[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 138 (Wednesday, September 28, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA IS NO JOKE

  (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Republican House candidates 
signed their contract with the Republican leadership--a list of the 
bills they would introduce if they gained control of the House.
  It would be easy for us to view this contract as a mere partisan 
ploy--a jumble of time-worn, discredited proposals that simply do not 
add up. Indeed, today's U.S.A. Today describes it as a ``con,'' 
``fiscal games,'' and ``the same old fraud.''
  But before we dismiss this contract as an election year joke, we 
would be wise to remember that the last time Republicans banded 
together to present the same agenda, the joke was on us.
  Back in 1980, when the Republicans cried for large tax cuts for the 
wealthy, massive increases in defense spending, and a balanced Federal 
budget, few of us took it very seriously. In the absence of real 
dissent, America was treated to a 12-year Reaganomic roller-coaster 
ride--tax giveaways for the rich, runaway deficits, and rampant 
economic decline.
  That is why we have to take this effort to resuscitate Reaganomics 
very, very seriously. This contract would blow a hole in the Federal 
budget of roughly a trillion dollars.
  Their commitment to balance the Federal budget would require $743 
billion in budget cuts over 5 years. On its own, this would force deep 
cuts in Medicare or Social Security or both--since these programs 
represent about 40 percent of all available savings.
  Tack on a $70 billion defense increase, and $200 billion in tax cuts 
for the wealthy, and the result is a trickle-down time warp that could 
bury us in debt for much of the next century.
  The fact that the GOP is touting these failed policies as fresh, new 
ideas may seem laughable--but if we do not expose their deception, we 
will laugh this country into fiscal oblivion.
  In the words of today's U.S.A. Today, ``Like 1980's free lunch, this 
one promises a huge bellyache later.''

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