President Donald Trump’s first actions in the Oval Office included rolling back healthcare policies put forth by former President Joe Biden, including expansions to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as ‘ObamaCare.’  

Directly after he was sworn in on Monday, Trump moved quickly to revoke a long list of Biden executive orders covering a wide range of issues. Two of the orders that were revoked included efforts by Biden to expand access to the ACA and restore the federal program ‘to the way it was before Trump became president’ the first time around.

The move angered Democrats, who argued the action was an ‘attack’ on the federal health insurance program.

‘Donald Trump’s immediate priority as president is ripping away affordable health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans and screwing over people with preexisting conditions,’ the Democratic National Committee said in a Tuesday statement. 

Shortly after taking office in January 2021, Biden passed Executive Order 14009, titled the ‘Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.’ The move, which Trump rescinded as part of his Day One executive actions, doubled the window of time that uninsured Americans had to apply to participate in the federal insurance program. Under Trump’s first term, the ACA’s open enrollment period was six weeks long.  

In addition to expanding the open enrollment period, Biden’s January 2021 executive order also directed all relevant federal agencies to examine their policies and implement any necessary changes to help get more people covered under the ACA.

Meanwhile, in April of the following year, Biden signed a second executive order on ‘Continuing to Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage,’ which Trump also reversed on Monday. The April order from Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to analyze new policies aimed at ‘exploring how medical debts are collected from beneficiaries,’ in order to find new ways to reduce ‘the burden of medical debt on working families and individuals across the country.’ 

Consistent with both of these orders, agencies facilitated the expansion of the ACA through new eligibility provisions, increased funding to groups that help people sign up for the ACA, and more. 

Other changes enacted by Trump during his first days in office included the revocation of a Biden-era policy that directed Medicare and Medicaid to investigate how to lower drug costs. In response to that order, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a $2 cap for certain generic drugs, ensured Medicare beneficiaries did not overpay for drugs that received accelerated approval, and helped state Medicaid programs pay for certain high-cost, cutting-edge therapies. Biden’s policy that capped insulin costs at $35 and implemented a $2,000 out-of-pocket maximum for prescription drug costs went unaffected by Trump’s Day One orders.

Trump also acted during his first day in office to rescind several of Biden’s COVID-19 health orders, such as directives to ensure equity in the pandemic response and COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers. He withdrew the U.S. from its participation in the World Health Organization, as well.

The Democratic National Committee argued Tuesday that Trump was ‘screwing over people with pre-existing conditions.’ 

‘Donald Trump’s immediate priority as president is ripping away affordable health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans,’ the DNC said in a Tuesday statement. ‘Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, more Americans have health coverage than ever before, and Trump wants to unwind this progress even though the American people overwhelmingly support the ACA. Trump’s plans will do nothing but raise costs and make Americans sicker.’

Yet, according to a health policy expert from Vanderbilt University, the moves Trump made on health policies will likely not be consequential when it comes to how much Americans are paying for their healthcare. 

‘When administrations change over, many of them want to undo some of the actions of other presidents, even when those are more symbolic,’ Dr. Stacie Dusetzina, a professor at Vanderbilt’s Department of Health Policy told NBC News. ‘It could mean that the Trump administration is not interested in pursuing any of the work that has since developed out of these executive orders.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump administration for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

President Donald Trump revealed the contents of the letter that President Joe Biden left him upon leaving the Oval Office earlier this week exclusively to Fox News on Wednesday.

The letter, which Trump found inside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with a little help from Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, is addressed ‘Dear President Trump’ and reads as follows:

‘As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years. The American people — and people around the world — look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.

‘May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.’

The letter was signed ‘Joe Biden’ and dated Jan. 20, 2025.

On Monday, Trump found the letter — a white envelope addressed to ’47″ — after Doocy asked if Biden left him a letter while he was signing a flurry of executive orders in the Oval Office in front of a gaggle of reporters.

‘He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know,’ Trump told Doocy before discovering the letter. ‘Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing.’

On Tuesday, Trump responded to further questions from Doocy about the contents of the letter.

‘It was a very nice letter,’ Trump told reporters. ‘It was a little bit of an inspirational-type letter. Enjoy it, do a good job. Important, very important. How important the job is.’

‘It was a positive, for him, in writing it,’ Trump continued. ‘I appreciated the letter.’

The presidential tradition of leaving a letter to their successor began in 1989 when President Ronald Reagan left the White House after two terms in office, with former President George H. W. Bush taking over. The tradition has carried on to this day through Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Biden.

