On first day, Trump signs health care executive order
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump quickly assumed the mantle of the White House on Friday, making his first executive order one aimed at his predecessor’s signature health care law and swearing-in members of his national security team to his Cabinet.
Hours after delivering a stinging rebuke of the political status quo in his inaugural address, Trump sat at the president’s formal desk in the Oval Office as he signed the order that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said was aimed at “minimizing the economic burden” of the “Obamacare” law.
The order notes that Trump intends to seek the “prompt repeal” of the law. But in the meantime, it allows the Health and Human Services Department and other federal agencies to delay implementing any piece of the law that might impose a “fiscal burden” on states, health care providers, families or individuals.
Moments later, Vice-President Mike Pence administered the oath of office to Defence Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, the first members of Trump’s Cabinet to clear Senate confirmation.