[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2501-S2502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 The President's First One Hundred Days

  Mr. President, on another matter, as we quickly approach the 100-day 
mark of the Trump Presidency, it is a good time to look back on what 
this administration has accomplished and has not accomplished. One 
thing is clear: This President has either broken or failed to fulfill 
many of the promises he made to working families during the campaign. 
This morning, I wish to focus on one area in particular--this 
President's promises to working people on jobs and the economy.
  One of the President's key rationales as to why he would be an 
effective President was that he was a good businessman who could create 
jobs and get the economy moving much faster than anyone predicted. But 
on the major issues of jobs, including outsourcing, ``Buy American,'' 
trade--key economic issues that help job growth in America, that help 
working families--President Trump has made scant progress during his 
first 100 days and has broken several core campaign promises he made to 
kick-start the economy for working families.
  On jobs, President Trump said he was going to be ``the greatest job 
President that God ever created,'' but have we seen one significant 
piece of legislation that would create jobs from this President? What 
about infrastructure, for instance? That is something that would create 
tons of good-paying jobs, and Candidate Trump talked about it a lot 
when he campaigned. He promised to fix America's crumbling 
infrastructure, pledging a $1 trillion plan to do

[[Page S2502]]

it. But we haven't seen any details of any plan yet, and no 
comprehensive plan to rebuild our infrastructure has been introduced by 
any Republicans in Congress.
  So we Democrats came out with our own $1 trillion infrastructure 
plan, taking what the President said in his campaign. The bill would 
create 15 million good-paying jobs, going to the working families of 
America. We haven't seen any proposal or gotten any response to our 
proposal from the President. The only thing we have seen from President 
Trump on infrastructure is that he has proposed multibillion-dollar 
cuts to vital transportation programs in his 2018 budget, saying one 
thing in the campaign--infrastructure jobs--yet doing exactly the 
opposite--cutting infrastructure jobs--in his proposed budget for next 
year.
  On outsourcing, Candidate Trump lamented the fact that so many 
companies were shipping U.S. jobs overseas, promising: ``We're going to 
stop it day one. It's so easy to stop.''
  While President Obama used regulatory measures to stop inversions in 
their tracks--a company in New York, Pfizer, which I thought was so 
wrong to try and invert--President Trump has just signed an Executive 
order to review those rules and potentially undo them--the exact 
opposite of what he campaigned on. This is astounding. He said he was 
going to prevent jobs from going overseas. President Obama put in 
regulations that have virtually stopped inversions--companies moving 
their headquarters overseas for tax breaks. President Trump, directly 
in contradiction of what he talked about over and over and over again 
in his campaign, says: Now let's review those rules and possibly undo 
them. It is just hard to comprehend.
  President Trump said his policy would be ``Buy American and Hire 
American,'' and he has had a bunch of little rallies where he talks 
about this, but he has refused to insist that pipelines and water 
infrastructure be made with American steel.
  If he were serious about stopping outsourcing, he would demand that 
Senate Republicans put Senator Baldwin's bill requiring infrastructure 
to be made with American steel on the Senate floor. If we increase 
water and sewer as one of our biggest infrastructure proposals, 
American steel would get a huge boost, if companies had to buy American 
steel. Senator Baldwin has a bill that does it. President Trump has not 
gotten any action. He ought to tell Leader McConnell, tell Speaker Ryan 
he is for that bill, and they should bring it to the floor, and, with a 
lot of Democratic votes--probably every one, just about--we can pass 
it.
  On trade, which is another crucial issue for the American worker--
maybe the issue that President Trump garnered the most support for from 
working families--well, he has made some big promises, but he has 
either broken them or failed to deliver in his first 100 days. He 
pledged to hold China accountable for its rapacious trade practices, 
which have robbed America of millions of jobs and cost trillions of 
dollars of wealth. He said China was ``world champion'' of currency 
manipulation and pledged to name it a currency manipulator on day one. 
President Trump has done neither of those things. He has broken his 
promise to name them a currency manipulator, and he has backed off on 
his promise to get tough with trade on China in general.
  This is an issue I am passionate about. I didn't agree with President 
Trump on a whole lot of issues, but when he talked about China during 
the campaign, I said: I am closer to President Trump on how we treat 
China than I was with President Obama or President Bush, and I thought 
it would be one of the areas where we could make real progress. 
Instead, we have seen a U-turn--China, not a currency manipulator, when 
he said over and over again they were, and they are manipulating their 
currency.
  I know all the free-trade pundits get up and say: Yes, but now they 
are not reducing the value of their currency; they are doing the 
opposite of what they did when they made it easier for them to export. 
But they are still manipulating it. It still doesn't flow. As sure as 
we are sitting here, if China's advantage is to once again devalue the 
currency so they can have more exports and unfair advantages over 
American workers, they will do it in a minute.
  Furthermore, had he called China a currency manipulator, it would 
have sent a shot across China's bow. For years, frankly, under 
Democratic and Republican administrations, China has gotten away with 
economic murder. They steal our intellectual property. They don't let 
good American companies into China. They buy American companies to get 
their technology and then produce it in China and try to export it 
here. They have over the years manipulated the currency to their 
advantage, among many other things. They are hurting us. Probably 
nothing has done more to hurt American jobs than China's rapacious 
trade policies. And President Trump is nowhere to be found. In fact, he 
is doing the opposite of what he promised on trade.
  Instead of sticking up for hard-working, middle-class Americans by 
trying to create jobs and get tough on both trade and outsourcing, 
President Trump has spent the last few months looking out for powerful 
corporations and the special interests he repeatedly campaigned 
against, breaking promise after promise to working families. It is a 
shame he has taken this route.
  On issues like infrastructure, outsourcing, and trade, we Democrats 
agree with many of the things Candidate Trump was saying, but he is 
nowhere to be found to work with on these issues. President Trump could 
have chosen to spend his first 100 days working with us Democrats on 
these issues, finding compromises and consensus to fulfill his promises 
to working America. Instead, he spent the first 100 days governing from 
the very hard right, refusing to seek Democratic input on any major 
legislation. That is not how you get things done here, and that is why 
the President has so little to show for his first 100 days.
  We Democrats are prepared to work with him to give the middle class 
and those struggling to get there a much needed boost, but the 
President and Republicans in Congress need to start reaching out and 
meeting us halfway.
  As I have told the President many times, if he governs from the 
middle, if he is willing to work with both parties to get things done, 
we might be able to compromise on some of the important economic issues 
where we have had these values for a long time--the ones I just 
mentioned. If the President, Republicans, and Congress continue their 
``my way or the highway approach,'' the next 100 days will be just like 
the first--a lot of broken and unfulfilled promises and very few 
accomplishments from this new administration.

  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.