Biden, however, was the first president to find himself in the unique position of writing a letter to someone who is both his successor and the predecessor who left him a note four years earlier. Trump became the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s.

Biden has said Trump left him a ‘very generous letter,’ but has so far declined to share the content of what Trump wrote, deeming it private.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, on Wednesday unveiled a lengthy report that he says serves as a ‘roadmap’ to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ and points to how the flawed American healthcare system impacts ‘national defense.’ 

The 47-page report – titled ‘The Case for Healthcare Freedom’ – is a ‘painstakingly researched’ summary of ‘America’s health crisis and how to address it,’ Roy said.

Its findings include that U.S. healthcare spending had reached $4.9 trillion in 2023. 

As a share of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), health spending accounted for 17.6%, and costs are growing around 1% faster than the annual GDP, the report says.

The report argues that ‘if conservatives care about a strong national defense and low taxes, these trends have to be reversed.’ 

‘The Case for Healthcare Freedom lays out a detailed roadmap for how Congressional Republicans can help President Trump deliver on the promise to address America’s health crisis,’ Roy said in a statement. ‘The problem isn’t just health insurance, or Big Pharma, or food additives that are making us unhealthy; it’s the fact that politicians, bureaucrats and corporations are all benefitting from a broken, cronyistic system that lets them put profits over patients with impunity.’ 

Roy argued that right now, Congress has ‘a tremendous opportunity to put American healthcare back on track by embracing the empowerment of patients and doctors through the promotion of expansive health savings accounts in the budget reconciliation process, and we need to take full advantage.’ The congressman went on to say, ‘giving the same actors more power and money won’t work; if we want to Make America Healthy Again, the answer is healthcare freedom. If we want to control our budgets and healthcare spending, the answer is healthcare freedom.’

The wide-ranging report comes just two days after President Donald Trump was sworn into a second term. The pledge to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ became a focal point of Trump’s campaign when Democrat turned Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the race and backed him. Trump tapped Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, but his confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled. 

The report includes criticism of the program providing food welfare assistance for low-income households. 

‘While chronic food illness kills up to 678,000 Americans per year, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will likely pay over $250 billion on junk food for the next 10 years,’ Roy’s office notes.

The report also targets the coveted weight loss and diabetes drugs championed as ‘miracle medication,’ which has even used by celebrities to drop pounds in recent months. It found the Danish pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, ‘spent at least $25.8 million over the past decade on U.S. medical professionals to promote two of its obesity drugs, Wegovy and Saxenda.’

The report assesses that families and their employers on average in 2024 spent $25,000 annually, or nearly the cost of a company car, for health insurance, and that’s despite ‘the false promise of Obamacare to lower premiums by $2,500 a year.’ The cost of premiums has increased at least 100% since 2010, according to the report. 

‘Obamacare has made healthcare so expensive that it now subsidizes households earning up to $600,000 per year for their health insurance,’ the report says.

In 2024, the report found, four of the top five American industries by revenue were healthcare-related. Those were hospitals, which came in first; drug, cosmetics and toiletry wholesaling, which came second; health insurance, which earned the third place slot; and pharmaceutical wholesaling, which came in fifth. 

The report also discusses how 47% of hospital cash prices are lower than the insurer-negotiated price ‘that people pay hundreds of dollars a month for the privilege of having.’ 

The report argues multiple insurance companies, including UnitedHealth, Anthem/Elevance, and Humana, ‘earn’ a majority of their revenue from taxpayers.

‘We do not have a free market in the healthcare system. The government controls more than 80% of health spending,’ according to a summary of the report provided by Roy’s office. ‘The Left’s solution to fix our healthcare system is spending even more money and giving the government even further control over the healthcare system. ‘Medicare for All’ would cost an additional $33 trillion over 10 years, and it would leave 70% of Americans financially worse off.’ 

President Donald Trump revealed the contents of the letter that President Joe Biden left him upon leaving the Oval Office earlier this week exclusively to Fox News on Wednesday.

The letter, which Trump found inside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with a little help from Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, is addressed ‘Dear President Trump’ and reads as follows:

‘As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years. The American people – and people around the world – look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.

‘May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.’

The letter was signed ‘Joe Biden’ and dated Jan. 20, 2025.

On Monday, Trump found the letter – a white envelope addressed to ’47″ – after Doocy asked if Biden left him a letter while he was signing a flurry of executive orders in the Oval Office in front of a gaggle of reporters.

