An email message called the Congressional Reform Act of 2011 has been circulating. It calls for a constitutional amendment and contains proposals that should greatly improve the performance of our congressional representatives (CRs) and our government. In view of the wrangling and stalemate that we have witnessed over the past few weeks over raising the national debt ceiling and many other dismaying debacles that occur regularly in Congress, it is obvious that major changes are needed in how our Congress operates and how it is regulated.
The proposed changes in the Congressional Reform (CR) Act of 2011 are as follows:
1. All CRs would be subject to 12-year term limits that could consist of two six-year senate terms, six two-year house terms, or one six-year senate term and three two-year house terms.
2. CRs will receive pay while in office, but they will earn no pay when they are out of office, and they will receive no pension. At present a CR receives a lifelong pension at full salary even after serving for only one term.
3. All CRs, past, present and future will participate in our Social Security (SS) system. All monies presently in the congressional retirement fund will be moved into the SS system, and no additional monies will be deposited in the congressional retirement fund. Thus, our CRs will participate in the SS system like most of our citizens do, and so it is likely that most of the CRs would be highly protective of our SS system.
4. CRs may purchase their own private retirement plan, as many Americans do.
5. Our CRs will lose their current very generous health care system, and so they will be covered by the same health care programs that apply to the rest of us.
6. CRs will no longer be able to vote for a pay raise for themselves and their annual pay raises will be at the lower value of the consumer price index, or 3 percent. The pay scales of our CRs should be adjusted to some more equitable amount, perhaps based on some factor of the average annual income of our citizens.
7. It has been reported that our CRs enjoy many days, weeks and even months not serving in Washington.
In fact, many of them spend only three or four days per week in D.C. during most of their “work weeks.”
Accordingly, they should not be paid a salary. Instead, they should be paid on an hourly or daily basis depending on the hours or days that they serve in D.C.
8. CRs must abide by all laws that apply to the rest of us.
9. Campaigning by our politicians for local, state or national offices should be limited to a maximum of several weeks prior to the election day, as it is in many other democracies. In Canada the pre-election campaigning period is only six weeks long. At present our pre-election periods often last for years, which means that our politicians do not spend nearly enough time attending to our nation”s needs, concerns and problems. Witness how little has been done to reduce our staggering unemployment problem since the onset of the current recession.
I do not know who originated this proposed Constitutional Amendment and I have made minor revisions in some of his/her suggestions. Also, I have added a couple of suggestions of my own. The originator of the proposal pointed out that the 26th Amendment, which granted 18-year-olds the right to vote, took only three months and eight days to be ratified, because the people demanded it. Of the 27 Amendments to the Constitution, seven took one year or less to become law because of public pressure. Thus, if enough of us demand that the Congressional Reform Act of 2011 be ratified, our CRs should comply or be ousted.
Charles S. Nicoll
Lucerne
