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The Contract with America Lives
townhall ^ | 3-6-06 | Tim Chapman

Posted on 03/07/2006 8:58:14 AM PST by Gipper08

Tomorrow, conservatives in the House of Representatives, led by Mike Pence and Jeb Hensarling, will introduce a bold budget that is modeled after the fabled mid-90's Contract with America. The conservative alternative will be a challenge to Congressional leadership in that it goes well above and beyong savings sought by the President's budget.

The budget will move beyond the current $75 billion in savings to nearly $700 billion. It significantly reduces the size and scope of three federal agencies: Departments of Education, Energy and Commerce.

The NY Times reports:

The authors of the proposal describe it as a sequel to the Contract With America, which helped catapult Republicans to power in 1994. An outline of the plan says the proposals require "tough choices, but members have expressed a serious desire to do the hard things to save America."

Mr. Bush's push for the line-item veto could benefit from the current scrutiny over the growing practice by lawmakers of inserting spending for pet projects into legislation — a practice that has figured into continuing corruption scandals.

House conservatives are smart to bill this as The Contract II. Many of the votes that were there for the first Contract should still be there for the second. This billing also gives disallusioned fiscal conservatives a rallying flag. Like with Operation Offset, look for grassroots support for fiscal posterity to explode.

Republican Leadership would be wise to learn from Operation Offset. The initial indifference leadership should to that effort was overcome by vigorous grassroots support. Then Majority Leader Tom DeLay said there was no fat left to cut in the federal budget. He very soon after found out that he was wrong when many of the RSC proposals were passed into law with the help of House Speaker Dennis Hastert who saw the writing on the wall. Leadership would do well to embrace this new effort from the get-go.

Certainly, it is a tough budget. Certainly Democrats will demagogue it - they always do. Certainly, moderates' knees will tremble in fear at the thought of making hard decisions. But this needs to be done.

Given the future this country faces with exploding entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, budgets like this must become the norm. No politician likes making cuts, but if they are serious about relieving the mountains of debt we are currently piling on future generations, they must embrace a budget that calls for tough choices.

Americans will respect Congressmen who make tough choices for sake of the country's future. You just have to explain yourself and stop being ashamed.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 109th; 2006agenda; contractii; contractwithamerica; jebhensarling; mikepence
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1 posted on 03/07/2006 8:58:16 AM PST by Gipper08
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To: Gipper08

Bring back the Balanced Budget Amendment.


2 posted on 03/07/2006 8:58:50 AM PST by GeorgefromGeorgia
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To: SittinYonder

ping


3 posted on 03/07/2006 8:59:14 AM PST by eyespysomething
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To: Gipper08

Tomorrow, conservatives in the House of Representatives, led by Mike Pence and Jeb Hensarling, will introduce a bold budget that is modeled after the fabled mid-90's Contract with America.




And the party big wigs will immediately declase it dead on arrival. C'mon folks what we have now is a two party system. The Big Spenders vs the REALLY big spenders.


4 posted on 03/07/2006 9:00:38 AM PST by trubluolyguy (Islam, Religion of Peace and they'll kill you to prove it.)
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To: Txsleuth; ovrtaxt; Justanobody; Happy2BMe; sam_whiskey; Scholastic; nonliberal; writer33; ...
Tomorrow will be the opening battle for the budget.This v battle could well determine the future of conservatism and the majority or minority party status of the GOP.
5 posted on 03/07/2006 9:01:54 AM PST by Gipper08 (Mike Pence in 2008)
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To: GeorgefromGeorgia

http://www.townhall.com/blogs/capitolreport/TimChapman/story/2006/02/28/188151.html


6 posted on 03/07/2006 9:03:27 AM PST by Gipper08 (Mike Pence in 2008)
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To: Gipper08

Let the pandering begin!


7 posted on 03/07/2006 9:03:56 AM PST by null and void (I nominate Sept 11th: "National Moderate Muslim Day of Tacit Approval". - Mr. Rational, paraphrased)
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To: GeorgefromGeorgia

RSC TOP TEN



1. Make the Tax Cuts Permanent, including the repeal of the marriage-tax penalty and the death tax and pass fundamental tax reform.

