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U.S. Speaker of the House 2012 presidential election Organizations
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The Contract with America was a legislative agenda advocated by the Republican Party during the 1994 congressional election campaign. Written by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, and in part using text from former president Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address, the contract detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority party in the United States House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Many of the contract's policy ideas originated at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. [1] [2]
The Contract with America was introduced six weeks before the 1994 congressional election, the first midterm election of President Bill Clinton's administration, and was signed by all but two of the Republican members of the House and all of the party's non-incumbent Republican congressional candidates.
The contract described the plan of the congressional representatives, seeking to nationalize the congressional election. Its provisions represented the view of many conservative Republicans on the issues of reducing the size of government, cutting taxes, and both tort reform and welfare reform.
The 1994 elections resulted in Republicans gaining 54 House and 8 U.S. Senate seats, flipping both chambers. The contract was seen as a triumph by party leaders such as Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and the American conservative movement.
The contract's text included a list of eight reforms the Republicans promised to enact, and ten bills they promised to bring to floor debate and votes, if they were made the majority following the election. During the crafting of the contract, proposals were limited to "60% issues", i.e. legislation that polling showed garnered 60% support of the American people, intending for the contract to avoid promises on controversial and divisive matters like abortion and school prayer. [1] [3] Reagan biographer Lou Cannon characterized the contract as having taken more than half of its text from Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address. [4]
On the first day of their majority in the House, the Republicans promised to bring up for vote, eight major reforms: [5] [6]
During the first one hundred days of the 104th Congress, the Republicans pledged "to bring to the floor the following [ten] bills, each to be given a full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote, and each to be immediately available for public inspection". The text of the proposed bills was included in the contract, which was released prior to the election. These bills were not governmental operational reforms, as the previous promises were; rather, they represented significant changes to policy. They mainly included a balanced budget requirement, tax cuts for small businesses, families and seniors, term limits for legislators, social security reform, tort reform, and welfare reform.
The contract promised to bring to floor debate and votes ten bills that would implement reform of the federal government. When the 104th Congress assembled in January 1995, the Republican majority sought to implement the contract.
In some cases (e.g. The National Security Restoration Act and The Personal Responsibility Act), the proposed bills were accomplished by a single act analogous to that which had been proposed in the contract; in other cases (e.g. The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act), a proposed bill's provisions were split up across multiple acts. Most of the bills died in the Senate, except as noted below.
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An amendment to the Constitution that would require a balanced budget unless sanctioned by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress (H.J.Res.1, passed by the US House Roll Call: 300-132, January 26, 1995, but rejected by the US Senate: Roll Call 65–35 (the amendment was defeated by a single vote, with one Republican opposed, Oregon Republican Senator Mark Hatfield; Bob Dole cast a procedural vote against the amendment to bring it up again in the future), March 2, 1995, two-thirds required. [7]
An anti-crime package including stronger truth in sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions (H.R.666 Exclusionary Rule Reform Act, passed US House Roll Call 289–142 February 8, 1995), death penalty provisions (H.R.729 Effective Death Penalty Act, passed US House Roll Call 297–132 February 8, 1995; similar provisions enacted under S. 735 , April 24, 1996), funding prison construction (H.R.667 Violent Criminal Incarceration Act, passed US House Roll Call 265–156 February 10, 1995, rc#117) and additional law enforcement (H.R.728 Local Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Act, passed US House Roll Call 238–192 February 14, 1995).
An act to discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by reforming and cutting cash welfare and related programs. This would be achieved by prohibiting welfare to mothers under 18 years of age, denying increased Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) for additional children while on welfare, and enacting a two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. H.R.4, the Family Self-Sufficiency Act, included provisions giving food vouchers to unwed mothers under 18 in lieu of cash AFDC benefits, denying cash AFDC benefits for additional children to people on AFDC, requiring recipients to participate in work programs after two years on AFDC, complete termination of AFDC payments after five years, and suspending driver and professional licenses of people who fail to pay child support. H.R.4, passed by the US House 234–199, March 23, 1995, and passed by the US Senate 87–12, September 19, 1995. The act was vetoed by President Clinton, but the alternative Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act which offered many of the same policies was enacted August 22, 1996.
An act to create a $500-per-child tax credit, add a tax credit for couples who pay more taxes in aggregate if they are married than if they were single (but keep in place the concept of Earned Income Splitting), and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle-class tax relief. H.R.1215, passed 246–188, April 5, 1995.
An act to prevent U.S. troops from serving under United Nations command unless the president determines it is necessary for the purposes of national security, to cut U.S. payments for UN peacekeeping operations, and to help establish guidelines for the voluntary integration of former Warsaw Pact nations into NATO. H.R.7, passed 241–181, February 16, 1995.
An act to institute "loser pays" laws (H.R.988, passed 232–193, March 7, 1995), limits on punitive damages and weakening of product liability laws to prevent what the bill considered frivolous litigation (H.R.956, passed 265–161, March 10, 1995; passed Senate 61–37, May 11, 1995, vetoed by President Clinton. "H.R.956 - Product Liability Fairness Act of 1995". Another tort reform bill, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, was enacted in 1995 when Congress overrode Clinton's veto.
