Nine Bi-partisan Mandates for Congressional Reform

from a Concerned U.S. Citizen

 

Congress as we know it is sick and it is getting sicker by the day. I am speaking now as a psychologist. This is in addition to the obvious failings of our two-party system in the United States. On this eve of the 2008 Presidential Election I propose consideration of the following congressional reforms. Contact your representatives in both houses of Congress, as well as your local media outlets, and demand attention to these nine mandates that surely are in the best interests of the American public:

1-Term Limits  for Both Houses of Congress
Source: http://www.heritage.org/Research/GovernmentReform/BG994.cfm

Federal cases on election law strongly suggest that the states are constitutionally empowered to regulate such matters as the terms of federal officeholders.
 
Recommendation: 2 consecutive 6-year terms with no ability to extend
 
 
2- Age Limitation for members of both the Senate and the House
Source: http://www.usconstitution.net/constquick.html
Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944198-1,00.html
 
While there is built into the Constitution lower age limits for both the House and the Senate (see Article 1, Section 2 & 3), nothing speaks to an upper age limit. But we have had many members of both parties who have stayed in office too long. Example: Senator Robert Byrd, D-W.VA who was born on Nov 20, 1917 and was first elected to Congress in 1952. He is the Senate’s longest-serving member, winning a ninth six-year term less than two weeks before his 89th birthday. He has held more leadership positions than any other senator, and he has seen 11 presidents take office during his time. The Rule of Seniority in Congress has often prevented it from working effectively to represent the will of the electorate.

Source: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061110/10byrdfacts.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Recommendation: Congressional tenure to automatically terminate at the age of 65, regardless of initial appointment date, with associated maximum age requirements for running for Congress.
 
 
3-The Elimination of ‘Earmarks’ for Both Houses of Congress and the Executive Branch
Source: http://earmarkwatch.org/faq/
Source: http://www.taxpayer.net/index.php

Through ‘earmarks’, members of Congress as well as the Executive Branch of Government can secure millions of dollars of funding for a recipient (a private company, nonprofit, university, or a state or local government) or a specific project (building a road, purchasing or setting aside land, etc.). Earmarks receive little or no debate from Congress as a whole; they are not subject to competitive bidding or administrative review, and most earmarks are not examined by the press Members have tremendous discretion to steer taxpayer dollars to their favored projects. *Congress has already ‘reformed’ earmarks but all the reforms did was provide some measure of transparency to the earmarking process. But transparency is only the first step toward accountability. Members' names are now attached to earmarks (in the past, earmarks were inserted into bills, committee and conference reports anonymously), lists of earmarks and their sponsors are made available in the committee reports for bills that include earmarks, and members must sign a letter stating that neither they nor their spouse has a financial interest in the project or the recipient that will receive the earmarked funds.
 
Recommendation: absolute curtailment of earmarks beginning with the 106th Congressional and Administration budgets, and the publication of names of all who attempt to do so for any reason.
 
 
4-Retirement Benefits for Congress
Source: http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/retirement.pdf

Prior to 1984 Members of Congress did not pay taxes to Social Security, nor were they eligible for Social Security benefits. They and other federal employees were instead covered by a separate pension plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In reference to that legislation, Senate Report 79-1400 (May 31, 1946) stated that a retirement plan for Congress: would contribute to independence of thought and action, [be] an inducement for retirement for those of retiring age or with other infirmities, [and] bring into the legislative service a larger number of younger Members with fresh energy and new viewpoints concerning the economic, social, and political problems of the Nation.

Recommendation: That Congress and all federal employees be covered under the same Social Security System that all other Americans fall under.

5- Congressional Education Requirements
Source: http://www.econ4u.org/congressional_economic_illiteracy.cfm

A Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy (CEEL) analysis of economic education among congressional members revealed in October, 2008, that less than 15% of current members have degrees in the business, economics, or financial fields.  The research showed that 30.5% of congressional members studied politics and government, while 18.1% majored in humanities.  In fact there are more members who studied science (7.5%) than economics (6.7%). The lack of personal finance education in America has resulted in widespread financial illiteracy throughout the country. That illiteracy has been partly to blame for the current credit crunch, as Americans at all income levels acted recklessly by taking on too much debt. 

Recommendation: the requirement of formal schooling (with a degree) in economics or business as a prerequisite for running for Congress.
 

