Stephen Miller, President-elect Donald Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, briefed House and Senate GOP leadership Sunday afternoon about the executive orders the incoming administration plans to issue in coming days.
The scale of executive orders that Miller described to Republican lawmakers and aides was stunning, despite the fact that Trump had talked about many of them on the campaign trail for months. They cover immigration, energy policy and overhauling federal government operations.
Miller didn’t provide a tremendous amount of details to the 40-something lawmakers and aides on the call. Incoming Trump administration officials say many of these orders are “moving targets” and not finalized yet. But this is what Miller discussed:
Government reform. Trump wants to issue an executive order that provides a process for removing insubordinate employees; rewrite federal hiring rules; issue an executive order on the so-called Department of Government Efficiency; reform the rules for Schedule F federal employees; brush back on DEI in the private sector; and rescind DEI and gender-related orders from the Biden administration.
Energy. Halt spending on the “Green New Deal” and other climate-related priorities from the Biden administration; speed construction of pipelines; orders dealing with energy permitting, especially coal, natural gas and shale projects; open up offshore drilling; repeal rules on electric vehicles; open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and speed the development of energy production from Alaska; and declare a national emergency related to energy.
Immigration and the border. Trump will classify drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a dramatic move he never took in his first term; declare an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, which will allow Trump to deploy military forces to the border; stiffen interior enforcement; move toward reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy; end “catch and release”; and generally restrict entry into the United States.
Again, we want to emphasize that Miller didn’t give out a ton of detail on this call. But this is a pretty exhaustive list detailing what the incoming Trump administration is considering and planning for.
