Can Biden pass Infrastructure by Exec. Order

[BigmanPigman]

or did he already use that one up and any more is not advisable?

[bottomofthehill]

1. Nope, not by executive order.

[BigmanPigman]

3. Damn.

[Trueblue1968]

7. why can't he?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

8. Because the executive branch does not have the power to do that

All spending must be approved by Congress and originate from the House. An executive order cannot bypass that and just make up new spending. They can move or divert certain money that has already been appropriated by Congress, but that is limited.

[Trueblue1968]

9. of course. i forgot the law. all $$$ musdt be approved by congress. Thanks for reminding me.

[everyonematters]

2. Maybe if a major bridge collapsed somewhere, he could declare an emergency.

[RedArkGuy]

4. Nope

There's no way to spend $1.7 trillion that isn't already budgeted without an act of Congress.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Wishful thinking on my part, I guess.

[Metaphorical]

6. You need appropriations

Executive orders have significant limitations. They cannot pay for programs, there's a limit to how much can be transferred from one program to another, and in general they can only change policy to a certain degree. It's part of the reason that Trump had so much trouble building his wall - he was never able to get the House to authorize more than a small portion of it, and he ended up raiding much more critical military budgets to get even that. They are also comparatively easy to reverse when administrations change.

I have a feeling that Biden's likely to not use anywhere near the number of Executive Orders that Trump did. Biden recognizes that they are both very autocratic and tend to make for bad policy.

[BigmanPigman]

11. Thank you, great explanation!

[Maru Kitteh]

10. We better hope not. You want the next "Trump" funding

say, 500 new prison/"reeducation" camps across the United States by executive order?