Congressional Reform

I am in favor of cutting the salaries and perks of Congressmen. I am against Congressional pensions. All laws concerning taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and all other financial restrictions should apply to the general population, should also apply to congressmen. They should not be exempt from anything. The size of Congress should be expanded to its Constitutional limit of one representative for every 30,000 people (Article I, section 2). This would make them more accountable to the people.

Congress must repeal all laws that delegate legislative powers to regulatory agencies, bureaucracies, private organizations, the Federal Reserve Board, international agencies, the President, and the judiciary. I would repeal the seventeenth amendment, restoring to the States legislatures the right to elect U.S. Senators. This would help restore a proper balance of power and would help to prevent corruption, overspending, and unconstitutional usurpation of States’ rights.

I support legislation to prohibit the attachment of unrelated riders to bills. Any amendments must fit within the scope and object of the original bill. I am against line-item veto legislation, but every spending bill should be limited by law to only one item.

I would require that for all legislation brought to the floor of Congress, the portion of the U.S. Constitution that grants its authority to enact such legislation be cited. Any legislation currently in effect that cannot meet that strict criterion must be rescinded.

Penalties can and should be given to Congressmen for missing votes (Article I section 5). However, a congressman should not be punished for abstaining from a vote if there was not enough time given to him to decide how to vote on an inch thick bill that has had earmarks added to it at the last minute. Congressmen should be allowed 3 full business days to decide after the final version of bill was drafted except in cases in which the bill addresses a state of emergency declared by the President.