News Digest

 LOWERING COSTS AND REDUCING BARRIERS TO IVF: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for Americans. The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.    The recommendations will focus on how to ensure reliable access to IVF. Priority will also be placed on addressing any current policies, including those that require legislation, that exacerbate the cost of IVF treatments. The Order recognizes the importance of family formation and that our Nation’s public policy must make it easier for loving and longing mothers and fathers to have children.  SUPPORTING AMERICAN FAMILIES: As many as one in seven couples trying to have a baby are unable to conceive, and many face significant financial hurdles to accessing IVF.  Avenues to more affordable IVF treatments are needed. The cost can range from $12,000 to $25...

 Last week, President Donald J. Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council — a cornerstone in the Trump Administration’s pursuit of unleashing American energy. Led by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the Council will play a key role in the Trump Administration’s work to lower energy prices, meet the rising demand for affordable energy, strengthen economic security, and ensure the American energy industry is best positioned as a global leader over the next century. The move was hailed by lawmakers, workers, and industry: House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY): “Energy security is national security. By utilizing our domestic energy resources to create baseload power, we can lower prices, secure our grid, and provide the energy needed to grow manufacturing, heat our homes, and fill our gas tanks. The creation of this council under the leadership of Secretary Wright and Secretary Burgum is a strong step ...

 SUBJECT:       Defending American Companies and Innovators From                Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties        Section 1.  Purpose.  In recent years, the gross domestic product of the United States’ digital economy alone, driven by cutting-edge American technology companies, has been bigger than the entire economy of Australia, Canada, or most members of the European Union.  Instead of empowering their own workers and economies, foreign governments have increasingly exerted extraterritorial authority over American companies, particularly in the technology sector, hindering these companies’ success and appropriating revenues that should contribute to our Nation’s well-being, not theirs.          Beginning in 2019, several trading partners enacted digital services taxes (DSTs) that could cost American companies billions of dollars and ...

 SAFEGUARDING AMERICA’S SOVEREIGNTY OVER ITS ECONOMY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a memorandum to defend American companies and innovators from overseas extortion. This Administration will consider responsive actions like tariffs to combat the digital service taxes (DSTs), fines, practices, and policies that foreign governments levy on American companies. DSTs allow foreign governments to collect tax revenue from American companies simply because they operate in foreign markets, even though those companies are generally not otherwise subject to foreign jurisdiction. President Trump will not allow foreign governments to appropriate America’s tax base for their own benefit. This memorandum directs the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to renew the DST investigations under Section 301 that were initiated during President Trump’s first term, and investigate any additional countries that use a DST to discriminate against U.S. companies.  The Administration will ...

            Sec. 2.  Policy.  (a)  It is the policy of the United States to preserve an open investment environment to help ensure that artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies of the future are built, created, and grown right here in the United States.  Investment in our economy from our allies and partners, some of whom have tremendous sovereign wealth funds, supports the national interest.  My Administration will make the United States the world’s greatest destination for investment dollars, to the benefit of all of us.             (b)  Yet for investment in United States businesses involved in critical technology, critical infrastructure, personal data, and other sensitive areas, restrictions on foreign investors’ access to United States assets will ease in proportion to their verifiable distance and independence from the predatory investment and technology-acquisition ...

 MAKING AMERICA THE WORLD’S GREATEST DESTINATION FOR INVESTMENT: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) aimed at promoting foreign investment while protecting America’s national security interests, particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries like the People’s Republic of China. The NSPM establishes that welcoming foreign investment is crucial for economic growth, job creation, and innovation, ensuring that the United States leverages its world-leading financial markets to support American jobs and innovators. The United States will create a “fast-track” process to facilitate greater investment from specified allies and partners, with conditions that prevent investors from partnering with our foreign adversaries in corresponding areas. The United States will also expedite environmental reviews for any investment over $1 billion. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) will be used to restrict Chi...

Although No State Improved in Both Math and Reading on the NAEP, the Education Recovery Scorecard Highlights the Work of Over 100 Districts Performing Above Pre-Pandemic Levels in Both Math and Reading  Achievement Gaps Widened – The Highest Income Decile Districts Were Nearly 4 Times More Likely to Recover in both Math and Reading Than the Lowest Income Decile Districts  The Federal Relief Dollars Prevented Even Larger Losses in Higher Poverty Districts (Where the Aid Reduced Losses by 10 Percent of a Grade Equivalent in Math and Reading) But It Mattered How Districts Spent the Money  Chronic Absenteeism Played a Significant Role in Slowing Recovery and Widening Gaps Between High and Low Poverty Districts  (February 11, 2025)  In its third year, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, and faculty at Dartmouth College) pro...

