Trump’s claim that ‘no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days’

There were 76 bills signed into law under Roosevelt in the first 100 days, compared with 28 (with a week to go) under Trump. “This is higher than any first-term 100 days since 1949 (55 bills signed), but less than all first terms from 1901-1949 except for 1909,” said John Frendreis, a political science professor at Loyola University in Chicago who co-wrote a well-regarded study of legislative output in the first 100 days from 1897 to 1995.

Thirteen of the Trump bills disapprove of major regulations put in place by Obama, which signifies a reversal of action, not new action — though the agency is barred from ever repromulgating the rule in question or anything similar without congressional approval. Other bills include such actions — what Frendreis called “minor or housekeeping bills” — as naming a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Pago Pago in American Samoa or creating a waiver to allow Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to be appointed even though he had recently served in the military.

Moreover, none of Trump’s bills can be considered “major” legislation according to political science standards, whereas at least nine of Roosevelt’s bills met that standard. Historians H.W. Brands of the University of Texas at Austin and David M. Kennedy of Stanford University count 15 major bills in FDR’s first 100 days, including some that remain in place.

“In this regard, Trump’s tenure has been less impressive, with no major pieces of legislation passed,” Frendreis said. “By contrast, the stimulus package was passed during Obama’s first 100 days” — actually, within Obama’s first 30 days.