Sunday, May 24, 2009

Tea Party Draft Manifesto

The outline is from the Contract With America. I'll add a NINTH regarding benefits for Congresscritters shortly.

* FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
* SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
* THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
* FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
* FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
* SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
* SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
* EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
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SECOND DRAFT

* FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
CHANGE - * SECOND, the pension and medical benefits provided for Federal elected representatives shall not exceed those available to civil servants employed in the District of Columbia;
* THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
[this one needs names for specific committees to be eliminated]
* FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
[define limits]
* FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
* SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
* SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
* EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
*NINTH Conduct a study, using independent audit firms, of all federal regulation. The purpose of the study is to identify duplicate regulation to be eliminated through legislative oversight.
*TENTH The costs associated with regulatory burdens shall be identified and a regulatory cost report issued coincidentally with approval of the annual budget.

3 comments:

Luther said...

I'll try and spread the word. That's a doable and believable first start in my opinion.

Ideas then action.

I'll try to contact my local 'tea party' organizer and pass the word.

Anonymous said...

Same here - I'll try to get others aboard. A good beginning.

Anonymous said...

NINTH Conduct a study, using independent audit firms, of all federal regulation. The purpose of the study is to identify duplicate regulation to be eliminated through legislative oversight. Seems reasonably straightforward.

TENTH The costs associated with regulatory burdens shall be identified and a regulatory cost report issued before approval of the annual budget.These are both good, but the problem is how to keep the researching institutions and their findings depoliticized.