Editing Contract with America (section)

==Implementation==
The contract promised to bring to floor debate and votes ten bills that would implement reform of the federal government. When the [[104th United States Congress|104th Congress]] assembled in January 1995, the Republican majority sought to implement the contract.

In some cases (e.g. ''The National Security Restoration Act'' and ''The Personal Responsibility Act''), the proposed bills were accomplished by a single act analogous to that which had been proposed in the contract; in other cases (e.g. ''The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act''), a proposed bill's provisions were split up across multiple acts. Most of the bills died in the Senate, except as noted below.

=== Congressional Accountability Act ===
{{Main articles|Congressional Accountability Act of 1995}}
{{Empty section|date=October 2023}}

===Fiscal Responsibility Act===
An [[Unsuccessful attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution|amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]] that would require a balanced budget unless sanctioned by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress (H.J.Res.1, passed by the US House [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll051.xml Roll Call: 300-132], January 26, 1995, but rejected by the US Senate: [https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=104&session=1&vote=00098 Roll Call 65–35] (the amendment was defeated by a single vote, with one Republican opposed, [[Oregon]] Republican senator [[Mark Hatfield]]; [[Bob Dole]] cast a procedural vote against the amendment to bring it up again in the future), March 2, 1995, two-thirds required.<ref name="AD090813">{{cite news |title=Hatfield Remembered for Vote Against Balanced Budget Amendment |work=[[Roll Call]] |date=August 8, 2011 |url=http://www.rollcall.com/news/hatfield_remembered_for_vote_against_amendment-208068-1.html |access-date=September 8, 2013}}</ref> 

===Taking Back Our Streets Act===
An anti-crime package including stronger [[truth in sentencing]], "good faith" [[exclusionary rule]] exemptions (H.R.666 Exclusionary Rule Reform Act, passed [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll103.xml US House Roll Call 289–142] February 8, 1995), [[death penalty]] provisions (H.R.729 Effective Death Penalty Act, passed [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll109.xml US House Roll Call 297–132] February 8, 1995; similar provisions enacted under S. 735 [https://web.archive.org/web/20140702115742/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c104%3A4%3A.%2Ftemp%2F~c104ToSnGo%3A%3A], April 24, 1996), funding prison construction (H.R.667 Violent Criminal Incarceration Act, passed [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll117.xml US House Roll Call 265–156] February 10, 1995, rc#117) and additional law enforcement (H.R.728 Local Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Act, passed [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll129.xml US House Roll Call 238–192] February 14, 1995).

===Personal Responsibility Act===
An act to discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by reforming and cutting cash welfare and related programs. This would be achieved by prohibiting welfare to mothers under 18 years of age, denying increased [[Aid to Families with Dependent Children]] (AFDC) for additional children while on welfare, and enacting a two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. H.R.4, ''the Family Self-Sufficiency Act'', included provisions giving food vouchers to unwed mothers under 18 in lieu of cash AFDC benefits, denying cash AFDC benefits for additional children to people on AFDC, requiring recipients to participate in work programs after two years on AFDC, complete termination of AFDC payments after five years, and suspending driver and professional licenses of people who fail to pay child support. H.R.4, passed by the US House 234–199, March 23, 1995, and passed by the US Senate 87–12, September 19, 1995. The act was vetoed by President Clinton, but the alternative [[Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act]] which offered many of the same policies was enacted August 22, 1996.

===American Dream Restoration Act===
An act to create a $500-per-child tax credit, add a tax credit for couples who pay more taxes in aggregate if they are married than if they were single (but keep in place the concept of [[Income splitting|Earned Income Splitting]]), and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle-class tax relief. H.R.1215, passed 246–188, April 5, 1995.

===National Security Restoration Act===
An act to prevent U.S. troops from serving under United Nations command unless the president determines it is necessary for the purposes of national security, to cut U.S. payments for [[Timeline of UN peacekeeping missions|UN peacekeeping operations]], and to help establish guidelines for the voluntary integration of former [[Warsaw Pact]] nations into [[NATO]]. H.R.7, passed 241–181, February 16, 1995.

===Common Sense Legal Reform Act===
An act to institute "[[English rule (attorney's fees)|loser pays]]" laws (H.R.988, passed 232–193, March 7, 1995), limits on punitive damages and weakening of [[product liability]] laws to prevent what the bill considered frivolous litigation (H.R.956, passed 265–161, March 10, 1995; passed Senate 61–37, May 11, 1995, vetoed by President Clinton. {{cite web |title=H.R.956 - Product Liability Fairness Act of 1995 |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-bill/00956}} Another [[tort reform]] bill, the [[Private Securities Litigation Reform Act]], was enacted in 1995 when Congress overrode Clinton's veto.

===Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act===
A package of measures to act as small-business incentives: capital-gains cuts and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the [[Regulatory Flexibility Act]] and [[unfunded mandate]] reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. Although this was listed as a single bill in the contract, its provisions ultimately made it to the House Floor as four bills:
* H.R.5, requiring federal funding for state spending mandated by congressional action and estimated by the [[Congressional Budget Office]] to cost more than $50 million per year (for the years of 1996–2002<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-bill/00005 |title=H.R.5 - Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 1995}}</ref>), was passed 360–74, February 1, 1995. This bill was conferenced with S. 1 and enacted, March 22, 1995 {{cite web |title=S.1 - Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/00001/all-actions-without-amendments}}
* H.R.450 required a moratorium on the implementation of federal regulations until June 30, 1995, and was passed 276–146, February 24, 1995. Companion Senate bill S. 219 passed by voice vote, May 17, 1995, but the two bills never emerged from conference {{cite web |title=S.219 - Regulatory Transition Act of 1995 |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/00219/all-actions-without-amendments}}
* H.R.925 required federal compensation to be paid to property owners when federal government actions reduced the value of the property by 20% or more, and was passed 277–148, March 3, 1995.
* H.R.926, passed 415–14 on March 1, 1995, required federal agencies to provide a [[cost-benefit analysis]] on any regulation costing $50 million or more annually, to be signed off on by the [[Office of Management and Budget]], and permitted small businesses to sue that agency if they believed the analysis was performed inadequately or incorrectly.

===Citizen Legislature Act===
{{see also|Term limits in the United States}}
An [[Unsuccessful attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution|amendment to the Constitution]] that would have imposed 12-year term limits on members of Congress (i.e. six terms for representatives, two terms for senators). {{USBill|104|H.J.Res.|73}} rejected by the House 227–204 (a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority, not a simple majority), March 29, 1995; [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll277.xml RC #277].

===Other sections===
Other sections of the contract include a proposed Family Reinforcement Act (tax incentives for adoption, strengthening the powers of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and elderly dependent care tax credit) and the Senior Citizens Fairness Act (raise the Social Security earnings limit, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance).