The Fine Print: Major Trump executive orders that flew under the radar
The article from the Washington Examiner discusses several executive orders signed by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office for his second term. On his first day, he signed 26 executive orders aimed at reversing policies from the Biden management and advancing his “America First” agenda.
One notable order targets drug pricing, as Trump rescinded Biden-era price innovation programs for Medicare and Medicaid, indicating significant changes to how drug costs are handled within these federal programs. This move emphasizes that addressing Medicare and Medicaid expenditures will be a key focus during the early days of his administration.
Another executive order relates to artificial intelligence (AI), where Trump rolled back regulatory measures that Biden had introduced to oversee AI progress and implementation. This allows for a less regulated surroundings, reminiscent of the earlier, less controlled landscape of AI innovation.
Additionally,Trump has yet to replace a rescinded ethics executive order from Biden with his own,raising concerns among watchdog groups regarding transparency and accountability within the federal government.This absence is seen as troubling, especially given the ethics standards he previously established in his first term.
the article highlights the significant steps taken by Trump in his first hours back in office, indicating a return to policies focused on deregulation and a departure from his predecessor’s approaches.
The Fine Print: Major Trump executive orders that flew under the radar
Hours after being sworn in for the start of his second term, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders aimed at rescinding Biden-era policies and kickstarting his “America First agenda.” On Day One of his presidency, he signed a record 26 executive orders — and this Washington Examiner series, The Fine Print, takes a look at some of those orders that may have flown under the radar, as well as what they mean for the Trump administration and the public.
Part 1: Trump order signals shake-up in drug pricing innovation
President Donald Trump’s Day One executive order rescinding Biden-era Medicare and Medicaid price innovation programs signals sweeping changes to the drug and treatment pricing agency within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and perhaps a substantive shake-up in two of the largest federal social welfare programs.
As part of his first-day executive actions, Trump rescinded a 2022 executive order from former President Joe Biden that instructed the Department of Health and Human Services to consider “new healthcare payment and delivery models that would lower drug costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.”
LIST: THE EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT
The Biden executive order paved the way for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, or CMMI, to create three drug pricing models intended to lower the costs of gene and cell therapies for Medicaid patients, cap certain generic drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries to $2 monthly out of pocket, and accelerate the Food and Drug Administration approval process for drugs designed to address unmet medical needs.
These models, or voluntary pilot programs to test whether they reduced costs and improved quality for patients, were launched in 2023 but have not yet taken full effect.
The fact that Trump took aim at fledgling CMMI programs during his jam-packed first day could highlight that reforming the agency, along with Medicare and Medicaid spending overall, will be a top priority for the first 100 days of his administration.
Read more from the Washington Examiner.
Part 2: Trump reestablishes AI Wild West
President Donald Trump has eviscerated his predecessor’s plans to regulate artificial intelligence, reverting the industry back to its previous status as a Wild West of possibilities and pitfalls.
“Trump’s executive action on AI rolls back Biden-era attempts to tightly monitor and control the design and governance of new models,” said Daniel Cochrane, a tech policy associate at the Heritage Foundation. “President Trump’s executive actions are a good start to rolling back that dangerous framework. They also clear a path for unleashing American AI innovation.
Former President Joe Biden tried to single-handedly regulate AI by issuing Executive Order 14110 on Oct. 30, 2023. Titled “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” it required AI companies to share key safety information and test results with the federal government before new models were released to the public.
All of that is now off the table.
Read more from the Washington Examiner.
Part 3: Watchdog groups press Trump to reimpose ethics executive order
One of President Donald Trump‘s first actions in office was to rescind former President Joe Biden‘s ethics executive order, which included a pledge for federal government political appointees, but he did not replace it with his own as he did during his first term.
That pledge called on Biden’s executive branch political appointees to “commit to decision-making on the merits and exclusively in the public interest, without regard to private gain or personal benefit.”
Biden’s pledge also called on appointees to “commit to conduct that upholds the independence of law enforcement and precludes improper interference with investigative or prosecutorial decisions of the Department of Justice.”
Government accountability and transparency groups, such as watchdog organization Common Cause, have expressed concerns with Trump’s decision not to implement his own ethics executive order, at least so far. In contrast, they praised the ethics pledge he required during his first term. That pledge, for example, included a two-year ban on former lobbyists being involved in matters on which he or she lobbied and a five-year ban on one-time appointees lobbying the government.
“It’s extremely frustrating that after President Trump’s first term had a fairly strong executive order for executive branch employees, he would then rescind President Biden’s very similar executive branch order,” Common Cause senior director of legislative affairs Aaron Scherb told the Washington Examiner. “It seems somewhat hypocritical. You know, if he was for this ethics pledges, ethics executive order, the first term, why wouldn’t he be for the second term?”
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Now loading...