WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders are vowing to cut taxes and federal spending, repeal President Barack Obama’s health-care law and ban federal funding of abortion as part of a campaign manifesto designed to propel them to victory in midterm elections Nov. 2.
The “Pledge to America,” circulated to GOP lawmakers Wednesday, emphasizes job creation and spending control, as well as changing the way Congress does business.
It pairs some familiar Republican ideas - such as deep spending cuts, medical liability change and stricter border enforcement - with an anti-government call to action that draws on Tea Party themes and echoes voters’ disgruntlement with the economy and Obama’s leadership.
The plan is emerging less than six weeks before elections.
“Regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent,” reads a preamble to the agenda. “An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.”
It goes on to call for every bill to cite its specific constitutional authority, a vote on any government regulation that costs more than $100 million annually and a freeze on hiring federal workers except security personnel. It also has a “read the bill” provision mandating that legislation be publicly available for three days before a vote.
GOP leaders are to go public with the plan today at a hardware store in suburban Virginia.
Officials have described the agenda as the culmination of an Internet- and social networking-powered project they launched earlier this year to give voters the chance to say what Congress should do. The “America Speaking Out” project collected 160,000 ideas and received 1 million votes and comments on the proposals, they said.
Much internal debate ensued among party leaders, rank-and-file lawmakers and GOP activists about the contents of the agenda, including whether it should include a reference to “family values,” which some strategists argued could alienate the independent voters Republicans are courting.
They agreed to include the abortion provision and a vaguely worded statement on social issues: “We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values.”
The plan recalled Republicans’ 1994 “Contract With America,” a list of heavily poll-tested proposals they unveiled about six weeks before the GOP gained 54 House seats and seized control of the House for the first time in 40 years.
“The Contract was done at a time when it was acceptable for a relatively small number of elected officials and trusted aides to go behind closed doors, come up with some ideas, test them in polls and then announce them on the steps of the Capitol,” said Michael Franc of the conservative Heritage Foundation, who was a House aide during those days.
“If you did that now, you’d see yourself being hung in effigy most places. ... [Republicans] can’t afford to come across as another case of ‘government knows best,”’ Franc said.
Democrats dismissed the GOP plan as recycled ideas that would further exacerbate the nation’s problems.
“Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of Americans and threatened our economy,” said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The plan proposes creating jobs through tax cuts, including permanently extending George W. Bush’s reductions for people at every income level, now set to expire in January, and a 20 percent deduction for small businesses. It also calls for repeal of a new provision enacted to help pay for the health-care law that requires nearly 40 million businesses to file tax forms for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 09/23/2010