Twenty-nine years ago, Republicans seeking new terms in the U.S. House of Representatives formulated a bold new vision, a “Contract with America,” to restore honesty and trust in government, get America’s fiscal house back in order, and revitalize The American Dream.
Republicans won buy a landslide and took control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the November election.
Note – Aug 21, 2023 – Washington Republicans have no plan.
Main Street America Republicans do have a plan…
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University of Delaware historical review – Contract with America
Highlights / Excerpts:
Background: On Tuesday, September 27, more than 300 Republicans hoping to serve in the House of Representatives next year will gather on the steps of the United States Capitol to unveil a proposed “Contract With America,” the ten bills Americans would see in the first 100 days of the first republican controlled House in 40 years.
After nearly two years of the most promise-breaking, waffling and spin-addicted White House in history, the public has grown cynical of promises to provide middle-class tax relief, reform welfare, restore accountability to congress and cut spending. And after 40 years of one party control of the House, they no longer feel they have the power to hold their elected representatives accountable. The Contract will allow people to hold us accountable, measure our performance and, if we break the contract. throw us out….
With the prospect of working control, if not numerical control, of the House in the next Congress, it is our responsibility to present a clear vision of how republicans would govern. After swearing in the first republican Speaker since Joe Martin (R-MA) in the 83rd Congress, we will on the first day of session cut the number of committees and subcommittees, cut committee staff by one-third, ban proxy voting, require a three-fifths vote to pass any tax increase, eliminate “baseline” budgeting and use honest numbers, and announce an audit of the House’s books.
After changing the way the House conducts business, we will change the kind of business the House has been conducting. Instead of passing bills that pile taxes, spending regulations ever higher, we’ll scale back the size of government to make it more efficient and ease the burden on taxpayers and small business people.
In the first 100 days, we’re pledging in writing to bring to a vote:
- A balanced budget amendment and line item veto;
- A crime bill that funds police and prisons over social programs;
- Real welfare reform;
- Family reinforcement measures that strengthen parental rights in education and child support enforcement;
- Family tax cuts;
- Stronger national defense;
- A rise in the Social Security earnings limit to stop penalizing working seniors;
- Job creation and regulatory reform policies;
- Common sense legal reforms to stop frivolous lawsuits; and
- A first-ever vote on term limits for members of Congress.
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Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) “Contract with America,” Sep 27, 1994 – Excerpts:
Today we enter a new era in American government. Today, one political party is listening to the concerns of the American people and responding with specific legislation. We are united here today — over 150 current Members of the House and over 200 candidates — united in the belief that “the people’s House” must be wrested from the grip of special interest groups and handed back to “the people.”
Americans today are cynical. They are tired of broken promises, tired of being misled, tired of “spin” from a White House that seems to govern on the principle that you can fool all of the people some of the time….
If the American people are willing to let us, we’re willing to change all that.
Today, we Republicans are signing a “Contract with America.” We pledge ourselves, in writing, to a new agenda of reform, respect, and renewal: Reform of congress and other government institutions. Respect for the people we serve and represent. And renewal of the American Dream that each day seems to slip further from the grasp of too many families.
We make this explicit offer: Give us majority control of the House of Representatives for the first time in four decades and we will bring to the House floor on the first day real Congressional Reforms. In the first 100 days, we will bring to a vote ten bills that would have an immediate and real impact in the lives of ordinary Americans.
We will bring all these bills to the floor for an up or down vote, with open and fair debate, where everyone’s views are heard as we embark on a new direction for congress and a new partnership with the American people.
We put these bills in a contract so people can hold us accountable — and there’s an enforcement clause. We explicitly state, “If you give us control and we don’t do what we say, throw us out.” We mean it, and we take it as an article of faith that the American people will mean it, too….
Our Contract with America is just the opening one hundred days of accountable government. The Contract is not the answer to every problem facing America today. It is an honest beginning, and an effort to invest this election with some positive meaning, because running solely against an unpopular president would only deepen the public’s cynicism.
…. After 40 years of uninterrupted control, the Democrats have exhausted every other possibility, and it is time for the Republican party to accept the role of leadership the American people are demanding. Today we pledge to begin by bringing relief to the average family, which now pays more in taxes than food, shelter and clothing combined; cutting the size and influence of the federal government; and restoring accountability to the political process.
In short, we propose to cede back power from the hallowed halls of Congress to the more hallowed kitchen tables of America, where night after night families bow their heads in thanks and make decisions about education, charity, jobs, spending, debt, and values with a wisdom and compassion that no number of agency heads, cabinet secretaries or members of congress could ever match.
Our contract recognizes the limits of government and the unlimited contribution of husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, children and grandparents in a safe and prosperous America.
It is now my pleasure to introduce Congressman Bill Paxon of New York, who chairs the National Republican congressional Committee….
Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act “with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.
On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:
FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.
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It is time for a new Contract with America, one that builds on the 1994 contract, to: 1) Get America’s enormous fiscal deficits back under control; 2) Minimize the scope of government control over the daily lives of citizens; 3) Require Congress, along with the Executive and Judicial branches of government, to live under the exact same laws and mandates that they force upon the people; 4) Restore 100% border security to America’s northern and southern borders, and welcome only those guest workers / visitors who enter America legally, respect America’s laws, and earnestly seek to make America better and stronger.
This new Contract with America, hereby sponsored by Main Street America Republicans, begins with the most powerful economic acceleration plan in the world:
The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America
$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (6860 downloads)
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August 2023 quote: President Ronald Reagan: “I know that it is fashionable in some circles that no one in government should encourage others to read the Bible. We are told that will violate the Constitutional separation of church and state, established by the Founding Fathers. The First Amendment was not written to protect people and their laws from religious values. It was written to protect those values from government tyranny.”