Slightly Off Topic – but relevent. Making the rounds of the Internet today. I think that since Congress is asking us all to sacrifice, it’s time they did too. I support this notion, not sure how far afield it might go. But do something crazy and forward to your congressman/woman, asking for their support. As to the sacrifices, it appears that we may be facing some terrible cuts in domestic spending, which I assume will mean environmental, education, and health care cuts. More to follow on that, and I’ll keep tabs on this.
To be clear, this is not about “term limits” this is about pay for performance. How many of us volunteer our time and spend years on committees crafting laws and regulations? Critical Area Ordinances, Shoreline Master Programs, Marine Resource Committees, hospital boards, city council committees. Do we demand pay for this time? Is it really any different? Given that the vast majority of Congress are multimillionaires, it seems absurd, given their performance of especially the last 10 years, to pay them $90 an hour (approx. hourly based on $174k a year they get paid) for this job. Congress works, on average, 3.5 days a week, so the hourly is actually higher than that.
Ben Franklin argued, unsuccessfully, that Congress should be a voluntary position. I think that we can give them their offices, staff and special perqs like free military flights, and do some kind of means testing for whether or not they should be getting any pay. To be clear, I am not against people becoming multimillionaires in our society. It is about what happens when these same people decide to run our country, and the performance they get when they do either a poor or superb job.
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. This is not about term limits.
2. 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. It may not be used for any other purpose. This has, by and large been completed, but there may be existing members who are not yet on this system, and should be moved into it.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
- Congress does purchase their own 401k plans, but this should not be funded by the Government, at all.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
- Congress should not be allowed to use a voice vote to approve the CPI or 3% raise, which allows them to hide behind the vote.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
- Remove all Congressional health care perqs based on free care at military hospitals.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
- This has almost been achieved but it is worth restating. There was a time, not long ago, when Congress was above some of the laws.
7. No elected official may serve as a private sector lobbyist for a period of ten (10) years following service in an elected position.
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. This is not about term limits, but limits on their benefits, just as they are asking us to take limits on our benefits.
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