Haisten Willis of the Washington Examiner writes about conservative opposition to Biden administration executive actions.
Conservatives are stepping up efforts to prevent President Joe Biden from legislating via executive order, a tactic the White House is likely to further embrace if Democrats lose control of Congress this year.
Biden has already attempted many unilateral actions through executive orders or executive branch agencies, such as the federal mask and vaccine mandates, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate disclosure rule, and a pro-transgender interpretation of Title IX. Such moves may become even more frequent following the midterm elections if Biden takes a go-it-alone, pen-and-phone strategy to advance his agenda.
In preparation for this and to fight current executive proposals, conservatives are sharpening their advocacy tools to make sure their voices are heard within the White House.
Many of the proposed rule changes require a public comment process, during which they can be slowed down or even defeated by popular backlash. This is a tactic left-leaning advocates leaned into more than a decade ago and that conservatives are now capitalizing on, according to Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson.
“What I hear so much while I’m on the road is: ‘What can we do to impact the Biden regime?’” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of frustration where people feel like they’re calling a member of Congress and nothing happens because Republicans don’t have control.”
In many cases, they can turn away from the Capitol and straight to the White House.
Those folks are now being directed to submit unique public comments during the rule-making process as a way of making their presence felt.
Heritage Action’s first big push came last summer when the Department of Education proposed plans to fund grants for programs based on critical race theory. Heritage pushed a toolkit and sent activists to the Federal Register. More than 35,000 public comments were sent in on the proposed rule ahead of the deadline, and the Education Department later walked back its plans.
