Trump claims his administration is 'substantially ahead of schedule' despite no major legislative victories
The President issued an executive order on healthcare after being stymied in Congress
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has said his administration is “substantially ahead of schedule”, even though he has still not secured any major legislative victories as President.
Mr Trump had released a contract outlining 10 pieces of legislation he wanted Congress to approve during his first 100 days in office. After having served as president for more than 250 days, none have passed.
“I don't have a schedule, but if I did have a schedule, I would say we are substantially ahead of schedule,” Mr Trump said during an address to the annual Values Voter Summit, a gathering of evangelical conservatives in Washington.
Mr Trump has been particularly frustrated by the failure of Congress to fulfil his campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare.
This week, the President took matters into his own hands by making two different moves to undermine the 2010 healthcare law without legislative action.
He issued an executive order on Thursday to help enable Americans to buy bare-bones health insurance plans and circumvent Obamacare rules. Hours later, he said he would cut off subsidies to health insurance companies for low-income patients.
“We're taking a little different route than we had hoped, because getting Congress – they forgot what their pledges were,” Mr Trump said on Friday, referring to how Republican members of Congress had also promised to repeal Obamacare.
“So we're going a little different route. But you know what? In the end, it's going to be just as effective, and maybe it will even be better,” he added.
“We’re going to have great healthcare,” he promised.
Obamacare extended insurance to 20m Americans. Mr Trump’s orders could further destabilise health insurance markets and cause premiums to soar.
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