From Paul W. Voegeli
Monroe
To the Editor:
As the government shutdown continues, each party seems more interested in blaming the other party than actually ending the shutdown. The reason for the shutdown is that Congress did not get its work done by the legal deadline of September 30. Thus, rather than blaming one or the other party, the blame should fall on the entire Congress.
Many are unaware that Congress works on only a part time basis. Its usual workweek is Tuesday through Thursday. Every Thursday evening, most members return home and do not come back to Washington until Monday night. Thus, they are in Washington less than half the time. Those trips home cost them nothing because, a few years ago, Congress voted that each member could make 38 round trips home per year at taxpayers’ expense. Those trips home include various public appearances which in fact are little more than campaigning for the next election.
I have a suggestion that I believe would result in Congress meeting the September 30 deadline in the future. That proposal is that for every day of a shutdown, every member of Congress, regardless of party, would lose three days’ pay. That pay would be lost permanently, and, unlike the pay of other furloughed government workers, would not be paid retroactively after the shutdown ended. I think the result would be no future shutdowns.
The arrogance of Congress in not doing its work on a timely basis and thus failing to meet the September 30 deadline again shows why we need term limits for Congress, just as we have for the president. No one should be permitted to serve in either House for more than 12 years. While they are addressing these issues, it would also be appropriate for Congress to repeal the outrageously generous Congressional pension plan (a plan that receives little publicity). There is no reason why members of Congress, while they are in office, should have any type of pension plan other than Social Security. If Social Security is good enough for everybody else, it ought to be good enough for them.
