Obama Transition Teams Looks at Unravelling Eight Years of Executive Orders and Signing Statements

With President Bush accelerating last minute executive orders that would bind an Obama Administration, the transition team has already begun zeroing in on executive orders and signing statements that President Obama should make a priority to eliminate. I discussed the problem on Countdown.

Among the executive orders already discussed are orders dealing with drilling and exploration in Utah, Guantanamo Bay, and embryonic stem cell research. I would expect the limitations on stem cell research to fall in the first few days, a great advance in my view for both politics and science.

A President Obama, however, will have much more (to use a Bush phrase) underbrush to clear after eight years of such orders before he can fully control the actions and direction of his administration. Bush has woven a fairly complex web of such orders covering every possible area of regulation. This includes some classified orders that should be a priority for the new administration.

For the recent story, click here.