Gilbert Gutknecht: “It really has been an exciting and historic time to be here in Washington. And I think it is important. As I flew home…”

“It really has been an exciting and historic time to be here in Washington. And I think it is important. As I flew home for the 4th of July recess, I said to myself, how lucky we are to be a part of this important point in history. And more importantly, how much has really been accomplished, if you look back in just six short months. In fact, I remember when some of our critics and cynics were saying in October, ``Well, the Republicans have this Contract With America, but they will never be able to pass it.'' And then as we went through the contract on the first day, as you will remember, as Representative Smith will remember, our very first official act in this congress was to pass the Shays Act, H.R. 1, which was to make certain that Congress had to play by the same laws and the same rules as everybody else. So that process began. We also cut the size of Congress itself. We eliminated three full committees. We eliminated 25 subcommittees. We cut our committee staff by a third. We banned proxy voting, which had become so customary, where Members would not even show up for committee meetings anymore. Now we have to actually show up to cast our vote.”