By May 1997, Republican congressional leaders reached a compromise with Democrats and President Clinton on the federal budget. The agreement called for a federal spending plan designed to reduce the federal deficit and achieve a balanced budget by 2002. The plan included a total of $152 billion in Republican sponsored tax cuts over five years. Other major parts of the spending plan called for $115 billion to be saved through a restructuring of Medicare, $24 billion set aside to extend health insurance to children of the working poor, tax credits for college tuition, and a $2 billion welfare-to-work jobs initiative.[51][52]

President Clinton signed the budget legislation in August 1997. At the signing, Gingrich gave credit to ordinary Americans stating, "It was their political will that brought the two parties together."[53]

In early 1998, with the economy performing better than expected, increased tax revenues helped reduce the federal budget deficit to below $25 billion. Clinton submitted a balanced budget for 1999, three years ahead of schedule originally proposed, making it the first time the federal budget had been balanced since 1969.[54]

Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997
In 1997 President Clinton signed into effect the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which included the largest capital gains tax cut in U.S. history. Under the act, the profits on the sale of a personal residence ($500,000 for married couples, $250,000 for singles) were exempted if lived in for at least 2 years over the last 5. (This had previously been limited to a $125,000 once-in-a-lifetime exemption for those over 55.)[55] There were also reductions in a number of other taxes on investment gains.[56][57]

Additionally, the act raised the value of inherited estates and gifts that could be sheltered from taxation.[57] Gingrich has been credited with creating the agenda for the reduction in capital gains tax, especially in the "Contract with America", which set out to balance the budget and implement decreases in estate and capital gains tax. Some Republicans felt that the compromise reached with Clinton on the budget and tax act was inadequate,[58] however Gingrich has stated that the tax cuts were a significant accomplishment for the Republican Congress in the face of opposition from the Clinton administration.[59] Gingrich along with Bob Dole had earlier set-up the Kemp Commission, headed by former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, a tax reform commission that made several recommendations including that dividends, interest, and capital gains should be untaxed.[60][61]

Other legislation
Among the first pieces of legislation passed by the new Congress under Gingrich was the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, which subjected members of Congress to the same laws that apply to businesses and their employees, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. As a provision of the Contract with America, the law was symbolic of the new Republican majority's goal to remove some of the entitlements enjoyed by Congress. The bill received near universal acceptance from the House and Senate and was signed into law on January 23, 1995.[62]

Gingrich shut down the highly regarded Office of Technology Assessment, and relied instead on what the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists called "self-interested lobbyists and think tanks".[63]

Government shutdown
Main article: United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996
 

 

Daily News cover illustrated byEd Murawinski, showing Gingrich throwing a tantrum

Gingrich and the incoming Republican majority's promise to slow the rate of government spending conflicted with the president's agenda for Medicare, education, the environment and public health, leading to two temporary shutdowns of the federal government totaling 28 days.[64]

Clinton said Republican amendments would strip the U.S. Treasury of its ability to dip into federal trust funds to avoid a borrowing crisis. Republican amendments would have limited appeals by death-row inmates, made it harder to issue health, safety and environmental regulations, and would have committed the president to a seven-year balanced budget. Clinton vetoed a second bill allowing the government to keep operating beyond the time when most spending authority expires.[64]

A GOP amendment opposed by Clinton would have not only have increased Medicare Part B premiums, but it would also cancel a scheduled reduction. The Republicans held out for an increase in Medicare part B premiums in January 1996 to $53.50 a month. Clinton favored the then current law, which was to let the premium that seniors pay drop to $42.50.[64]

The government closed most non-essential offices during the shutdown, which was the longest in U.S. history. The shutdown ended when Clinton agreed to submit a CBO-approved balanced budget plan.[65]

