[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2660-S2661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 The President's First One Hundred Days

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, over the weekend, President Trump 
celebrated 100 days that he has been in office as President of the 
United States. Newspapers and magazines and pundits on television were 
all talking about

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what the President has accomplished in those first 100 days.
  From what I heard talking to people at home in Wyoming this past 
weekend, his first 100 days has been a huge success. People tell me 
that they think America is finally headed in the right direction again. 
I had a lot of people tell me they feel as if they have actually gotten 
a new spring in their step as a result of the Presidential election 
last year and President Trump taking office.
  The other day when I was home, I was in line at the gas station 
behind a guy. A friend of his came and said: Hey, how are you doing? 
The guy said: Great. We are hiring again.
  That is the kind of confidence that is happening all around Wyoming. 
The polling company Gallup says that it is happening not just in 
Wyoming but all across the country. For 24 straight weeks, more 
Americans have been more optimistic than pessimistic about the economy. 
As soon as Donald Trump was elected President, economic confidence 
soared, and it has stayed positive ever since. Gallup said that this is 
the exact opposite of what they had seen in the previous 8 years; that 
is, during the whole Obama administration, during the entire so-called 
economic recovery.
  In another poll released last week, Gallup said that people are also 
less worried that they will lose the job they have. They found that 
American workers are less concerned about being laid off from their job 
than at any time since Gallup started asking questions way back in 
1975. That is more than 40 years ago.
  Why are people optimistic now? I think it is because they see that 
President Trump and the Republicans in Congress are serious about 
improving the economy. They see that we are serious about giving relief 
to Americans who have been getting buried under an avalanche of 
redtape. They see that the President is off to a very fast start in the 
White House.
  Just look at what we have already done to help relieve the burdens on 
Americans. Congress has rolled back 13 different midnight regulations 
that President Obama tried to sneak through at the last minute. We 
struck down a stream buffer rule that was meant to block coal mining. 
We got rid of a rule that puts Americans at a competitive disadvantage 
when they are trying to develop energy resources overseas. We got rid 
of a regulation that took the control of local energy issues away from 
the State officials; we got rid of that regulation. And we got rid of 
one of the regulations that gave more control to Washington and less to 
States. These were regulations that harmed Americans and wiped out 
American jobs. Now those regulations are gone.
  We have more that we can do to roll back terrible regulations like 
these. I have introduced a resolution to block another damaging rule 
that has come out by the Bureau of Land Management, which has to do 
with the Obama administration rules on methane that is produced at oil 
and gas wells. The new regulations created confusion by duplicating 
other rules that were already on the books.
  That was the problem with so many of these regulations coming out by 
the Obama administration as they left office: regulation on top of 
regulation causing costs and confusion. They added costs that 
discourage energy production and kill energy jobs.
  I hope that we can have a vote on this resolution very soon and get 
rid of this unnecessary red tape.
  As active as Congress has been getting rid of these unfair, last-
minute rules, President Trump has been even more active. He has already 
signed at least 30 Executive orders to help clear a path for the 
American economy to take off again. He signed a major Executive order 
promoting American energy independence. This has been an enormous shift 
away from the Obama-era approach of disruptive regulations, 
restrictions, and Washington overreach. All of these regulations did 
more to harm hard-working Americans than they did to actually help the 
environment. From now on, Washington will be looking for ways to 
protect our environment while helping our economy to grow.
  Just last week, President Trump took another important step to keep 
his promises. He eased restrictions on drilling for oil and gas in 
offshore areas, like the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans. These places 
have great potential for producing the energy America needs. President 
Trump is helping to create certainty that those resources will be 
available if we need them.
  President Obama couldn't imagine that it was possible to have 
responsible energy development in America. President Trump knows 
differently. He knows it is possible. He knows that American workers 
can do the job. He knows that America will be stronger because of it. I 
think that is the kind of thing the American people mean when they tell 
me that they feel they have a spring in their step.
  I can also tell you that this is just the beginning. Remember when 
President Obama bragged that he had a pen and a phone? Well, President 
Trump has proved that he has a whole drawer full of pens, and he 
intends to keep using them to help get the American economy growing 
again. He wants to hear more people saying that things are great; we 
are hiring again. That is what the President has been doing, and it is 
what Congress is doing. These are the kinds of things that will get 
this country back on track when it comes to our energy policy.
  In Wyoming and in much of the country, energy means jobs. Our goal 
should be to make American energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can 
without raising costs on American families. All of us should be able to 
agree on that. It is time to restore that balance to America's energy 
policy. President Trump is dedicated to getting that balance right.
  Republicans in Congress are dedicated to getting the economy back in 
gear, and I hope that more Democrats will join us with their ideas and 
with their support. That is what the American people want, and it is 
what they voted for. It is why people are confident and why they see 
better days ahead for this great country.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.