosperity. The order comes as a case of alleged sex stereotyping is making its way through the judicial circuit.


Executive Order #17
What It Is: An executive order aimed at “reorganizing the executive branch” and intended to “make it less wasteful and more productive.” In signing the order, President Trump said of his cabinet that: “we want to empower them to make their agencies as lean and effective as possible and they know how to do it. Today there is duplication and redundancy everywhere. Billions and billions of dollars are being wasted.”
What It Means: President Trump’s order requires agencies to identify wasteful spending and program redundancies. Also, the Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will receive input from federal agencies and the public about whether or not a governmental program is better suited for the state or local government or the private sector. The move’s of apiece with other Trump orders and executive actions aimed at governmental waste. It comes as many government agency positions and cabinet spots are still unfilled, including top state department jobs. And Trump himself cannot fully reorganize executive agencies, he will need Congressional support.


Executive Order #16
What It Is: A revised executive order of the extreme vetting and travel ban the administration rolled out on Jan. 27, 2017. The new order excludes Iraq because the country is increasing cooperation with the U.S. on vetting and the order also excludes Green card holders from the travel ban. Individuals with valid visas will also be exempt.
What It Means: The Trump administration learned its lesson from the judicial defeats the previous EO suffered. This new EO is constructed to withstand legal scrutiny and will not take effect until March 16, which might help to stem the criticism of hasty construction that the original ban faced.


Executive Order #15
What It Is: An executive order that shifts the federal authority on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to the White House
What It Means: The move, according to Trump, is intended to “promote excellence and innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities” by taking the federal initiative on HBCUs away from the Department of Education. However, budgeting and administration of the initiative will still be left to the Dept. of Education. And, critics argue that the EO is somewhat toothless because it doesn’t address increased federal funding of HBCUs or pell grants which, according to Best Colleges, some 84% of African American students have used to finance their higher education.


Executive Order #14

What It Is: An executive order that reviews the Waters of the U.S. Rule and Clean Water Act of 1972 which is the U.S.’s primary federal law governing water pollution. The Act works to restore the integrity of the country’s water sources and works with public facilities to improve wastewater treatment.

What It Means: As with other recent orders and statements from President Trump, this move signals that the administration is continuously working to gut what they believe are burdensome regulations from the EPA. The particular source of conflict for this EO is a 2015 Obama rule that reinterpreted the Clean Water Act to include protection for smaller rivers and streams. At the signing, Trump said: “A few years ago, the EPA decided that ‘navigable waters’ can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer’s land, or anyplace else that they decide — right? It was a massive power grab.”


Executive Order #13

What It Is: An executive order that establishes regulatory reform officers to implement regulatory policies and cut those that unduly burden businesses.

What It Means: Regulatory task forces will attempt to identify regulations that: “eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation; are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective; impose costs that exceed benefits; create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies or are inconsistent with Treasury guidelines.” President Trump signed the order with CEOs from 3M, ADM, Dow Chemical and Lockheed alongside him in a move that’s yet another signal from the administration that regulations (particularly environmental ones) will be given the old heave-ho. According to Trump, regulations must pass this simple test: “Does it make life better or safer for American workers or consumers? If the answer is no, we will be getting rid of it.”


Executive Order #12

What It Is: An order that changes the order of succession in the Department of Justice, it lays out who takes over if the attorney general dies, resigns or is incapable of ably performing the job.

What It Means: The order comes two weeks after Sally Yates was fired for refusing to enforce the controversial travel ban. Since there are currently no other confirmed top Justice Department officials (outside of Jeff Sessions), Dana Boente (who replaced Yates) will continue to be second in command.


Executive Orders #9-11
What They Are: A series of interrelated orders that focus on crime and violence against police officers. One would “break the back of the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation and are destroying the blood of our youth,” one would create a task force to reduce violent crime, and a third would instruct Attorney Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department to come up with a plan to stop violence against police officers.

What They Mean: The Trump administration’s been making a big deal about violent crime and the murder rate recently, despite the fact that the murder rate is much lower than it was in the earlier 1990s. Additionally, the concern for law enforcement deaths is understandable but somewhat misplaced, as death totals have been trending downward and a majority of them in the 2010s have been traffic-related.


Executive Order #8

What It Is: An order directing the Secretary of the Treasury to review the 2010 Dodd-Frank Regulatory Law.

