This week marks the 30th anniversary of a national event which changed American history.
On September 27 in 1994, House Republicans stood on the Capitol steps and signed the Contract with America.
The terms were simple: Elect Republicans, and we will do the following things. If we fail to keep our word, kick us out at the next election.
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After 40 years of Democratic Party control of the House (and 60 of the previous 64 years), Americans were ready to take a chance on this new, idea-oriented, Republican Party.
We were careful to promise only what we absolutely could do. We could not guarantee things would become law. That would require Senate passage – and President Bill Clinton’s agreement to sign bills. We couldn’t even guarantee that we could pass everything through the House. Our majority was not going to be that big. We promised to schedule votes in the first 100 days on every single item in the contract.
The 100-day deadline came from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s sense of urgency when he became president during the Great Depression. He wanted to pass reform legislation and economic relief legislation as rapidly as possible.
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.
The specific nature of the Contract made it believable. We also followed the principle that every issue had to have at least 60 percent popular support. This helped shield us from the propaganda media’s attempts to distort and attack what we were doing.
The Contract could be developed, in part, because we stood on President Ronald Reagan’s shoulders. Virtually every item in the Contract had been proposed or supported by Reagan. In fact, way back in 1965, he had proposed welfare reform and a work requirement to receive welfare. It was extraordinarily popular with the American people, and we finally passed it in 1996. It took 31 years to move welfare reform from a popular idea to profound legislation.
Being out of power for four decades actually helped us develop the Contract. People who were tired of being in the minority were willing to cooperate and build a consensus in a way that seems to elude the current House and Senate GOP. Even though some of us disagreed on specific policies, we could set those disagreements aside and work together to achieve mutual goals.
We were also helped by the 16-year project Joe Gaylord and I undertook to grow a House Republican majority. We described this long effort in our recent book "March to the Majority." Legislators and candidates should read the book, because it describes the many years of hard, necessary work that ultimately led to the Contract and the Republican majority.
When people ask me how to manage the current disaster in Washington, my answer is to take a long view. You must steadily and methodically grow a majority based on the wishes and values of the American people. It’s the only way to build momentum in a system as large and chaotic as the Congress.
We started by developing the Conservative Opportunity Society as an idea-oriented congressional group. We committed to winning the war of ideas against big government socialism – which was growing in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
At GOPAC, we developed a training tape program for Republican activists. At its peak, we were sending out 55,000 tapes a month. Virtually every Republican candidate for the House listened to the tapes, so we had a common language and a common sense of strategy on which to build.
The ideas of having a contract and a Capitol steps event went back to then-Gov. Reagan’s 1980 campaign. He brought together House and Senate candidates and announced a contract with five big ideas. As David Broder wrote at the time, it was a real act of courage for the Republican underdog to identify with his party and seek to elect Republicans to the Congress. It paid off when the Senate went Republican for the first time in 26 years (no one had expected it).
The Contract with America and the Capitol steps event in 1994 changed history in decisive ways.
First, they led to a shift in the balance of power. The Democrats had largely uncontested dominance from 1930 to 1994. In those 64 years, there had only been two one-term House Republican majorities. When one party controls an institution for six decades, the entire balance of news media, lobbying, and bureaucratic power shifts to the obviously dominant party.
Our win was a total shock to the Washington system. For a few weeks after our majority started, we had to regularly remind Democrat ranking members to get out of the chairperson’s seat at committee meetings.
We set an even more important record by governing and keeping our word well enough that in 1996, we became the first re-elected House Republican majority since 1928.
Since that 1994 victory, Republicans have controlled the House for 22 years and the Democrats for eight years. That is an historic shift in control and influence.
Second, House Republicans passed major reforms. We shifted the system from welfare to work. We passed the largest capital gains tax cut in history. We created Medicare Advantage and reformed the Food and Drug Administration. We also reformed the Telecommunications Act, which enabled the modern internet to evolve. These were just a few of our accomplishments.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, 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.
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When I left the Speakership, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan projected that the United States would pay off the entire national debt by 2009.
Our success in balancing the budget should offer hope to a generation which seems to be drowning in debt and fiscal stupidity.
It can be done. Tax and regulatory cuts can spur dramatic economic growth. Major reforms can produce better results at lower costs. The cuts and reforms can be combined with careful frugality in spending. The money belongs to the American people – not politicians and bureaucrats. Do these things, and the budget will balance.
Former Congressman Todd Tiahrt and Speaker Mike Johnson’s office have organized a 30th reunion of the House Republican team that changed history. On Friday, we returned to the Capitol steps to mark this important moment in history.
I was glad to see my fellow patriots who worked, struggled, and engaged in what we called "cheerful persistence." Our practiced habit of "listen, learn, help, and lead" made the Contract with America Congress historic.
How's that for a remarkable anniversary.
