Bridge the Divide! Vote Independent (No Party Preference)! Vote Stein!

More than 7 in 10 Americans don’t like what Congress is doing according to a recent non-partisan Pew Research report. That “we the people” don’t trust one of the key institutions of our democracy, is bad for all of us. It eats away at our democracy.

To truly “fix” Congress, we need to end gerrymandering, institute campaign finance reform, adopt term limits and reign in special interests. On another web page, I describe the Constitutional Amendments required to do this. “We the people” must also recognize that we are part of the problem because we repeatedly vote for the same two billionaire-financed parties and their “I’ll-do-anything-to-get-elected” candidates.

While another page is devoted to Constitutional Amendments, here I lay out changes to the way Congress works day-to-day that we can make to restore at least some part of our trust in Congress.

Besides the toxic political environment, the constant fighting between Republicans and Democrats, and Congress not getting much done, Congress repeatedly takes advantage of the trust we’ve placed in our Representatives. This causes “we the people” to respect Congress less, to look askance at our elected leaders. This is not good for our country because Congress is an institution created by the Constitution to guard our democracy.

Following are a few of the changes to the way Congress works that I support – you will surely have others that I would love to hear about. But before I tell you about my changes, I want to make clear that, as an Independent, I will work with all to revise my proposals and to support new ones I haven’t yet thought about, as long as the result is to make a harder working, fairer Congress, a Congress that “we the people” can respect more. When “we the people” believe in the integrity of our democratic institutions, we are all better off, our democracy is stronger.

1. No Pay For Congress If It Shuts Down the Government. If Congress can’t get along and shuts down the government, then those same Representatives should not get paid. That’s only fair. In the last shutdown, Congressional paychecks kept coming, even though the government stopped paying millions of federal workers. What’s good for our federal workers is good for Congress.
2. 5-Day Work Week for Congress. Congress used to work five days-a-week, when it’s in session, which isn’t all that much. Sometime in 1995, Congress cut 1½ days from its work week. Members of Congress spend somewhere between 20% and 50% of their time (maybe even more) raising money, depending on which estimate you believe. Raising money is not what we taxpayers are paying our Representatives to do. Looking out for us and making better laws is what we pay them to do. I support going back to the way it was. Congress should work five days-a-week. Our tax dollars pay the salaries for Members of Congress and we deserve their full efforts and attention to passing laws that benefit our country. More time devoted to making our nation better, stronger, healthier for all of us. Less time devoted to fundraising, meeting professional lobbyists and kowtowing to party leaders.
3. No Individual Stock Trading. If Members of Congress and their families want to invest in American business, then they should invest in broad-based funds, such as Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab S&P funds, not individual publicly traded stocks. Representatives and their families should be prohibited from trading in individual publicly traded stocks. Do you trust Members of Congress who buy and sell stocks? I don’t. They are too close to power, they are the decision makers whose actions can move whole industries, and certainly individual companies. I’ve got no problem with Members of Congress investing in American business, but it should be done fairly, which means no trading in individual companies while in office.
4. Congress Should Be Subject to the Same Laws as We All Are. The labor laws, whistleblower laws, and equal pay laws that apply to all of us are enforced by multiple government agencies, such as the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. However, Congress doesn’t trust those agencies in the Congressional workplace and set up an office that it controls to address complaints of Congressional employees. The office is called, “The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights.” Guess who approves the rules of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights? You got it: Congress. If the Department of Labor, EEOC and other agencies are good enough for we the employees of America and we the business owners and operators of America, then those same agencies are good enough for Congress. I want to make clear that this isn’t about impinging on the rights the Constitution gives to all Members of Congress to be free of certain lawsuits and arrests while they are Representatives. This is about fairness, integrity and respect for you and me. Doing away with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights and replacing it with the agencies that watch over all other American employees will help start us down the long road to restoring “we the people’s” respect for Congress.