Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Great Idea! Read And Pass It On
Thread: Great Idea! Read And Pass It On
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Old 11-26-2011, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna View Post
CONGRESSIONAL REFORM ACT OF 2011

1. Members of the U.S. House of Representative and Senate shall collect a salary while in office. But there shall be no provision for a special Congressional pension once they leave office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) shall participate in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security trust fund immediately. Members of Congress shall participate with exactly the same benefits as the American people.

3. Congress can purchase their own supplementary contributory retirement plan, just as many Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. The current Congressional health care system shall be discontinued. They can participate in the same program of health insurance as all federal employees, paying the same premiums as all other government workers.

6. Congress must abide by all laws they impose on the American people. They must also be governed by any and all regulations issued by federal agencies.

7. If the amount of federal spending exceeds government revenues by more than 3% in any year, the terms for members of both the House and Senate shall be automatically limited to their current term of office. They shall then be disqualified from standing for re-election.
Some of that already exists.

For #1, Congress participates in FERS. I *did*, however, just learn that, for SOME federal employees, there are higher pension rates (not ridiculous, but still higher than the rest of us get) - and Congress is included in that (as are, for example, nuclear material handlers)

2. Congress DOES participate in Social Security and has since the 1980s.

4. Congressional pay raises are now handled far differently. When they DO vote on a raise (allowing a COLA, for example) they don't get it. It doesn't take effect until the NEXT Congress.