Congressional Reform Act

[kidnitro]

This just makes too much sense whether you are far right, in the middle, or far left. Can we all agree? It will be interesting to read everyone's comments.


If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.


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.

[jac01]

I like it. But you're right, it makes too much sense to ever be enacted.

[Guest052813-01]

I agree with all but one of these premises. "Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office." I would extend this provision to state that "no Congressman shall collect a salary engaging in lobbying activities for a period of six (6) years after leaving office."

I would like to see the term limits as an amendment to the Constitution - it's the only way it'll be enforced.

[CuteOldGuy]

I like all but the term limits, since that infringes on the right of the people to vote for who they want. If a state wants to elect a Ted Kennedy or Orrin Hatch for life, they should be able to. But I could live with it to get the rest of Act. But if the rest of the Act were adopted, those types of people probably wouldn't be interested. The only ones who would want to run for office would be those who wanted to serve the people. *GASP* Could we handle that?

[MuffLuver]

I like - especially the term limits. The prez has term limits, so should capital hill! But what about those federal judges ...

[kcmark]

I like all the ideas...have long said if we have presidential term limits then we need
sen/cong term limits...I would add they get an hourly wage instead of salary and the wage is whatever is the minimum wage!!! They think we the people can live on it let them live on it also....and as far as housing which they all say they must maintain 2
residences, Build them barracks just like officer housing in the military....And they must pay thier staff out of there on pocket not government money...

[john_galt]

Someone sent that a few days ago and I have a few suggestions; I would limit Representatives to only eight years and Senators to two six year terms. I would require a two year sit out between offices. I have always hated when pols use their offices as stepping stones to more power. Have them wait two years before they can run for another office. Since these bozos represent a state why not have the states themselves cover the cost of their offices rather the bottomless federal budget. Hillary Clinton, as Senator, had one of the most expensive offices in the Senate which we paid for. Let her and people like go to their state capital and ask for money hat in hand. One more thing; any money made by a representative using their (the people's) office to make money (endorsements, speeches, public appearances) shall be taxed at a rate of 50%. Share and share alike!

[nsafun05]

I think it should be added that congress is only in session for one week out of the year. That way they won't have much time to f*ck things up.

[Longermonger]

Oh Lord where did you Copy and Paste that from?

1. Term limits: None needed. Vote out the bad ones and keep the experienced ones. Would you want term limits for airline pilots or doctors? No.

2. None of them have tenure now. This makes no sense.

3, 4. Not exactly revolutionary...meh. Hello Captain Obvious!

5. Wouldn't that be a pay raise? Don't they already have an automatic pay raise unless they vote against it?

6. This sounds eerily similar to the "public option" proposal from a long, long time ago. (last year)

7. They already do, Captain obvious! (Except getting out of speeding tickets if they're on their way to vote. I'd just expand that to all Americans, LOL!)

8. This sounds like it was written by a guy in a contract with a Congressman, doesn't it. What if out fine Congresspeople have mortgages and car loans? Do they just get to keep that shit? That's not cool.

Originally Posted by kidnitro

This just makes too much sense whether you are far right, in the middle, or far left. Can we all agree? It will be interesting to read everyone's comments.


If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.


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.

[john_galt]

Great job monger, no input just snark!

[catnipdipper]

In a Democracy your vote counts.
Under feudalism your count votes.

[Longermonger]

Originally Posted by john_galt

Great job monger, no input just snark!

CHAIN LETTERS ARE FALSE UNTIL PROVEN TRUE.

In this case, the chain letter was mostly full of BS that the author thought was profound instead of outright lies. TeaBaggers are big on doing this. They think they've come up with a brilliant solution; except the problem has already been solved, the problem doesn't exist, or their solution is so obvious that a 3 year old could have thought of it.


Of course I may be wrong. That's why I asked the (still unanswered) question about the origins of the Congressional Reform Act.

[john_galt]

If it makes you feel any better http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=66413

You missed the important point though; it doesn't matter where the ideas came from it does indicate what is on people's minds. Is some of this stuff already covered? Yes, but congress has a way of getting around complicated laws (which is their specialty). This "act", a proposal really, tries to make it so simple that there is very little wiggle room for corrupt officials. What is simpler than having a law that says

"ANY law passed by Congress, or REGULATION passed by a government agency (edit), or any REGULATION passed by an agency contracted to the government shall apply to ALL AMERICAN Citizen's without exception."

That didn't even take one page much less 50 or 60 pages. Can anyone find any wiggle room? If so, then make the correction and show Longer. The main point is that we, the people, have had enough of the crap going on in DC in our name. Maybe I should be more accurate, enough people are fed up with the crap. There are still some out there, and you know who your are, that still love their crap sandwiches and they post on this board.

You see how easy it is to try to be helpful...

[Cheaper2buyit]

john can you post anything without naming a dem if you could it would make you seem real & not just a winner

[john_galt]

What dem???? Please take your meds.