Joe Biden has signed a flurry of executive orders in his first week, many more than Donald Trump. Why is he passing so many now?

In his first week in office, President Joe Biden whipped up 24 executive orders — a lot more than his contemporaries.

Donald Trump signed four, Barack Obama signed five and George W Bush signed none in the first seven days.

So why is Mr Biden signing so many? And why do they exist if a new president can just re-write the playbook?

What is an executive order?

They’re just a couple of pages long but carry a lot of weight.

The orders direct federal agencies (those that report to the president) how to a) use their resources and b) how to implement the laws from Congress.

But they’re not actually legislation and they do have limitations.

Declaring war or calling for…