On the Scene

THE mainstream press has grudgingly conceded that the House GOP kept its promise by voting on all ten items in the Contract with America, including congressonal accountability, the Balanced Budget Amendment, the line-item veto, unfunded mandates, crime control, tax cuts, welfare reform, legal reform, and regulatory relief. Only term limits failed, and they were supported by 85 per cent of the Republican members.

But the press is still selling the misleading story that most of the House proposals will never make it through the Senate, and those few that do pass the upper chamber will be wisely vetoed by President Clinton. Nonsense. Just look at the $17-billion House rescission bill sent up to the Senate just before the Easter recess. Left-wing senators such as Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin, and Barbara Boxer did their best to bottle up the new budget cuts, while the White House ordered executive agencies and departments to accelerate the spending of all unused balances. Yet the Senate ultimately passed a $16-billion rescission, $3 billion above the original goal, and passed it by a vote of 99 to 0. Although the Senate restored some undesirable spending that the House had cut [see The Week, p. 14], the rescission vote has to be seen as a good omen.

About the Author

Larry Kudlow

Larry Kudlow is the author of JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity, written with Brian Domitrovic.

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THE mainstream press has grudgingly conceded that the House GOP kept its promise by voting on all ten items in the Contract with America, including congressonal accountability, the Balanced Budget Amendment, the line-item veto, unfunded mandates, crime control, tax cuts, welfare reform, legal reform, and regulatory relief. Only term limits failed, and they were supported by 85 per cent of the Republican members.

But the press is still selling the misleading story that most of the House proposals will never make it through the Senate, and those few that do pass the upper chamber will be wisely vetoed by President Clinton. Nonsense. Just look at the $17-billion House rescission bill sent up to the Senate just before the Easter recess. Left-wing senators such as Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin, and Barbara Boxer did their best to bottle up the new budget cuts, while the White House ordered executive agencies and departments to accelerate the spending of all unused balances. Yet the Senate ultimately passed a $16-billion rescission, $3 billion above the original goal, and passed it by a vote of 99 to 0. Although the Senate restored some undesirable spending that the House had cut [see The Week, p. 14], the rescission vote has to be seen as a good omen.