Climate change, health care disappear from White House website
Mention of President Barack Obama's health care law, climate change and LGBT rights disappeared from WhiteHouse.gov, the official website for the White House, as Donald Trump was sworn into office Friday to become the 45th President of the United States.
The digital changeover, which seemed to occur as soon as Trump recited the oath just after noon, reflected the new president's priorities on the campaign trail, led by pledges to move away from his predecessor's top priorities, like health care, environmental regulation and same-sex marriage.
The website under Trump lists six "issues" as priorities, including an "America First Energy Plan" and "Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community." It does not list a plan for health care.
The energy platform reiterates Trump's pledge to roll back "burdensome regulations" and "embrace" oil and gas. It also states the administration is "committed to clean coal technology, and to reviving America's coal industry," but makes no mention of other clean energy technologies, notably wind, solar or nuclear power.
Wind and solar were on track to account for the largest additions to new generating capacity in the U.S. in 2016, the Energy Information Administration says.
In pledging support to law enforcement, the website says, "the Trump Administration will be a law and order administration," returning to a phrase Trump often invoked while campaigning. It promises "more law enforcement, more community engagement, and more effective policing," but makes no mention of racial disparities that have sparked consternation, criticism and demonstrations in recent years.
However, the plan does state, "Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter."
The page invokes data that Trump has used before, noting that homicides "increased by 17% in America's fifty largest cities" in 2015, "the largest increase in 25 years." Analysts have determined that a small handful of cities are responsible for much of the rise in killings, and other studies found "no national pattern" in the increase.
Copyright 2016 U.S. News & World Report
