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Five things we learned this week about Trump鈥檚 agenda

From overhauling Medicare to loosening bank and climate regulations, President-elect Trump has no shortage of proposals 鈥 either his own or from other Republican leaders. 

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at an election night rally in New York Nov. 9, 2016.

Mike Segar/Reuters/File

November 12, 2016

So far President-elect Trump hasn鈥檛 been particularly specific about his legislative and policy agenda. Leaving the Capitol yesterday after meeting with Republican leaders he said only that he has 鈥渁 lot of really great priorities鈥 and that 鈥減eople will be very, very happy.鈥澛

He talked categories. His administration will move very strongly on immigration and health care, he said. Also jobs. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at jobs. Big-league jobs,鈥 Trump said.

Still, important details are starting to leak out. They鈥檙e indications of the enormity of Washington鈥檚 new reality as Mr. Trump and his aides turn to the task of actually running the government. It鈥檚 months until Inauguration Day and lots of stuff might change. But here are five things that at the moment are live issues, and serious:

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1. Trade pact RIP:聽The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the free-trade deal between the US and 11 other nations that rim the Pacific Ocean, is sunk. It is almost certainly an ex-deal. It has run down the curtain and .

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, asked whether TPP would get Senate consideration prior to Trump鈥檚 inauguration, on Wednesday tersely said 鈥渘o.鈥 That seals its fate; given Trump鈥檚 oft-expressed antipathy to free-trade deals, approval in President Obama鈥檚 waning days was TPP鈥檚 last chance.

2. Medicare overhaul:聽House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday told Fox News Bret Baier that Medicare has 鈥渟erious problems鈥 and might need to be renovated as part of any repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

Mr. Ryan has long pushed a range of Medicare changes, including the replacement of the current fee-for-service model with one that simply subsidizes seniors鈥 purchase of private medical insurance.

Trump said little about this in the campaign. In general, he has been much more supportive of the current state of the nation鈥檚 big entitlement programs than have congressional GOP leaders. Thus Ryan鈥檚 comments might indicate an intraparty conflict in months to come.

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3. Financial reform reform:聽Remember Dodd-Frank? That鈥檚 the big financial regulation bill Congress passed as a result of the financial crisis and the US bailout of big banks. The new Trump team isn鈥檛 a fan. His transition team has already promised to dismantle and replace it with 鈥渘ew policies to encourage economic growth,鈥 according to a statement posted on , Trump鈥檚 interim website.

It鈥檚 not clear how far Trump can actually go in this regard. Banks would welcome a watering down of the powers of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But outright repeal is unlikely, as Democrats still control enough Senate seats to filibuster the effort to get rid of a bill named for party icons ex-Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and ex-Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts.

4.聽Climate U-turn: Trump has called human-caused climate change a 鈥渉oax鈥 in the past, and vowed to 鈥渃ancel鈥 last year鈥檚 Paris climate agreement, though as president he won鈥檛 really have the power to do that on his own.

Trump has said little on the subject this week but has provided one indication that he鈥檚 serious about rolling back the US effort in this area. He鈥檚 tapped Myron Ebell of the industry-friendly Competitive Enterprise Institute to lead his transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Mr. Ebell is a well-known climate change skeptic. In 2007, he told Vanity Fair that even if there is a little warming of the earth 鈥渋t鈥檚 nothing to worry about.鈥 In 2013, Greenpeace included him in its list of Climate denial鈥檚 鈥渃ontinental army.鈥

鈥淢ore recently, Ebell has called the Obama administration鈥檚 Clean Power Plan for greenhouse gases illegal and said that Obama joining the Paris climate treaty 鈥渋s clearly an unconstitutional usurpation of the Senate鈥檚 authority,鈥 according to .

5.聽Jobs 鈥 for Trump supporters:聽Trump鈥檚 new GreatAgain transition website also features a 鈥溾 advertisement. It notes that more than 4,000 political appointees will be rotating out the door as part of the change in administrations in January, and that the Trump team needs to work quickly to line up replacements.

鈥淔inding qualified people to fill these jobs is an enormous undertaking, but it is critically important to making the federal government work effectively for the American people,鈥 said the post.