From the Contract With America to the Pledge to America

In 1994 Newt Gingrich introduced the Contract With America. 1. require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress; 2. select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse; 3. cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third; 4. limit the terms of all committee chairs; 5. ban the casting of proxy votes in committee; 6. require committee meetings to be open to the public; 7. require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase; 8. guarantee an honest accounting of the Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line Today House Minority Leader John Boehner issue the Pledge to America.