Richard Burr: “It is supported by the chart. And the reality of it is this was not a contract that had a political face. It did not…”

“It is supported by the chart. And the reality of it is this was not a contract that had a political face. It did not have partisan leanings. When laid out and debated on the House floor, which every item was, 58 percent of the Democrats agreed with the common sense initiatives of the Contract With America. The realities are that when you look at the American people and you ask them about the importance of the issues that we discussed, we debated, and eventually we passed many of them, the reality is that the majority of Americans are in agreement with us. So maybe if in fact we are extremist or radical, so is America. But I think we knew before we came that the American families were fed up with business as usual in Washington. And I think when you look back on the record, our good friend from Minnesota pointed out very clearly that on the first day, a historical event happened: Congress went to work. And as we stand here tonight, I do not think that we have had a break since then, it seems like. But the reality is we have accomplished a lot, not only with the contract, but with very important environmental legislation, with health care reform, with issues and legislation that no other Congress in the past 6 to 8 years has been able to move through this body. In fact, the accomplishments of this Congress I think will be historical. Not by the standards of the Contract With America, but by the standards of what this country needed and the right policy that we promoted.”