To cross off dozens of campaign policy goals, President-elect Donald Trump will swiftly enact executive orders on immigration, energy policy, and federal agency operations.
Trump promised Sunday that on his first day in office, he will release "nearly 100" executive orders. Many of these directives will be intended to undo or reverse policies put in place by the Biden administration.
During a call with top congressional Republicans on Sunday afternoon, Stephen Miller, Trump's new deputy chief of staff for policy, gave a preview of some of those moves.
According to two people informed on the call, it was not a comprehensive policy briefing but rather a summary of what lawmakers might anticipate. According to the individuals, Trump's policy operation was anticipated to provide allies on Capitol Hill with additional information later Sunday. They warned that communication and information flow have been facilitated by the size and speed of the inauguration.
During the briefing with lawmakers, Miller affirmed aspects of a comprehensive and long-planned set of immigration measures, including Trump's use of a national emergency at the border to obtain Defense Department cash for the administration's use.
In addition, Trump would order his administration to reintroduce his first-term Migrant Protection Protocol program, better known as "Remain in Mexico," and designate a number of drug gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.
On his own first day in office in 2021, President Joe Biden revoked a number of his first-term immigration policy directives and acts, which Trump will now act to reinstate.
At a pre-inauguration dinner on Sunday, Trump told a group of supporters and supporters, "I will sign dozens of executive orders within hours of taking office — close to 100 to be exact — many of which I will be describing in my address tomorrow."
By this time tomorrow, he continued, "I will revoke dozens of radical and destructive executive orders and actions of the Biden administration with a stroke of my pen, and they will all be null and void."
There will probably be instant legal challenges to these anticipated executive directives.
Actions on government operations and energy
In the early days of Trump's second term, the federal government and its operations will also be a major focus. One of the measures Miller hinted at was an executive order called Schedule F that would reduce or do away with job protections for federal employees. Shortly before the 2020 election, Biden revoked the executive order that Trump had signed.
Additionally, steps will be taken to formally define the responsibilities and powers of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is headed by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk. Over the past few weeks, Musk's program—which operates out of the SpaceX headquarters in Washington—has been covertly hiring more workers and integrating with the agency landing teams of the Trump transition operation.
Miller informed the congressmen that Trump will issue executive orders repealing the federal government's diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and taking steps to repeal some executive orders that Biden had put in place pertaining to gender.
According to Miller's briefing, Trump is also anticipated to declare a national emergency pertaining to energy as part of a large number of steps that target domestic energy production and the industries, permitting regulations, and lands that operate in the sector.
