What would president Hillary Clinton have done?
The first two weeks of the Trump presidency are not something that will soon be forgotten.
But say you could forget it, and the memory was replaced with an alternate reality where Hillary Clinton has been recently sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Yahoo Canada News takes a look at what Clinton promised for her first 100 days:
100 Days Jobs Plan
Calling it the biggest investment in job creation since the Second World War, the Clinton team promised to make this their top priority out of the gate.
The plan would have included a US$300 billion federal investment in infrastructure for roads, bridges, public transit and broadband internet. It would also have invested federal money in boosting manufacturing, research and technology, clean energy and small business.
Clinton promised, like Trump, to kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership, involving a dozen Pacific Rim countries including Canada.
One of the primary goals of the plan was to refocus U.S. energy policy toward making America a world leader in clean energy.
Immigration
Like Trump, Clinton said immigration reform was a top priority of her first 100 days in office. That’s where the similarity ends.
Clinton, calling America a “nation of immigrants,” promised to reform the path to citizenship and bring millions of illegal immigrants into the formal economy.
She promised an end to a policy that bans immigration applicants from the U.S. if they leave after having been in the country illegally. It means people have to leave the country to apply for legal status – green cards – and then are barred from coming back for a period of time. Often, it means an illegal immigrant who would qualify as a legal resident must choose between that legal status and leaving their families.
Clinton also vowed to push through reforms brought in by Barack Obama, the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
The law — which languished after a challenge from Texas and a split on the U.S. Supreme Court — would affect the legal status of more than four million illegal immigrants.
Clinton also promised an investment in immigration infrastructure to clear a massive backlog of family visa cases.
Refugees
Clinton proposed the U.S. would accept 65,000 Syrian refugees, saying in speech after speech that the U.S. has “always welcomed immigrants and refugees.”
“We can’t act as though we’re shutting the doors to people in need without undermining who we are as Americans,” Clinton told supporters in Texas in November.
Income Inequality
Clinton more loosely promised to raise minimum wage early in her first term and address some of the tax disparity between rich and poor by closing some tax loopholes for wealthy Americans.
Equality
Clinton said 50 per cent of her cabinet nominees would have been women. Seventeen of the 22 members picked for Trump’s cabinet so far are white men; four are women. There is one African-American man and not a single person of Latin descent among Trump’s cabinet picks, though his transportation secretary pick Elaine Chao, is the first Asian-American women ever named to cabinet.
Trump wasted no time in signing executive orders. His first week saw many of his campaign promises filled, it seems to some surprise from the officials who had to carry them out without any consultation or explanation (see: airport confusion).
The Donald has left a few items on the table, after his first week focused mostly on immigration and economic measures. Trump also began the repeal of Obamacare, as promised.
He has yet to:
Impose term limits of members of Congress
Implement a hiring freeze on federal employees as a precursor to reducing the federal public service workforce
Ban foreign lobbyists from raising money in American election
Sue all the women – and there are many – who have accused him of unwanted sexual contact