6- The Preamble of the United States Constitution

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamble_to_the_United_States_Constitution

The Preamble to the US Constitution is a brief introductory statement of the fundamental purposes and guiding principles that the Constitution is designed to serve: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Congressional behavior is increasingly defying the fundamental premise of governance ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’ through graft, greed, pork-barrel spending, and failure to reform not only itself but the arcane fiscal systems that drive Wall Street.
 
Recommendation: Swift removal of any member of Congress for failure to protect the interests of the people, either through graft or greed or otherwise illegal special interest activities; and loss of any accrued financial and retirement benefits garnered to date.
 
 
7- Acceptance of Money from Lobbyists or PACS
Source: http://change-congress.org/about/
Source: http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/reform_agenda_memo/

Transparency is vital to meaningful congressional reform. While some information about political interests and holdings is now required of members of Congress, none of these requirements come close to real transparency. Mostly, any documents that do exist are not readily accessible by the general public:
 
Recommendation:
(a) all reports related to members of Congress and lobbyists should be posted online and be downloadable within 24-hours of their filing;

(b) all lobbyists should be required to register as lobbyists with full disclosure about their fees and all connections, direct or indirect, with lawmakers;

(c) the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) should be amended to apply to Congress, which currently it does not; 

(d) all congressional research, databases and legislative information system documents should be made available online, and free of charge, to the public; and

(e) the penality for the failure of lobbyists to report in full should be immediate and irrevocable removal from access to any and all members of Congress for any reason, with associated fines to all parties involved.
 
 
8- Management of the Liberal Bias in Mainstream Media
Source: http://www.mediaresearch.org/biasbasics/biasbasics1.asp
Source: http://atmizzou.missouri.edu/feb05/liberalmedia.htm
Source: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005312
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_media_bias

They may deny it but an intense liberal media bias exists today amongst mainstream media in the United States. Voting habits clearly show that journalists have backed the Democratic candidate in every election since 1964. The general public itself feels that the media reports the news with significant bias. It is obvious that most major media outlets and Democrats cite similar sources of expertise, such as particular think tanks and advocacy groups, or so-called 'experts'. Fox News' Special Report, while more conservative, is closer to the center than any of the three major networks' evening news broadcasts.
 
Recommendation: 
(a) mandate equal cable and non-cable television access by all contending parties, or none at all, including third party candidates; with full disclosure of any political bias postured; limiting political ads in all forms to a focused discussion of the candidate that approves the ad;

(b) mandate that all printed forms of media disclose on its front page/cover a uniform label broadcasting its political bias;

(c) mandate that all Internet-related forms of media disclose on its pages a uniform label broadcasting its political bias;

(d) require the inclusion of all political candidates running for federal office in every public debate.
 
 
9- The Establishment of Time Limitations and Reforms for American Federal Political Campaigns
Source: http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/book/pdf/171.pdf
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipartisan_Campaign_Reform_Act
Source: http://www.questia.com/library/politics-and-government/political-science/elections/political-campaigns.jsp
Source: http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-bs022797.html

Attempts have been made to create campaign equity by establishing universal limits for campaign expenditures and equal advertisement. However, these have failed miserably because neither major party desires real reform of the current system even though it fosters corruption and favors wealthy candidates. Reforms have also been challenged on the basis of freedom of speech concerns.
 
Recommendation:
(a) strengthen campaign reporting requirements so that the public has access to daily Internet reports in a standard format that is universally accessible, such as a PDF file;

(b) remove restrictions to campaign funding while also instituting stringent, public reporting of [all] sources of funds, direct and indirect, corporate and private;

(c) disavow and make illegal all international sources of funding for federal election campaigns;

(d) restrict federal election campaigns including advertisements to the four months immediately prior to an election;

(e) require all campaign media formats to focus positively on the candidate in question while avoiding any focus, negative or otherwise, on the competitor; 

(f) eliminate all anonymous third-party advertisements and campaign materials except those directly paid for by the candidate and his or her declared party; with penalities for failure to comply;

(g) eliminate all forms of drive-by-same-day-registration & voting throughout the 50 states;

(h) institute federal uniform voter registration policies and procedures that require of the voter the same exact identification documents required for an application for a US PASSPORT or VISA; 

(i) restructure federal election outcomes on the basis of the popular vote while at the same time eliminating the time-honored Electoral College system that is in place today, which few citizens neither appreciate nor understand; and

(j) [prohibit] television, radio, and Internet election broadcasts on the day of all federal elections until such time as polling places in all time zones in the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, have officially closed.