GINGRICH PROMISES TO REMAKE GOVERNMENT

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House Speaker Newt Gingrich tonight pledged a "partnership with the American people" to find a way to eliminate the federal deficit and put a stop to "bureaucratic micromanagement" of the government. "We've got to return power back to you" he said in an unprecedented half-hour, nationally-televised address. Leaning on his Capitol Hill desk, a smiling Gingrich hoisted props including a vacuum tube, a computer chip and a young constituent's crayoned portrait of George Washington to help get across his message. He also pledged congressional hearings this summer on reforming the federal income tax system, possibly by switching to a "flat tax." Gingrich said the key to eliminating the deficit and protecting social security benefits for baby boomers is capping annual spending increases at 3 percent by putting all spending but social security "on the table." In a televised response, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt belittledGingrich's achievements: "Never has so much been done in so little time, to help so few, at the expense of so many."