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SALT LAKE CITY -- A bold new vision, or just more of the same? Republicans are out with their "Pledge to America," harkening back to the 1994 "Contract with America" that ushered the GOP into House leadership.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, was one of six lawmakers -- all of them relatively new faces on Capitol Hill -- to roll out the plan.
Related:
GOP 'Pledge' makes closing argument to voters
Republicans are putting their leading midterm congressional campaign arguments into a new manifesto designed to show they're listening to an angry public and are focused on creating jobs.It talks about reining in spending, extending the Bush-era tax cuts and repealing the Obama administration's health care reform law, along with other, more procedural changes.
"As a freshman here, I have never experienced an open rule," Chaffetz pointed out. "I have never been able to go to the floor of the House and actually offer an amendment on a spending bill. That is fundamentally wrong."
Chaffetz also told KSL the pledge will require lawmakers to cite justification for their legislation in the Constitution.
No longer can the Democrats simply sit back and say, ‘Oh, this is the party of no.' We're laying out in great detail what we want to do and how we want to do it.
–Rep. Jason Chaffetz
Chaffetz says the Pledge to America is not unlike the 1994 Contract with America that helped Republicans gain control of the House. But the GOP says the pledge is stronger and bolder.
They say Newt Gingrich's contract promised just to have the votes, but the pledge promises to work toward making changes a reality.
"No longer can the Democrats simply sit back and say, ‘Oh, this is the party of no.' We're laying out in great detail what we want to do and how we want to do it," Chaffetz says.
The plan steers clear of specifics on some important issues, such as how it will "put government on a path to a balanced budget." It omits altogether the question of how to address looming shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare.
Chaffetz's part in the announcement centered on a plan to limit what can be tied to a bill. He doesn't want a bill on defense spending, for example, to be tied to a completely unrelated measure, like the Dream Act.
Democrats have come out with sharp criticism for the pledge, saying there's not much new in the document.
In an interview for Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," former President Bill Clinton described the pledge as ideology, saying, "They don't know that the model for success in the 21st century is a vigorous private sector, an effective government, a partnership, not these hysterical tirades against government."
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Story compiled with contributions from Becky Bruce and The Associated Press.