What It Means: The Trump administration is looking to cut as many financial regulations as is feasible and Dodd-Frank, which was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, is the economic beast of burden in the eyes of many conservatives. Along with the review, Obama’s Fiduciary Rule (which requires financial advisers to work in their clients’ best interests) is being stopped (Memo #12).


Executive Order #7

What It Is: An executive order that expands regulatory review and aims to cut two existing regulations for each new regulation proposed. With the order, federal agencies would put forward the rules they want dropped and the White House would review them. And the order would give a $0 budget for new regulations in 2017, with that number set each year.

What It Means: The move is one intended to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to reduce regulations and cut corporate taxes. Considering Trump’s criticism of EPA regulatory practices, the order could most affect that particular agency, though consumer protections may also be at risk with the new order.


Executive Order #6

What It Is: An executive order that strengthens restrictions on lobbying. Employees of the executive branch, including those now in the White House, are barred from lobbying the agency where they worked for five years.

What It Means: The order is not far removed from what past presidents such as Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have done. In fact, the language of the Trump executive order is remarkably similar to that of the Obama and Clinton orders. However, the order doesn’t seem to be as concerned with executive branch employees taking jobs in the private sector. Under the new rules, such employees can take private sector jobs and lobby the administration as long as they are not officially registered as lobbyists. In the past, such a move was banned for two years.


Executive Order #5

What It Is: Calls for extreme vetting of refugees from “terrorist countries” who are attempting to seek asylum in the United States. Visa applicants from countries with terrorist concerns would also be blocked. As a motivation for signing the order, Trump said: “We are not admitting into the country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas.”

What It Means: The Trump administration is effectively offering a slightly broader version of the December 2015 “Muslim ban,” though when Trump signed the order he did talk about “Islamic terrorists,” so there is a discernible religious bent to the order. And those countries affected by the visa block, such as: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, are Muslim countries.


Executive Order #4

What It Is: A directive for the Secretary of Homeland Security to prioritize particular undocumented immigrants (including those with criminal convictions and those who have only been charged) for deportation. The order would also: hire 10,000 additional U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, prohibit federal money from going to so-called “sanctuary cities,” reinstate a 2014 program which enabled state and local law enforcement to perform duties of immigration agents, sanction countries that do not take back deported undocumented immigrants, create a list of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities and establish an “Office for Victims of Crimes Committed by Removable Aliens,” which would extend services to families of victims of “removable aliens.”

What It Means: Order 4 is similar to Order 3, but focuses more on getting rid of undocumented immigrants who are here already, rather than focusing on stopping more immigrants from getting in. Together, the two orders signal that the Trump administration will indeed make immigration one of its top priorities.


Executive Order #3

What It Is: A directive for the Secretary of Homeland Security to: begin the process of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, find federal funding for such a project, create border detention centers, add 5,000 Border Patrol agents to the current work force, cease “catch and release” programs, determine all aid and assistance to the Mexican government over the past five years, and allow state and local law enforcement to perform duties of immigration officers.

What It Means: The Trump administration will look for federal funding of the potential wall where possible and will also attempt to force Mexico to pay for certain parts by threatening to take away assistance.


Executive Order #2

What It Is: Expedites environmental reviews and approvals for “high priority infrastructure” projects.

What It Means: Effectively this works to ease “regulatory burden” for domestic manufacturers in order to speed up the process


Executive Order #1

What It Is: An order minimizing the economic burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act pending repeal.

What It Means: There could now be less enforcement of the mandate for everyone to buy insurance, which would create instability in the exchanges.


Presidential Memo #29
What It Is:Text of a letter from President Trump to Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Pence about the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 and the Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism.
What It Means: The new act approves $1.1 trillion in Federal appropriations through September 30, 2017, at which time a new appropriations act will need to be passed by Congress.


Presidential Memo #28


What It Is: A memo ordering an investigation into whether or not aluminum imports into the U.S. are “jeopardizing national defense.” This is not unlike Presidential Memo 24 which orders a similar review of steel imports.
What It Means: At the end of the review, the Trump administration could block imports from China though Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross says that such a program is not “China-phobic.” In a chat with The Wall Street Journal, Secretary Ross says that he’s considering similar reviews of semiconductors or ship building.