During the crisis, Gingrich's public image suffered from the perception that the Republicans' hardline budget stance was owed partly to an alleged snub of Gingrich by Clinton during a flight on Air Force One to and from Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in Israel.[66] That perception developed after the trip when Gingrich told reporters he was dissatisfied that Clinton had not invited him to discuss the budget during the flight. He complained that he and Dole were instructed to use the plane's rear exit to deplane, saying the snub was "part of why you ended up with us sending down a tougher continuing resolution".[67] In response to Gingrich's complaint that they were "forced to use the rear door," NBC news released their videotape footage showing both Gingrich and Dole disembarking at Tel Aviv just behind Clinton via the front stairway.[68]

Gingrich was widely lampooned for implying that the government shutdown was a result of his personal grievances, including a widely-shared editorial cartoon depicting him as a baby throwing atantrum.[69] Democratic leaders, including Chuck Schumer, took the opportunity to attack Gingrich's motives for the budget standoff.[70][71] In 1998, Gingrich said that these comments were his "single most avoidable mistake" as Speaker.[72]

Discussing the impact of the government shutdown on the Republican Party, Gingrich later commented that, "Everybody in Washington thinks that was a big mistake. They're exactly wrong. There had been no reelected Republican majority since 1928. Part of the reason we got reelected ... is our base thought we were serious. And they thought we were serious because when it came to a show-down, we didn't flinch."[73] In a 2011 op-ed in The Washington Post, Gingrich said that the government shutdown led to the balanced-budget deal in 1997 and the first four consecutive balanced budgets since the 1920s, as well as the first re-election of a Republican majority since 1928.[74]

Ethics charges and reprimand
 

 

Vice President Al Gore, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and PresidentBill Clinton at the 1997 State of the Union Address

Eighty-four ethics charges were filed against Gingrich during his term as Speaker. All were eventually dropped except for one: claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes.[75] The House officially reprimanded Gingrich (in a vote of 395 in favor, 28 opposed) and "ordered [him] to reimburse the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000".[76][77] It was the first time a Speaker was disciplined for an ethics violation.[78][79]

Additionally, the House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules.[80] The Ethics Committee's Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated and left that issue up to the IRS.[80] In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations.[81]

Regarding the situation, Gingrich said in January 1997, "I did not manage the effort intensely enough to thoroughly direct or review information being submitted to the committee on my behalf. In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee, but I did not intend to mislead the committee.... I brought down on the people's house a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government."[82]

Leadership challenge
In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans attempted to replace him as Speaker, claiming Gingrich's public image was a liability. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting of Republican conference chairman John Boehner of Ohio and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the attempted coup.[83]

On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker. This would allow for the possibility that Democrats, along with dissenting Republicans, would vote in Democrat Dick Gephardt as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his position—by Gingrich—instead of elected.[84]

Resignation
In 1998 Republicans lost five seats in the House—the worst midterm performance in 64 years by a party not holding the presidency. Gingrich, who won his reelection, was held largely responsible for Republican losses in the House. His private polls had given his fellow Republican Congressmen a false impression that pushing the Lewinsky scandal would damage Clinton's popularity and result in the party winning a net total of six to thirty seats in the US House of Representatives in this election.[85] The day after the election, a Republican caucus ready to rebel against him prompted his resignation of the speakership. He also announced his intended and eventual full departure from the House in January 1999.[86] When relinquishing the speakership, Gingrich said he was "not willing to preside over people who are cannibals." And he said leaving the House would keep him from overshadowing his successor.[86]

Post-speakership
Gingrich has since remained involved in national politics and public policy debate, especially on issues regarding healthcare, national security, and the role of religion in American public life.

