President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promises to kick off his second term in office with a tidal wave of executive orders.
Either in front of cheering supporters at a Monday evening rally or later that night in the Oval Office, Trump signed dozens of executive orders and outlined other presidential actions spanning large swaths of the federal government. This included an executive order revoking 78 executive actions taken by the Biden administration, plus other steps to review rulemaking and other actions taken during the waning days of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Additional orders signed by Trump outline ideological changes to how executive agencies will craft regulations and view artificial intelligence or reassess the U.S.’ role in global agreements. Other changes weren’t explicitly laid out in the president’s orders but are reflected in materials no longer available on government websites.
While subsequent days have continued the flow of policy decisions, reports have also begun to surface about how external and internal directives are affecting government agencies’ longstanding norms. Here’s a breakdown of the changes affecting healthcare agencies, the industry and public health during Trump’s first week. (Editor’s note: this story has been, and will continue to be, updated.)
Artificial Intelligence guardrails removed
Among Trump’s immediate moves was to pull Biden’s “Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” a sweeping 2023 directive outlining the federal government’s stance on “responsible” AI.
The order sought to establish practices across multiple agencies, including the HHS, such as safety testing prior to public release, algorithm bias, nondiscrimination, safeguards on the use of individuals’ data during large-scale model training and mitigation of automation’s impact on workforces.
Its guidelines and principles laid out a road map for the strategic plan on AI released by the HHS on Jan. 10, as well as instructions for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to build a U.S. AI Safety Institute as a home for technical guidance in future regulatory efforts.
A new order signed on Jan. 23, “Removing Barriers to American AI Innovation,” outlined Trump’s view that the Biden order hindered innovation and imposed “onerous and unnecessary government control over the development of AI.” Those requirements, per the Trump White House, would have hamstrung the private sector.
“American development of AI systems must be free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas,” the Trump administration wrote in a fact sheet describing the order.
The new order calls for another AI Action Plan “to sustain and enhance America’s AI dominance,” which would be developed by the assistant to the president for science and technology, the Assistant to the President for Science & Technology, the White House AI & Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor.
Additionally, it will see the Office of Management and Budget revise and reissue its memoranda to federal agencies on the acquisition and governance of AI “to ensure that harmful barriers to America’s AI leadership are eliminated.”
Trump promoted his administration’s support for AI development on his second day in office during an event highlighting an up to $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. Also still in place is a week-old Biden order that aimed to streamline the building of large-scale data centers and infrastructure within the U.S.
Read more here.
Immigration enforcement, “sensitive location” policy rescinded
Trump marked his return to the White House with a new national emergency declaration that suspends refugee admissions and paves the way for what he has described as the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history.
The administration, on Tuesday, amplified the effort with the end of a long-standing policy not to arrest individuals without legal status who are in or near “sensitive locations” such as schools, places of worship, the site of a religious event and hospitals.
The change has forced hospitals and healthcare workers to decide whether to comply with immigration enforcement or restrict access to their patients and their information to those with a warrant.
However, many hospitals, practitioners and healthcare groups say they have no plans to turn away patients needing care due to their immigration status. Some fear that federal agents’ disruptions could cause patients to skip needed medical care.
Providers are receiving differing messages on the issue depending on their state government. Red states such as Texas and Florida have largely supported the president’s immigration stance and have policies on the books that require healthcare providers to collect information on patients’ legal status. Blue state leaders have gone the other direction and have released recommendations against such practices while stressing that providers are under no legal obligation to assist with an arrest.
Regulatory freeze slows HHS
The Trump administration has ordered a governmentwide regulatory freeze that will halt progress on healthcare regulations.
The freeze stops the rulemaking process in its tracks and prevents the new Trump administration from issuing new rules for 60 days.
In that time, the new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership will decide which Biden-era regulations it wants to toss, which it will let stand and which it wants to change.
