Trump's housing order is his 292nd since 2025, overtaking Bush's eight-year total of executive orders

The 292nd order

Executive Order 14438, "Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People," was signed on October 22, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on October 28 (91 FR 68007). It directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency to consider a pilot program under which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would cancel mortgage insurance early for borrowers who meet equity requirements, and sets up a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the FHFA Director, with recommendations due within 180 days.

It is the second order this year with housing or homes in its title, after EO 14394, "Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction," signed on March 13. In the Federal Register's online record since 1994, only six numbered orders carry "housing" or "home construction" or "homeowners" in the title, and four of them were signed by Trump.

The order is the 292nd numbered executive order Trump has signed since his second inauguration on January 20, 2025, running from EO 14147 to EO 14438. It is also the latest order published as of October 30: no executive order signed after October 22 had appeared in the Federal Register or its public inspection list for November 2.

Past Bush in 641 days

George W. Bush signed 291 numbered executive orders across his two terms, from January 2001 to January 2009. Trump matched that figure with EO 14437 on October 19 and passed it three days later, on day 641 of his second term. Barack Obama signed 276 orders in eight years, Trump's first term produced 220 and Joe Biden's single term 162.

Counting both terms, Trump has now signed 512 numbered executive orders. The Federal Register's online record of executive orders begins in 1994, so earlier presidents' full totals are not part of this comparison.

A record midterm year

With the midterm elections on November 3, 2026 is already the busiest midterm-election year for executive orders in the record. The 67 orders signed through October 22 compare with full-year totals of 54 in 1994, 38 in 1998, 31 in 2002, 27 in 2006, 35 in 2010, 31 in 2014, 37 in 2018 and 29 in 2022.

At the same point of the year, October 22, the previous midterm-year high was 43 in 1994. Trump had 30 by that date in 2018, and Biden had 26 in 2022.

Among all calendar years since 1994, 2026 now ranks fourth, behind 2025 (238 orders, including 13 signed by Biden before January 20), 2021 (91) and 2020 (69), and just ahead of 2001 (66) and 2017 (62).

A slower pace than 2025

The 2026 total is large by historical standards but much smaller than last year's. Monthly counts by signing date this year are 10 in January, 8 in February, 10 in March, 4 in April, 5 in May, 6 in June, 2 in July, 7 in August, 11 in September and 4 so far in October, an average of about seven a month. In the first three months of the second term, from January to March 2025, Trump signed 109.

The longest gap between orders this year was 25 days, from June 25 to July 20. October's four orders were signed on October 5, 16, 19 and 22, against a single order in October 2025.

Orders are taking about as long to reach the Federal Register as last year: the median gap between signing and publication is five days in 2026, against five and a half in 2025. EO 14438 took six.

About the data

Counts come from the Federal Register API run by the Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives, using the signing date of each numbered executive order. Corrections, republications and unnumbered presidential documents such as memoranda and proclamations are excluded, so each order is counted once. Orders signed but not yet published do not appear until publication, which usually follows within a week, so totals for late October may still rise.

The full list since 1994, with links to each Federal Register entry, is in the StatecraftWire executive orders tracker, which is updated daily and offers a CSV download. Year-by-year figures are on the StatecraftWire executive order statistics page.