‘He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know,’ Trump told Doocy before discovering the letter. ‘Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing.’

On Tuesday, Trump responded to further questions from Doocy about the contents of the letter.

‘It was a very nice letter,’ Trump told reporters. ‘It was a little bit of an inspirational-type letter. Enjoy it, do a good job. Important, very important. How important the job is.’

‘It was a positive, for him, in writing it,’ Trump continued. ‘I appreciated the letter.’

The presidential tradition of leaving a letter to their successor began in 1989 when President Ronald Reagan left the White House after two terms in office, with former President George H. W. Bush taking over. The tradition has carried on to this day through Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Biden.

Biden, however, was the first president to find himself in the unique position of writing a letter to someone who is both his successor and the predecessor who left him a note four years earlier. Trump became the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s.

Biden has said Trump left him a ‘very generous letter,’ but has so far declined to share the content of what Trump wrote, deeming it private.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

House Republicans have no plans to allow President Donald Trump’s key executive orders to expire at the end of his four-year term.

Trump marked his first day in office Monday with dozens of new executive orders, and signaled that he is aiming to use the commander in chief’s unilateral power to enact policy when possible.

Executive orders, however, can be easily rescinded when a new administration enters the White House. They can also be subject to legal challenges that argue they run afoul of existing U.S. law, as is the current case with Trump’s order limiting birthright citizenship.

But several House GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital are signaling they intend to stop that from happening for at least several of Trump’s key policies.

‘I see him doing things by executive action as a necessity to signal… but they’re not the best way to do things,’ former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital. ‘The best way to do things is the legislative process with a signature on a bill.’

Perry suggested starting with Trump’s orders on the border and energy.

Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., confirmed at his weekly press conference that Trump’s orders will be a roadmap for the House.

‘This is an America First agenda that takes both of those branches of government to work in tandem,’ Johnson said. ‘And so what he’s doing is kickstarting what will ultimately be our legislative agenda.’

Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., a close ally of Trump, told Fox News Digital, ‘I think the executive orders are easy because it requires one person.’

‘Equally important in our discussions with him is the legislative piece, that we permanently enshrine some of these things or that we correct mistakes in the law that maybe have been abused in the past,’ Fry said.

Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., suggested enshrining Trump’s rollback of Biden administration energy policies into law.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s border subcommittee, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., said he wanted Congress to back up Trump’s immigration executive orders.

‘We need to codify what President Trump has put in place by executive orders – Remain in Mexico, doing away with the CBP One app,’ Guest said. ‘When President Trump leaves office in four years, those executive orders can be undone.’

Some have already taken steps to do just that. House Science Committee Chair Brian Babin, R-Texas, introduced a bill this week to limit birthright citizenship the day after Trump’s order.

Freshman Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, released a bill earlier this month to reinstate Trump’s Remain In Mexico policy.

‘I think the border crisis is so egregious and so harmful to American citizens that everybody can see it, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat,’ Gill told Fox News Digital. 

Former President Joe Biden rolled back several of Trump’s key executive orders on his first day in office and ended enforcement of Remain In Mexico – though that was challenged in court. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson says former President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons of his family members were ‘shocking’ and ‘disgusting.’ 

‘It was shocking. I mean, it was shocking what President Biden did on the way out, pardoning his family for more than a decade of whatever activity, any nonviolent offenses. It was breathtaking to us,’ Johnson said Wednesday during the House Republican leadership’s weekly press conference. 

‘I don’t think that’s anything like that’s ever been anticipated. And by the way, go look at the tape. You know, four years ago when it was just implied that President Trump might do something similar, they were apoplectic. Joe Biden himself, Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, roll the tape. They all said that would be crazy and unconscionable. And now they’re cheering it along,’ Johnson continued. 

‘To us, it is disgusting. To us, it probably proves the point. The suspicion that, you know, they call it the Biden crime family. If they weren’t the crime family, why do they need pardons? Right?’ Johnson also said. ‘Look, there’s a lot of attention that’s going to be paid to this. And I think that is appropriate. And we will be looking at it as well.’ 

Biden pardoned his siblings just minutes before leaving office on Monday. 

The pardon applied to James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John Owens, and Francis Biden, the White House announced. The president argued that his family could be subject to ‘politically motivated investigations’ after he leaves office. 

‘I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families,’ Biden said in a statement. 

‘Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances,’ Biden added. 

The pardons have been widely criticized, with Trump-Vance transition senior adviser Jason Miller describing them to Fox News as ‘nonsense.’ 