2. Pass Budget Process Reform, which includes budgeting for emergencies with a rainy day fund, instituting a sunset commission for federal programs, instituting a constitutional line-item veto, and making the budget resolution carry the force of law.

3. Pass another Deficit Reduction Bill in the form of budget reconciliation, to reign in autopilot spending, which has risen from 25% of all federal spending in 1963 to 54% today, and is expected to reach nearly 60% in 2014.

4. Pass Ethics Reform that requires transparency and earmark reform that permits Members of Congress to strike earmarks on the House floor.

5. Pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, to ensure that marriage, the union of a woman and a man as husband and wife, is not redefined by activist judges.

6. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to put our fiscal house in order.

7. Offset all emergency supplemental spending with spending reductions and offset all new programs with simultaneous, equivalent reductions in, or eliminations of, existing programs.

8. Defend the Sanctity of Human Life, which includes banning all human cloning, passing the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, promoting ethical adult stem cell research, and preventing federal funding for destructive embryonic stem cell research.

9. Pass Protections for Religious Freedom, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, and religious expression in the public square.

10. Pass legislation that stops the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund and allows Americans to own a Personal Social Security Account.


8 posted on 03/07/2006 9:04:22 AM PST by Gipper08 (Mike Pence in 2008)
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To: Gipper08
Americans will respect Congressmen who make tough choices for sake of the country's future. You just have to explain yourself and stop being ashamed.

Praise the Lord. Somebody up there still gets it.
9 posted on 03/07/2006 9:06:22 AM PST by JamesP81
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To: trubluolyguy

The problem is everybody wants to get rid of pork, except for their own.


10 posted on 03/07/2006 9:06:28 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: Gipper08
Those top ten would be nice, but I think we would need to see a completely new set of politicians in order for it to happen.
11 posted on 03/07/2006 9:07:02 AM PST by cpprfld (Who said accountants are boring?)
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To: Gipper08

Go Mike Go!!!!! If you find out the Bill number could you post it?


12 posted on 03/07/2006 9:10:23 AM PST by MNJohnnie ("Good men don't wait for the polls. They stand on principle and fight."-Soul Seeker)
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To: Gipper08

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2200

Contract on America, humor on Democrats version.
Might need it's separate post.


13 posted on 03/07/2006 9:12:00 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (“Don't approach a Bull from the front, a Horse from the rear, or a Fool from any side.”)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

LOL!


14 posted on 03/07/2006 9:15:34 AM PST by Gipper08 (Mike Pence in 2008)
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To: Gipper08
RSC TOP TEN

Securing our borders is curiously missing.

15 posted on 03/07/2006 9:18:33 AM PST by jackbenimble (Import the third world, become the third world)
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To: jackbenimble

THe RSC just fought for and passed a bill putting a wall on our souther border.It is now up to the Senate.


16 posted on 03/07/2006 9:19:33 AM PST by Gipper08 (Mike Pence in 2008)
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To: Gipper08
The battle is going to be whether we spend way too much or way, way too much and none of it will result in addressing the problems such as energy or borders in any meaningful way.
17 posted on 03/07/2006 9:23:16 AM PST by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: Gipper08

Ill belive it when I see it..this proposal is most likely DOA


19 posted on 03/07/2006 9:48:32 AM PST by Prysson
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To: Gipper08
I feel energized again. I have something to support other than just killing Islamic fascists.

The Budget cuts that will have to be made will affect a lot of people, but will do wonders for the fiscal health of our country.

I hate it when I read articles like I read in the paper this morning about how the small deficit reduction law just passed is affecting the college loan program. Some college students will have to pay a little longer on their student loans. GIVE ME A BREAK

Budget cuts will reduce subsidies for many programs that amount to middle class welfare. I would rather reduce the size of these programs and balance the budget. However, many people will complain. Remember how Gingrich was taking the food out of the mouths of those poor kids (school lunch program).
20 posted on 03/07/2006 9:57:56 AM PST by GeorgefromGeorgia
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