I had typed up a long post about this in the other section, but was deleted because it 'belongs in elections' even though it contained no direct reference to the election. Ah well, live and learn.
My info comes from a 2006 book called 'Buck Wild' by Cato economist Steve Slivinski
Amazon.com: Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government (9781595550644): Stephen A. Slivinski: Books
And no I won't quote from it this time.
November 1994 was a heady time for the GOP as it took control of the US House for the first time in 40 years. There was talk of eliminating whole departments such as Commerce, home of much corporate welfare, and sacred cows such as Amtrak and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
But in 1995 Republican old bull and Appropriations chair Bob Livingston had thwarted all such efforts. In fall 1995 a group of 20 conservative members called the 'New Federalists' asked Gingrich to intervene. He agreed and came up with a plan to get William Klinger, head of the Reform committee to piggyback the elimination of the Commerce Dept on another piece of legislation. But Clinton vetoed it, and that was that. There was never another vote on the termination of Commerce.
Likewise proposals to eliminate the Depts of Education, Energy, Amtrak, the NEA, and the B2 bomber were all stopped.
In 1997 there was a bill to reinstate funding for congressional committee funding that had been slashed as a result of the 'Contract with America.' Committee funding had been cut by one third, but now Gingrich wanted it quietly restored. A 'gang of eleven' Republicans voted against it, as did all Democrats, and the bill failed by three votes. A furious Gingrich called a mandatory meeting of the caucus, and dressed down the eleven, calling them the 'eleven geniuses' and 'you conservatives.' In an unusual move, Gingrich commanded the eleven to step up and explain their votes.
Steve Largent went first. 'Mr. Speaker, I am not intimidated.' Largent went on to relate how he had faced 300 lb. guys in the NFL, and that he had signed a document promising to cut committee funding. Slivinski writes that Gingrich never tried another 'stunt' like that but instead worked quietly behind the scene to deny the fiscal conservatives.
By early 1998 the revolution was in its death throes. The 1998 highway bill more than tripled the number of pork projects from the previous billl of 1991, enacted by Democrats. Transportation museums, bogus research, and a $3 million documentary on 'infrastructure awareness' were all in the bill.
In April 1998, Budget Chairman John Kasich took one last run at cutting. He proposed a budget that eliminated the Depts of Commerce and Energy, and cut taxes by over $100 billion over 5 years, and spending even more. When he presented it in a meeting he was lambasted by Gingrich and the leadership. Even a previously enthusiastic Kasich supporter, Tom DeLay, "sat mute" while the leaders tore into Kasich. After the meeting Kasich said to a colleague, "They don't want to cut government."
The budget that eventually did pass was an orgy of spending, with pork aplenty and bailout money for the IMF after they admitting having blown $5 billion on corrupt politicians in Russia. A mohair subsidy (famous because ABC newsman Sam Donaldson had been a recipient) was intact. This subsidy had been intended to hold down the cost of military uniforms during WWII, but the military no longer used mohair in 1998.
In November 1998 the Republicans lost 3 seats of an already narrow majority. Exit polls showed that conservative turnout had dropped, as had support for the GOP among independents. Three days later Gingrich resigned. The revolution of 1994 was officially over.
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