Ah, how times have changed. Speaking on the floor of the House 20 years ago today, at about 10:30 a.m. ET, Rep. Boehner said: “Republicans are going to be signing a contract with the American people. And what makes this effort different than promises made in the past is that we’re saying to the American people that if we are in the majority, we will bring up 10 bills for consideration, in open consideration, on this floor within the first 100 days. And if we don’t live up to our end of the contract, we urge you, the American people, to throw us out. “The liberal Democrat establishment here in Washington is worried. Judging from their violent reaction to the idea of a Contract with America, it’s clear that they’re afraid. If the American people are given a pledge that is kept, it will ruin their chances of ever making empty promises again. The liberal Democrat establishment in Washington doesn’t understand the concept of a contract because they don’t understand the meaning, or the power, of a kept promise. That is what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are so unhappy about today. “Everyone should be aware that the people who are upset with the Contract with America are the same people who promised to deliver health care within 100 days – two years ago. The same people who promised a middle-class tax cut and raised everybody’s taxes instead. The same people who promised to end politics as usual and instead gave us a scandal a week. They never intended to deliver on their promises, so they assume that everyone else is the same. But they’re wrong. Dead wrong.” A few weeks after these remarks, the American people entrusted Republicans with control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Under the leadership of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Dick Armey, the new House Republican majority kept its word, voting on measures like a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, welfare reform, legal reform, and middle-class tax cuts. Some of these ideas were vetoed by President Bill Clinton. Some were blocked by Senate Democrats. And one – a term limits amendment to the Constitution – received a majority of Republican votes in the House but fell short of the two-thirds majority required for passage. Now they resist standing for anything.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 15:41:57 +0000
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