What You Need To Know About the 5 Executive Orders Trump Signed Since Taking Office

President Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Nov. 10. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Instructing Federal Agencies to Weaken Obamacare In one of his first official actions as president, Donald Trump distributed a multi-paragraph directive to the Department of Health and Human Services and several other government agencies tasked with managing the nation's health care system. The executive order was Trump's first step in rolling back Obamacare provisions and required that agencies "waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay" any portion of the Affordable Care Act that poses a financial burden to states, individuals or health care providers. Re-instating a Ban on International Abortion Counseling President Trump on Monday, Jan. 24, restored a ban on U.S. funding for abortion counseling overseas. The policy, known as the "Mexico City gag rule" was first implemented by former Republican President Ronald Reagan and barred foreign nongovernmental organizations that received any U.S funding from "providing counseling or referrals for abortion or advocating for access to abortion services in their country." The controversial measure has been the subject of much back and forth between Democratic presidents, who have repeatedly rescinded the ban since its inception, and Republican presidents like Trump, who in turn, reinstate it. Freezing Government Hiring On his first full day in office, Trump also issued a directive to federal agencies to halt any new federal hiring. The executive order was part of the newly elected president's efforts to reduce government debts and cut down the size of the federal workforce. During his campaign, Trump spoke out against government bureaucracy and vowed to "drain the swap" (Washington) of corrupt leadership. He assured reporters this week that the freeze would not impact military spending, however. President Barack Obama met with Trans-Pacific Partnership leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, last year. (Photo by Jim Watson/Getty Images) Abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trump has since withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an international trade policy implemented under former President Barack Obama to deepen economic ties between the U.S. and 12 nations bordering the Pacific Ocean, according to the BBC. The deal was never approved by Congress, however, and still needed to be ratified by all 12 countries involved. Thus, Trump's withdrawal from the partnership was more akin to the U.S. ceasing ongoing international negotiations related to the deal and letting it die out. Canceling an FHA Mortgage-Premium Cut Among Trump's first actions as president was to roll back a discount on fees for a federal mortgage program that aids middle-class home buyers. Last week, Julian Castro, outgoing Federal Housing Administration secretary, announced that the agency would be slashing its fees on mortgage insurance beginning Jan. 27. The program is popular among first-time home buyers with less-than-perfect credit scores and those who put down small down payments on their properties. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the FHA program, announced on Friday, Jan. 20, that the mortgage-premium discount was "suspended indefinitely" — a move directed by President Trump. "One hour after talking about helping working people and ending the cabal in Washington that hurts people, he signs a regulation that makes it more expensive for new homeowners to buy mortgages," Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said of Trump's decision.

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