Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits: 8 years only:
A. Two four year Senate terms
B. Four Two year House terms
C. If you are in the House and get elected to the Senate, it will be for only one Senate Term. If you are in the Senate and get elected to the House, it will be for only two terms.
2. No Tenure / No Pension:
A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no retirement pay when they are out of office.
3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security and Medicare:
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress looses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the rest of the American people. If they become 65 while in office, they go on Medicare.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero, 55 BC


Another interesting reform proposal -
Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members.
Reduce Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State).
Then, also reduce their staffs by 25%.
Accomplish this over the next 8 years (two steps - two elections). This would require redistricting, of course.

But consider some of the yearly gains:
$44,108,400 of base pay for the elimination of excess congresspeople. (267 members X $165,200 pay/member/ yr.)
$97,175,000 for elimination of their staff. (Est. $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year).
$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year (= those members whose positions are gone. Estimates for government pork earmarks are ~ $15 Billion/yr ).

The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and improve efficiencies.
It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country!
We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. And, it might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing!

Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established (i.e. telephone, computers, cell phones).
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we had 3 senators that were not doing their jobs for the 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have accepted full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.
Plus, if Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits, tax payers could save a bundle. Presently, they get full retirement after serving only ONE term. That's nuts!

Summary of opportunity:
$44,108,400 for reducing the number of congresspersons. $282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
$59,675,000 for a 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
Estimated TOTAL Savings = $8,073,383,400 per year! (look at that number again - that's 8 BILLION dollars per year!)

(Ed. Note: This Act would be "real" reform and the outcome would truely put control of our governance back 'to the people'. We must stop pretending that we are 'the best', 'the smartest', and holder of all the pure ideals. All we need to do is to be honest with ourselves and others and act honorably and in accord with the golden rule. We must realize that we are a stupid and venial people, no different than everyone else. We have been blessed and at times we have risen above our baser predelictions and exercised our collective will and power with integrity as a free nation. We must recapture that will and strive to do this everyday and not just after a major disaster. We need not backslide and decay back to our old ways proving again our stupidity, inattentiveness and a collective memory similar to a goldfish with no backbone.)