President Trump spent the evening of his first day in office ordering all federal departments and agencies to find ways to ease the economic burden of President Obama's health care plan as Congress works to repeal and replace it. Vice President Pence swore in Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus ordered government agencies to freeze any regulations that haven't already been published. "Thank you, it's a great day," Trump said after the signings in the Oval Office, before leaving for a set of inaugural balls. The first-day executive actions served to signal a marked departure from the policies of the Obama administration but provided little indication of the direction Trump would chart. The executive order, titled "Minimizing The Economic Burden Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal," directed the administration to show maximum flexibility in applying the law to states, hospitals, health insurers, patients and, notably, medical device manufacturers. But the order was couched in language like "to the maximum extent permitted by law," leaving the particulars to legal interpretation. The regulatory freeze memo was almost word-for-word identical to a similar memo sent by President Barack Obama's chief of staff on the first day of his presidency. And that one, in turn, was based on previous memos by Presidents George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. It ordered all agencies to hold off on publishing any regulation until Trump's Cabinet members are confirmed and can sign off on them. The White House may make exceptions for "health, safety, financial, or national security matters." Trump made no specific policy proposals during his inaugural address. So for most of the day, something as basic as the content of the White House website became an important signal to interest groups about what issues would take priority in the Trump administration. Shortly after Trump took the oath of office, the government switched over the White House website from Obama’s to Trump’s. (Obama’s is now frozen in time, archived by the National Archives and Records Administration under the Presidential Records Act.) The Twitter accounts @POTUS and @FLOTUS now belong to Trump and first lady Melania Trump, although the Obamas seem to have taken all of their followers to @POTUS44 and @FLOTUS44. Policy proposals on Trump's revamped website ranged from increased cyber warfare capabilities to changing the terms of trade deals with other nations, issues the New York businessman discussed on the campaign trail. Also notable: There are pages on the website for the release of White House visitor’s logs, ethics pledge waivers, financial disclosures and staff salaries, suggesting that some Obama-era transparency initiatives may remain in place. And the White House “We the People” petition site also apparently survived the transition, with the first petition a plea for Trump to release his tax returns. Trump's staff posted a variety of proposals ranging from an "American First Foreign Policy" to killing Obama's climate action plan — plans largely echoing his campaign website. "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 U.S. rule," reads the top issue brief on the new president's White House website. While the top issues on the Obama website were “Civil Rights,” “Climate Change,” “Economy” and “Education,” Trump’s site features different issues with more Trump-themed names: “America First Energy Plan,” “America First Foreign Policy,” “Bringing Back Jobs and Growth” and “Making Our Military Strong Again.” Various organizations expressed concern that, in wiping the Obama White House website nearly clean, the Trump team eliminated sections devoted to such issues as climate change, gay rights and civil rights in general. "The Department of Labor’s crucial report on worker rights has also disappeared,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “If President Trump truly believes in uniting the country, now is the time to make clear whether he will be an ally to the LGBTQ community in our struggle for full equality."
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