Gunning for the Unbefitting

Clinton thought the constitutional amendment was bull, and he was right. But that wasn't the only problem with the Contract. The tax cuts and the balanced budget amendment were popular with Americans who wanted a historically undisciplined government to show some level of fiscal responsibility, while having to pay it less at the same time.

Republicans were bold enough about their plan and their desperation to win a majority in the House that they plainly stated that "If we break this contract, throw us out. We mean it."

Consider the contract broken. The GOP has made no attempt to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and have gone on a reckless tax-cutting spending spree that has driven our country deeper into debt than it has ever been before.

When Bill Clinton left office, the budget deficit was gone, replaced by a surplus, and the stage set to begin reducing the national debt for the first time in history. Within a years time, the Republicans who were swept into office on promises of fiscal responsibility gave us the perfect reason and opportunity to throw them out. They broke their word; they broke the Contract with America. [...]
Bob Dole did not under any circumstances want Clinton and the Democrats to be able to pass their health care reform legislation, because it would have represented too big of a political win. He had no objections to the reform, other than Democrats being the ones behind it, and not his party.

Dole filibustered the health care reform bill, and promised to continue to do so indefinitely. He won the fight, and millions of Americans missed out on badly needed reform that would have risen coverage to unprecedented levels, even without an employer mandate that Republicans objected to. Dole killed it anyway, but that was just a taste of things to come. [...]

"President Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, had acknowledged that his administration had intentionally run huge deficits to create a crisis that would "starve" the domestic budget. They succeeded partially, underfunding but not eliminating investments in our common future. Now the Gingrich Republicans were trying to use a balanced budget with unreasonable revenue and spending assumptions to finish the job. I was determined to stop them; the future direction of our nation hung in the balance."