Press. voanews.com
In
October, Donald Trump laid out his agenda for his first 100 days as president
of the United States. Responding to criticisms that his platform lacked
specifics and solid plans, Trump laid out a list of proposals for what he
wanted to accomplish once reaching the Oval Office.
Proposals
were divided into three categories: measures to "clean up the corruption
and special interest collusion" in Washington, actions to protect American
workers, and restoration of security and the constitutional rule of law.
Additionally,
Trump proposed 10 legislative measures he intended to work with Congress on,
including repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, President Barack
Obama's signature health care plan that expanded medical insurance to millions
of Americans. Trump and other critics have said the plan of costs too much and
provides inferior care. The controversial health care measure, known as
Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010.
In the
first category of his efforts to "drain the swamp" of Washington,
Trump listed six initiatives, including tightening regulations on lobbyists.
The first
of these six, imposing term limits on all members of Congress, would actually
have to be initiated and approved by the Senate, because it would require a
constitutional amendment. Constitutional amendments are proposed by Congress,
not the president. Although Republicans hold a majority in both houses, it is
still not clear how much support some of Trump's proposals will receive from
Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said he opposes
term limits.
Another
proposal on Trump's list is a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce
the size of the federal workforce through attrition. This is most likely
supported by Republican lawmakers, whose spending plans for years have called
for reducing the number of non-national-security employees.
Of the
seven proposals Trump made regarding the protection of American workers, three
of them are related to the environment and U.S. energy policy, including
approving construction of the controversial Keystone pipeline, canceling
payments to U.N. climate change programs, and lifting restrictions on the
production of shale oil, natural gas and clean coal.
Other
proposals include rejecting the Trans-Pacific Partnership and renegotiating a
number of other trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trump
listed five actions to restore "security and the constitutional rule of
law," one of which is filling the Supreme Court seat held by the late
Justice Antonin Scalia — an action Obama tried to take, only to be blocked by
the Senate.
Cancel
'unconstitutional' orders
Other
actions deal largely with immigration issues. The first proposal is to cancel
all executive actions, memoranda and orders issued by Obama that Trump has
labeled "unconstitutional." Of these, the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program is one that could end, affecting protection for more than 1
million immigrants who were brought to the country as children.
Trump
also stated his intention to remove undocumented immigrants with criminal
records from the country, as well as suspend immigration from
"terror-prone" countries from which he contends immigrants cannot
safely be vetted.
Another
is his proposal to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, which he
reaffirmed the Mexican government would ultimately pay for. Mexico's president
told Trump in a meeting earlier this year that Mexico would not finance a wall.
The full
transcript of Trump's speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that outlined his
plan for his first 100 days in office can be seen here.