We lost the Congress in 1994. Some analysts say this happened because of the Contract with America. Could they have been right? Could there be some interesting things in the contract that (1) weren't bad ideas, really, but (2) never were implemented by the Republican majority BECAUSE they weren't bad ideas? Does their hypocrisy know any bounds?
This is what they promised to do on day one:
* 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.
Among the most interesting provisions was:
Citizen Legislature Act
Summary:
This resolution provides for consideration of two joint
resolutions which propose amendments to the constitution limiting the number of terms members of the Senate and the House of Representatives can serve. The first joint resolution (identical to H.J.Res. 38 as introduced in the 103rd Congress) limits the number of Senate terms to two and the number of House terms to six. The second joint resolution (identical to H.J.Res. 160 as introduced in the 103rd Congress) also limits Senators to two terms, but it limits members of the House to three terms.
How many Representatives signed the contract, but ignored the idea of term limits (it has now been six terms)?