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The following thoughtful proposal is published with appreciation to
Cherie Bailey, Spartanburg, South Carolina
"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 per 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 per year).
The remaining representatives would need 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!
The Chickasaw Plum - Volume VI - Number 4 - April 2009
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