A Proposal to Eliminate Waste in Our Government

I just received this in an email from my dad, and I thought everyone would enjoy this poem as well. I absolutely love it!!

A SENSIBLE SUGGESTION
"The Proposal"

When a company falls on

difficult times, one of the

thingsthat seems to happen

is they reduce their staff and

workers. The remaining

workers must find ways to

continue to do a good

job or risk that their job

would be eliminated as

well. Wall street, and

the media normally

congratulate the CEO

for making this type of

"tough decision", and

his board of directors

gives him a big

bonus. Our government

should not be immune

from similar risks.

Therefore:

Reduce the House of

Representatives from the

current 435 members to

218 members.

Reduce

Senate (members

from 100 to 50 one per

State).

Then, reduce their staff

by 25%.

Accomplish this over the

next 8 years (two steps/two elections),

and of course this would

require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary

Gains Include:

$44,108,400 for

elimination of base

pay for congress. (267 members

X $165,200 pay/member/ yr.)

$97,175,000 for

elimination of their staff.

(estimate $1.3 Million

in staff per

each member of the House,

and $3 Million

in staff per each send a

member of the Senate every year)

$240,294 for the

reduction in remaining

staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction

in pork barrel ear-marks

each year. (those

members whose jobs are

gone. Current estimates

for total government

pork earmarks are

at $15 Billion/yr).

The remaining

representatives would

need to work smarter

and

improve efficiencies.

It might even be in

their best interests

to work together

for the good of our country!

We may also expect

that smaller committees

might lead to

a more efficient

resolution of issues

as well.

It might even

be easier to

keep track of what

your representative is doing.

Congress has more

tools available to do

their jobs than it had

back in 1911 when the

current number of

representatives was

established. (telephone,

computers, cell phones

to name a few)

Note: Congress did not

hesitate to head home

when it was a holiday,

when the nation needed

a real fix to the

economic problems.

Also, we had 3 senators

that were not doing their

jobs for the 18+

months (on

the campaign trail) and

still they all

have accepted full pay.

These facts alone

support a reduction

in senators & congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$ 44,108,400 reduction

of congress members.

$282,100, 000 for

elimination of the

reduced house member

staff.

$150,000,000 for

elimination of reduced

senate member staff.

$59,675,000 for 25%

reduction of staff for

remaining house

members.

$37,500,000 for 25%

reduction of staff for

remaining senate

members.

$7,500,000,000 reduction

in pork added to bills by

the reduction of

congress members.

$8,073,383,400 per year

estimated total savings.

(That's 8-BILLION

just to start!)

Big business does

these types of cuts

all the time.

If Congresspersons were

required to serve 20, 25

or 30 years (like

everyone else) in order

to collect retirement

benefits, tax payers

could save a

bundle. Now they get

full retirement after

serving only ONE term.