A package of measures to act as small-business incentives: capital-gains cuts 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. Although this was listed as a single bill in the contract, its provisions ultimately made it to the House Floor as four bills:
An amendment to the Constitution that would have imposed 12-year term limits on members of Congress (i.e. six terms for representatives, two terms for senators). H.J.Res. 73 rejected by the House 227–204 (a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority, not a simple majority), March 29, 1995; RC #277.
Other sections of the contract include a proposed Family Reinforcement Act (tax incentives for adoption, strengthening the powers of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and elderly dependent care tax credit) and the Senior Citizens Fairness Act (raise the Social Security earnings limit, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance).
A November 13, 2000, article by Edward H. Crane, president of the libertarian Cato Institute, stated, "the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the contract with America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%."[ clarification needed ] [9]
Some observers cite the contract with America as having helped secure a decisive victory for the Republicans in the 1994 elections; others dispute this role, noting its late introduction into the campaign. Whatever the role of the contract, Republicans were elected to a majority of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1953, and some parts of the contract were enacted. Most elements did not pass Congress, while others were vetoed by, or substantially altered in negotiations with President Bill Clinton, who would sarcastically refer to it as the "Contract on America" [10] [11] implying that the Republicans' legislative package was akin to an organized-crime "hit" on the American public. As a blueprint for the policy of the new congressional majority, authors Micklethwait and Wooldridge argue in The Right Nation that the contract placed Congress back in the driver's seat of domestic government policy for most of the 104th Congress, and placed the Clinton White House on the defensive. [3]
George Mason University law professor David E. Bernstein has argued that the contract "show[ed] ... that [Congress took] federalism and limited national government seriously", and "undoubtedly made [the Supreme Court decision in] United States v. Lopez more viable". [12]
Journalist and senior congressional reporter Major Garrett equated the contract with a game of miniature golf, "fun, popular, and largely diversionary exercise meant to satisfy middle-class sensibilities", contrasted with the golf of governing America and leadership. Republicans interviewed by Garrett when the contract was being compiled said it was meant to be a political document of easy goals, not a governing document, with one senior aide explaining, "We don't care if the Senate passes any of the items in the contract. It would be preferable, but it's not necessary. If the freshmen do everything the contract says, they'll be in excellent shape for 1996". [13]
In 2014, business and finance writer John Steele Gordon, writing in The American, an online magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute, praised the contract, calling it the main reason for the Republican victory in 1994", in part because it "nationalized the election". [14]
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican incumbent president George H. W. Bush and independent businessman Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1996 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Bob Dole and Perot again, to win re-election. Clinton served two terms and was succeeded by Republican George W. Bush, who won the 2000 presidential election.
John Heddens Kingston is an American businessman, lobbyist, and politician who served as U.S. representative for Georgia's 1st congressional district in southeast Georgia, serving from 1993 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was part of the House leadership (2002–06) when he served as vice-chair of the Republican Conference. In 2014, he ran for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by retiring senator Saxby Chambliss and advanced beyond the May 20 primary to the July 22 runoff, where he was defeated by David Perdue.
Thomas Milburn Davis III is an American lobbyist and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who represented Virginia's 11th congressional district in Northern Virginia. Davis was considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by five-term incumbent and fellow Republican John Warner in the 2008 election, but decided against it. He announced on January 30, 2008, that he would not seek reelection to an eighth term. Davis resigned from Congress on November 24, 2008.
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The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was a federal law that was enacted by the 103rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 10, 1993. It has also been unofficially referred to as the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993. Part XIII of the law is also called the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993.
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The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill implemented major changes to U.S. social welfare policy, replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
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The Affordable Health Care for America Act was a bill that was crafted by the United States House of Representatives of the 111th United States Congress on October 29, 2009. The bill was sponsored by Representative Charles Rangel. At the encouragement of the Obama administration, the 111th Congress devoted much of its time to enacting reform of the United States' health care system. Known as the "House bill", HR 3962 was the House of Representatives' chief legislative proposal during the health reform debate.
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The Suspending the Individual Mandate Penalty Law Equals Fairness Act is a bill that would delay for one year the imposition of penalties associated with the requirement that most residents of the United States have health insurance coverage beginning in 2014. This penalty was imposed by the Affordable Care Act. The penalty starts at 1 percent of taxable income in 2014, increasing to 2 percent in 2015 and 2.5 percent in 2016. The minimum payment in 2014 will be $95, unless that is changed by the passage of this law.
The Hire More Heroes Act of 2013 is a bill that would allow employers to exclude veterans receiving health insurance from the United States Department of Defense or the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs from their list of employees. This would have the effect of keeping their list of employees shorter, allowing some small businesses to fall underneath the 50 full-time employees line that would require them to provide their employees with healthcare under the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. This change is seen by supporters as a way to incentivize small businesses to hire more veterans.
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