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November 4, 2009
Cure Congressional Corruption Act of 2009
By Ken Scott
A set of measures to combat Congressional Corruption and restore public confidence in the Federal Legislative process.
::::::::
A
close reading of these initiatives reveals that Congress and it's
leaders would still be free to do and say everything they do and say
presently only it would be done openly and could therefore be
reviewed by their employers – the American people. The adoption
of some of these ideas would be helpful, the adoption of them all
would do much to restore confidence in government and shift the
balance of power in Washington back to the hands of it's rightful
owners, that of the people. These measures are unlikely to be
opposed by honest politicians – wonder if there are any left?
1)
Issue to all Members of Congress a cell phone provided by their
state. These cells phones will be recorded at all times and all
non-personal conversations will be released after 7 days (or some
reasonable period of time).
Rationale:
Since
the Congress works for the American public, we have the right to
oversee their activities. Just as private employers can review Email
and other forms of employee communications so to can the
conversations of our elected officials be monitored. Should usage
be accumulated by persons other that the intended Member (or the
phone be unused), a report would be made to the ethics committee.
Personal calls (family, etc.) would not be released.
2)
Create a "pool" reporter system such that one of
several rotating media people accompany the Speaker of the House and
Senate Majority Leader at all times during their
entire legislative day (including traveling,
meetings, etc.). The media pool stories would be released after 3-7
days.
Rationale:
The
power of the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader to control
agendas, make deals, influence other members, and strongly force
agreement on certain policy issues exceeds what the founders intended
and what is good for the republic. This measure would insure an
accurate and full picture of the actions and words (and any threats
or promises) of the Congressional "leadership" be
documented and made available to the American people. This shouldn't
be a problem for anyone as I'm sure that their "Yes" is
always yes and "No" is no regardless of with whom they are
speaking. Having the media shadow these two figures would cut down
on inappropriate 'party' business at the expense of the People's
business.
3) All members of Congress release their
tax returns annually.
Rationale:
The
ability of Congress to enrich themselves during their tenure should
not be tolerated. This measure will illuminate any examples of this
occurring.
4) Require all bills scheduled for a vote in
Congress to first receive a separate 'Constitutional Authority'
vote.
Rationale:
All
members of Congress take an oath to defend the Constitution but
rarely is a Constitutional context given for the measures which they
consider. Requiring a recorded vote on whether a bill is
Constitutional would shift more importance back to this bedrock
document, force lawmakers to consider it's precepts more openly and
thoughtfully, and capture their positions on this important question.
5) Require all bills considered by Congress to contain an
accurate executive summary listing it's impacts and implications, the
possible intended and potential unintended consequences (possible
side effects) that the legislation might promote. The summary would
include the names, affiliations, and organizations of everyone that
wrote/provided the actual wording of the legislation (any portion
more than 5% of the whole).
Rationale:
The
recent games regarding the handling of Health Care, Omnibus Spending
, Stimulus, and Cap-and-Trade legislation including inappropriate
measures such as voting on unfinished bills, last minute huge
amendments, voting on legislation without having had the opportunity
to even read it, and concealing the actual intent and wording of the
bills themselves demonstrates that the current transparency level on
actual bill contents is much too low. If Congress cannot prepare an
10-20 page executive summary accurately describing a 2000 page bill,
should they even be entrusted to complete the larger bill?
6)
72 hr waiting period prior to chamber votes on any bills coming
out of committee or from a Joint House/Senate conference.
Rationale:
The need for the American people and for the
Congress members themselves to evaluate legislation requires that
some time exist to digest and consider the details of bills prior to
voting.
7)
No more earmarks in any bills.
Rationale:
Earmarks are
generally local projects and as such are not Constitutional (as they
neither affect Interstate commerce nor contribute to the 'General
Welfare'). They are also used to buy off Congress members and to
protect members from their constituents. For these reasons they
should simply be eliminated (or at least legislated in bills similar
in topic to the earmark).
8)
No more district specific spending allowed on sitting
Congressional websites.
Rationale:
Incumbent Congressional
members often advertise district (or State) specific actions in order
to curry favor with voters. This practice is not one available to
challengers and should be eliminated.
9) No partisan
executive branch meetings with Legislative branch leaders.
Discussions between the Executive Branch and Congress must include
members of both parties.
Rationale:
Back-room deals are a
common and clear path to selfish and corrupt practices and do not
contribute to transparency and accountability at all. Who can claim
that the current health care deal-making being conducted behind
closed doors and involving only Democrats are representative of ALL
the people? If the Executive Branch is allowed to meet and plan with
ONLY members of his/her party from the Congress then Separation of
Powers is violated and inappropriate collusion and secret agreements
are taking place . Simply allowing members of the other party to be
present would introduce a needed honesty to the entire process.
10) All Congressional leadership submit to a weekly press
conference where they can be questioned about their activities.
Rationale:
Again
the powers and influence concentrated in the Congressional leadership
requires that they frequently and effectively commit to their plans
and principles in a public forum. The media represented in such
press conferences should be rotated and weighted toward those not
part of the Washington establishment.
11)
Make conference committee work to combine disparate House and
Senate bills available to the public via broadcasts (like C-Span) or
via media presence during this important negotiations.
Rationale:
The conference committee work has often been
used to introduce measures without sufficient review or evaluation.
These are often difficult to remove as the political pressures to
pass the larger bill allow this undesirable parts to be carried
along. Making this process public would improve public confidence in
the process.