Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Congressional Reform

With Congress getting set to start again, now is a good time to talk about some of the changes we need to make Congress work better. Or, said differently, these are reforms we should make to rein in Congress.

1. You First: Number one on any list should be that any law that Congress passes must apply to Congress, their minions and aides, and all government workers. Thus, if they pass ObamaCare, then they need to have their healthcare taken away and replaced with the basic ObamaCare being foisted on the rest of us. Government pensions should be scrapped and replaced with social security. Any new workplace rules must be applied to Congress, as must every other law.

2. Four Weeks A Year: There is no reason Congress should become a full time occupation. Most state legislatures only meet a couple days a session. Boards of directors only meet one day a month, if that. Congress should be limited to meeting four weeks a year, one week in each quarter.

3. No Pay For Public Service: Since we’re cutting the Congressional term and we’re picking up their expenses, and public service is its own reward, it’s time we stopped paying Congresscritters. This should not be a profession, but a noble pursuit done in conjunction with gainful employment in some other profession.

4. Strip The Perks: There is no reason Congress needs a barbershop, a post office, a cafeteria, a mini-rail system, massive offices, a housing allowance, massive staffs, a gymnasium or any of the other perks they get. Take it all away. Give them a dormitory, two aides, and coach airplane tickets to and from each Congressional session.

5. Lobbying Moratorium: Lobbying rules need to be changed to make it less profitable for K Street to hire ex-Critters. Thus, it should be prohibited for lobbying firms to pay any money to a Congresscritter OR THEIR FAMILIES for a period of two years after they leave office. Similarly, Congressional aides should need to wait two years to work as or for a lobbyist as well.

6. Criminalize Self-Dealing: It should be made a felony for a Critter to vote on any bill that sends money to any person to whom they are related or to any firm that employees any person to whom they are related.

7. Budget Reform: The budget process must be reformed. (1) No budget may exceed the prior year’s budget by more than the prior year’s percentage change in GNP. (2) All budgets must balance, based on the prior year’s actual revenue received. (3) Every line item of spending must be voted on individually (and its sponsor(s) identified), and must be approved by both houses. There will be no committee negotiation to reconcile the two bills and no final all or nothing vote -- any item not passed by both chambers dies. (4) Nothing can remain “off budget”: not wars, not a “doctor fix,” and not social security. (5) Budgets may only be made on a year-to-year basis, no more 10 year phony budgets.

I think these would be a great start toward refocusing Congress on its proper role and duties. These would also loosen the grip of lobbyists and wipe out the excuse that the process makes it impossible for individual Congresscritters to do the right thing.

What you would add? Or take away?

27 comments:

patti said...

"you-first" would go a long way to fixing what's wrong with washington, but i nearly fell out of my chair laughing from #2. hell, it takes them four weeks just to finish trash-talking each other. andrew, you're such a dreamer!

AndrewPrice said...

Patti, I know I'm a dreamer, but sometimes dreams do come true! I honestly think this would work great as an "honest Congress" platform and would totally change the culture!

BevfromNYC said...

Ya' know, the entire state of Texas runs quite nicely with a legislature that only meets every two years, so there is no reason why our Congress can't just meet every 3 months for a week. The rest of the time they should be available to meet with their constituents in their home state offices.

Well, you know I'm on board for "You First"! I think it should be an Amendment to the Constitution. Actually, I am on board for each and every one of these points! Let's send them to Boehner. Where's Newt when you need him.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I'm glad you agree! I do think these would dramatically change the culture! And you're absolutely right about Texas. If Texas -- a very well-run state -- can have a legislature that meets only every two years, then there is no reason our Congress needs to meet almost year round. It's time that we eliminated the political class and returned them to being citizen-politicians!

(How's the snow?)

Pittsburgh Enigma said...

I'm guessing "four weeks a year" would take care of the lame duck problem at the same time. That is something that absolutely must be fixed. Everyday that a lame duck congress is in session, the American people have no true representation.

Did you hear about the new Tea Party congressman who is refusing the Congressional health plan? Maybe this is what it takes--these guys don't have to take all these ridiculous perks. If enough of them refuse the perks, the rest of these crooks might be shamed into also refusing. (Yeah, I'm dreaming there... LOL.) The full story is here.

AndrewPrice said...

Pitts, The lame duck issue absolutely needs to be fixed -- good catch.

I think that is the perfect example of how the thinking has gone wrong regarding the Congress. Only people who see their jobs as jobs to which they are entitled rather than positions of representation could think that it makes sense to let people go back into the Congress after they've been tossed out by the voters.

If you fired a doctor or a lawyer, would they still be allowed to go back and start a case or a surgery for you? I doubt it. So how can we let these people go back to do things that affect our country?

In principle, I like the idea of individual Congressmen using shame to force their colleagues to stop taking the perks, but I actually doubt that will solve anything for the simple reason that few Congresscritters have any sense of shame. In a world with shame, Charlie Rangel probably would have disappeared or killed himself like a Japanese samurai. But he not only failed to hide himself, he's proud of his corruption. People like that don't worry about shame, and they seem immune to the voters. That's why we need to simply change the system from top to bottom.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew - The snow is great!! I love snow. However, Bloomberg is getting very testy because he's getting blamed becaused the city was unnecessarily shut down because of his lack of leadership and just general stupidity. We have had worse snowstorms that didn't shut the city down like this. Fortunately many people are on vacation, but jeez!

Ed said...

