Lets enact the following rules for congress

1) business must be conducted in the capital or your office, not at country clubs or power lunches, the founders built the building for a reason, lets use it

2) All votes must be input in the capital building, and they will be preceeded by a discussion. All bills will be read aloud as written before the vote

3) all bills have a 2 day lag period. The president has sufficient power to protect nation interests in the short term, why don't you THINK first.

4) The work week is from Monday to Friday, not Tuesday to Thursday. Going home can wait for recesses. Other than that you can have the same vacation and sick days as the rest of the federal employees.

5) "Fact Finding" is fine, but it will be done on your dime, not the taxpayers, and you will not accept trips as a gift. All travel and accommodations will be payed for from your salary

6) voted pay increases are still possible, but you must put it on the ballot for your district. Your district will be the one deciding you earned it, not you

7) Retirement will granted on the same scale as the rest of the federal workers. Not after 6 years. 1 term will not get you full retirement

8) Aids will be paid for out of your salary, not my tax dollars. I did not vote for them, they do not work for me. If you need the extra help I am sure you can spare the cash to pay for it.

9) All members will have a person assigned to stand behind them with a wiffle ball bat. If you speak you will be hit in the head, so make sure that what you say is worth the wack. If you are giving a speech, you will be hit no less than once per minute. This item also will apply to the president and any department head.

10) Before any spending bill vote, you will enter the chamber then leave, walk to the Washington monument, and touch it. At that point if you feel the bill is important to the country, you may walk back and vote for it. If you have thought about it and the bill is unnecessary, you may take a cab at your expense and vote nay.

wolfpackjeeper said:

1) business must be conducted in the capital or your office, not at country clubs or power lunches, the founders built the building for a reason, lets use it

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Excellent Idea.

wolfpackjeeper said:

2) All votes must be input in the capital building, and they will be preceeded by a discussion. All bills will be read aloud as written before the vote.

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This should cut down on the size and complexity of the bill considerably. Imagine what may have happened if that were a requirement for this 1100-page "stimulus" bill we were just saddled with..

"Point three thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four. It shall..."
"Oh, shut up! Move on to the next matter of business. Mr. Sponsor, don't resubmit that bill until you can get it under five pages!"

wolfpackjeeper said:

3) all bills have a 2 day lag period. The president has sufficient power to protect nation interests in the short term, why don't you THINK first.

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A good idea. Never happen.

wolfpackjeeper said:

4) The work week is from Monday to Friday, not Tuesday to Thursday. Going home can wait for recesses. Other than that you can have the same vacation and sick days as the rest of the federal employees.

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While we're about it, the number of recesses should be reduced as well. cf; "Uncle Jay Explains the News".

wolfpackjeeper said:

5) "Fact Finding" is fine, but it will be done on your dime, not the taxpayers, and you will not accept trips as a gift. All travel and accommodations will be paid for from your salary

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Hm. If it's "official and necessary," then there's no real reason it shouldn't be paid for. However, the hurdle of "official and necessary" should be left to an independent, apolitical office to determine, and most certainly not the Congresscritter!

wolfpackjeeper said:

6) voted pay increases are still possible, but you must put it on the ballot for your district. Your district will be the one deciding you earned it, not you.

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I've been saying something like this for a number of years, but with two additional small modifications - the pay increase so approved doesn't take place until the next term of office, and if enough people vote No, you have your pay reduced by the amount you were seeking to have it raised by. There needs to be risk, also...

wolfpackjeeper said:

7) Retirement will granted on the same scale as the rest of the federal workers. Not after 6 years. 1 term will not get you full retirement.

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Better solution - there should be no retirement from elected office. Period. This will probably do more for keeping new blood in the Capital than setting term limits ever could.

wolfpackjeeper said:

8) Aides will be paid for out of your salary, not my tax dollars. I did not vote for them, they do not work for me. If you need the extra help I am sure you can spare the cash to pay for it.

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Concur. How much staff does a Congresscritter need, anyhow? I say two - one at their district office, one in DC.

wolfpackjeeper said:

9) All members will have a person assigned to stand behind them with a wiffle ball bat. If you speak you will be hit in the head, so make sure that what you say is worth the wack. If you are giving a speech, you will be hit no less than once per minute. This item also will apply to the president and any department head.

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Sounds good. Perhaps this should be incremented, tho? First year is a Nerf bat, second year is a whiffleball bat, third year is a softball bad, fourth year is a genuine ash Louisville Slugger, fifth year you get whacked in the back of the head with a brick, sixth year you have a cinderblock dropped on your head.

wolfpackjeeper said:

10) Before any spending bill vote, you will enter the chamber then leave, walk to the Washington monument, and touch it. At that point if you feel the bill is important to the country, you may walk back and vote for it. If you have thought about it and the bill is unnecessary, you may take a cab at your expense and vote nay.

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Can't really think of anything to add to this last one - I do like the idea! Should get Congress in better physical condition anyhow, and we'd know when they were about to vote to spend our money by the mass exodus to the Washington Monument (and no, votes can't take place on the way. And no, votes on spending can't take place in camera - spending votes shall be held openly, recorded plainly, and available for immediate public review.)

A couple that need to be added
For every law introduced you will need to remove the first 20 existing laws that cover the same thing and the ORIGINAL elected official that enacted the FIRST instance of the law gets credit for it.

If any legislation you introduce or vote for is overturned by the supreme court as unconstitutional "You're FIRED"

RichP said:

A couple that need to be added
For every law introduced you will need to remove the first 20 existing laws that cover the same thing and the ORIGINAL elected official that enacted the FIRST instance of the law gets credit for it.

If any legislation you introduce or vote for is overturned by the supreme court as unconstitutional "You're FIRED"

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Hm - except the Supreme Court seems to be upholding a few laws that are unconstitutional - so that's not as much of a test as we'd like. Granted, they have been reversing a few as well...

As far as the first point - not necessarily removing laws that deal with the same thing - just rescinding laws that are no longer applicable, or that would be voided by the passage of the new law should be done. I see no reason why the entire body of law to which a person is subject should not be contained in a single volume, about the size of a middlin' paperback novel, that can't be at least skimmed and understood inside of a week-end. How many of us violate laws we know nothing about, or that really no longer apply, or that should no longer apply, or were passed due to pressure from special interests?

5-90 said:

Hm - except the Supreme Court seems to be upholding a few laws that are unconstitutional - so that's not as much of a test as we'd like. Granted, they have been reversing a few as well...

As far as the first point - not necessarily removing laws that deal with the same thing - just rescinding laws that are no longer applicable, or that would be voided by the passage of the new law should be done. I see no reason why the entire body of law to which a person is subject should not be contained in a single volume, about the size of a middlin' paperback novel, that can't be at least skimmed and understood inside of a week-end. How many of us violate laws we know nothing about, or that really no longer apply, or that should no longer apply, or were passed due to pressure from special interests?

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I figure that after every 200 new laws are added 2000 would be removed. Should tend to shrink the sheer volume. Not to mention how busy it would keep them figuring out WHICH 20 would have to be removed, Oh and no staff to do the research either, the law maker has to do it him or herself, that would only allow them 1% of their time to figure out how to screw things up and 99% busy work.