Abstract

Editorials

Republican candidate Gingrich Newt's contract with the United States is an exercise in wish fulfillment. Some 39 percent of the electorate turned out to vote and 52 percent of them voted for Republican candidates. Many Republican voters had no idea what they were voting for. Most people felt that spending on domestic programs should be increased. Most people had never heard of this legendary contract with the United States. The easiest way to measure the contract's unreality is to look at this year's numbers. According to the Administration's midterm budget review, issued this past July, federal receipts in fiscal year 1994 will total $1.249 trillion and outlays $1.484 trillion, for a deficit of $235 billion. However, more than half of all federal spending is untouchable either by definition or by promise.