Policy
 

 

Gingrich speaking at the Values Voter Summit in 2007

In 2003 he founded the Center for Health Transformation to develop a 21st century healthcare system that is centered on the individual, prevention focused, knowledge intense, and innovation rich.[87] Gingrich supported the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, creating theMedicare Part D federal prescription drugs benefit program. Some conservatives have criticized him for favoring the plan, due to its cost. However, Gingrich has remained a supporter, stating in a 2011 interview that it was a necessary modernization of Medicare, which was created before pharmaceutical drugs became standard in medical care. He has said that the increase in cost from medication must be seen as preventive, leading to reduced need for medical procedures.[88]In a May 15, 2011, interview on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that "all of us have a responsibility to pay—help pay for health care", and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage.[89][90] In the same interview Gingrich said "I don't think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate." This comment caused a great deal of back-lash within the Republican Party.[89][90] Gingrich has also been an advocate for health information technology. In 2005, together with Hillary Rodham Clinton he announced the proposal of the 21st Century Health Information Act, a bill which aimed to replace paperwork with confidential, electronic health information networks.[91]Gingrich also co-chaired an independent congressional study group made up of health policy experts formed in 2007 to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of action taken within the U.S. to fight Alzheimer's disease.[92]

Gingrich has served on several commissions, including the Hart-Rudman Commission, formally known as the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st century, which examined issues affecting the armed forces, law enforcement and intelligence agencies with regards to national security.[93] In 2005 he became the co-chair of a task force for UN reform, which aimed to produce a plan for the U.S. to help strengthen the UN.[94] For over two decades, Gingrich has taught at the United States Air Force's Air University, where he is the longest-serving teacher of the Joint Flag Officer Warfighting Course.[95] In addition, he is an honorary Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University and teaches officers from all of the defense services.[96][97] Gingrich informally advised Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on strategic issues, on issues including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and encouraging the Pentagon to not "yield" foreign policy influence to the State Department and National Security Council.[98] Gingrich is also a guiding coalition member of the Project on National Security Reform.

In September 2007, Gingrich founded the 527 group American Solutions for Winning the Future. The stated mission of the group is to become the "leading grassroots movement to recruit, educate, and empower citizen activists and elected officials to develop solutions to transform all levels of government". Gingrich spoke of the group and its objectives at the CPAC conference of 2008 and currently serves as its General Chairman.[99] Other organizations and companies founded or chaired by Gingrich include the creative production company Gingrich Productions,[100] and religious educational organization Renewing American Leadership.[101]

Gingrich is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[102] He is also a fellow at conservative think tanks the American Enterprise Institute and Hoover Institution, focusing on U.S. politics, world history, national security policy, and environmental policy issues. He sometimes serves as a commentator, guest or panel member on cable news shows, such as the Fox News Channel. He is listed as a contributor by Fox News Channel, and frequently appears as a guest on various segments; he has also hosted occasional specials for the Fox News Channel. Gingrich is a proponent of the Lean Six Sigma management techniques for waste reduction,[103] and has signed the "Strong America Now" pledge committing to promoting the methods to reduce government spending.[104]

Businesses
After leaving Congress in 1999, Gingrich started a number of for-profit companies:[105] Between 2001 and 2010, the companies he and his wife owned in full or part had revenues of almost $100 million.[106]

According to financial disclosure forms released in July 2011, Gingrich and his wife had a net worth of at least $6.7 million in 2010, compared to a maximum net worth of $2.4 million in 2006. Most of the increase in his net worth was because of payments to him from his for-profit companies.[107]

Gingrich Group and the Center for Health Transformation
The Gingrich Group was organized in 1999 as a consulting company. Over time, its non-health clients were dropped, and it was renamed the Center for Health Transformation. The two companies had revenues of $55 million between 2001 and 2010.[108] The revenues came from more than 300 health-insurance companies and other clients, with membership costing as much as $200,000 per year in exchange for access to Gingrich and other perks.[109][106] In 2011, when Gingrich became a presidential candidate, he sold his interest in the business and said he would release the full list of his clients and the amounts he was paid, "to the extent we can".[110][108] In April 2012, the Center for Health Transformation filed for Chatper 7 bankruptcy, planning to liquidate its assets to meet debts of $1–$10 million.[111][112]

Between 2001 and 2010, Gingrich consulted for Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored secondary home mortgage company, which was concerned about new regulations under consideration by Congress. Regarding payments of $1.6 million for the consulting,[108] Gingrich said that "Freddie Mac paid Gingrich Group, which has a number of employees and a number of offices a consulting fee, just like you would pay any other consulting firm."[113] In January 2012, he said that he could not make public his contract with Freddie Mac, even though the company gave permission, until his business partners in the Center for Health Transformation also agreed to that.[114]

