Gilbert Gutknecht: “experts tell us that the bumblebee should not be able to fly. They tell us that the bee's body is too heavy and its…”

“experts tell us that the bumblebee should not be able to fly. They tell us that the bee's body is too heavy and its wings are too small. Washington experts, with similar assuredness, told us that the budget could not be balanced, entitlements were too large, taxes were too low. Experts can be wrong. Just a few years ago, the experts said that the Republicans could not take control of Congress. It had not been done, after all, in 40 years. Well, the voters proved them wrong in 1994, when they sent a new majority here to Washington. I was a member of that new class of representatives, that I like to call the Bumblebee Brigade, because we did not know what we could not do. As we reach the end of this session of Congress, let us see how the hive is doing. In 1995, Republicans swarmed onto Capitol Hill with the promise to reform Congress and vote on 10 historic bills within our first 100 days. We called that promise the Contract with America. The experts told us that we were too ambitious and that it could not be done. Instead of listening to them, we kept our promises, and today almost all of that Contract has been signed into law. Those same experts told us that we could not reform welfare. Well, once again, they were wrong. We passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act last summer. By converting much of the program into block grants and requiring work, we have nudged more than one million families off welfare rolls and onto payrolls.”