Presidential Memos #26 & #27
What They Are: Memos from President Trump to Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin directing him to review sections of the Dodd-Frank Act and provide a written report to the President within 180 days. The review will examine some of the processes of Dodd-Frank (which aimed to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system). In particular, the Treasury will look at how transparent the processes of Dodd-Frank are, if those processes give entities “due process” and use six other metrics to determine what is Dodd-Frank’s impact.
What They Mean: Again, this is another move that fits in with President Trump’s promises to remove undue financial burdens on big businesses. However, Democrats such as Sherrod (D-Ohio) have warned that such a move could “leave taxpayers and our economy exposed to another catastrophe.”


Presidential Memorandum #25
What It Is: A memo from President Trump to: the chairmen of the House and Senate committees on the appropriations and judiciary, the House committees on foreign affairs and financial services and the Senate committees on foreign relations and banking, housing and urban affairs about the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act which makes “significant” acts of corruption sanctionable offenses in foreign countries. The memo effectively shows President Trump’s support for the act and the administration’s quest to “hold perpetrators of human rights abuses and corruption accountable.”
What It Means: It means, at least for now, that the act isn’t in any jeopardy under this administration. During the 2016 transition period, there were concerns that the act might go away under a Trump administration that was signaling a softer stance on Russia. The original Magnitsky Act came in 2012 and applied visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the 2009 death of Sergei Magnitsky who was a Russian whistleblower.


Presidential Memorandum #24
What It Is: A presidential memo to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross asking him to “proceed expeditiously” on an investigation into whether or not steel imports threaten national security. Secretary Ross would have 270 days to complete such an investigation but President Trump has said it will only take 50 days.
What It Means: This is another broadly economic move that fits into the Trump administration’s promises to “buy American” and “hire American.” Chinese steel imports currently account for 26 percent of the U.S. steel market, so this memo is primarily focused at China which Secretary Ross says has a “serious impact on the domestic industry.” As USA Today points out, President Trump claiming a national security concern gives him broad legal powers under domestic and international laws. However Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who is quoted in the USA piece, says the national security concern is unfounded. “This is not a defense-motivated order. This is a commercially oriented order,” Hufbauer says. “The Pentagon, on its own initiative, has never asked for restraints on steel.”


Presidential Memorandum #23
What It Is: A memo for the Director of the FBI (James Comey) delegating the authority to “submit the report required under section 1907(d) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114-328) (the ‘Act’).”
What It Means: As spelled out, this memo is a delegation of powers and authorities under a particular subsection of an act.


Presidential Memorandum #22
What It Is: A letter to the Senate about approving the addition of Montenegro to NATO. In a related statement, the White House affirmed that NATO has been “central to ensuring peace and security on the European continent.”
What It Means: As Business Insiders points out, the praise of NATO is a marked shift from the campaign trail when candidate Trump bashed the organization as obsolete. Moreover, the move doesn’t likely make Russian officials happy. The Kremlin’s generally been opposed to expansion of the organization, particularly to areas that were once under Soviet spheres of influence.


Presidential Memorandum #21
What It Is: Text of a letter from President Trump to Speaker Paul Ryan and President Pro Tem of the Senate Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) about the missile strike on a Syrian airfield thought to be responsible for a chemical attack on civilians.
What It Means: What it signals, in part, is that President Trump played this move particularly close to the chest and didn’t seem to inform many in the House or Senate about the retaliation before it happened. Senators such as Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have taken the president to task for not seeking such approval ahead of time.


Presidential Memorandum #20
What It Is: A memo for “the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.”
What It Means: The relatively brief memo calls for the President to establish principles for reform of the military selective service process.


Presidential Memorandum #19
What It Is: A proclamation of April 2 as “World Autism Awareness Day.”
What It Means: The proclamation highlights the importance of identifying autism spectrum disorders in early childhood and acknowledges the difficulties of people living with ASDs. President Trump “has mentioned a “tremendous increase in autism cases in the United States but has taken flack for conflating better diagnoses of autism with overall increased cases. President Trump has also taken heat, in the past, for stoking the flames of anti-vaccine conspiracies.


Presidential Memorandum #18
What It Is: A memo to relevant White House offices about the creation of the White House Office of American Innovation that will “make recommendations to the President on policies and plans that improve Government operations and services.”
What It Means: President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will head this office that intends to use private sector solutions to reform the federal government. The move is one of many intended to make the government “leaner.”


Presidential Memorandum #17
What It Is: A message to Congress about the continuation of the South Sudanese national emergency declaration.
What It Means: The message informs Congress that the national emergency mentioned in Memo 16 will continue beyond April 3, 2017.


