warpedskydiver 0 #1 January 11, 2011 This is in order to reign in all our elected officials in Washington DC. This is not a political message, it is a message about holding our officials to the same standards as they have established for us. Please pass this on if you feel it is just. Congressional Reform Act of 2011 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, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. They live and act as super-citizens, this is not what our constitution had intended. BTW the rules of the poll are you can vote yes or no, and anything else after that Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
warpedskydiver 0 #2 January 11, 2011 See I thought of the skychicas too! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
d_squared431 0 #3 January 11, 2011 again the only poll option worth picking was boobies... TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1 I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,583 #4 January 11, 2011 Just as a by-the-by, Congresscritters have paid into Social Security since 1984. Wendy P.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
warpedskydiver 0 #5 January 11, 2011 OK so we revise it so they only can collect social security as well as anything they invest in themselves for retirement. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #6 January 11, 2011 QuoteThis is in order to reign in all our elected officials in Washington DC. This is not a political message, it is a message about holding our officials to the same standards as they have established for us. Passing such legislation would make us feel better but make the problems from a lobbyist and power hungry financial elite controlled legislature worse without real financial benefits to the tax payers. Quote 1. Term Limits. When California imposed term limits our experienced legislators were replaced with inexperienced ones who relied more on private companies and organizations to write legislation than their pre-term limit predecessors which is the opposite of what we want. Quote 2. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. The average successful senate campaign costs $10,000,000 to secure a job paying just $174,000 a year which is far less than a Senator could earn as a business executive in charge of far less money or as a law firm equity partner. The small compensation package means that legislators are members of the financial elite class who don't need to work and are likely to taking the job for power. Shrinking the pay package worsens that situation. The average annuities for retired members of Congress under the current FERS system runs about $37,000 a year. With $3,000,000,000,000 budgets that just doesn't matter. Quote 3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. Social security benefits are progressive, with higher wage earners seeing as little as 25% of their pre-retirement income below the wage cap replaced which makes it non-viable as a retirement vehicle. All smart middle class people who want to retire and remain middle class are setting aside enough that Social Security is not a significant component of their retirement. "Forcing" congress critters to take Social Security instead of their FERS plan isn't going to provide real motivation to make it better. Quote 5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. Base salary for legislators is about .003% of the budget. It doesn't matter. Quote 6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. All decent jobs offer group plan participation paid for with money not subject to income tax, social security, medicare tax, or payroll tax. Get rid of that and you have one more reason that legislators need to come from the financial elite. Quote Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. Serving in Congress means accepting substantially less income than you (as an experienced lawyer or business person with the right sorts of contacts) could in private industry in exchange for substantially more power. Changing that would require competitive pay/benefits so serving in office isn't a financial step backwards for people who might otherwise consider it and campaign finance reform which means it doesn't take $10,000,000 to get there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
warpedskydiver 0 #7 January 11, 2011 We could give all candidates 1 million to run for office, let's see how well they can manage that money before they get their hands on ours. No more slick commercials telling us who to vote for without knowing what they stand for. The system is broken, elected officials do not have our interest in mind unless it benefits them somehow. Why is it they can have a decent sum of money, then upon becoming elected they are transformed into multi millionaires? The salary they make does not justify that increase. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #8 January 11, 2011 This thread is "cute" but since it belongs in SC and you're banned from there, it's getting a lock. Please don't do that again.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
