Great Time Cover (PM - 10/8/2006 4:05:15 PM)
Almost 12 years after Republicans swept to power on their "Contract with America," how well have they done in fulfilling it? Let's take a peak. I'll warn you, it isn't pretty!First, the "Contract" issued this clarion call:
On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:*FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
*SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
*THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
*FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
*FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
*SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
*SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
*EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
Has any of that happened?
Well, as we saw once again this past week with the Mark Foley sex scandal/coverup, the answer is "no" on #1. For instance, Congress keeps raising its OWN pay, but hasnGÇÖt raised the minimum wage for almost ten years. It's certainly a big "no" on #2, as the Republican-controlled Congress couldn't even pass minor lobbying reform in the wake of the horrendous Jack Abramoff scandal. What a sick joke. On #3, have any of you heard of any cuts in House committees or committee staff? I sure haven't; maybe we all missed it? On #5, my understanding is that they got that one done. Congratulations! However, on #6, according to Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the deliberatios of conference committees "are not only hidden from the public, but from Democratic Members of Congress, who represent nearly half our population!" On #7, this was rejected by the U.S. Senate and what we now have is huge Federal deficits as far as the eye can see. On #8, well, let's just say that we certainly do NOT have "an honest accounting of our Federal Budget" and we certainly do NOT have "zero base-line budgeting."
In other words, the Republicans have been an almost umitigated failure in terms of enacting key reforms as laid out in the preamble of their (broken) "Contract."
By the way, another key reform that almost all Republicans voted for, but then completely ignored, was a 12-year term limit on members of the US Congress (e.g., 6 terms for Representatives, 2 for Senators). Let's see, it's now almost exactly 12 years later, and who's still there? How about Virginia's own Tom Davis, Frank Wolf, and Bob Goodlatte, all of whom voted for the 12-year term limit? Check. How about House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) still (barely) hanging on in the midst of the Mark Foley male page sex scandal? And how about Rep. Bob Ney, who's still there for a little while longer following his guilty plea on federal corruption charges related to the Abramoff scandal? There are many more.
I also find the following pledge to be sadly, pathetically ironic: to "restrict deployment of United States troops to missions that are in the national interest of the United States." Uh, can we say "Iraq?" Can one of these Republican "Contract" signatories please explain to us how the invasion of Iraq was "in the national interest of the United States?" Heck, even the U.S. intelligence community no longer believes that one; in fact, the intelligence agencies recently concluded in their consensus National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that Iraq has made the United States LESS safe from attack.
Heckuva job, Republicans! Or perhaps we should call it what it REALLY is, a "miserable failure." Ha.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
HYPOCRITICAL MUCH?