With President Donald Trump signing a wave of executive orders since he was sworn into office, Republicans are discussing ways to make his directives last permanently when after he completes his four-year term.
In a Wednesday tele-town hall, Rep. Mark Harris, NC-08, explained that Republicans are only guaranteed majority powers in Congress for the next two years, which means political controls could shift for the second half of the Trump administration. While executive orders have been enacted to dismantle the Department of Education, secure the border, and slash wasteful spending, the long-term significance could be minute without help from the legislative branch.
One constituent asked Harris during the town hall event what could be done to ensure Trump’s work lasts past his time in the White House and past Republicans’ control of the US House and Senate. Harris revealed that House Republicans are mobilizing this week to assign sponsors to each order, racing against the clock to codify Trump’s agenda amid a thin GOP majority and looming 2026 midterms, where a Democratic resurgence could stall Republican efforts.
“That is foremost on all of our minds. How we can bring permanence to the actions that President Trump has done by executive order,” Harris said on Wednesday. “In fact, we actually had a conference meeting this morning, and in that conference meeting, that conversation actually came out. We are actually forming, as I understand it, a team that is looking at every executive order and how we can find one of our Republican colleagues to sponsor that as a bill.”
By getting legislation through committees and onto the House floor for a vote, Congress can provide additional assistance to the President by codifying his orders into law through the legislative process.
“Our congressional term for the 119th Congress is two years, which means that we’ve got to get done everything we can get done in these two years,” Harris added. “We’ve just got to codify these things so that the next administration can’t undo what we’ve been able to do.”
Harris’s comments come as Trump has issued a record number of executive orders in his first three months in office. Just this week, Trump surpassed his 100th executive order, according to the Federal Register. When Biden took office in 2021, he quickly rescinded 42 of Trump’s executive orders within his first 100 days in office.
One executive order Harris mentioned is Trump’s directive to the Department of Interior to advance federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe.
Another recent order calls for dismantling the Department of Education, a move Harris supports. He pointed to data on academic outcomes that shows over half of fourth and eighth-grade students aren’t proficient in math and reading.
“Let’s just face it. The Department of Education was founded in 1970, and we have spent $3 trillion on that since it was started. It’s just not working. I mean, we got math and reading scores for 13-year-olds at their lowest level in decades,” said Harris, a member of the Education and Workforce Committee.
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