I love it! Great points! Bev's right, you should submit this to the Republican leadership or the Tea Party leadership.

Ed said...

Bev, It seemed a little odd that they shut down the city for what I've seen on the news. I seem to remember NYC getting more snow than that in the past.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, That's funny. DC was like that a lot too, where they would do everything wrong and then get blamed mightily for screwing up the whole snow plan.

One year, they didn't send out the snow plows until it was too late to get rid of the snow. So the following year, they sent them out too early and missed the snow. The year after that, they sent them out right as an ice storm was dying down and things were freezing -- effectively turning the plows in zambonis.

And when Major "Crackhead" Marion Berry was in office, the only street that ever got cleaned was his.

I hear that neither Giants nor the Jets made it home. LOL!

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, Thanks! Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might make use of it. Maybe we should write this as a real platform and publish it! :-)

BevfromNYC said...

Ed - I can see if this was North Carolina that hasn't had a Christmas snow since 1887! We have snow yearly and blizzard-like snows every 3 years or so. And they knew it was coming for a week. It didn't just sneak in during the night and surprise anyone. They usually have the snow plows and sander/salters out waiting with the personnel in place ready to go. Why they didn't this time, only the unions can explain (but never will).

The only time the city shut down on purpose was in 1996 during a massive blizzard. Giuliani just shut down the city and told everyone to stay home. They did. The plows and sanders did their stuff and in 24 hours all was back to normal. No fuss, no muss, but then Giuliani wasn't a billionaire idiot. Bloomberg is gonna wish he'd stopped at two terms...

Unknown said...

Andrew: You made me think of the old crack that "the Republic is never in as much danger as when Congress is in session."

I particularly like your item 7. That was one of the planks of Tom Campbell's platform when he ran for California Senator in the primaries. Obviously, Californians don't believe in living within their means, and as California goes, so goes the nation.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, California makes me cringe. What are they thinking? They are broke, so they overwhelmingly voting in the same people who not only created the problem but kept making it worse and worse? It's like the voters have decided to see how fast they can push California over the brink?!

And you're right, the biggest danger to our country is our government.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev & Ed, Speaking of North Carolina and Atlanta and Europe... so much for global warming!

patti said...

pittsburg: i wrote an article on those very reps. for tomorrow. they are my badasses of the day!

Pittsburgh Enigma said...

Patti: I think we truly are going to see a new kind of representative in Washington. Literally, the "Jim DeMint disciples." I love that phrase!

DUQ said...

Great ideas! We should mail these to Boehner every day until he finally makes them part of his reform of Congress!

Ponderosa said...

Great list!

They could meet once every two years - like Texas.

Turn the Capitol into a museum and they can use a warehouse.

No more naming rights.

AndrewPrice said...

Patti, I look forward to reading it!

AndrewPrice said...

Pitts, Look at all the "damage" Jim DeMint has done to the corrupt, established order. Just wait until there are a dozen of him. It's because of people like him that I truly am hopeful that Congress will finally change.

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, That's a good idea!

AndrewPrice said...

Ponderosa, Thanks! I love the idea of having them meet in a warehouse! LOL! Could you imagine what Pelosi would say if she went from Queen of the Palace to having an 8-10 office in a warehouse? She would probably go on a killing spree.

(For the record though, I do like them meeting in the Capitol as they do represent us -- they just don't need the perks.)

BevfromNYC said...

Hey, Ponderosa, wasn't it Harry Reid who comments on the "smell" of the tourist who came to the Capital? We could compromise and shut down the Capital Building 4 weeks a year for Congress to convene. The rest of the time it would be open to "the People".

Tennessee Jed said...

Very nice points, Andrew. We could certainly quibble about the actual lenght of sessions, but the point is well taken.

On number three, I would even give them a nice honorarium, much like corporate board members. I don't want to make being a congressmen even more limited to the wealthy than it already is. And with short sessions, we wouldn't have to worry about the family trying to find housing in D.C.

Although slight trepidation on lobbying on libertarian grounds, the fact you limit it to two years makes it acceptable to me.

I would amend the law to only make it a felony if you vote for the legislation that pays off relatives. It's o.k. with me if they vote against it.

Budget Reform - I agree if done in conjunction with a rule limiting budgets to a maximum percentage of GDP. and tax caps. In other words, I want these people tight as an (expletive deleted) when dealing with our money, not balancing the budget on the backs of the taxpayers.

Great start!!

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, It was Reid alright, he talked about being able to "smell" when the "tourists are in the building." What a jerk.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, Great additions! I too want to see the budget issue tied down extremely tightly. I don't want them just raising taxes or using fake projections of growth or revenue or expected costs. This needs to be as close to the budget process that the rest of us go through as possible -- no fudge factors, no fantasy math.

The exact time length of the sessions isn't a deal breaker for me, I just think it needs to be short, infrequent, and to the point -- being a Congressmen should be a part-time thing, not a full time occupation.

You make a good point about making sure that Congress isn't just for the wealthy and I agree with that. But it should not be a substitute for other work, and with the time requirements going down a lot, I think a big cut in pay is warranted -- and their pay should be tied to the median wage.

I generally take a libertarian approach as well, but in this case, I see a two year limit on lobbying as reasonable for the same reason that lawyers and trustees and other people put in a position of trust can't change sides -- conflicts of interest. Legislators should not be able to arrange employment with someone on whose bills they will be voting, and I think a two year gap would eliminate that.

Good point on voting "no" on the budget, I like that!

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