James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:44 P.M. EST
MR. SPICER: Happy Friday. Good to see you all. Good afternoon. Two more days until the work week is over -- (laughter) -- full attribution to Rahm Emanuel for that one.
As many of you know, today is day 50 of President Trump's administration. We have a lot to talk about and a lot that's gotten done. I also want to acknowledge that today is also Brian's birthday, so happy birthday to Brian. I'll let you guys celebrate amongst yourselves afterwards.
In just these first 50 days, the President has taken many key steps towards delivering on the pledges he made to the American people as a candidate. He has jumpstarted job creation not only because of his executive actions, but through the surge of economic confidence and optimism that has been inspired since his election. President Trump knows exactly what businesses need to thrive and grow, therefore adding well-paying and steady jobs to the market.
Obviously, we're very pleased to see the jobs report that came out this morning. It's great news for American workers. During the first full month of the Trump presidency, the economy added 235,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.7 percent. Notably, we also saw significant growth in the construction, manufacturing and mining sectors. The unemployment rate ticked down and labor force participation rate ticked up, showing that even as more people are reentering the job market due to the economic optimism that I spoke about, businesses are continuing to grow and create new jobs.
The President looks forward to continuing his work with the private sector to clear roadblocks to key infrastructure projects, withdraw from job-killing trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and slash the bureaucratic red tape that makes additional hiring difficult for American businesses.
He has taken action to ensure the safety and security of the United States homeland, its borders and its people. He has proposed great rebuilding of our nation's military, following a full review of our military readiness and supported by a $54 billion budget increase. He's implemented new protections to prevent people from coming into our country that seek to do us harm. As a result of the presidential memorandum that he signed on January 28th, the President has received a plan to defeat ISIS, designed by the Secretary of Defense and the national security team.
Just as he has promised during the campaign, he has made enforcing our nation's immigration laws a top priority, signing executive orders that start work on a Southern border wall, that enhance the public safety of Americans through ordering the strong enforcement of immigration laws that are already on the books, halting funding to jurisdictions in the United States that don't comply with federal immigration rules, and directing the Department of Homeland Security to hire a combined 15,000 new officers and agents to support the system and protect the nation.
He's outlined an aggressive legislative agenda that includes tax reform that brings relief to small business and the middle class, a massive commitment to infrastructure investment that will generate jobs and rebuild our nation, and repealing and replacing Obamacare. In fact, just this week, he began working with Congress directly on repealing the worst parts of Obamacare and replacing it with the American Health Care Act. And this particular legislation is just one prong in the President's comprehensive approach to reforming our healthcare system.
The administration is also taking additional steps to stabilize health insurance markets and start bringing down costs for the millions of Americans that have been affected by Obamacare, such as stabilizing insurance markets through regulatory reform, including the ability to purchase insurance across state lines, providing individuals and families with lower access -- with access to lower-cost options by loosening the restrictions on the financial structure of plans offered through the Obamacare exchanges.
And finally, the President is committed to working with Congress on additional legislation that won't be subject to the budget reconciliation process, that will allow the purchase of health insurance across state lines; that will streamline the process of the FDA to bring down the cost of critical medicine; to allow for the expansion of health savings accounts to allow more Americans to use their funds for more healthcare costs -- healthcare-related costs, and so much more.
