l committee staffers, reduce the Congressional budget, and hire an outside auditor to investigate Congressional abuses (Tumulty, 1995, p. 25). As of March 25, 1995, President Clinton signed into law a bill calling for Congressional accountability; the bill for Congressional committee and staff changes had cleared the House floor, but had not entered Senate Committee. (U. S. Congress, 1995, p. 853).
The first point of the "Contract with America" program is "The Fiscal Responsibility Act." This Act includes the balanced budget amendment and the line item veto. The Constitutional amendment would have required the federal budget to be balanced by 2002. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate. The House passed the proposal, but it died on the Senate floor, only two votes short of the required two-thirds majority. The line-item veto would give the President the authority to strike big spending items on proposed legislation. This bill passed both House and Senate. Political analysts report that prospects for presidential passage of the line item veto are strong because the concept has long been supported by Clinton (Seideman, 1995, p. 27).
The second point of the "Contract with America" program is "The Taking Back Our Streets Act" which addresses violent crime. The proposed legislation includes a package of reforms
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