President Clinton has been described as one of the “hardest working” presidents ever. This is certainly true during the last few weeks of his administration. His order-signing pen must be smoking as the number of executive orders, federal policies, and treaties have been astounding.
Ari Fleischer, Bush’s press secretary-designate, called Clinton a “busy beaver” and told the media that the flurry of activity hasn’t escaped the attention of the next administration. “They have been very busy in issuing executive orders and regulations and recess appointments,” he said.
In just the past few weeks alone Clinton signed the Rome Treaty instituting the International Criminal Court, which still requires Senate ratification; he is trying to finalized a free-trade agreement with Singapore; and has sent representatives of his administration to pursue further talks in the Middle East in spite of the seemingly hopelessness of the peace process.
He has eased the export restrictions on high performance computers. Under the new system only the few countries officially accused of terrorism will continue to experience an embargo on computers. Countries like Russia, India, Pakistan, and those in the Middle East and Eastern Europe will be beneficiaries of these relaxed controls.
Despite protests from groups in the West, the President is also expected to add two more national monuments to his list of federal lands he has placed off-limits to developers, the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and the Kasha-Katuwe Ten Rocks in New Mexico. Environmental groups have been pressuring the president to include millions of acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in order to prevent natural gas drilling in the area. Earlier last month Clinton infuriated western governors by prohibiting logging and road construction on more than 58 million acres of national forest land. The governors are suing to block the institution of “roadless rules,” but it will take a lot of time and effort to undo these last minute declarations.
Clinton has also sent a request to Congress to raise minimum wages to $6.15 an hour. He has issued new regulations on ergonomics, organic foods, diesel fuel, medical privacy, and federal contracting. He has proposed to tighten the standards for tax shelters, and prohibit tax advisers from charging contingency fees based on tax benefits.
Through a presidential directive Clinton has established a counterintelligence board, called CI-21 (counterintelligence for the 21st century), to formalize information sharing between the FBI and the CIA. The directive also creates a new executive position to coordinate intelligence activities and to lobby for money in Congress. In the past a similar position was created to oversee drug control policies.
President-elect Bush has promised to review all of Clinton’s last-minute decisions, as well as some dating back to the earliest days of the Clinton presidency. Undoing executive orders is easy by issuing a new executive order. However, Congress and the courts may have to help undo other policies established over the past eight years. It is a legal jungle which may be more difficult to reverse than anticipated.
Related Links:
• Clinton Bans Logging, Roads In Vast Forest Areas - Forbes.com