 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.  American life expectancy significantly lags behind other developed countries, with pre‑COVID-19 United States life expectancy averaging 78.8 years and comparable countries averaging 82.6 years.  This equates to 1.25 billion fewer life years for the United States population.  Six in 10 Americans have at least one chronic disease, and four in 10 have two or more chronic diseases.  An estimated one in five United States adults lives with a mental illness. These realities become even more painful when contrasted with nations around the globe.  Across 204 countries and territories, the United States had the highest age-standardized incidence rate of cancer in 2021, nearly double the next-highest rate.  Further, from 1990-2021, the United States experienced an 88 percent increase in cancer, the largest...

 SUBJECT: Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs Section 1.  Background.  The United States has one of the most open economies and has among the lowest average weighted tariff rates in the world.  The United States imposes fewer barriers to imports than other major world economies, including those with similar political and economic systems.  For many years, the United States has been treated unfairly by trading partners, both friend and foe.  This lack of reciprocity is one source of our country’s large and persistent annual trade deficit in goods — closed markets abroad reduce United States exports and open markets at home result in significant imports.        Our workers and industries bear the brunt of unfair practices and limited access to foreign markets.  As noted in the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 (America First Trade Policy Memorandum), this situation is untenable.  The trade deficit of the United States thr...

 POSITIONING AMERICAN ENERGY FOR THE NEXT CENTURY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the National Energy Dominance Council. The National Energy Dominance Council will be established within the Executive Office of the President, chaired by the Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and vice-chaired by the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and comprised of members of President Trump’s cabinet and key government agencies. The Council will advise President Trump on strategies to achieve energy dominance by improving the processes for permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, and transportation across all forms of American energy. It will recommend a National Energy Dominance Strategy to the President aimed at cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments, and advancing innovation. The Council will facilitate cooperation between the federal government and domestic energy partners, ensuring policy consistency. It will also...

 In Boonton, N.J., Linda Mauriello helps young people with disabilities prepare to enter the work force after they leave school. They learn to set career goals, create resumes and build relationships at work. Sometimes they get help finding internships and receive support on the job, too. One student with multiple disabilities trained at a school cafeteria, got hired and is still working there five years later. A student with autism trained at the local Walgreens, learning time management and working with customers. He was hired and is now in charge of opening up the store. Ms. Mauriello is a big fan of the program. “My students have really benefited from it,” she said. But hundreds of thousands of students with disabilities who are eligible for similar assistance do not receive it. The federal and state governments spend about half a billion dollars each year for such services, but most parents — and even some school officials — don’t even know the program exists. In 2023, New Jer...

      By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,      I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the sustained influx of synthetic opioids has profound consequences on our Nation, including by killing approximately two hundred Americans per day, putting a severe strain on our healthcare system, ravaging our communities, and destroying our families.  Synthetic opioid overdose is the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 45 in the United States.       During my first term, I took steps to end the direct flow of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids from the People’s Repub...

 Every day, untold numbers of our friends, relatives, neighbors, and coworkers are affected by the devastating affliction of heart disease.  As the Nation’s leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease has stolen infinite lives, crushed countless families, and imposed unimaginable heartbreak upon Americans of every walk of life.  This American Heart Month, we mourn and pray for those we have lost and recommit ourselves to ending the deadly plight of heart disease once and for all. Thanks to advancements in medicine, science, and technology, our Nation has made tremendous strides in combatting heart disease — and the American people are now better equipped than ever before to receive lifesaving treatments, respond to medical complications, and modify behavior and habits to ensure they can lead long and healthy lives.   But even one soul lost to heart disease is a tragedy beyond comprehension.  To that end, my Administration will work diligently to save liv...

 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:      Section 1.  Purpose and Policy.  It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.  The Founders established a Nation in which people were free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or retaliation by their government.       For that reason, the United States Constitution enshrines the fundamental right to religious liberty in the First Amendment.  Federal laws like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), further prohibit government interference with Americans’ rights to exercise their religion.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), prohibits religious discriminat...