Ten years ago, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and the House Republican Caucus unveiled their so-called “Contract With America” – a sweeping promise of radical change that would occur under a Republican majority.

Today, after a decade of Republican rule, have they fulfilled their promises to the American people? Have they made our government more fiscally responsible, our economy stronger, or our government more accountable?

House Republicans should be sued by the American people for breach of Contract -- their own contract. Republicans have run the Peoples’ House for the benefit of the well-connected special interests, undercutting our economy, sacrificing our democratic traditions of open and fair debate, and mortgaging the future of our children through the worst fiscal mismanagement in history.

Fiscal Irresponsibility. Republicans promised a series of laws to assure that Congress would “live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses.” But under Republican management, we have the worst deficits in American history, plunging the nation in years of red ink instead of the balanced budget produced by the Clinton Administration only 4 years ago! They’re right about one thing, though: thanks to irresponsible budget policies, our federal deficits do look too much like millions of families and businesses who are economically suffering under Republican policies.

Failed Jobs Policies. The Contract With America promised “to create jobs [and] enhance wages.” But Republican economic policies have resulted in multi-billion windfalls of tax cuts for the richest Americans, and economic hardship for the middle class: prolonged unemployment (with a cutoff in benefits), falling income, health care benefits priced out of reach for more than 40 million Americans, outsourcing jobs overseas, and a higher proportion of taxes paid by wage earners.

Abusing Democracy. The Republican Contract promised that “committee meetings [would] be open to the public.” But in fact, the all-important conference committees – where the final versions of legislation are drafted – are not only hidden from the public, but from Democratic Members of Congress, who represent nearly half our population! Overall, Republicans have sharply curtailed the rights of Democrats to openly participate in the legislative process by restricting the right to offer amendments, keeping close votes open for hours, and by intimidating Republicans who dared to vote their conscience.

Ten years later, it is clear that the House Republicans failed to deliver on their promises of fiscal responsibility, economic growth and government accountability.