Gingrich Productions
Gingrich Productions, which is headed by Gingrich's wife Callista Gingrich, was created in 2007. According to the company’s website, in May 2011, it is “a performance and production company featuring the work of Newt and Callista Gingrich. Newt and Callista host and produce historical and public policy documentaries, write books, record audio books and voiceovers, produce photographic essays, and make television and radio appearances.”[110]

Between 2008 and 2011, the company produced three films on religion,[115] one on energy, one on Ronald Reagan, and one on the threat of radical Islam. All were joint projects with the conservative group Citizens United.[116] In 2011, Newt and Callista appeared in A City Upon a Hill, on the subject of American exceptionalism.[117]

As of May 2011, the company had about five employees. In 2010, it paid Gingrich more than $2.4 million.[107]

Gingrich Communications
Gingrich Communications promoted Gingrich’s public appearances, including his Fox News contract and his website, newt.org.[110] Gingrich received as much as $60,000 for a speech, and did as many as 80 in a year.[106] One of Gingrich's nonprofit groups, Renewing American Leadership, which was founded in March 2009,[116] paid Gingrich Communications $220,000 over two years; the charity shared the names of its donors with Gingrich, who could use them for his for-profit companies.[118]

Gingrich Communications, which employed 15 people at its largest, closed in 2011 when Gingrich began his presidential campaign.[110]

Other
• Celebrity Leaders is a booking agency that handled Gingrich's speaking engagements, as well as those other clients such as former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.[105] Kathy Lubbers, the President and CEO of the agency,[119] who is Gingrich's daughter, owns the agency. Gingrich has shares in the agency, and was paid more than $70,000 by it in 2010.[120]

• FGH Publications handles the production of and royalties from fiction books co-authored by Gingrich.[110]

Political activity
 

 

Gingrich speaks at the New York City Tea Party, April 15, 2009.

Between 2005 and 2007, Gingrich expressed interest in running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.[121] On October 13, 2005, Gingrich suggested he was considering a run for president, saying, "There are circumstances where I will run", elaborating that those circumstances would be if no other candidate champions some of the platform ideas he advocates. On September 28, 2007, Gingrich announced that if his supporters pledged $30 million to his campaign by October 21, he would seek the nomination.

However, insisting that he had "pretty strongly" considered running,[122] on September 29 spokesman Rick Tyler said that Gingrich would not seek the presidency in 2008 because he could not continue to serve as chairman of American Solutions if he did so.[123] Citing campaign finance law restrictions (the McCain-Feingold campaign law would have forced him to leave his American Solutions political organization if he declared his candidacy), Gingrich said, "I wasn't prepared to abandon American Solutions, even to explore whether a campaign was realistic."[124]

During the 2009 special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, Gingrich endorsed moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, rather thanConservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who had been endorsed by several nationally prominent Republicans.[125] He was heavily criticized for this endorsement, with conservatives questioning his candidacy for President in 2012[126][127] and even comparing him to Benedict Arnold.[128] Gingrich has since regretted his decision.[129]

Presidential campaign, 2012
Main article: Newt Gingrich presidential campaign, 2012
In late 2008 several political commentators, including Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic[130] and Robert Novak in The Washington Post,[131] identified Gingrich as a top presidential contender in the2012 election, with Ambinder reporting that Gingrich was "already planting some seeds in Iowa, New Hampshire". A July 2010 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling indicated that Gingrich was the leading GOP contender for the Republican nomination with 23% of likely Republican voters saying they would vote for him.[132]
 

 
Gingrich at a political conference in Orlando, September 2011

Describing his views as a possible candidate during an appearance on On the Record with Greta Van Susteren in March 2009, Gingrich said, "I am very sad that a number of Republicans do not understand that this country is sick of earmarks. [Americans] are sick of politicians taking care of themselves. They are sick of their money being spent in a way that is absolutely indefensible ... I think you're going to see a steady increase in the number of incumbents who have opponents because the American taxpayers are increasingly fed up."[133]

On March 3, 2011, Gingrich officially announced a website entitled "Newt Exploratory 2012" in lieu of a formal exploratory committee for exploration of a potential presidential run.[134] On May 11, 2011, Gingrich officially announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination in 2012.

