The Proposal

Thanks to Teresa Ramsey.

The Proposal
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When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that happens is that it reduces its staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their jobs 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 218members; and [reduce also] Senate members from one hundred to fifty (one per state). Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.

Accomplish this over the next 8 years. [This would require] 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/year.)

$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/year)

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 be even easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

Congress has more tools available to do its jobs than it had back in 1911, when the current number of representatives was established. [This includes] telephone, computers, cellphones, 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.
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[These changes would result in a total of] $8,073,383,400 per year. This eight billion is just a 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 with how the Congress currently spends and wastes our taxes, then just delete this message. IF you are NOT at all happy, then I assume you know what to do!

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