Here’s a list of the present active federal emergencies, their start dates, and durations:
| Emergency | Started | Duration (as of Nov 5, 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking Iranian Government Property (EO 12170) | Nov 14, 1979 | 45 yrs 11 mos |
| Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (EO 12938) | Nov 14, 1994 | 30 yrs 11 mos |
| Iran—Petroleum Resources (EO 12957) | Mar 15, 1995 | 30 yrs 7 mos |
| Significant Narcotics Traffickers—Colombia (EO 12978) | Oct 21, 1995 | 30 yrs 0 mos |
| Regulation of Vessels/Anchorage—Cuba shoot-down (Proc. 6867) | Mar 1, 1996 | 29 yrs 8 mos |
| Sudan (EO 13067) | Nov 3, 1997 | 28 yrs 0 mos |
| Western Balkans (EO 13219, as amended by EO 13304) | Jun 26, 2001 | 24 yrs 4 mos |
| Export Control Regulations (EO 13222; AECA delegation) | Aug 17, 2001 | 24 yrs 2 mos |
| 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (Proc. 7463) | Sep 14, 2001 | 24 yrs 1 mo |
| Global Terrorism Sanctions (EO 13224) | Sep 23, 2001 | 24 yrs 1 mo |
| Iraq—Protect Development Fund (EO 13303) | May 22, 2003 | 22 yrs 5 mos |
| Belarus (EO 13405) | Jun 16, 2006 | 19 yrs 4 mos |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo (EO 13413) | Oct 27, 2006 | 19 yrs 0 mos |
| Lebanon (EO 13441) | Aug 1, 2007 | 18 yrs 3 mos |
| North Korea Restrictions (EO 13466) | Jun 26, 2008 | 17 yrs 4 mos |
| Somalia (EO 13536) | Apr 12, 2010 | 15 yrs 6 mos |
| Libya (EO 13566) | Feb 25, 2011 | 14 yrs 8 mos |
| Transnational Criminal Organizations (EO 13581) | Jul 24, 2011 | 14 yrs 3 mos |
| Yemen (EO 13611) | May 16, 2012 | 13 yrs 5 mos |
| Ukraine/Russia—Crimea & related (EO 13660 et al.) | Mar 6, 2014 | 11 yrs 8 mos |
| South Sudan (EO 13664) | Apr 3, 2014 | 11 yrs 7 mos |
| Central African Republic (EO 13667) | May 12, 2014 | 11 yrs 5 mos |
| Venezuela (EO 13692) | Mar 8, 2015 | 10 yrs 7 mos |
| Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities (EO 13694) | Apr 1, 2015 | 10 yrs 7 mos |
| Global Magnitsky—Human Rights/Corruption (EO 13818) | Dec 20, 2017 | 7 yrs 10 mos |
| Foreign Election Interference Sanctions (EO 13848) | Sep 12, 2018 | 7 yrs 1 mo |
| Nicaragua (EO 13851) | Nov 27, 2018 | 6 yrs 11 mos |
| ICTS Supply Chain / Huawei, etc. (EO 13873) | May 15, 2019 | 6 yrs 5 mos |
| Mali (EO 13882) | Jul 26, 2019 | 6 yrs 3 mos |
| Syria (EO 13894) | Oct 14, 2019 | 6 yrs 0 mos |
| Hong Kong Normalization (EO 13936) | Jul 14, 2020 | 5 yrs 3 mos |
| Chinese Military Companies—Securities (EO 13959) | Nov 12, 2020 | 5 yrs 0 mos |
| Burma/Myanmar (EO 14014) | Feb 10, 2021 | 4 yrs 9 mos |
| Russia—Harmful Activities (EO 14024) | Apr 15, 2021 | 4 yrs 6 mos |
| Ethiopia (EO 14046) | Sep 17, 2021 | 4 yrs 1 mo |
| Global Illicit Drug Trade (EO 14059) | Dec 15, 2021 | 3 yrs 10 mos |
| Afghanistan—Da Afghanistan Bank Assets (EO 14064) | Feb 11, 2022 | 3 yrs 8 mos |
| Russian-Affiliated Vessels—U.S. Ports (Proc. 10371) | Apr 21, 2022 | 3 yrs 6 mos |
| Hostages/Wrongful Detainees (EO 14078) | Jul 19, 2022 | 3 yrs 3 mos |
| Outbound Investment—China-related Tech (EO 14105) | Aug 9, 2023 | 2 yrs 2 mos |
| Southern Border Security (Proclamation 10886) | Jan 20, 2025 | 0 yrs 9 mos |
| National Energy Emergency (EO 14156) | Jan 20, 2025 | 0 yrs 9 mos |
| Cartels as FTO/SDGT (EO 14157) | Jan 20, 2025 | 0 yrs 9 mos |
| Tariffs—Northern Border/Illicit Drugs (EO 14193) | Feb 1, 2025 | 0 yrs 9 mos |
| Tariffs—Southern Border (EO 14194) | Feb 1, 2025 | 0 yrs 9 mos |
| Tariffs—China Synthetic-Opioid Supply Chain (EO 14195) | Feb 1, 2025 | 0 yrs 9 mos |
