Is anything missing? Let me know in an email--arthurschaper@hotmail.com.
I will add anything that I find missing at the bottom in the Final Reflection:
Below are the 12 categories and 81 wins cited by the White House.
Jobs and the economy
- Passage of the tax reform bill providing $5.5 billion in cuts and repealing the Obamacare mandate.
- Increase of the GDP above 3 percent.
- Creation of 1.7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to 4.1 percent.
- Saw the Dow Jones reach record highs.
- A rebound in economic confidence to a 17-year high.
- A new executive order to boost apprenticeships.
- A move to boost computer sciences in Education Department programs.
- Prioritizing women-owned businesses for some $500 million in SBA loans.
Killing job-stifling regulations
- Signed an Executive Order demanding that two regulations be killed for every new one creates. He beat that big and cut 16 rules and regulations for every one created, saving $8.1 billion.
- Signed 15 congressional regulatory cuts.
- Withdrew from the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement, ending the threat of environmental regulations.
- Signed an Executive Order cutting the time for infrastructure permit approvals.
- Eliminated an Obama rule on streams that Trump felt unfairly targeted the coal industry.
Fair trade
- Made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
- Opened up the North American Free Trade Agreement for talks to better the deal for the U.S.
- Worked to bring companies back to the U.S., and companies like Toyota, Mazda, Broadcom Limited, and Foxconn announced plans to open U.S. plants.
- Worked to promote the sale of U.S products abroad.
- Made enforcement of U.S. trade laws, especially those that involve national security, a priority.
- Ended Obama’s deal with Cuba.
Boosting U.S. energy dominance
- The Department of Interior, which has led the way in cutting regulations, opened plans to lease 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling.
- Trump traveled the world to promote the sale and use of U.S. energy.
- Expanded energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline snubbed by Obama.
- Ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
- EPA is reconsidering Obama rules on methane emissions.
Protecting the U.S. homeland
- Laid out new principles for reforming immigration and announced plan to end "chain migration," which lets one legal immigrant to bring in dozens of family members.
- Made progress to build the border wall with Mexico.
- Ended the Obama-era “catch and release” of illegal immigrants.
- Boosted the arrests of illegals inside the U.S.
- Doubled the number of counties participating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged with deporting illegals.
- Removed 36 percent more criminal gang members than in fiscal 2016.
- Started the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.
- Ditto for other amnesty programs like Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.
- Cracking down on some 300 sanctuary cities that defy ICE but still get federal dollars.
- Added some 100 new immigration judges.
Protecting communities
- Justice announced grants of $98 million to fund 802 new cops.
- Justice worked with Central American nations to arrest and charge 4,000 MS-13 members.
- Homeland rounded up nearly 800 MS-13 members, an 83 percent one-year increase.
- Signed three executive orders aimed at cracking down on international criminal organizations.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions created new National Public Safety Partnership, a cooperative initiative with cities to reduce violent crimes.
Accountability
- Trump has nominated 73 federal judges and won his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
- Ordered ethical standards including a lobbying ban.
- Called for a comprehensive plan to reorganize the executive branch.
- Ordered an overhaul to modernize the digital government.
- Called for a full audit of the Pentagon and its spending.
Combatting opioids
- First, the president declared a Nationwide Public Health Emergency on opioids.
- His Council of Economic Advisors played a role in determining that overdoses are underreported by as much as 24 percent.
- The Department of Health and Human Services laid out a new five-point strategy to fight the crisis.
- Justice announced it was scheduling fentanyl substances as a drug class under the Controlled Substances Act.
- Justice started a fraud crackdown, arresting more than 400.
- The administration added $500 million to fight the crisis.
- On National Drug Take Back Day, the Drug Enforcement Agency collected 456 tons.
Protecting life
- In his first week, Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy that blocks some $9 billion in foreign aid being used for abortions.
- Worked with Congress on a bill overturning an Obama regulation that blocked states from defunding abortion providers.
- Published guidance to block Obamacare money from supporting abortion.
Helping veterans
- Signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act to allow senior officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire failing employees and establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers.
- Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act.
- Signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, to provide support.
- Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program.
- Created a VA hotline.
- Had the VA launch an online “Access and Quality Tool,” providing veterans with a way to access wait time and quality of care data.
- With VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin, announced three initiatives to expand access to healthcare for veterans using telehealth technology.
Promoting peace through strength
- Directed the rebuilding of the military and ordered a new national strategy and nuclear posture review.
- Worked to increase defense spending.
- Empowered military leaders to “seize the initiative and win,” reducing the need for a White House sign off on every mission.
- Directed the revival of the National Space Council to develop space war strategies.
- Elevated U.S. Cyber Command into a major warfighting command.
- Withdrew from the U.N. Global Compact on Migration, which Trump saw as a threat to borders.
- Imposed a travel ban on nations that lack border and anti-terrorism security.
- Saw ISIS lose virtually all of its territory.
- Pushed for strong action against global outlaw North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.
- Announced a new Afghanistan strategy that strengthens support for U.S. forces at war with terrorism.
- NATO increased support for the war in Afghanistan.
- Approved a new Iran strategy plan focused on neutralizing the country’s influence in the region.
- Ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airbase used in a chemical weapons attack.
- Prevented subsequent chemical attacks by announcing a plan to detect them better and warned of future strikes if they were used.
- Ordered new sanctions on the dictatorship in Venezuela.
Restoring confidence in and respect for America
- Trump won the release of Americans held abroad, often using his personal relationships with world leaders.
- Made good on a campaign promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- Conducted a historic 12-day trip through Asia, winning new cooperative deals. On the trip, he attended three regional summits to promote American interests.
- He traveled to the Middle East and Europe to build new relationships with leaders.
- Traveled to Poland and on to German for the G-20 meeting where he pushed again for funding of women entrepreneurs.
Final Reflection
Here are some other major accomplishments from the Trump Administration:
- Unemployment insurance use has fallen to a 45-year low
- Food-stamp use at a record two decade low across the country
- Repeal and rescission of the much-abused Temporary Protective Status programs for Central American and Caribbean Refugees. People who had fled war-torn countries thirty years ago were still living in the United States as "temporary" refugees.
- Negotiated lower costs for military equipment, including planes (Boeing)
- Net Neutrality repealed
- Issued ban on transgenderism in the military (still in litigation in court)
- Executive Orders protecting religious liberties of Americans, especially federal officials
- Nominating excellent, pro-liberty members to the National Labor Relations Board
- Appointment of Scott Pruitt to head the EPA, which has slashed staff back to Reagan-era levels and reduced the role of the Administrative state in public affairs
- Opening up ANWAR to oil drilling, a dream which has been decades in the waiting
- Issued executive order to expedite construction of border wall (prototypes awaiting appraisal)
So much winning!
Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!
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