President Donald Trump's willingness to sign executive orders have rattled some on Capitol Hill, who believe governing should be done via legislation not executive fiat. | Getty White House Trump team weighing orders on Guantanamo, cutting government President Donald Trump’s administration has slowed down on executive actions after a frenetic start, leaving GOP allies wonder which ones will move and which are doomed.

Dozens of draft executive actions are now stalled at the White House after President Donald Trump's administration slowed its initial use of unilateral power, leaving allies, think-tanks and lawmakers guessing about what the administration will do next.

One such draft executive order deals with Guantanamo Bay, the controversial prisoner facility on a U.S. military base in Cuba that former President Barack Obama attempted to close entirely. The order sitting with Trump’s White House would keep the base in use, suspend the release of current detainees and leave open the possibility of keeping new prisoners there, though officials familiar with the order say there is no specific prescription on what to do with future prisoners. The draft calls the camp "legal and humane," one senior government official said.


A draft of a different executive order calls for federal government agencies to submit a plan within three months to merge functions, cut costs and try to improve the "effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of their respective agencies," according to a senior government official. The plans would need to be approved within 180 days and are intended to drive a sharp reduction in government spending.

Another action dealing with cybersecurity stretches more than 2,200 words but has been idling at the White House for more than a week, puzzling allies and aides. POLITICO Pro reported Tuesday that the order is expected to finally get Trump's signature sometime this week.

Aides are also working on yet another executive order to "fight crime," according to a senior administration official, "particularly in the country's cities."

But the fate of the draft executive actions remains in doubt. Trump's team has made a willful move to slow down executive orders after facing criticism for a flurry of ones that were not vetted by Cabinet officials or lawyers, particularly the travel ban that sparked widespread protests across the United States and court losses for the administration.

Several people involved in the current process say the administration wants to be more careful and felt stung by the criticism, even if their signing was cheered by Trump’s supporters. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has lately gotten far more involved in the process, one person familiar with it said. He has implemented a multi-step process to approving the orders, according to a White House official.

The White House official cautioned no order was finalized until the president signed it and declined to comment on the individual proposals.

And amid the stall, a shadowy Washington guessing game has broken out, with allies, think-tanks and Congressional members trying to figure out which actions are coming soon, which are on the horizons and which are no longer slated to move at all.

Officials say they at one point had 200 such drafts written, but it’s unclear how many are still in play.

The orders were written by outside groups, transition officials and landing teams at agencies. As some drafts have leaked out, including one to restore "black site prisons," administration officials have said the documents weren't final — and they’ve backed away from them, pleasing allies and critics alike.

"There's no way you could keep that pace up day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out," said Rep. Chris Collins, a New York Republican.

Trump's willingness to sign executive orders have rattled some on Capitol Hill, who believe governing should be done via legislation not executive fiat and railed against Obama’s use of executive authority. And lobbyists say they are frustrated with some of the executive orders because they are vague, and could be reversed by the next president, overturned by a judge, or contrast with existing federal law.

"They thought, maybe we should roll these out a little better, put these out in a better way," said Trent Lott, the former Senate Majority leader who keeps up with some of Trump's aides. "The first two weeks kind of took everyone's breath away."

Yet administration officials and allies say he will continue signing the orders, though there is no specific timetable. "We are going to be busy," one senior administration official said. "Trump doesn't really like to sit back and wait for anyone."

And as outsiders speculate, White House officials continue to weigh dozens of potential actions to further Trump’s agenda and roll back the work of the previous president.

There are drafts of an executive order to "stabilize the health insurance market," as several government officials described it, as they move to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Collins and others said that was necessary amid the change in the law, with insurers begging for clarity amid uncertainty over the future of the Affordable Care Act. That order is expected to be signed once Tom Price is confirmed as the health and human services secretary, several people involved in the process said.

"I think you'll see action in the next 60 days," Collins said of the health insurance market.

There is an executive order to require more products to be "made in America," though it remains unclear exactly what that would entail. "They want to keep pushing the ‘America First’ platform," one person told about the order said.

Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency have told outside groups they plan to implement executive orders to roll back environmental regulations. "They've told us they really want to get rid of a lot of these regulations by order," one person who spoke to a senior Trump EPA official said. "There is going to be environmental action by executive order."

Officials at conservative think-tanks say they expect executive orders to roll back more financial regulations.

And while Trump has repeatedly vowed to investigate voter fraud, an executive order beginning that investigation has floundered, with some aides and advisers hoping he will move on from the topic entirely.

Conversations with people familiar with some of the executive orders show a new administration committed to reducing the size of government but not exactly sure on the details. In the executive order on reducing functions, agencies are asked to study whether it makes sense to move some functions to state or local governments, or close entire bureaus of the federal government. But the order does not specify exactly how much agencies should cut spending, or whether the president would be open to closing entire agencies.

Ultimately, many conservative groups are counting on Republicans’ complete control of Congress, as well as the White House, to usher in broader changes that are harder to undo — particularly as they watch first-hand how a president can roll back his predecessor’s work with the stroke of a pen.

"The executive orders are nice, and they can do some things with executive orders,” said Norbert Michel, who studies regulations at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “But you have to have something done in Congress."