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News Release

March 22, 2005

Media Contact: (202) 789-5200

Has the GOP Congress Delivered What It Promised?
Gingrich, Armey, and Crane Debate Results

In The Republican Revolution 10 Years Later: Smaller Government or Business as Usual? 16 policy experts analyze the successes and failures of Republican policy over the past decade.

In 1994 Republicans took control of Congress by making the entrenched federal establishment a key issue. They promised to "restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives" and invited a public assessment of their progress.

In this new collection, edited by Chris Edwards and John Samples, Cato Institute scholars take up that challenge on the broader issue of reducing the federal government and assess the record of the Republican Congress after 10 years. They consider whether Republicans have kept their promises in each major policy area, including education, health care, regulation, taxation, and trade.

Newt Gingrich and Richard Armey -- two of the primary architects of the 1994 takeover, who later became House leaders -- explain the political strategy that led to the landmark victory and defend their achievements.

Cato Institute president Edward H. Crane offers a historical perspective on the events that led to the 1994 election results. He argues that the neoconservatives have an interventionist agenda that has undermined efforts to reduce federal power. He proposes a new revolution to achieve the changes that the Republican majority has not been able to deliver.

As we approach the end of the current Congress's first 100 days, this book provides penetrating insights about whether the reform spirit of 1994 created a lasting change or fell victim to the special interests of those in power.

About the Editors

Chris Edwards is director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute. Before joining Cato, he was senior economist on Congress's Joint Economic Committee examining taxation, Social Security, and entrepreneurship.

John Samples is director of Cato's Center for Representative Government. He is also a fellow for the study of American government at John Hopkins University. Before joining Cato, Samples served for eight years as director of Georgetown University Press and, before that, was vice president of the Twentieth Century Fund. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University.

Advance Praise

"A wide-ranging evaluation of the consequences of the 1994 takeover of Congress on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, including comments by some of the architects of that takeover. The sixteen authors cover every facet of government. Some find lasting effects; others, negligible effects; still others, effects that are the opposite of the aims proclaimed in the Contract with America. An interesting and informative read." —Milton Friedman

About the Book

The Republican Revolution 10 Years Later: Smaller Government or Business as Usual?
edited by Chris Edwards and John Samples
272 pages
$19.95 cloth, ISBN: 1-930865-69-4
$13.95 paper, ISBN: 1-930865-72-4
Publication date: March 22, 2005

Since 1992 the Cato Institute's books have been distributed to the trade by the National Book Network (www.nbnbooks.com).

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The Republican Revolution 10 Years Later: Smaller Government or Business as Usual?
edited by Chris Edwards and John Samples Cato Institute, March 2005

About the Contributors

Richard Armey is co-chairman of Freedom Works (formerly Citizens for a Sound Economy). He was the primary author of the Contract with America and was House majority leader from 1995 to 2002.

Michael F. Cannon is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute.

Edward H. Crane is founder and president of the Cato Institute.

Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. is vice president for regulatory policy and director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Chris Edwards is director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute

Newt Gingrich is senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and chief executive officer of the Gingrich Group. He was the key architect of the GOP victory in 1994 and served as Speaker of the House from 1995 until 1998.

Daniel J. Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute

Ron Haskins is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. As a welfare policy expert on the House Ways and Means Committee from 1986 to 2000, Haskins was a key adviser for the 1996 welfare legislation.

Timothy Lynch is director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice.

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