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President Trump's decision to dismiss Reince Priebus as his chief of staff on Friday has drawn new attention to apast tweet criticizing former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaOPINION | Let ObamaCare implode obstructionist Democrats own that failure Trump mocked Obama for three chiefs of staff in three years Priebus forced out; Kelly to replace him as WH chief of staff MORE for going through a number of chiefs of staff.

"3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being President: Part of the reason why @BarackObama can't manage to pass his agenda," Trump wrote in one 2012 tweet.

3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being President: Part of the reason why @BarackObama can't manage to pass his agenda.

Rahm Emmanuel, Bill Daley and Jack LewJack LewTrump mocked Obama for three chiefs of staff in three years Mnuchin wants clean debt-ceiling bill Conservative Republicans' bill seeks to take bite out of debt ceiling MORE each served as chief of staff for Obama, between 2009 and 2013, beforeDenis McDonoughDenis McDonoughTrump mocked Obama for three chiefs of staff in three years Former Obama UN ambassador to meet with Senate Intelligence panel: report Trump administration must release Clinton emails State Department tried to hide MORE stepped into the role.McDonough served through the rest of Obama's tenure, through January of this year.

Pete Rouse also served as interim chief of staff under Obama, between Emmanuel and Daley.

Trump announced Friday that he would be replacing Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general.

Priebus, who was Trump's first chief of staff, made it only 189 days into the president's first term.

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Trump mocked Obama for three chiefs of staff in three years - The Hill

The myRA program was deemed a conservative way to save and tailored for people who were not accustomed to investing in the markets because account holders could not lose money. The funds were invested in United States Treasury savings bonds, which paid the same variable rate as the Government Securities Fund, available to federal employees through the government retirement plan.

There was not a minimum deposit or a fee. But the maximum workers could save was only $15,000. At that point the balance would be rolled over to a private-sector retirement account, perhaps a more traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds.

Mark Iwry, who built the program over nearly six years while he served as senior adviser to the Treasury secretary during the Obama administration, said it had been designed to have many uses over time. Besides being a safe way to introduce people to saving for retirement, it was expected to serve as a key investment option within some state-run retirement programs geared to the tens of millions of people without access to employer-sponsored plans that are in the process of being created.

The program was also seen as a place to direct a portion of a tax refund, and as a bucket of sorts that could be used to capture the small sums that are automatically rolled over by employers from larger 401(k) plans when workers change jobs.

The decision to cancel the myRA in its introductory phase reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of its purposes and potential as a long-term investment in working families economic security and financial independence, Mr. Iwry said. There are several legitimate ways to assess a programs costs and benefits prematurely is not one of them.

The closing of myRA is the latest step taken by the Trump administration to reverse Obama-era savings initiatives and investor protections. In his first month in office, President Trump requested the review of a rule that requires brokers to put their customers interest first when handling their retirement money. He later signed a joint resolution that reversed a rule that would have made it easier for states to create their own retirement savings programs.

Several states including California, Illinois and Oregon are moving ahead anyway. And while some states had plans to include myRA as a safe investment alternative, that will no longer be an option.

The program offers a really good solution, said Tobias Read, state treasurer of Oregon, which is running a pilot of its retirement savings plan this month and had expected to use myRA as its capital preservation alternative. Without it, we will be forced to look at other options, which frankly arent as good for that purpose.

On July 14, a group of Democrats in Congress wrote a letter to Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, asking that his department demonstrate its support for the myRA program.

Given that this administration has worked to reduce access to retirement plans for millions of Americans, the letter said, it is more critical than ever for the Treasury to strengthen one of their remaining options for retirement savings.

A version of this article appears in print on July 29, 2017, on Page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: Treasury Ends Obama-Era Retirement Savings Program.

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Treasury Ends Obama-Era Retirement Savings Plan - New York Times

Barack Obama on Friday credited supporters of the Affordable Care Act for saving his signature legislation from Republican-led efforts to dismantle it, while the former president acknowledged that the law can be improved.

Obamacare remains the law "because of everyone who mobilized, organized and made their voices heard," a spokesman for Obama said in a statement following the GOPs failed attempt to repeal parts of the legislation.

"President Obama has always said we should build on this law, just as members of both parties worked together to improve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid over the years," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said. "President Obama still believes that it is possible for Congress to demonstrate the necessary bipartisanship and political courage to keep delivering on the promise of quality, affordable health insurance for every American."

