Republicans Hope to Revive Their ‘Contract’

Republicans in Congress are scrambling to breathe new life into the largely unfulfilled “contract with America,” the 1994 conservative campaign manifesto that has been scarcely mentioned by this year’s GOP presidential candidates.

The effort to resurrect flagging elements of the contract begins today, when the House plans to take up a new version of legislation designed to cut red tape and rein in government regulatory power.

In the coming weeks, Republicans also plan to revive anti-crime legislation, a proposed line-item veto and other stalled elements of the contract to give congressional Republicans some legislative accomplishments to brag about in their reelection campaigns--even if they fall far short of the grand designs they initially promised.

The drive to salvage some elements of the GOP’s tattered legislative agenda also could give a boost to the presidential bid of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, who last week gave Republicans marching orders to resolve their differences and get the contract moving again.

The contract, a 10-plank agenda that was the Republicans’ bible during their first year in power, called for tax cuts, welfare reform, term limits and other initiatives that GOP pollsters said enjoyed broad voter support. But only three relatively arcane elements of the contract have become law: a bill to make it harder for Congress to impose mandates on states, another to subject Congress to workplace regulations and a third to make it harder for investors to sue companies.

Some major elements of the contract--including tax cuts and welfare reform--were vetoed by Clinton as part of the GOP plan to balance the budget in seven years. The future of those initiatives is bound up in the broader effort to redesign GOP budget strategy.

But other contract items have been slowed by differences among Republicans themselves, which GOP leaders are trying to resolve. For example, House and Senate Republicans have been at odds over legislation to impose new limits on product liability lawsuits. The House linked that to a much broader measure to overhaul the entire civil litigation system. Now, GOP aides say the House is likely to back down and accept a narrower bill that can pass muster in the more moderate Senate.

House and Senate Republicans also are close to resolving differences over competing line-item veto proposals, which would give the president more power to block individual spending items without vetoing an entire appropriations bill. Some Republicans remain opposed to passing the veto now because it would strengthen a Democratic president.

A stripped-down anti-crime initiative will be resurrected in the House next week, when GOP leaders plan to link some of their less controversial proposals to an anti-terrorism bill. The anti-crime riders are expected to include measures to limit death penalty appeals, to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes and to require restitution of crime victims. House Republican leaders are dropping a controversial proposal, which passed the House last year and stalled in the Senate, to make it easier for federal prosecutors to use evidence obtained in illegal searches.