Fixing Congress

[xoxoxoBruce]

Snopes says this is true...

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

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.

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

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

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

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

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.

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.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

[glatt]

This all make lots of sense.

But.

What if there is a real crisis like another world war, and the country needs to go into debt to pay for it?

[xoxoxoBruce]

I also worry about people getting elected with the attitude they only have one shot at helping themselves.

[Pamela]

Looks good to me, but I suppose a tweak here and there could assuage Bruce's fears, and mine. I never trust the Congress not to find/insert a loophole for their own benefit.

[Spexxvet]

Congress would never pass a law like that

[xoxoxoBruce]

Can they stop a popular Constitutional amendment?

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Can they stop a popular Constitutional amendment?

I think so

"...The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. None of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by constitutional convention. The Congress proposes an amendment in the form of a joint resolution. Since the President does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, the joint resolution does not go to the White House for signature or approval... "

"...The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the States for their consideration by sending a letter of notification to each Governor along with the informational material prepared by the OFR. The Governors then formally submit the amendment to their State legislatures or the state calls for a convention, depending on what Congress has specified..."

"...A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution as soon as it is ratified by three-fourths of the States (38 of 50 States)...

Maybe two thirds of the states can call for a convention, and then submit the amendment back to themselves, but that's not clear to me.

https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution

https://www.archives.gov/federal-reg...article-v.html

[glatt]

My 3 minutes of Googling this say that 34 state legislatures are required to call for a constitutional convention. The delegates at the convention draft the proposed amendment, and then it goes back to all the states where it must be passed by 38 states to become an amendment. The tricky part is Congress chooses whether it goes back to the state legislatures for ratification or to state conventions. A state ratification convention would be a weird animal where the voters choose on election day the delegates who would attend the state convention.


So if enough grass roots level action happened, we could amend the constitution against the wishes of Congress.

Edit: Unless Mitch McConnell decides to not do his job like he did with the Supreme Court appointments. So I guess they can just let a proposed amendment die. There is precedent.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by glatt

Unless Mitch McConnell decides to not do his job like he did with the Supreme Court appointments. So I guess they can just let a proposed amendment die. There is precedent.

Not like Harry Reid didn't do the same thing many many times. Talk about an obstructionist.