The first Trump administration and the Biden administration instated regulatory freezes on the first days of their terms in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
“The administration gets in and understands the regulatory landscape of where things are and can put out their own kind of stamp on regulatory policies,” Jeff Davis, director of health policy at McDermott+, said.
Trump’s HHS will review regulations that were proposed, but not finalized, by the Biden administration, such as the proposed updates to the HIPAA Security Rule and the proposed rule for prescribing controlled substances via telehealth. Rules that were finalized by Biden but are not yet effective are also stalled for 60 days.
The freeze will give the Trump administration time to determine its regulatory priorities and how they differ from Biden’s. Also, the 60-day freeze gives the administration time to get through the confirmation process for agency officials.
Of note, Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has not yet been scheduled to appear in front of the Senate. The Washington Post reported that the scheduling of the confirmation hearing has been delayed because the Senate is still rifling through RFK Jr.’s financial disclosures. Dorothy Fink, M.D., has been appointed to serve as acting HHS secretary in the meantime.
Davis said it’s likely that the Trump team will throw out Biden’s proposed staffing mandate for skilled nursing facilities and the proposed updates to Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug programs.
In the last weeks of Biden’s term, his administration proposed several rules, even though the administration knew they could not be finalized and would likely be subject to a regulatory freeze.
“They’re not starting from scratch, so to speak,” Davis said. “They have to kind of deal with some of the proposed rules … and put their own spin on them or rescind them. But they have to deal with them in some capacity.”
The Trump administration has several other tools at its disposal to void Biden-era healthcare regulations. The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to more easily invalidate regulations finalized after Aug. 16, 2024. The new administration could also promulgate new rulemaking that replaces a Biden regulation and prevents the agency from proposing a similar rule.
The new administration could also choose to not enforce Biden-era rules or could challenge rules in court. One of the many Biden executive orders that Trump rescinded on day one was his 2023 order to modernize the regulatory review process.
HHS communications go dark, scientific meetings cancelled
Trump’s directive to slow down agency action extends beyond regulatory rulemaking. As reported by the Washington Post and later confirmed by other outlets, HHS was ordered to pause all public communications and public appearances “that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health.”
Exceptions are permitted on a case-by-case basis if “reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee, as was presumably the case for an FDA safety warning regarding a multiple sclerosis medicine. However, resources from the department such as the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a weekly public health publication that has run without break since 1960, have been put on hold.
“Every day this vital publication is delayed, doctors, nurses, hospitals, local health departments and first responders are behind the information curve and less prepared to protect the health of all Americans,” former CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., wrote on X.
The freeze has also led to the cancellation of scientific meetings and gatherings scheduled for the coming days, such as a Presidential Advisory Council meeting on antibiotic resistance, a National Vaccine Advisory Committee panel and others NIH meetings intended to review applications for federal fellowships and grants.
Former government health officials and other experts have told press that some form of initial pause and review is not unheard of for a new administration, although this week’s directive appears more substantial and lasting than the norm and could bring public health repercussions.
The pause is in effect through Feb. 1, according to an internal memo sent to staff.
“The President’s appointees intend to review documents and communications expeditiously and return to a more regular process as soon as possible,” it reads.
HHS OIG Grimm fired by Trump
In a move that sent shockwaves around the federal government, Trump fired more than a dozen inspectors general Jan. 24, reported numerous news outlets. Among those impacted is Inspector General Christi Grimm, head of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for HHS, confirmed Fierce Healthcare.
HHS declined to offer additional information. It’s unclear exactly why she was fired. Grimm was fired in a similar fashion by Trump in May 2020 after the office published a report on challenges hospitals faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump publicly denied the accuracy of the report.
Inspector generals are staffed within federal agencies to conduct non-partisan investigations, aiming to bolster transparency and stop fraud and abuse. In the last six months alone, HHS OIG released reports on remote patient monitoring, opioid use disorder services, maternal health in managed care, Medicare Advantage upcoding through health risk assessments and overpayments to private insurers.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said the firings violate the law and undermine democracy.
