Unpacking the GOP’s “Pledge to America”

The Who, What, When, Where and Why Behind Republican Irresponsibility

SOURCE: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, center, gestures while announcing the Republicans "Pledge to America" agenda on September 23, 2010, at a lumber company in Sterling, VA. From left are Rep. Peter Roskam, (R-IL), House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of VA, Boehner, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, (R-WA), and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, (R-CA).

September 24, 2010

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Congressional Republicans this week unveiled their “Pledge to America,” dressing down for the occasion at a hardware store in Sterling, Virginia, to demonstrate their empathy for the average American. Alas, their pledge is as bereft of ideas to help working Americans as it is empty of anything but election eve rhetoric designed to mask the GOP’s corporate support in tea party platitudes.

Here’s our analysis of the who, what, when, where and why behind their deeply dangerous “pledge.”

Who wrote the pledge?

• Lobbyists. (Think Progress)

What will the pledge do?

• It pledges to continue the same failed policies that brought us the worst recession since the Great Depression. (Think Progress)
• It is an oath to Big Oil. (Wonk Room)
• It is a backdoor path to bring in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) controversial budget roadmap that privatizes Medicare and Social Security. (Wonk Room)
• It repeals the Affordable Care Act and replaces it with provisions from the Affordable Care Act. (Think Progress)
• It endorses Arizona’s deputization of immigration law. (Wonk Room)
• It embraces a radical “Tenther” view of the U.S. Constitution. (Think Progress)
• Christian E. Weller breaks down the numbers on the GOP’s proposed tax break for small business in the "Pledge" and finds the biggest companies win once again. More here. (CAP)
  

What will it do to deficits and debt?

• American Progress’s Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden examined the "Pledge" and found that implementing the plan’s proposals would increase the federal budget deficit and accelerate growth in federal debt. More here. (CAP)

What did the GOP refuse to include in the "Pledge?"

• One of the most popular ideas on the GOP’s “America Speaking Out” website: ending tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. (Think Progress)
• A ban on earmarks. (Think Progress)
• The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Wonk Room)