Republicans outline ‘Pledge to America’ promising tax, spending cuts, bottom-up governing

GOP ‘Pledge’ makes closing argument to voters

WASHINGTON — Republicans are putting their leading midterm congressional campaign arguments into a new manifesto designed to show they’re listening to an angry public and are focused on creating jobs.

GOP lawmakers later Thursday will roll out their “Pledge to America” — a 21-page document filled with familiar proposals to slash taxes and spending and cut down on government regulation, as well as repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law and end his stimulus program.

With polls showing voters disenchanted with Obama, worried about the economy and mad at elected officials, the agenda also vows to change the way Congress works — requiring every bill to cite its constitutional authority, for example, and to be made public for three days before a vote.

“Putting spending, putting the policy of economic growth in place and cleaning up the way Congress works is not only a stark contrast to this president and this Congress,” said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “It’s a contrast to the way we conducted ourselves a decade ago. We spent to much money. We lost our way.”

The plan steers clear of specifics on important issues, such as how it will “put government on a path to a balanced budget.” It omits altogether the question of how to address looming shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare, which account for a huge portion of the nation’s soaring deficit, instead including a vague promise: “We will make the decisions that are necessary to protect our entitlement programs.”

Republicans are favored to add substantially to their ranks on Nov. 2, perhaps enough to seize control of the House.

Their new agenda is rife with the kind of grass-roots rhetoric that could appeal both to tea party activists and to independent voters the GOP is courting in its quest for control.

“Regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent,” the pledge says. “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.”

Polls show large majorities are fed up with Congress and both parties and show Republicans have a chance to earn the public’s trust on key issues.

The latest Associated Press-GfK poll found nearly three-quarters disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, with 68 percent disapproving of Republicans compared with 60 percent disapproving of Democrats.

Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, the head of Republicans’ House campaign committee, said the agenda was drafted to answer the public’s skepticism about government and give them a “deliverable.”

“A number of people are very cynical about the reliability and the sincerity of either party,” Sessions said. “We’ve put things on a sheet of paper.”

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the House GOP conference chairman, said ahead of the rollout in suburban Virginia later Thursday that the party document stems from a long period of listening to and talking to voters.

“Congress ought to be acting to make sure there is no tax increase on any American at any level,” he said.

Democrats dismissed the GOP plan as recycled ideas that would further exacerbate the nation’s problems.

“Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of Americans and threatened our economy,” said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

GOP lawmakers planned to go public with their plan at a hardware store in a Virginia suburb of Washington, choosing a location outside the nation’s capital that’s in keeping with the plan’s grass-roots emphasis.

Pence appeared on CBS’s “The Early Show,” and Ryan was interviewed on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.