Trump's agenda in 2018: What's next?

After Republicans scored their first major legislative victory with a tax reform bill passed just before the end of 2017, the Trump administration has started looking ahead to next year’s legislative docket.

While President Donald Trump’s aggressive plans to reform health care, infrastructure and the tax system during the first year of his tenure fell short on some accounts, his plans for next year appear equally ambitious, with welfare and infrastructure reform topping the list, according to National Economic Director Gary Cohn.

Here’s a look at what the administration and Congress are set to take on as we head into the New Year.

Health care

While the GOP failed to pass multiple efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in 2017, the president has not given up on designs to overhaul the former administration’s signature legislative achievement.

In a tweet fired off in November, President Trump reiterated that ObamaCare is a “disaster,” adding that Republicans would begin to repeal and replace “right after Tax Cuts.”

While different variations of repeal and replace narrowly failed to pass the Senate this year, the president took steps toward dismantling the Affordable Care Act through an executive order issued in October. That order directed the administration to look into allowing employers to form associations and obtain coverage across state lines, expanding the use of short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI) plans and expanding the use of Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or tax-free accounts that allow employers to reimburse employees for medical expenses.

The overall goal of these directives, according to the White House, was to provide near-term relief for Americans and to lower costs by increasing competition and choice.

Welfare reform

One of the other items the president has brought up as a priority after Republicans overhaul the tax system is reforming welfare, which includes government programs like Medicaid, Food Stamps and Housing Assistance.

“We’re looking very strongly at welfare reform, and that’ll all take place right after taxes, very soon, very shortly after taxes,” Trump said at the White House last month.

During an interview with Axios in late-December, Cohn said he expected that welfare reform would receive bipartisan support, with at least 60 votes in the Senate.

There are bills currently floating around Congress that aim to strengthen work requirements for welfare programs, something that coincides with the administration’s stated goals of using welfare as an interim strategy to help lift Americans out of unemployment and poverty.