"The Proposal"
When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that
seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining
workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job
would be eliminated as well. Wall street, and the media normally
congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board
of directors gives him a big bonus.
Our government should not be immune from similar risks.
Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435
members to 218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State).
Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.
Accomplish this over the next 8 years. (two steps / two elections) and of
course this would require some redistricting.
Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:
$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress.
(267 members X $165,200 pay / member / yr.)
$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people's staff. (estimate $1.3
Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per
each member of the Senate every year)
$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members
whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are
at $15 Billion / yr)
The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to
improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work
together for the good of our country?
We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient
resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what
your representative is doing.
Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911
when the current number of representatives was established. (telephone,
computers, cell phones to name a few)
Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the
nation needed a real fix to the economic problems.
Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+
months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full
pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.
Summary of opportunity:
$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.
$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (that's 8-BILLION just to start!)
Big business does these types of cuts all the time.
If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone
else) in order to collect retirement benefits there is no telling how much we
would save. Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.
IF you are happy how the Congress spends our taxes, then just delete this
message. IF you are NOT at all happy, then I assume you know what
This needs to happen
Member #: 33904
Registered: 10/18/2004
Posted:
163
Name:
Dave H
Occupation:
Design,Sweep,Splice,Lineman
Location:
Michigan
Experience:
~38 years
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