On June 9, 2011, a group of Gingrich's senior campaign aides left the campaign en masse, leading to doubts about the viability of his presidential run.[135] On June 21, 2011, two more senior aides left.[136][137] In response, Gingrich stated that he had not quit the race for the Republican nomination, and pointed to his experience running for 5 years to win his seat in Congress, spending 16 years helping to build a Republican majority in the house and working for decades to build a Republican majority in Georgia.[138] Some commentators noted Gingrich's resilience throughout his career, in particular with regards to his presidential campaign.[139][140]
After then-front-runner Herman Cain was damaged by allegations of past sexual harassment, Gingrich gained support, and quickly became a contender in the race, especially after Cain suspended his campaign. By December 4, 2011, Gingrich was leading in the national polls.[141] However, after an abundance of negative ads run by his opponents throughout December, Gingrich's national polling lead had fallen to a tie with Mitt Romney.[142]

On January 3, 2012, Gingrich finished in fourth place in the Iowa Republican caucuses, far behind Rick Santorum, Romney, and Ron Paul.[143] On January 10, Gingrich finished in fifth place in the New Hampshire Republican primary, far behind Romney, Santorum, Jon Huntsman, and Paul.[144][145]

After the field narrowed with the withdrawal from the race of Huntsman and Rick Perry, Gingrich won the South Carolina Republican primary on January 21, obtaining about 40% of the vote, considerably ahead of Romney, Santorum and Paul.[146] This surprise victory allowed Gingrich to reemerge as the frontrunner once again heading into Florida.

On January 31, 2012, Gingrich placed second in the Republican Florida primary, losing by a fifteen percentage point margin, 47% to 32%. Some factors that contributed to this outcome include two strong debate performances by Romney (which were typically Gingrich's strong suit), the wide margin by which the Gingrich campaign was outspent in television ads,[147] and a widely-criticized proposal by Gingrich to have a permanent colony on the moon by 2020 to reinvigorate the American Space Program.[148] It was later revealed that Mitt Romney had hired a debate coach to help him perform better in the Florida debates.[149][150] Gingrich did, however, significantly outvote Santorum and Paul.[151] On February 4, 2012, Gingrich placed a distant second in the Nevada Republican caucuses with 21%, losing to Romney who received over 50% of the total votes cast.[152]

On February 7, 2012, Gingrich came in last place in the Minnesota Republican caucuses with about 10.7% of the vote. Santorum won the caucus, followed by Paul and Romney.[153][154]

On Super Tuesday Gingrich won his home state, Georgia, which has the most delegates, in "an otherwise dismal night for him". Santorum took Tennessee and Oklahoma, where Gingrich had previously performed well in the polls, though Gingrich managed a statistical second place showing in Oklahoma.[155]

On April 4, the Rick Santorum campaign shifted its position and urged Gingrich to drop out of the race and support Santorum.[156]
On April 10, Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign.[157] Following this announcement, The Newt 2012 campaign used a new slogan referring to Gingrich as "the last conservative standing." Despite this, on April 19, Gingrich told Republicans in New York that he would work to help Romney win the general election if Romney secured the nomination.[158]

After a disappointing second place showing in the Delaware primary on April 24, and with a campaign debt in excess of $4 million,[159] Gingrich suspended his campaign and endorsed front-runner Mitt Romney on May 2, 2012,[160] on whose behalf he subsequently campaigned

Gingrich later hosted a number of policy workshops at the GOP Convention in Tampa presented by the National Republican Committee called "Newt University".[161] He and his wife Calista addressed the convention on its final day with a Ronald Reagan-themed introduction.