The pledge criticized the
Obama administration, stating that "An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many". It lists a number of issues, along with the Republican plan to solve them.
In the pledge, Republicans call for:
Extending the temporary tax cuts passed under President
George W. Bush in
2001 and
2003 for all taxpayers, including those for those earning over $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples).
A
tax deduction for small businesses on up to 20 percent of their business income.
Roll back government spending to 2008 levels, to save $100 billion while exempting "seniors, veterans, and our troops" from cuts; this would entail cutting 21 percent of the $477 billion budgeted for domestic discretionary spending.[4]
A hiring freeze on all federal agencies except those necessary to national security.
A permanent ban on any federal funding for
abortion.
A requirement that Congress post all bills online three days before a vote.
A requirement that lawmakers cite the specific
constitutional authority that enables the legislation.
A ban on trials on U.S. soil for detainees currently held at
Guantanamo Bay.
Reactions
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adding to it. (September 2010)
The pledge has generally received support from Republicans.[3]National Review called it bolder than the
Contract with America and a "shrewd political document."[5] Political strategist and former President
George W. Bush adviser
Karl Rove called it "important" and "practical."[6] Conservative radio talk show host
Rush Limbaugh defended the Pledge to America, arguing, "There's nothing crazy about any of this."[7]
Democrats[3]
and The Daily Show's
Jon Stewart[11] have criticized the proposals as recycled ideas from the
Bush administration. Economist
Paul Krugman criticized the document for denouncing deficits but calling for tax cuts (which he notes would add $3.7 trillion over the first ten years after its enactment) without specific spending cuts: "In essence, what [the Republicans] say is, 'Deficits are a terrible thing. Let's make them much bigger.'"[12] Other commentators agreed that "the numbers don't remotely add up"[13] and that the Pledge "should be read as a plan to explode debt through the ceiling."[14] Keith Boykin cited a lack of ethnic diversity in the photographs accompanying the Pledge to America, calling it a pledge "to White America."[15]
In a Washington Post editorial, pollster
Frank Luntz, who polled Republican proposals in 1994 before Republicans drafted the Contract with America, found the Pledge to America more partisan-oriented, more anti-government, and lacked a "detailed course of action," but concluded it was a justifiable effort.[16]
The Republicans made a net gain of 63 seats from Democrats and retook control of the chamber which they lost in the 2006 midterm elections. This number is the highest of any House victory for a single party since
1948, and the highest of any midterm election since
1938.[20][21]
As of September 2014[update] none of the items in the pledge have been enacted into law.[25] The website for the Pledge for America (pledge.gop.gov) has removed all mention of the pledge from the site's home page.[26]