Presidential Memorandum #16
What It Is: A notice about continuation of the South Sudan national emergency initially declared on April 3, 2014. The South Sudanese Civil War has been raging in the Northeast African country since 2013, just two years after its independence from Sudan, and has been a focus of U.S. national security in Africa.
What It Means: The extension of this national security emergency would, in part, work to effect the transfer of assets for individuals who are deemed to be threatening the peace process in South Sudan.


Presidential Memorandum #15
What It Is: A delegation of functions and authorities vested in the President by section 3132 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 to the Secretary of State.
What It Means: This is a sort-of addendum to the aforementioned National Defense Authorization Act that authorizes Department of Energy national security programs, works to combat Russian cyber propaganda and puts more of a focus on cyber command.


Presidential Memorandum #14
What It Is: Text of a letter from President Donald Trump’s White House to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. The letter chiefly concerns appropriations requests for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, in it President Trump asks for $30 billion for the Department of Defense to “rebuild the U.S. Armed Forces and accelerate the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” and $3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to fund “urgent border protection activities.
What It Means: The requests for additional funding to DoD and DHS interlock with other Trump administration intentions and declarations to bolster national security while reducing the flow of funds to other governmental sectors.


Presidential Memorandum #13
What It Is: A memo detailing how the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security will work to enact and enforce the travel ban imposed by EO 16.
What It Means: The Trump administration made sure to further include the aforementioned cabinet members because the previous EO travel ban was criticized, in part, for not looping them in.


Presidential Memorandum #12

What It Is: The Obama-era Fiduciary Rule is being reviewed and reconsidered by the Department of Labor to see if it “adversely affects the ability of Americans to gain access to retirement information and financial advice.

What It Means: Along with the Dodd-Frank Review (Order #8), Obama’s Fiduciary Rule, which states that financial agents must act in the best interests of their clients, is being looked at. Like Dodd-Frank, the rule came in place after the 2008 financial crisis.


Presidential Memoranda #10-11

What It Is: Memos that allow the White House chief strategist a place in National Security Council meetings, limit the roles of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence and work to create a strategy for defeating ISIS.

What It Means: Effectively, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon will be able to attend whatever meetings he wants and the chairman and director will attend when issues related to their areas of expertise arrive.


Presidential Memorandum #9

What It Is: Calls for a “great rebuilding” of the nation’s military, in particular: “New planes, new ships, new resources, new tools for our men and women in uniform.”

What It Means: Such a memo goes hand-in-hand with Memo #2, which partly deals with not freezing hires of military employees. Between such orders, and the idea to bring back CIA black site prisons, defense has shown to be a top concern of the Trump administration.


Presidential Memoranda #5-8

What They Are: An interrelated set of memos that: streamline permitting and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers in order to speed up the process, expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects, accelerate the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, and state that pipelines intended for usage in United States should be built in the country.

What They Mean: Until the Trump administration can do an infrastructure bill with Congress, it will be making its own deals early and often. Such deals fit in with Trump’s “America First” energy policy, but do potentially put the administration at odds with the promise to “conserve natural habitats” and “preserve natural resources.” Also, the pipeline orders signal that the DAPL fight may well be back on.


Presidential Memorandum #4

What It Is: An order reinstating the “Mexico City Policy,” which is a ban on federal funding to international groups that perform abortions or lobby to legalize or promote abortion.

What It Means: The policy, implemented by President Reagan in 1984 while at a UN meeting in Mexico City, has gone in and out of effect based on the ruling executive party. The policy doesn’t affect services within the United States, but does limit access and funding in international communities.


Presidential Memorandum #3

What It Is: A memo to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated under the Obama administration.

What It Means: TPP is dead. The move will not have an immediately discernible impact on the American economy, but signals that the Trump administration might well take a more protectionist approach on economic issues.


Presidential Memorandum #2

What It Is: A federal government hiring freeze for all new and existing positions, except for military, national security and public safety jobs.

What It Means: The order intends to curb governmental growth and aims to ultimately reduce federal workforce size, but could force federal agencies to use more contractors, which would drive prices up. The action specifically applies to the civilian workforce in the executive branch, which totals some 1.36 million people, according to a 2014 Office of Personal Management report.


Presidential Memorandum #1

What It Is: Communicates to department heads the president’s plan for managing the Federal regulatory process.

What It Means: Effectively a bit of housekeeping from Reince Preibus that lays out reviews and communication between departments.


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