September 21, 2010

President Obama said it takes more than just cutting spending. He challenged the Tea Party to give some specifics. I’m all for it. Here are my contributions.

If I were in Congress I would work hard with all colleagues to:

1. Immediately reset the salaries, expense allowances and benefits of all elected officials back to the 1960 level and freeze them for ten years. Include in the required legislation the requirement for the legislatures to have to vote unanimously for salary or benefits increases.

2. Pass legislation setting term limits for Representatives and senators to two consecutive terms effective with those elected in 2010.

3. Seek to pass legislation to require a balanced budget to be effective in 2012. Simultaneously start a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget except during a declared war.

4. Pass legislation abolishing retirement benefits for Representatives and senators effective with those elected in 2010. The Founders never intended representatives and senators to be career positions.

5. Pass legislation decertifying all Unions representing civil service (public sector) employees, forbidding collective bargaining for civil service employees and designate the Civil Service Commission as the ombudsman for civil service employees. Also convert Civil Service employee retirement plans to 401K retirement plans.

6. Immediately reset the average civil service salaries, benefits, allowances, etc to the same level as the national average of the non-government workforce excluding the organized labor contracts.

7. Immediately abolish all departments, agencies, panels and commissions, established in the executive branch after the creation of the Department of Home Land Security including all paid Government employment positions also established. Transfer all duties of abolished positions to the previous department that should have been handling them.

8. Revise procurement regulations to limit labor and executive compensation on government contracts to not more than two percent above national averages. Also limit net profits to not more than 10%.

9. Revise procurement regulations to require all cost plus contracts to be incentive fee type. Performance evaluation teams to be composed of members from a different facility and having expertise similar to that required by the purpose of the contract.

10. Pass legislation barring Lobbyists from congress and also barring the practice of earmarks.

11. Seek a constitutional amendment to limit the congressional sessions to a maximum of six months in a calendar year. In addition limit Executive Branch cabinet or Judicial Branch recess appointments to filling vacancies that occur during the congressional recess. All recess appointments will be subject to Congressional confirmation during the next congressional session. If the Congress fails to act, the recess appointment will be permanent.

12. Pass legislation to bar any changes to the executive branch organization without congressional consent and oversight.

The primaries are over. The Tea Party Movement had good success with replacing incumbents in the Republican primaries. I am somewhat disappointed there was not more activity identifying and supporting constitutional conservative Democrats so we could defeat incumbents in the Democratic Primaries. We can have the best effect on congress if we can get constitutional conservative Democrats elected also. Well, we will have to plan better in 2012. Just keep in mind we are not republicans or democrats. we are constitutional conservatives.

Now we have to focus on November. The candidates the Tea Party supported who won their primary will need even more support to win in November. It is still an up hill pull. Angle, Odonnell and Miller will all have tough campaigns and a lot of mud slung at them. The Tea Party can help them stay on message and truthful. Especially in campaign ads.The voters all across the country are in a mood to return to the morals of the founders. The candidates we support have got to have that aura. Good ideas for ads can be found at worddoctor.com. They really know what words work.

If we can be successful in November we will have a better chance of bringing the socialist Progressive agenda of the Administration to a halt. Nothing is more important than that at present.

Happy Trails to All