GOP efforts to repeal parts of Obamacare fell short early Friday morning when three Republican senators, along with all Democrats, voted against it.

Democratic groups flooded the halls of the Capitol and GOP town hall events around the country to protest the GOPs repeal efforts.

"The Affordable Care Act has always been about something bigger than politics," Obama's statement said. "It's about the character of our country.... It's about the dreams protected, and the untold misery and ruin prevented."

Obama had remained largely on the sidelines during the debate over Obamacare this year.

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Obama Credits Supporters For Thwarting Health Care Repeal - NBCNews.com

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is accusing top political aides of President Obama of making hundreds of requests during the 2016 presidential raceto unmask the names of Americans in intelligence reports, including Trump transition officials.

Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan CoatsDan CoatsIntelligence chairman accuses Obama aides of hundreds of unmasking requests Overnight Cybersecurity: Kushner says no collusion, improper contacts with Russia | House poised to vote on Russia sanctions | U.S., Japan to beef up cyber cooperation Trump intel chief: No agencies dispute Russian election meddling MORE, said the requests were made without specific justifications on why the information was needed.

The letter was provided to The Hill from a source in the intelligence community.

In March, Nunes disclosed that he had seen data suggesting Trump campaign and transition officials were having their names unmasked by departing officials in the Obama White House.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice and CIA Director John Brennan have acknowledged making such requests though they insisted the requests were for legitimate work reasons.

Nunes recused himself from his committees work on its investigation over Russias meddling in the 2016 campaignafter a controversy over his charges about Obama-era unmasking.

The chairman had reviewed intelligence reports on White House grounds that he said showed unmasking of Trump officials by Obama aides. Democrats accused him of working with the White House to make the disclosures.

InThursdaysletter, Nunes said the total requests for Americans names by Obama political aides numbered in the hundreds during Obamas last year in office and often lacked a specific intelligence community justification. He called the lack of proper justifications a serious deficiency.

His letter noted requests from senior government officials, unlike career intelligence analysts, made remarkably few individualized justifications for access to the U.S. names.

The committee has learned that one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama administration, Nunes wrote. Of those requests, only one offered a justification that was not boilerplate.

Sources familiar with the Nunes letter identified the official as then-U.N. Ambassador Samantha PowerSamantha PowerIntelligence chairman accuses Obama aides of hundreds of unmasking requests Overnight Cybersecurity: Facebook invests in group fighting election hacking | House panel advances DHS cyber revamp bill | Lawmakers mull cyber insurance for small businesses Former Obama UN ambassador to meet with Senate Intelligence panel: report MORE.

Power did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nunes also wrote that Obama-era officials sought the identities of Trump transition officials within intelligence reports.

Nunes said he intends to introduce legislation to address concerns about the unmasking process impacting Americans' privacy.

Ordinarily, Americans whose email or phone dataor conversations are intercepted by the National Security Agency without a warrant overseas are legally required to have their names redacted or masked with descriptions like U.S. person 1 to protect their identities in intelligence reports.

But beginning in 2011, Obama loosened the rules to make it easier for intelligence officials and his own political aides to request that the names be unmasked so they could better understand raw intelligence being gathered overseas.

The change has been criticized by liberal groups like the ACLU and conservatives like Nunes because of the privacy implications.

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Intelligence chairman accuses Obama aides of hundreds of unmasking requests - The Hill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday gave companies an extra year to comply with an Obama-era regulation meant to crack down on corporations that try to minimize their U.S. tax bills by shifting profits abroad to countries with lower tax rates.

The regulation, known in corporate tax circles as the "385 rule," is intended to combat a tax-avoidance technique called earnings-stripping, in which multinational corporations transfer taxable income from a U.S. subsidiary to a foreign affiliate in the guise of tax-deductible interest payments on internal debt.

The rule, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is now reviewing as part of the Trump administration's push for deregulation, seeks to eliminate the incentive for earnings-stripping by reclassifying certain loans as equity under Section 385 of the U.S. tax code.

The change converts tax-deductible interest payments employed by the schemes into taxable stock dividends.

Finalized last October, the regulation required corporations to file documentation on their internal loans with the IRS by a January 2018 deadline. In a public notice issued on Friday, the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service pushed the deadline back to January 2019.

Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Bernard Orr

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US government delays Obama earnings-stripping rule deadline - Reuters