que instrument in American politics--there is no comparable congressional document in our two-hundred-year history (Gingrich, 1995, p. 111).
The Contract comprised ten points amounting to a policy pledge of the Republican members of the House of Representatives, in the form of projected legislation regarding social policy, tax policy, and welfare policy. Some of its provisions were enacted, and others were not; despite Gingrich's characterization of the document as unique, many of the points in the contract have been part of the legislative dialogue for years (Handler, 1995, pp. 110-11). The Contract is aimed at reducing the federal bureaucracy by turning administration of (and funds for) federal programs over to the states; balancing the federal budget; limiting welfare benefits; repealing taxes on capital gains on investments; transforming Social Security benefit structures; and transforming federal health-care benefit structures.
In the election of 1996, the Republican Party platform incorporated much that was in the Contract. It was above all distinguis
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