The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an independent entity within the executive branch representing these officers, agreed the action taken by Trump was illegal. A president must notify Congress 30 days ahead of firing an inspector general with sufficient rationale, the group said in a statement (PDF).
Republicans may be miffed as well. Earlier this month, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, announced she was launching a bipartisan Inspector General Caucus to work with office heads to identify waste, fraud and abuse, a goal that is seemingly aligned with the mission of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is heavily supported by Trump.
Grimm was named HHS OIG’s sixth inspector general in 2022 by President Biden, helping oversee the department’s subagencies. She also ran oversight for COVID-19 relief efforts conducted by HHS.
Working within the department since 1999, Grimm was appointed Principal Deputy Inspector General, the office’s second-in-command, in January 2020. She served as acting IG when former IG Joanne Chiedl left the department. She continued to serve in this role for the duration of Trump’s first term as her replacement failed to get confirmed.
Juliet Hodgkins is the current Principal Deputy Inspector General.
RFK Jr.’s HHS Secretary hearing set, and other new personnel appointments
HHS Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to face Congress on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, where he is expected to face tough questions from Republicans and Democrats over his beliefs on vaccines, abortion, food regulation and more.
The Senate Committee on Finance will host their hearing first, followed by the Senate HELP Committee the next day.
Dueling ad campaigns and lobbying efforts are hitting RFK from both sides. Liberal advocacy group Protect Our Care is urging members to reject Kennedy over his public health beliefs. Meanwhile, conservative group Advancing American Freedom, backed by former Vice President Mike Pence, argues Kennedy isn’t conservative enough and doesn’t share pro-life values.
Earlier this week, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), stressed the dangers of Kennedy’s nomination and his potential to spread anti-vaccine rhetoric, though he acknowledged there are areas of agreement surrounding food is medicine and the proliferation of ultra-processed foods, as well as room for debate on previous COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
“This is as dangerous of a decision the U.S. Senate could possibly take,” he said. “You would honestly not put him in charge of a local clinic, let alone the country’s entire health system.
“We don’t have to bring measles and mumps back in order to fix our food system,” he added. “You don’t have to bring back the horrors of polio in the name of cleansing our diet.”
Meanwhile, Dorothy Fink, M.D., an endocrinologist who has spent much of her career working on women’s health issues within the HHS, has been appointed by Trump to serve as acting HHS secretary until the permanent Senate confirmation process is completed.
Further, health investment firm Rubicon Founders principal Abe Sutton is expected to be tasked as CMS Innovation Center head, and former Collective Medical CEO Chris Klomp will be named president of the Center of Medicare, reported multiple media outlets. Both Sutton and Klomp would work underneath Mehmet Oz, M.D., who was nominated as CMS administrator.
Theo Merkel, a director within the Paragon Health Institute, and Heidi Overton, M.D., chief policy officer for the America First Policy Institute and a Johns Hopkins-trained physician, were named to Trump’s domestic policy council staff.
DEI policies, discrimination protection orders rescinded
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Day 1 to end all initiatives within the federal government related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Trump also repealed several executive orders this week issued by former President Joe Biden that aimed to promote gender equality and gay rights. Further, Trump ordered the Secretary of HHS to create definitions of biological male and biological female to “restore biological truth to the federal government” and combat the recognition of transgender and intersex people.
The moves could change the composition of federal healthcare agencies, decrease pressure on healthcare companies to pursue equity initiatives and slant federal health regulation away from addressing bias, racism and gender equality.
The DEI executive order terminates all DEI programs within the federal government. It requires federal agencies to terminate equity action plans and initiatives, remove any DEI performance requirements for staff and terminate Chief Diversity Officers.
“Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great,” the Trump executive order says.
Additionally, Trump’s first-day order removed four other Biden orders related to equality in gender and sexual orientation: “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” “Establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council,” “Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free From Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity” and “Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals.”
