Hawley rips Biden's 40 executive orders, 'radical policies': 'An attempt to govern by executive fiat'

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Biden’s 40 executive orders ‘an attempt to govern by executive fiat’: Sen. Josh Hawley

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., argues Biden’s executive orders are costing American jobs.

President Biden's unprecedented push of 40 executive orders during the early stages of his presidency shows that he is pursuing a "far-left agenda," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said on Friday.

"It’s just an attempt to basically govern the country by executive fiat," Hawley told "Fox & Friends." 

Hawley called Biden’s executive actions "very, very dangerous" and "radical policies."

"I mean, killing energy jobs, killing the energy sector in the United States, which is essentially what he's doing. Can you imagine how many good-paying American jobs that's going to cost? And then you get the radical actions with women's sports and across the board," Hawley said.

BIDEN HAS SIGNED 40 EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND ACTIONS SINCE TAKING OFFICE

Biden has signed more than three dozen executive orders, actions and directives since he took office just 9 days ago — with Biden officials telling Fox News that the moves are "previews" of the agenda items the president will push in Congress as Republicans rail against the record-making flurry of orders.

Just hours after he took the oath of office last Wednesday, Biden immediately took 17 executive actions—ranging from reversing former President Trump’s policies to restoring Obama-era programs, the coronavirus pandemic and more.

Since then, Biden has taken nearly two dozen additional actions— focused on environmental regulations, the climate crisis, immigration policies, racial justice, healthcare and more.

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Hawley said it's "breathtaking" to see what Biden is doing without Congress' approval. 

"It's breathtaking that he's trying to do it without any democratic debate or legislation. And I think it really shows you this is somebody who's got a pretty far-left agenda and it's somebody who is intent on imposing it on the country," he said. 

In his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order to halt the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was meant to transport Canadian crude oil to the U.S., citing climate change.

The move eliminated the estimated 11,000 U.S. jobs – including 8,000 union jobs – the project would have sustained in 2021.

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.