Archer Announces Contract with
America Overview Hearings

Congressman Bill Archer (R-TX), Chairman Designate of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced a series of overview hearings on the Contract with America, the series of 10 bills offered by the Republicans as a national legislative agenda. The first hearing will take place on Thursday, January 5, 1995, beginning at 1:00 p.m. in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building. On that day, the Committee will hear testimony from House Speaker-Designate Newt Gingrich (R-GA). Three additional overview hearings will be held on Tuesday, January 10, Wednesday, January 11, and Thursday, January 12, 1995, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m. each day.

Oral testimony at these initial hearings will be heard from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include individuals from the general public, governors, economists, scholars and other interested organizations. However, any individual or organization may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. Additional hearings on specific elements of the Contract with America will be announced for additional days in January at which time the interested public may testify.

BACKGROUND:

Five of the 10 bills contained in the Contract with America are under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. They include:

The American Dream Restoration Act:

Families today often spend more money on taxes than they do on food, clothing and shelter combined. Just the act of becoming a family - marriage - is penalized by a tax code that makes a couple pay more in taxes than they paid as single people dating each other. To allow families to keep more of what they make, the Contract provides for a $500 tax credit for each child under the age of 18 for families with adjusted gross incomes under $200,000; provides relief from the marriage tax penalty, and provides new opportunities for families through a new Individual Retirement Account, called the American Dream Savings Account.

The Job Creation and Wave Enhancement Act:

To create more high-paying, upward moving jobs for Americans, this bill includes capital gains relief to stimulate savings and investment; neutral cost recovery; expensing for small business; an increase in the estate tax unified credit; and restoration of the home office deduction.

The Family Reinforcement Act:

To help families come together and stay together, this bill includes a maximum $5000 refundable tax credit for adoption expenses and a credit of $500 per parent or grandparent who lives at home and is unable to perform daily living activities.

The Senior Citizens Equity Act:

This bill would repeal the Clinton Administration tax increase on Social Security; increase the Social Security earnings limit; provide tax incentives for private longterm care insurance; and allow accelerated benefits under life insurance policies to aid those with terminal illness.

The Personal Responsibility Act:

Ending the cycle of welfare dependency in the next century by revolutionizing the welfare system is essential to our growth as a nation. The bill requires welfare recipients to work; forces fathers to participate in work programs if they fail to pay child support; eliminate most welfare payments to most people who are not American citizens; limits the time people can spend on the welfare rolls, and creates a powerful disincentive so children on welfare don't have children they can't afford to raise.

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