Loy's Blog

Adjusting to tough economic times

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 / yr.)

$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 / 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)

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 EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS, 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.

IF you are happy how the Congress spends our taxes,
then just delete this message. IF you are NOT at all happy,
then I assume you know what to do.