Academic research has outlined the negative impact real or anticipated discrimination against minority groups can have on care-seeking behaviors. Changes to how discrimination is handled in educational settings could also have an impact on the composition of the healthcare workforce, which health equity researchers say can lead to harmful cultural disconnects between providers and their patients. Policies defining biological sex at “conception”—criticized by experts as scientifically inaccurate—will likely have implications for the federal government’s stance on controversial legal battles over gender-affirming care.
Priyanka Jain, CEO and cofounder of women’s health research startup Evvy, pointed to the Biden administration’s outreach on and funding of women’s health issues stemming from the policies. These were a boon for her company because she didn’t have to do so much explaining about the need to invest in women’s health, she said, yet the disparities women face in healthcare still persisted.
“Healthcare has never been designed for women,” Jain told Fierce Healthcare. “The services have never prioritized us. Research budgets have never prioritized us, reimbursements never prioritized us. Like it’s just never really been on the agenda. And even though Dr. Biden tried really hard towards the end, there were so many systems to change that just didn’t change.”
Erec Smith is a research fellow at the CATO Institute and an associate professor of rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania who writes on the negative impact of DEI programs and “critical social justice.” He told Fierce Healthcare that Trump’s rollback of DEI programs within the federal government will improve the unity of federal agencies and offices, allow staff to speak openly about DEI and remove interpersonal divisions sowed by the concept.
“These are the issues that the Trump administration is trying to get rid of, or at least mitigate, mainly because it’s hard to have a unified front when everybody is divided by the undergirding ideology that they’re abiding by. So that’s the DEI that is being attacked,” he said.
Drug pricing models pulled
An executive order (PDF) from Biden that created three drug pricing models under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation was rescinded by Trump.
In February 2023, Biden launched three models to lower the price of drugs. They are yet to begin but were implemented to lower the cost of cell and gene therapies, cap certain generic drugs at a $2 monthly out-of-pocket price and accelerate Food and Drug Administration approval for drugs that address unmet medical needs.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last month it successfully negotiated agreements with two drug manufacturers, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and bluebird bio, for the cell and gene therapy model. Liz Fowler, Ph.D., deputy administrator and director of the CMS Innovation Center, said the model would help state Medicaid finances. Medicaid spending is expected to be slashed substantially in a reconciliation bill this year if Republicans are able to come to an agreement.
The accelerated FDA approval model faced immediate pushback from Republicans. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, at the time said the model disincentivizes drugmakers and would have a negative effect on research and development. Crapo is the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, an influential congressional committee for health policy.
The CMS also released in October its list of prescription drugs that would be included in its $2 Drug List Model. Biden planned for the model to start by January 2027 at the earliest.
The Democratic party seized on Trump’s rescission and its potential impact on drug prices.
Birthright citizenship EO jeopardizes insurance coverage, but is blocked for now
One new executive order would upend birthright citizenship in the country under an argument that the Constitution has previously misinterpreted the issue.
The executive order was always destined to set the stage for a legal showdown. The ACLU is suing the Trump administration, saying birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. State attorneys general from 24 states across two (PDF) separate lawsuits (PDF) also sued the Trump administration Tuesday. One lawsuit from Democratic attorneys general ask for injunctive relief against the order.
Adults and children who would have their citizenship revoked under this order will find it more difficult to obtain insurance from public programs, likely leading to greater levels of uninsurance and unintended consequences on the healthcare system, reported KFF.
However, it’s yet to be seen whether Trump’s order will come to fruition. Weighing in on a case brought forward this week by four state attorneys general, a federal judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion Thursday for a temporary nationwide injunction. The pause will extend 14 days and a hearing is set for Feb. 6.
The federal judge is a President Reagan appointee, who called the Trump executive order a “blatant unconstitutional order,” reported NBC News.
