It seems like a lifetime ago that flag-waving Republicans stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and pledged a “Contract with America.”
Fast forward 16 years and Republicans are back partying like it’s, well, 1994.
This morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner will unveil a shiny new “Pledge to America,” a 21-page governing agenda to take the country back to the future:
In a self‐governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.[…]
With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America.
We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
It’s a broad draft document but that hasn’t stopped the pre-buttals. Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement:
Congressional Republicans are pledging to ship jobs overseas; blow a $700 billion hole in the deficit to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires; turn Social Security from a guaranteed benefit into a guaranteed gamble; once again, subject American families to the recklessness of Wall Street; and take away patients’ rights. Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of American and threatened our economy.
With this document the “party of no” becomes the “party of oh, hell no.”
UPDATE: House Minority Leader John Boehner released “A Pledge to America” at a family-owned business in Virginia.
During the press event, Boehner said:
“A Pledge to America” offers a new way forward that hasn’t been tried in Washington: an approach focused on cutting spending instead of accelerating spending, and eliminating uncertainty for the private-sector innovators and entrepreneurs who create jobs. These are the solutions the American people are demanding, and Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid should act on them before Congress adjourns for the fall.
“A Pledge to America” can be downloaded here.
