Congressional Reform Act of 2011

Serving in Congress is serving your fellow Americans who elected you; as such it is an honor, not a career. The founding fathers and framers envisioned citizen legislators, not career politicians. Serve your terms and then go back home and back to work in a chosen profession other than politics.

Here is my proposal for Congressional Reform. Okay some of it I gleaned off of other people, but it is good stuff and needs to be completed in one reform bill. Here it goes:

1. Congressional Term Limits: 12 years of total service to be made up of one of the following.
a. Two senate terms of six years each.
b. Six house terms of two years each.
c. One senate term of six years and three house terms of two terms each.
2. No Tenure/No Pension: A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. There should be no pension for service in Congress.
3. All Congressmen (Past, Present, and Future) participate in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional Retirement Fund move to the Social Security System immediately and all future funds flow into the Social Security System. Congress participates with the American People.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plans other then Social Security, just like all Americans can.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay increase. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of the Consumer Price Index or 3%. NOTE: if the pay of any government employee is capped or if the unemployment rate is higher than 5%, all congressional pay raises will be stifled.
6. Congress will give up their current healthcare system and must participate in the same system as the American public.
7. Congress must be bound and equally abide by all the laws they impose upon the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1-1-12
a. The American people did not make any of these contracts with our congressmen.
b. The Congressmen made these contracts with themselves.


There you go. Now each of us, regardless of party affiliation and personal views or beliefs, must work to elect people who believe in these principles, be diligent in finding individuals to serve, and be prepared when or if the time comes for you to serve.

What do you think?
Bill

HealthCare, Are You Sure?

With President Obama calling for congress to give him a health care plan by July 31st, I think it is important to take a look at how some of the other public benefit programs are going.

Social Security will begin to have benefits exceed incoming taxes by 2016 and will be completely bankrupt by 2037, just in time for my retirement – Yipeeee!!!

Medicare began to have benefits exceed incoming taxes April 26, 2009 (remember that date from an earlier blog). That’s right, at this moment in time; Medicare is now working in a negative income mode, rather like the rest of the government…well except for social security, that still has a few years.

The topper is this, with events in government spending continuing on as the present administration has set out, Medicare will be completely broke by 2017. That’s it, ka-pooey, nothing left, empty, nada, rather like a bowl of ice cream after a Baptist social.

Look, I know many out there think the government is the harbinger of good hope for the health care issue in America, but it is not. To be honest, most of those hired to manage government-run agencies couldn’t manage a small ant farm. If they could, they’d be in the private sector having their pay capped by…well, that’s a different blog.

Anyway, for all those who think that government control of the health care system is the answer, let’s see if the government can first answer the question of how to fix social security and Medicare.

I think I need a new prescription,
Bill