Barrasso on Biden Executive Orders: This is the Return of the Ghost of Barack Obama

Senator John Barrasso recently appeared on Fox News to discuss President Biden's use of Executive Orders.

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Speaking on the Fox News Program Your World with Neil Cavuto, Senator Barrasso addressed the fact that President Biden has opted to extend student loan debt repayments until May of 2022.

"This is kind of the return of the ghost of Barack Obama who said, 'I have a pen and I have a phone,'" Senator Barrasso stated. "This is how Joe Biden started his presidency. The first day he did an executive order that killed the Keystone XL Pipeline. He declared war on American energy and that was what lit the flame of inflation that's burning across the country."

Barrasso then referenced another Executive Order that President Biden signed, regarding immigration.

"[He opened] the floodgates to illegal immigrants who brought with them into this country in massive numbers, with the crime and the drugs and the disease," Barrasso said. "So now he's trying to decide, does he go even further with Executive Orders, and he's being pushed by the radical fringe of the party who want him to do a lot more, in terms of money for illegal immigrants, in terms of additional entitlements, and we're gonna see the President...he's already at record low numbers in terms of his approval. He is gonna have to decide who he wants to listen to - the radical fringe or the American people."

Cavuto, to his credit, reminded Senator Barrasso that Biden's predecessor (former president Donald Trump) also signed Executive Orders.

In fact, according to the Federal Register, from 2017 to 2021, former president Trump issued a total of 219 executive orders.

So far, President Biden has issued 77.

"Every president takes more authority, or tries to do that," Senator Barrasso said. "But look; the Democrats are gonna try to pass something. They always want to do something to grow the government. Republicans want to grow the economy. Democrats are very different and I believe they're going to try to do something. I think Schumer and Pelosi and Biden want to get something passed."

For contextual purposes, former President Barack Obama used to frequently say "I've got a pen and I've got a phone."

Specifically, in January of 2014, President Obama stated that he was willing to take on congress in order to provide Americans the help they needed.

“We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help that they need," President Obama said at the time, according to CBS News. "I've got a pen, and I've got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward in helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible, making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating."

Whether President Biden's actions are, indeed, "the return of the ghost of Barack Obama," remains to be seen.

To be clear, there is not an actual ghost of President Obama because he has not, in fact, passed away.