Joey’s Take: A New Contract

You may remember 1994’s Contract With America with its sweeping reforms to shrink government, cut taxes and revive entrepreneurship. Well, it’s time to put out a new contract – a Contract on Congress that goes after the representatives and senators who are holding our nation’s prosperity hostage to their own political agenda.

This contract would:

1. Require a balanced budget constitutional amendment that would be strictly enforced. No more “pay it forward a few generations” or “pay as you go when you feel like it.”

2. Limit ALL bills to one item and 5,000 words. If it can’t be expressed in 20 pages, it’s not ready for a vote. Bills must be written in plain English, and they can’t be amended or stuffed with unrelated business.

We all heard Nancy bragging yesterday about the new inclusion of student loans in the deformed health care bill. How many more trees are the greenies going to cut down just to print this massive abortion of legislation?!

The sad thing is that some parts of the health care bill would have easily passed a year ago had they not been bundled into this colossal mess, and many Americans would have already benefited from the changes.

3. Practice zero tolerance on congressional misconduct and ethical breaches. No more cover-ups, slaps on the wrist, looking the other way, or saying “but he did it too.” Violators, and their offices, would be subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and the cases against them should be heard in a court of law – not a select committee of partisans and cronies.

4. Limit Congress to two 60-day sessions a year, and adjust congressional pay accordingly. Think of the money we would save.

5. Ban all taxpayer-funded political travel – for the president, his staff and Congress.

6. Make Congress live by the rules it imposes on others. For instance, if other government employees can’t fly first class or by private plane on the taxpayer’s note, then a senator or representative can’t either. (Reps and senators need to be reminded that they are government employees.)

7. Enforce the constitutional separation of powers.

I may be a dog, but even I know it’s way past time for us to make Congress an offer it can't refuse.

I’m Joey. And I endorse this Contract on Congress.