Many of the “Contract with America” conservative policies and reforms remain the foundation of the Republican party today.
On September 27, 1994, Republican members of the House of Representatives stood on the steps of the Capitol building and signed the Contract with America. Led by Representatives Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, the Contract with America outlined a series of conservative policies and reforms Republicans promised Americans they would enact if given control of Congress after the 1994 election. The Contract with America became the platform on which Republicans across the nation ran during the midterms. The result was an historic victory, as Americans elected a Republican-led majority Congress, ending 40 years of Democrat control of the House.
The Contract with America put the brakes on the progressive agenda of President Bill Clinton and made a personal impact on me. I read the Contract with America in my ninth-grade civics class, and although I might not have been able to write an essay on every policy idea within the document, I agreed with it in a fundamental way. The Contract with America was a statement of principles that accelerated my journey as a conservative.
Politics and history interested me from a young age, and I have early memories of my Democrat-dominated family members’ disappointment in my agreement with Republican candidates and policies. In my class’s participation in a 1992 presidential election exercise, I proudly cast my ballot for the independent candidate, Ross Perot. His position on the growing national debt and opposition to NAFTA earned him my support.
The Contract with America established a foundation for my conservatism. The principles contained therein also found expression by Congressman Rod Grams, who was running for United States Senator in Minnesota. Grams was a conservative Republican and was therefore different from past Minnesota Republicans, who tended to be more progressive. The Rod Grams for Senate campaign was the first election I not only started to understand but was excited about. The Contract with America, along with Grams, both influenced my thinking as a conservative.
Congressman Newt Gingrich led the efforts organizing the Contract with America and helped secure the Republican victory, and also became the most-consequential conservative leader of the 1990s. “We had 10 specific pledges in the Contract with America. These included a tax cut, a line-item veto, anti-crime laws, tort reform, welfare reform, and changes in how Congress was run,” reflected former Speaker Gingrich. These policy pledges included:
THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses.
THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, “good faith” exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer’s “crime” bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools.
THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility.
THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children’s education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society.
THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A $500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief.
THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world.
THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years.
THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages.
THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: “Loser pays” laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation.THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.
The pledge of the Contract was to bring each of these policies to a vote on the House floor within the first 100 days when Congress reconvened with a Republican majority. Ultimately, the 10 policy pledges were expanded with several additional reforms, including a three-fifths majority vote requirement to pass tax increases and a zero-based budgeting reform.
The 1994 congressional midterm elections produced an historic Republican victory, which included Rod Grams in Minnesota. The Republican Congress not only slowed the progressive agenda of President Clinton, but also prevented the passage of “Hillary Care,” the Clinton health care scheme. The Republican Congress forced President Clinton to sign a welfare reform measure and — perhaps most important of all — ensured a balanced budget.
Former Speaker Gingrich reminds conservatives of the present day that with “the Contract with America Republicans balanced the budget for four straight years for the only time in a century. This should be a lesson for those seeking to fix today’s fiscal mess.”
Former Congressman and current Club for Growth President David McIntosh, reflecting on the 1994 midterm election, described it as a political “revolution”:
“It was the year Republicans struck a chord with an electorate fed up with big government, high taxes, and a political class disconnected from everyday Americans. Under Newt Gingrich’s leadership, the GOP flipped 54 seats in the House and 8 in the Senate, winning control of both houses of Congress and breaking a 40-year Democrat hold on the House of Representatives.“
McIntosh’s focus on the political significance of the Contract – like similar analysis of Senator Barry M. Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign and President Ronald Reagan’s electoral win — leaves out an important effect: Gingrich influenced a new generation of conservatives. Conservative policies run deeper and broader the Contract with America, but 30 years ago, it set me, as a ninth grader, on the path of conservatism. I’ve continued working to advance its principles to this day.
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