| Sanctions on the International Criminal Court (EO 14203) | Feb 6, 2025 | 0 yrs 8 mos |
| “Reciprocal Tariff” Policy (EO 14257) | Apr 2, 2025 | 0 yrs 7 mos |
| Brazil—Tariffs/Sanctions (EO 14323) | Jul 30, 2025 | 0 yrs 3 mos |
I think it’s a scandal and an outrage that so many of these so-called “emergencies” have been active for as long as they have. It calls the entire concept of emergency into question.
As you may notice the Trump Administration likes to declare emergencies. It’s clearly a strategy for exercising executive power. Note, too, that the number of active emergencies declared under each president has tended to increase.
The first one was ordered pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which is the same law Trump has used to order tariffs.
The thing about orders like this is that they permit the President to negotiate with Iran to normalize relations with a clear commitment to end the sanction. The President can’t reasonably commit to Congress passing legislation in advance.
I think people should be more worried about the President’s discretion under the Insurrection Act.
https://archive.ph/tGJr3
There are two issues of import with the emergency actions. First, there arent any apparent time limits on too many of them. That seems like a fairly easy administrative fix that a functional Congress could pass. It’s the declaration of an emergency that is most troublesome. That is, apparently, entirely under the control of POTUS with no real effective and timely check or balance. At best, it makes it to the Supreme Court in 10 months. If it’s enough of an emergency to generate an EO and institute billions in new taxes, then it’s enough of an emergency to go to SCOTUS immediately.
The Insurrection ACT is an issue but who would stop Trump? Congress doesnt do anything. SCOTUS will do its best to delay hearing a case for months.
Steve
Steve
It will take a constitutional convention to remedy it and the risks of that are so great that I can’t advocate it.
Laws should be limited to a single subject (43 states have single-subject requirements for legislation). Omnibus bills should be out. Every law that requires expenditure should say where the money will come from. The CBO should keep track of all allocations of the “general fund” and no legislation requiring expenditures should be able to cite the general fund once the anticipated amount of revenues has been reached. The Congress should not be able to delegate its constitutional duties. Every law should have an expiration date of not longer than 30 years after passage.
Being in Congress would become a grueling grind. Those measures alone would limit the scope of the federal government to its core responsibilities.
All emergency actions that fall within the National Emergencies Act, which includes the IEEPA, expire in a year unless renewed. So the Iranian emergency has been declared by every President for the last 40 plus years. Here’s Biden’s renewal from last year:
“Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing. For this reason, the national emergency declared on November 14, 1979, and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond November 14, 2024. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to Iran declared in Executive
Order 12170. ”
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-11-04/pdf/2024-25777.pdf
Thank you, PD. That’s very helpful. Mind-boggling but helpful.
IMO that’s an even greater indictment of the Congress.