Congressional Terms & Benefits
My original proposed Amendment to the US Constitution (Jan 2010)
1. Term Limit.
No person shall stand for election, nor shall he or she be elected or appointed, to any seat in Congress when the term for which he or she is running or being elected or appointed will cause this person to exceed total Congressional service of 12 years. Time served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate are to be combined for purposes of calculating this limit.
In order to avoid disruption of ongoing campaigning, this section shall become effective eighteen months after ratification of this amendment.
[This section remains as is in the revised Amendment.]
2. No Tenure or Pension.
Each Congressman and Senator shall receive compensation while in office as established by a previous Congress and shall receive no further pay or pension after his or her departure from service. The provisions of the 27th Amendment to this Constitution shall remain in effect.
This section shall become effective for any newly elected Senator or Representative six months after ratification of this amendment. As to those serving at the time of ratification, their pension rights shall be held to those rights attained six months after such ratification without further enhancement as to pay or time in service.
[The substance of this section remains as is in the revised Amendment. The wording has been altered to improve on the specificity.]
3. Participation in Federal Retirement Plans.
Each Congressman or Senator shall be subject to any participation-required Federal plan and may elect to participate in any participation-optional Federal plan providing techniques for saving for one's eventual retirement. Such plans shall be identical to those required or allowed for the majority of private citizens in the United States and using the same applicable laws.
This section shall become effective for any newly-elected Senator or Representative at the time they commence their service in the Congress after ratification of this amendment. As for those serving at the time of ratification, their pension rights will have been frozen, as per Section 2 above, and they shall convert to these plans six months after such ratification.
[This section is removed from the revised Amendment. To some it granted legitimacy to programs such as Social Security and Medicare. "Participation-optional" plans such as 401(k)'s and IRA's do not require inclusion in the Amendment and should occur naturally if the revised wording is adopted. Moreover, the phrase "majority of private citizens" would be virtually impossible to enforce.]
4. No Unusual Health Care Benefits.
All Congressmen and Senators, while in office, may be offered participation in a Health Care Plan for themselves and their immediate families. Such plan shall require contributions from such members of Congress to a degree similar to the median plans available to the majority of private citizens in the United States. Such Health Care Plans shall terminate nine months after their departure from service.
Allowing appropriate time for a conversion, this section shall become effective one year after ratification of this amendment.
[This section is removed from the revised Amendment. The phrase "majority of private citizens" would be virtually impossible to interpret and the whole health care situation in the nation is quite fluid in any case.]
5. No Exemption from Laws of the Land.
Congress shall pass no law that exempts current or former members of Congress from the applicability of that law. Furthermore, all such laws currently in force with such provisions shall be treated as having had those provisions stricken one year after ratification of this amendment.
[This section remains as is in the revised Amendment.]
6. No Congressional Relationships After Congressional Service.
No Congressman or Senator shall deal with Congress after leaving office in matters of persuasion or influence as to any pending legislation or resolution. All contracts with former Congressional officeholders shall be null and void six months after ratification of this amendment.
[The substance of this section remains in the revised Amendment. The terminology defining lobbying is simply expanded so as to make it clear what is prohibited and allowed.]