The end of President Trump’s first 100 days in office – which arrives on April 29 – is a good time to assess the progress that has been made.  The President’s willingness to follow through on promises to reinvigorate the economy and to reform Washington are the right steps forward. 

These actions, of course, are only a start.  More progress needs to be made in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.  There are still vacant administrative positions that need to be filled.  But I am encouraged by the President’s pro-growth executive orders and support for ending job-killing regulations.  He has appointed an excellent associate justice to the Supreme Court, and he has acted decisively to eliminate any doubts about U.S. preeminence on the world stage. 

Military Success Against Our Enemies

Earlier this month, the United States used the largest non-nuclear bomb in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism.  News reports say the strike killed nearly 100 Islamic State fighters.  More broadly, the strike was a clear reminder to both our allies and our adversaries that the United States is ready and prepared to defeat the Islamic State. 

As commander in chief, President Trump has also responded to the war crimes of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, striking the military base that carried out a chemical attack on civilians.  The Syrian dictator has used chemical weapons on his own people before, crossing President Obama’s “red line” in 2013.  An international agreement called for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons by 2014, but that has obviously failed to deter such atrocities from happening again.  President Trump’s measured retaliation against Syria was the right call, signaling to the rest of the world that America will not tolerate this horrific violence against innocent lives.

End to Job-Killing Regulations, Government Overreach

The first 100 days of the Trump presidency have also brought major regulatory reforms.  The President has issued executive orders to review the Obama Administration’s so-called “Clean Power Plan” and the “Waters of the United States” rule – both costly and intrusive examples of bureaucratic power.  Congress has also passed a number of resolutions of disapproval, using the Congressional Review Act to reverse some of the Obama Administration’s most burdensome rules.  Thirteen of these legislative measures to repeal harmful regulations have already been signed by President Trump.  Such rollbacks not only promise to save billions of dollars, according to the White House, but they also put a needed check on executive power.

For example, Congress has repealed a rule by the Obama Administration that would have kept federal bureaucrats in charge of schools and student achievement.  This overreach simply did not follow the law that Congress passed in 2015.  States, school districts, parents, and teachers should be able to make decisions that affect our schools and children.  

More progress has come in the form of job creation.  President Trump is using executive action to help American workers and companies.  The advancement of projects like the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines is expected to generate shovel-ready jobs.  So are efforts to streamline the permit process for domestic manufacturing and expedite approvals for needed infrastructure projects.

In short, President Trump’s first 100 days have demonstrated his commitment to keeping jobs here at home and creating an environment for our communities to succeed.  This benchmark is not a finish line, but it is a positive indicator of what is to come.