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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 (and, I realize, some major modifications to The Constitution - but this is just for fun, isn't it?).
Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:
- $44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X
$165,200 pay / member / yr.)< /span
- $97,175,000 for elimination of the above people's staff. (estimate $1.3
Million in staff per each member of the House,
- $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)
NB
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 Congressmen and women
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.
.
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