Last Minute Executive Orders

January 5, 2017

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by John Deere, the National Corn Growers Association, and CropLife America. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

Since 1981, I have seen, watched, and participated in a number of changes of power in the White House. President Obama committed to a smooth transition of power to PresidentElect Trump. However, with one month before the transfer, I have never seen a lame duck President make so many executive decisions which will make the new President’s job more difficult.

Here is what the New York Times (no friend of Donald Trump) had to say. “Obama did not say that he intended to set up as many policy and ideological roadblocks as possible before Mr. Trump takes the oath of office on January 20.” “He has banned oil drilling off the Atlantic coast, established new environmental monuments, ordered the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, criticized Israeli settlements, punished Russia for interfering in the recent elections through cyberattacks, freeing non-violent drug offenders from federal prisons.” I should also mention that he would like to find some way to stop Republicans from repealing Obama Care. I understand why he wants to protect it.

I’m not suggesting that his recent executive actions are all wrong. For example, I don’t know what the best approach is to find peace for Israel. But at this late date, I think that these decisions should be left to the new President. I don’t think President Obama should ban any more oil drilling and he should not establish 1.6 million acres in Utah and Nevada as federal land national monuments. Western states, ranchers, and other businesses don’t want the federal government dictating in their states.

Finally, probably some sanctions against Russia for hacking into our internet and interfering in our election should be in place. But why did Obama wait so long? The truth is, Russia has been doing the same thing in other European elections for several years. We are not going to admit it, but certainly the U.S. has been trying to hack into other countries. With all this information floating around in cyberspace, someone is going to try to get it. This is a new world of communication and I’m not sure we have the needed security.

I have listed just some of the executive actions that President Obama has taken. I expect there will be more before January 20. But, look for Trump and the Republican Congress to move quickly to repeal Obama Care, to block recent Obama executive action – even some not so recent, like the stalled Keystone pipeline.

This whole process will be very interesting.

If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go online to www.johnblockreports.com. Have a great weekend. Until next week, I am John Block from Washington, D.C.