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Should congressional pensions be cut or eliminated?

Should congressional pensions be cut or eliminated?

  • Total voters
    22
radcen said:
The four ticket rule is my idea of how it should be. It's not actually a rule now.
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Thanks for the clarification, I misunderstood, but I agree.
 
megaprogman said:
They should get a pension and be barred from private or lobbying work for 10 years to avoid any conflicts of interest.
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The problem for me is not as much what they do after they get out, many of them get out only after death. The problem is what they do during their term(S). Congress and the President spend as much time campaigning as they do legislating. Income from their position should be limited only to the income provided by the position. It is the massive amounts given by special interest groups, legally or illegally, that is worrisome.

This will not change until congress and the administration cease to be judge and jury of themselves. We have more than one tax cheat in congress that still holds their job, and some of them have been convicted. Same with misuse of funds. Where is the outcry. Martha Stewart went to jail for lying while not under oath to an FBI agent. At around the same time, Clinton kept his job after lying to the public. Something needs to be done.
 
jimbo said:
I don't think my post addressed the issue of who pays for flight, but I am not aware of the 4 ticket rule. No saying you're wrong, just that I don't know. I would be interested in knowing where that rule is found.

I don't see how the constituents deciding pay and benefits would be that complicated. I'll propose the following legislation:

"Each congressman shall be given the sum of $750,000 (or some other figure) to use as they see fit to conduct congressional business. All expenses, including salaries, pensions, office expenses, travel, and any other expenses shall be paid from that fund."
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Yes! And when they run out of money they could easily find some additional funding from say the coal, pipeline, automotive, steel, airline, etc. people. They are so nice and interested in our welfare. Maybe we could have them just pay them from the beginning. Oh, that’s right, we do that now.
 
Congressman should receive more less, more more than the street sweeper and janitors; moreover, every time they espouse that a union man's wages and benefits are cut, their's should also be, by law, cut equally..
A new thing in America...fair play for all...
And all congressmen should never be allowed to give themselves raises....on all levels of government....
A to of reform is necessary here..
 
megaprogman said:
They should get a pension and be barred from private or lobbying work for 10 years to avoid any conflicts of interest.
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Good idea.....
Business and special interests have their lobbyists, but who lobbies for John Q Public ?
I often think that lobbying should be illegal.
 
earthworm said:
Good idea.....
Business and special interests have their lobbyists, but who lobbies for John Q Public ?
I often think that lobbying should be illegal.
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Lobbyists can provide important information to congressmen and their ilk. Lobbying is not the problem. The problem is the money offered to congressmen by lobbyists. This money is seldom directly paid, but rather in the form of campaign ads, contributions, donations to their favored charities, etc. It's happening big time here in Michigan right now. I’m seeing many TV ads for state congressmen paid for by a private company because they voted the way the company asked them to. The money is what is screwing this up.
 
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