A total of 22 states, along with activist groups, have filed lawsuits to block the order.
Hiring freeze, slimmed federal workforce
Trump and his allies’ promises to overhaul federal workforce policies took shape on Inauguration Day and will likely impact government healthcare agencies like the HHS or the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Off the bat, Trump ordered a hiring freeze applying to civilian roles across all parts of the executive branch, with exceptions made for the armed forces, immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
The freeze will stay in place until a plan is submitted by the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management and the newly formed U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition.” The report is to be issued within 90 days, though a hiring freeze will remain in place for the IRS.
The DOGE is a government efficiency office Trump said would be headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—though the latter appears to have stepped away from the role. It is formally instructed to modernize governmentwide software and IT systems to promote efficiency and interoperability between agencies as well as to provide “advice and recommendations as appropriate” to agency heads developing new HR best practices. Musk previously said its work will serve to reduce head counts across government agencies.
To avoid a requirement that Congress authorize the creation of new executive branch departments, Trump signed an order renaming and refocusing the U.S. Digital Service, which was launched in 2014 to bring private sector tech expertise into the federal government.
Another executive order signed Monday, “Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service,” outlines the ideological change in government hiring that will persist after the freeze. Its top-line goal is to replace “broken, insular and outdated” federal hiring practices that “no longer focus on merit, practical skill and dedication to our Constitution.”
A top-line focus is to remove race, religion, sex and “one’s commitment to the invested concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex” from factors considered during hiring. This falls in line with other actions taken by the president Monday in opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, such as an executive order “Ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and Preferencing” and the rescinding of Biden’s “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce” executive order.
However, it also aims to decrease time-to-hire to fewer than 80 days, integrate “modern technology” such as digital platforms or data analytics in hiring processes and “improve the allocation of senior executive service positions” across agencies and offices.
Meanwhile, another executive order, “Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives,” looks to lower the bar for federal senior executive service officials who underperform or oppose Trump administration priorities to receive the ax.
Specifically, the orders reads that “[senior executive service] officials who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently should be held accountable.”
Trump’s federal workforce goals have already garnered pushback from his opponents. One lawsuit filed late Monday by Public Citizen, the State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees argues that the administration’s DOGE is violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act “because DOGE’s members do not have a fair balance of viewpoints, meetings are held in secret and without public notice, and records and work product are not available to the public,” the groups said Monday.
US pulls out of WHO
In an executive order signed on the evening of his inauguration, Trump pulled the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Withdrawal from the United Nations health agency is possible after a one-year notice. The order called for a pause to future U.S. funding and resources to the WHO. The U.S. is the largest WHO donor. Public health experts quickly condemned the move, stressing it leaves U.S. agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NIH without crucial surveillance data and will complicate future efforts to prevent pandemics.
“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue,” the WHO said in a statement responding to the order.
Read the full story here.
Abortion funding cut, international pro-life coalition rejoined
Trump announced Friday the administration would reinstate the Mexico City Policy, mandating federal dollars do not go toward organizations that participate in “coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization,” according to an executive order outlining the decision. Under this policy, agencies cannot give funds to groups that help administer abortions overseas.
The White House also revoked two executive orders from Biden term’s that allows the government to send federal funds for organizations to fund elective abortion domestically. The decision is consistent with the Hyde Amendment, the administration said.
And on Jan. 24, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the U.S. would rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a nod to the administration’s anti-abortion beliefs.
The declaration, established by the U.S. and others in 2020, aims “to secure meaningful health and development gains for women; to protect life at all stages; to defend the family as the fundamental unit of society; and to work together across the UN system to realize these value.” The delegation initially included Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda, but now has 35 signatory nations.
Trump plans FEMA overhaul
Speaking to the press while visiting hurricane damages in North Carolina, Trump said he plans to sign an executive order “to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a department responsible for giving aid to states facing natural disaster and helping to coordinate emergency responses.
