This is a guest post from Ana Borlescu
The United States 2016 Presidential Election left America deeply divided in many ways. Despite the disagreements, however, no one can deny that the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has accomplished a variety of tasks.
From a successful supreme court appointment to the number of bills he has signed into law, here are some things that President Trump has done since he was sworn into office on January 20th, 2017.
30 Executive Orders
According to the official White House website, President Trump has signed thirty executive orders during his first 100 days in office. These have included Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs, Establishing a Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty, Enforcing Statutory Prohibitions on Federal Control of Education, and Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy. These orders have received mixed reviews, but several ultimately do work towards the fulfillment of promises made during President Trump’s campaign. One of these executive orders refers to the building of the US-Mexico border wall. However, Mexico still says they will not pay for it, making this a more complex issue than it first appears to be.
Supreme Court Appointment
The empty seat on the Supreme Court has been filled, although not by Merrick Garland. President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat left by Justice Scalia. When it came time for Gorsuch’s confirmation by the Senate, a Democratic filibuster led Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to use what has been called the ‘nuclear option’, meaning that Gorsuch was appointed with a simple majority, not a supermajority. This choice effectively changed the number of confirmation votes needed to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court from sixty to fifty-one. Gorsuch was, therefore, confirmed, despite the filibuster.
This choice to go nuclear has been criticized by many because it could minimize the need for bipartisan cooperation in the future. It opens the door to allow less moderate nominees to be appointed to the Supreme Court, as well as potentially harming bipartisan discussions. Programs like the George Washington University online masters in political science emphasize exposing students to a variety of political views and point out that partisan political gridlock does not help America or her citizens. For democracy to truly work, many say, bipartisan cooperation must be encouraged.
28 Bills Signed into Law
The White House also points out that President Trump has signed twenty-eight bills into law during his first hundred days in office, working with a Republican Majority in both the House and the Senate. Even though the Republican Party controls the Legislative and Executive branches, there has been a pushback from the Democratic Minority in Congress. In addition, there has been a growing interest in the political process in America, especially in online masters in political science programs, with a growing number of Americans becoming politically active.
Although several of his laws and executive orders have been controversial, President Trump has signed more than a few of them and is working with his Republican Congress to pass bills that will fulfill campaign promises from both President Trump and other Republican leaders in Washington D.C.
Cover Photo by History in HD on Unsplash
About BillTrack50 – BillTrack50 offers free tools for citizens to easily research legislators and bills across all 50 states and Congress. BillTrack50 also offers professional tools to help organizations with ongoing legislative and regulatory tracking, as well as easy ways to share information both internally and with the public.