[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 65 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              CONTRACT WITH AMERICA WAS WILDLY SUCCESSFUL

  (Mr. WALKER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, the Contract With America was a wildly 
successful effort in large part because the American people were 
promised something specific in terms of legislation, not generalities, 
but specific promises, and those promises were kept.
  Day in and day out on this floor a group of politicians came together 
and kept their promises to the American people.
  Today we have heard the reply of the Democrats on the floor. The 
Democrats can reply only out of fear and only with negativism.
  Time and time again we have brought to the floor pieces of specific 
legislation, and all we have heard is criticism. They have no program. 
They have only criticism. They have no positive view of America. They 
have only negativism. They have no program for the future. They have 
only fear.
  Day in and day out we have heard them bring this to the floor, and we 
have heard it again today. That is too bad.
  If we are going to have a real debate about where America should go, 
they ought to have a program.
  I heard a little bit of a program in one speech earlier today. It 
sounded to me as though they are willing to countenance across-the-
board cuts in Social Security. Now, that would be an interesting 
debate. I hope that we have that kind of debate on the floor.
  Republicans have said in our budget we will protect Social Security. 
We are going to balance the budget by the year 2002. That is going to 
be the chief work of the days ahead. We will not touch Social Security.
  Today I heard on the floor the beginnings of an effort by some 
Democrats to say that what they are willing to do is balance the budget 
and do it by countenancing an across-the-board cut in Social Security. 
It should be a very interesting debate.
  We would like to hear something positive out of them, not just 
criticism.

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