A shift

It was 20 years ago that Republicans came out with its Contract with America, a document that detailed the actions the party promised to take if they became the majority party in the House of Representatives.

Since it came six weeks before the first midterm election of President Bill Clinton's administration, unveiling the contract proved to be good strategy. Republicans won 54 House and nine U.S. Senate seats in those midterms, which party leaders such as Minority Whip Newt Gingrich considered a win for the GOP and the conservative movement in general.

Some of the initiatives pushed by Republicans in 1994 are issues still championed by the GOP, such as shrinking the size of government, pushing lower taxes and entrepreneurship.

In light of Tuesday night's takeover of the Senate by Republicans, the party would be wise to have a similar game plan outlining their proposals, even though a number of them could likely be vetoed by the president.

Pressing issues such as the Keystone pipeline, tax reform, infrastructure spending, Iran's nuclear program, the ISIS threat in the Middle East and Obamacare are still hot topics heading into the president's final two years in office and need to be addressed by Congress.

Proposals put forth by the majority party holding both the House and the Senate certainly carry new weight in Congress as they will be able to exert more pressure to pass bills and repeal laws of their choosing. Even if they force the president to use his veto power, the voting record in the new congressional majority will be on record for all to see heading into the 2016 presidential election.

According to Dan Holler, spokesman for the conservative Heritage Action for America, Republicans in the Senate "should stand for something" like their House predecessors in 1994. Ironically, that was the last time a Democrat (Bill Clinton) was in the White House with two Republican-controlled chambers. Even with that power shift in the midterm elections, however, Clinton was able to negotiate a number of Republican initiatives, including welfare reform.

Since most Americans seem to think that the whole system in Washington is broken, the shift in power in Congress gives Republicans a new opportunity.

Now, instead of simply being anti-Obama as their critics argue, the Republican majority in Congress has been given the chance to take us in a new direction and show that they can govern.

By JIM ZBICK

editor@tnonline.com