[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 72 (Thursday, April 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2570-S2571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 The President's First One Hundred Days

  Finally, Mr. President, we are only a few days from President Trump's 
100th day in office, and by all accounts, this has been a vastly 
different Presidency than was promised during his campaign. So far this 
week, we Democrats have highlighted how this President has broken or 
not fulfilled promise after promise to the working men and women of 
America.
  Today, I would like to focus on a particularly stunning reversal this 
President made in the first 100 days on one of the central pillars of 
his campaign: his promise to drain the swamp. President Trump repeated 
this phrase at every campaign rally. In many ways, it summed up his 
``outsider'' campaign. Make no mistake about it--the President ran as a 
populist outsider, not as a traditional, hard-right, conservative 
Republican. He challenged the establishments of both parties and 
pitched himself as a change agent, someone who could shake up the 
status quo. ``Drain the swamp'' was his tag line.
  We Democrats disagree with this President on many things, but we 
agree with him that the very wealthy, powerful special interests have 
far too much power in Washington. Large corporations that have the 
resources to make unlimited, undisclosed campaign contributions, that 
have resources to hire lobbyists on issue after issue, hold far too 
much power in this Nation's Capital, and that structure has created a 
system where the wealthy and powerful are advantaged in DC, while 
average, hard-working Americans have a much smaller voice.
  Draining the swamp would be a good thing, but unfortunately, despite 
the many times he pledged radically to change the power structure in 
Washington in the first 100 days, the President has abandoned the 
mission. He filled his government with billionaires and bankers laden 
with conflicts of interests. He has broken with the practice of the 
Obama administration by ending the publishing of visitor logs to the 
White House, so the press and the American people don't know who has 
the ear of the President and his top people. He has even granted 
waivers to lobbyists to come work at the White House on the very same 
issues they were just lobbying on, and he has kept those waivers 
secret.
  A President who truly wanted to drain the swamp wouldn't have taken a 
single one of those actions. What are the American people going to 
think? He campaigned on this and totally reversed himself within the 
first 100 days. What are they going to think of him? It is no wonder 
his popularity ratings are low and sinking.
  President Trump ran as a populist, but at the 100-day mark, he hasn't 
even tried to change the power structure in Washington and has in many 
ways rigged the government even more to benefit corporate special 
interests. This is one of the biggest broken promises he made to the 
working men and women of America. That is how we Democrats sum up the 
first 100 days--broken and unfulfilled promises to the working people 
of America. And when it comes to draining the swamp, he has not done 
it.
  One final point. The events yesterday have further proven our point. 
The President promised one thing in his campaign and is now doing 
another. On his new healthcare proposal, he has shown his hand: Promise 
something for the working people but deliver legislation that only 
helps the very wealthy. On his new tax plan, which still benefits the 
rich: Promise the working people; deliver for the wealthy. The 
President has made our point better than we

[[Page S2571]]

could this week. After these two bills, his promises to working people 
are in tatters.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I thank the leader for his remarks, 
especially with respect to the new addition of the healthcare bill. It 
is a disaster for Americans. It is immoral. It doesn't work. It doesn't 
address any of the problems that remain in the underlying healthcare 
system. Hopefully the Senate can rise above it and work together to do 
something better for the American people.