States and their governors should be responsible for tending to their own crises, Trump said, but money would no longer be funneled through FEMA. His administration will be “looking at the whole concept of FEMA” and issuing recommended changes “over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Trump also reiterated his desire to withhold funding to California and the city of Los Angeles until the state agrees to voter ID and a change in water policies.
HHS’ reproductive care website goes dark
On the day of the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, the HHS set up ReproductiveRights.gov. The site provided resources on reproductive rights and access to healthcare. It included information for patients and providers, information about family planning services and guidance on how to file a patient privacy or nondiscrimination complaint with the Office of Civil Rights.
As of Tuesday morning, that website no longer exists, suggesting the Trump administration will take a different stance than its predecessor on legal battles and other issues pertaining to women’s reproductive health.
The Department of Justice also launched a similar webpage of resources, including on its work to protect reproductive rights under federal law. That page is still live. Its resource booklet for providers is also still live.
Trump pulls Fauci’s security detail
Anthony Fauci, M.D., former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to Trump during his first term, will no longer receive a security detail, Trump told reporters Jan. 24.
“You can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life just because you worked for government,” he said. “You know, they all made a lot of money—they can hire their own security, too.”
Fauci has faced death threats and is a controversial figure to those who disagree with his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci was among the recipients of President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons to former government officials he said faced retaliation from Trump. In a statement to press, Fauci said he appreciated Biden’s pardon offer and reiterated that he has not committed any crimes.
Orders on ACA enrollment, protections pulled
Two rules from the Biden administration that Trump rescinded on Monday—“Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act” and “Continuing To Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage”—broadly instructed agency heads to review their existing policies for any practices that would reduce Affordable Care Act protections, coverage and enrollment. The latter order expanded those goals to address program costs, protections against “low-quality coverage” and medical debt burden reduction, among other goals.
Notably, Biden’s action lengthened enrollment periods for Affordable Care Act plans and helped fund third parties supporting enrollment in marketplace plans. The Biden administration has credited these actions for jumps in ACA enrollment numbers during recent years.
US leaves Paris climate deal, again
In an executive order, Trump pulled out of the Paris climate agreement for a second time.
The move, which will become official in one year, makes the U.S. only one of four countries not participating. The legally binding international treaty, negotiated at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, aims to keep global temperatures from rising past a certain threshold. Scientists have found that crossing a 1.5°C threshold risks severe climate change impacts.
The agreement allows countries to provide targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. However, most experts agree that the members’ pledges are not enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. That said, if all members follow through with their net-zero targets, warming could be limited to 1.8˚C.
“Walking away from the Paris Agreement won’t protect Americans from climate impacts, but it will hand China and the European Union a competitive edge in the booming clean energy economy and lead to fewer opportunities for American workers,” Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, said in a statement.
In a separate executive order, Trump rescinded the Climate Change Support Office, established by Biden in 2021. He also rescinded Biden-era orders directing agencies to review and revise any regulations or policies that conflict with protecting the environment and committing to advancing environmental justice.
Menthol ban
An FDA proposed rule from 2022 banning menthol cigarettes was rescinded by the Trump administration, a filing from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs shows. The Biden administration chose to not follow through with a final rule, Reuters reported.
Lingering COVID-19 orders pulled
Trump axed slew of Biden’s executive orders guiding strategies and policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many sections within the orders, such as those related to workforce vaccination requirements, had effectively run their course. Others instructed federal agencies to enact policies providing lasting support for provider organizations caring for those affected by the disease, supporting development of new COVID-19 therapeutics or supporting other clinical research studying the long-term impact of COVID-19 on patients’ health.
The rescinded COVID-19 executive orders are as follows: “Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government To Provide a Unified and Effective Response To Combat COVID-19 and To Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security,” “Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery,” “Improving and Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19,” “Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats,” “Protecting Worker Health and Safety” and “Moving Beyond COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Federal Workers.”