In occasionally breaking with the Democratic Party, the Biden administration has reinstated multiple policies from former President Donald Trump’s presidency.
In response to the Houthis’s attack against international commercial shipping in the Red Sea, President Joe Biden declared the group to be a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist group” (SDGT) in January. Trump designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) during his time in office.
Shortly after Biden entered the White House, the Democratic president reserved the Trump-era designation in an effort to tackle the war in Yemen. The United Nations and aid groups said the designation would be dangerous for Yemeni civilians. Three years later, Biden reimposed one of the Trump-era designations following the attacks on ships in the Red Sea that the Houthis say are in defense of Gaza as the war against Israel rages on.
Firing up Democrats, the Biden administration announced plans to bypass 26 federal laws to fast-track the construction of more of a border wall in southern Texas. In acknowledging the massive influx of illegal immigration from Mexico into the U.S., the move mirrored a sweeping executive power used by the Trump administration.
In making the order, Biden said he doesn’t believe border walls are effective. When asked last year if he thinks such a barrier works, he said, “No.” “The money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. “I can’t stop that,” he added.
Under Trump, funds were appropriated by Congress in 2019 to construct around 20 miles of additional border wall. Under Trump, about 50 miles of new primary border barriers were built, while nearly 500 miles of replacements and fixes to old barrier walls were built.
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In another reversal, Biden campaigned in 2020 on promises of stopping more drilling on federal lands. However, data from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management shows Biden, during his first three years in office, has granted more oil and gas drilling permits for wells on federal land than Trump did.
Shortly after Biden took office, the president signed an executive order pausing those lease sales on federal lands and waters. In June 2022, the Biden administration restarted onshore oil and gas lease sales on federal land with an increase in royalty rates.