http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/260136-day-one-promises-pile-up-for-gop-hopefulsNovember 16, 2015, 06:00 am
Day one promises pile up for GOP hopefuls
By Harper Neidig and Kyle Plantz
Republican presidential hopefuls already have plans for their first day in office, vowing to hit the ground running to undo President Obama’s legacy if elected.
Reversing the president's executive orders on immigration and tearing up the Iran deal top the list for most candidates, with many laying out an ambitious agenda for their first 24 hours.
GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who has made immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, is vowing to begin deporting illegal immigrants as soon as he enters the Oval Office.
But others have made more light-hearted vows. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joked that he'd have a drink with those across the aisle, while conservative Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says he'll send flowers to journalists upset by his victory.
President Obama himself made a number of day one promises during his 2008 campaign, including vowing to begin ending the Iraq war and shutter the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
Obama met with military leaders on day one about Iraq and signed an executive order calling for Gitmo to be closed in a year. But lawmakers blocked his efforts and Obama expressed regret this year that he hadn't closed it on his first day.
Here are some of the promises Republican contenders are making for their own first day in office:
Donald Trump
The billionaire businessman has vowed to deport the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants if elected, and says he'd get started immediately.
“It starts with getting the bad ones,” he told reporters during a campaign stop in New Hampshire in August. “Day One. If I win, day one of my presidency, they’re getting out. We’re getting them out. We’re getting them out fast.”
Trump also says he will declare China a currency manipulator on his first day and force them to renegotiate trade deals.
Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)
Cruz has promised a busy first day on the job. He said he'd first “rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action” that Obama has issued.
Cruz has also vowed to order the IRS and the Justice Department to end the “persecution of religious liberty.” He would tear up the Iran nuclear agreement and move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Cruz has also promised to launch a DOJ investigation into Planned Parenthood.
Cruz jokingly said he would also “send flowers and a note of condolences to all of the reporters and editors who've checked themselves into therapy.”
Ben Carson
The retired neurosurgeon told WND that on his first day he would freeze the debt limit.
"Here’s what I will do on Day 1. I will tell the nation that, beginning immediately, we will no longer borrow money from future generations to sustain the growth of government or empower it over ordinary Americans," he said.
Carson has also promised to tackle cybersecurity.
“I have asked the experts to put together a plan to use on Day One. We are working our way through that plan right now,” he said on Facebook in August. "I take this threat very seriously.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.)
The Iran nuclear deal would be Rubio's first priority.
"As president I would reverse the Iran deal and increase sanctions on day one," he said.
Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.)
If elected, the Kentucky senator will get busy repealing Obama’s environmental regulations, including the Clean Power Plan — a climate rule for power plants — that Paul said “is destroying Kentucky.”
“The first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place,” Paul said at the fourth GOP debate.
The libertarian favorite has also said repeatedly on the trail that he would end the National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs on day one.
“The president created this vast dragnet by executive order. And as president on day one, I will immediately end this unconstitutional surveillance,” he said when he kicked off his campaign in April.
Carly Fiorina
The former CEO of Hewlett-Packard is promising to start her potential presidency with two phone calls.
“The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel,” she said of the Israeli prime minister during a Fox News debate in August.
“The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system,” she added.
Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.)
The first day of a Jindal administration would see the repeal of ObamaCare, orders defunding so-called sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants and revoking Obama’s executive actions.
He would also issue an executive action protecting “religious liberty, our First Amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don’t face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage,” Jindal said at the first GOP debate in August.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.)
The former Arkansas governor would enforce protections for religious liberty on day one.
He would “sign executive orders in support of traditional marriage that protect religious beliefs, … [and] direct the Attorney General to protect religious liberty and aggressively prosecute any violations of First Amendment rights of individuals, businesses, religious organizations, institutions and civil servants, including those who believe in traditional marriage,” he said in a plan released in July.
Huckabee would also direct the Defense Secretary to not force military chaplains to “participate in ceremonies they find objectionable on religious grounds.”
“While some cowardly politicians wave the white flag and surrender to this unconstitutional, out-of-control act of judicial tyranny, I reject this decision and will fight from ‘Day One’ of my administration to defend our Constitution and protect religious liberty,” he said.
Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.)
Christie has pledged that on his first day he'll institute a three-month moratorium on government regulations.
“I will also, on my first day as — as president, sign an executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department,” Christie said at Fox Business Network’s undercard debate in November.
“We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we’ll go out there and we’ll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do.”
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.)
Santorum has vowed to walk away from the Iran deal on his first day and force Tehran to “open up all these facilities for inspection.”
“You make them available to the U.N. [United Nations] and to the U.S., everything,” he said during the CNN debate in September. “We can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities.”
Former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.)
Unlike most of Republican rivals, Bush said he wouldn't rush to undo the Iran deal on day one.
"One thing I won't do is just say as a candidate: 'I'm just going to tear up the agreement on the first day.' That sounds great, but maybe you ought to check in with your allies first," Bush said at a campaign event in Carson City, Nev. in July.
"Maybe you ought to appoint a secretary of State, maybe a secretary of Defense. You might want to have your team in place before you take an act like that."
Gov. John Kasich (Ohio)
Kasich, like Bush, stood out from his GOP counterparts by saying he would not rush to void the Iran deal.
"I wouldn't have ever signed this deal because I don't trust those guys," Kasich said at the CNN debate. "But here's the situation. We have virtually the rest of the entire world, including our friends in the Arab world signing up for this agreement.
"I believe it's inevitable that they will break it," he said of Iran.
Former Gov. George Pataki (N.Y.)
Pataki said at the August Fox News debate that after defeating then-Gov. Mario Cuomo (D-N.Y.) the first thing he did was revoke "every one of the executive orders that he had.”
"I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders," he continued.
“But I’d sign a second one ... having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I’d sign that executive order.”
Pataki also said at the CNN debate in September that he would immediately “propose a law on day one: you serve one day in the House or Senate, there’s a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Graham said he'd reach across the aisle on his first day in an unorthodox way.
"Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together," he said at the CNN GOP debate.
"That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more."
The senator also told Yahoo News that he would reach out to Israel, Iran, and America’s allies immediately to say he was pulling out of the Iran deal.
