Busy first day for Trump: Scrap Obama orders, deport illegals

WASHINGTON — Rolling back Obamacare and industry regulations. Deporting undocumented immigrants. Scrapping trade deals. And of course, building that border wall. It will be an extremely busy first day in the White House for Donald Trump if he lives up to his various campaign and transition pledges to undo the policies of Barack Obama’s eight-year presidency. Some orders or guidance can be reversed with the stroke of a pen. Other policies will take months or longer to unwind. But he will be able to set efforts in motion on several fronts. Trump has outlined dozens of actions he intends to take in the first hours of his presidency, but experts said that the 70-year-old billionaire’s effectiveness will be limited, given that the executive office is just one branch in a government that includes Congress and the judiciary. “He can’t just walk in there and do everything he wants to do on day one,” immigration attorney David Leopold said. “In a democracy, there is no CEO.” Some of Trump’s promises are pie-in-the-sky political messaging, like proposing a constitutional amendment imposing congressional term limits. Other proposals, like his day one vow to “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama,” would dramatically shatter tradition. But Trump is about nothing if not upending established order. Here are some highlights of his stated opening day plans. Trump has pledged to introduce, with Republican leaders in Congress, legislation to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, and his team stresses he will immediately sign executive orders related to dismantling the law. He could issue them on two fronts: allowing people to keep their plans which might not have qualified under the Affordable Care Act, and voiding penalties for individuals not having coverage. — AFP