‘I think for Joe Biden to do that, I thought that was nonsense,’ he said. 

Former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield also called them a ‘disappointing move.’ 

Biden issued another wave of pre-emptive pardons earlier Monday morning, those going to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and people associated with the House select committee investigation on January 6. 

Since taking office, President Donald Trump signed off on releasing more than 1,500 charged with crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol. 

‘The President has made his decision,’ Johnson said Wednesday when asked about those pardons. 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Anders Hagstrom, Diana Stancy and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report. 

Debra Tice has spent more than 12 years searching for her son, Austin Tice, a Marine veteran and journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in August 2012. 

Through four presidential administrations, she has not lost hope that her son will come home alive. In fact, she calls the new Trump administration a ‘breath of fresh air.’

‘They are thinking about what they need to do, making suggestions, standing ready, having ideas. The burden isn’t on me the way it has been in the past,’ Tice told Fox News Digital, referring to the Trump administration.

The Marine veteran’s mother’s first trip back to Damascus, Syria, in over 10 years comes on the heels of a revolution within the war-torn country. Debra Tice has been in Syria for only a few days, but she has already managed to meet with the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

‘It was really quite a surprise that we were able to get a meeting with al-Sharaa. It was a very good meeting,’ Tice said.

Hostage Aid Worldwide, a non-profit organization coordinating Tice’s visit to Syria, was able to take her inside some of the prisons that have been abandoned since the fall of Assad. She said that seeing the conditions in these prisons was ‘really challenging,’ but that she appreciated getting a sense of ‘what Austin was up against.’

Tice also issued a challenge to those in the U.S. government who ‘feel like Austin can wait’ to go see the prisons for themselves.

‘I think if they had to come over here – and I wouldn’t even ask them to spend the night in one of those prisons – but I think if they had gone to see what he may have gone through, maybe they would’ve been more motivated to get Austin out of there.’

During a press conference on Monday, Tice offered praise for the incoming Trump administration and confirmed that they have ‘already reached out’ regarding Austin’s case.

‘I haven’t experienced that in the past four years, but I am optimistic about their help and involvement. I believe they will act quickly,’ Tice said.

Tice also used the press conference to send an emotional message to her missing son. ‘Austin, if you can hear this somehow, I love you. I know you won’t give up, and I won’t give up either,’ Tice said.

Tice added she has ‘never had any doubt about the fact that Austin is going to walk free. It’s a matter of time, and in my faith it’s God’s timing.’

When speaking about her hope and optimism about finding her son, Tice credited her faith as ‘100 percent.’ She added that, ‘if I didn’t have my faith, I just think I would crumble into a bunch of really small pieces.’

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that ‘intensive efforts are still underway to find Austin Tice.’ Additionally, the spokesperson said that the department is ‘working to get U.S. officials into Damascus’ to aid in the search but is waiting for confirmation that the’conditions are safe and local authorities can accommodate the visit.’

‘We have used relevant information, as well as declassified intelligence, to inform the search efforts of Syrian and international partners on the ground in Damascus who are searching for Austin every day,’ the spokesperson added.

‘They have visited and searched numerous now-uncovered secret prisons, but to date they have not found Austin or any additional information that would help us locate him.’

Last month, after receiving a letter from Debra Tice, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to ask Assad for help finding Austin. However, as of now, there are no signs that this has happened.

President Donald Trump has revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. 

After taking the oath of office on Monday, the new president signed an order revoking former President Joe Biden’s order known as Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform, which was signed in 2021.

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female.

There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members.

The new executive order was part of a rapid-fire succession of moves Trump has taken to undo Biden’s policies. In a statement, the White House called out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government that ‘has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy.’

The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and his Defense Department secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to weed out any DEI practices across U.S. forces. 

Last week, Trump tapped Matthew Lohmeier to be the Air Force’s next undersecretary. In 2021, Lohmeier, a Space Force lieutenant colonel, was fired after calling out the military’s diversity programs and alleging ‘Marxism’ within its ranks. 

Lohmeier has self-published a book, ‘Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military’ and appeared on podcasts claiming the military was being weakened by Marxism, diversity efforts and critical race theory.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chair of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the move, ‘is already restoring the focus of our military on lethality by putting an end to woke DEI programs.’

Monday’s actions are part of a wider Republican crackdown on transgenderism within the military. GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system.

An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for ‘transgender services’ following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments. 

Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion.

The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.