In order to fulfil his most impassioned campaign promises, Donald Trump on Friday night signed his first executive order as President, ordering agencies to ease the burden of former President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care law -- the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known a ‘Obamacare’.
“The executive order signed in the Oval Office of the White House is designed to ease the burden of Obamacare as we transition from repeal and replace,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the media.
This was the first move from President Trump as the new administration works towards repealing and eventually replacing the Affordable Care Act.
The secretary, however, did not responded when asked for further details.
In addition to the presidential action on Obamacare, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus will also send out a memo to all government agencies and departments calling for a regulatory freeze, Spicer said.
With his signature, Trump sent a powerful signal on day one of his presidency: His top priority in the Oval Office will be dismantling the Affordable Care Act, a law that covers some 20 million Americans.
The signing of the order also highlighted how deeply divisive Obamacare remains seven years after its inception: passing a health care reform bill was one of former President Barack Obama's first priorities when he took office in 2009; overhauling it is now an urgent mission of Obama's successor.
Also on Friday, shortly after Trump was sworn into, the newly updated White House website said the new administration will eliminate the Climate Action Plan.
"For too long, we've been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the US rule," the website said in a page titled ‘An America First Energy Plan’.
The Climate Action Plan was the centrepiece of former President Barack Obama's climate legacy that aims to cut carbon emissions from power plants.
The new page on the website of the White House claimed that lifting these restrictions will ‘greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than USD 30 billion (over Rs 20,000 crore) over the next seven years’.
Trump also signed papers confirming the appointments of James Mattis as Secretary of Defense and John Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security.
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