"Only 10% of voters say Congress is doing a good or excellent job."
Congressional Performance - Rasmussen Reports™
The way I see the numbers, this is one of President Obama's "urgent" have to do something right away before they fail or you you know their approval number goes to 9% and we're in BIG trouble. I say we get right on it and pony up another trillion dollar bill to fix Congress. We could call it "The American Investment In Congress Act." Come on, we could save some Senators' and Representatives' wives from a beatdown, by their spouses, the day after Election Day.
We could even put up cute little symbol signs all over DC thus saving jobs for the "signs" civil servants (whoever they are) and report it as "jobs saved."
Now you are probably wondering how it should be paid for? Let's put on our thinking caps.
Maybe we could tax their earmarks. They have to personally pay, along with the recipient state, for every one they put in a bill. We could call it a tax on the other white meat if "pork" has been renamed.
How about a lobbyist/special interest group fee? Everytime a member meets with a special interest group/lobbyist, we charge a fee (It is NOT a tax!) to both the Congress person and the lobbyist/special interest group. Then (it gets better), we make them fill out about 5 different forms to report it which also get entered in a National Congressional Database so voters can look at it and decide what "treatment" they deserve on Election Day. The ones who are past their prime, age wise, sorry, you don't get another chance to run for public office again...and don't call us a "death panel" just because we want to kill your career. Here, have an aspirin.
I think this is such a good idea, that we should do the same with the White House. Awww, I can hear the administration crying now. "Why do we have to pay for their bad behavior?" Too bad, Mr President, under my plan, you have to pay because fair is fair and you've got all the money under your control. Say, maybe you could get Mr Geithner to print up some more money for you or get a loan from your friends at Goldman Sachs. Now put your Visitor's Log into the database so we can see what you owe.
We could also charge each member of Congress a fee for using the cafeteria. Mrs Obama could come in and check on their trans fats. We wouldn't have to pay her, right? That's a savings. Write it down.
Make them pay rent for their offices, the bigger the office, the more rent they have to pay. Uh-oh, I bet the majority leaders are going to have to pay a lot more than the newbies but fair is fair, right? As the proposer of this bill, I promise you that if you are a newbie, we will not raise your office rent. We'll just make the fat cat majority leaders pay your share. Under my plan, their rent costs would necessarily skyrocket.
We could send in the EPA (who love new projects) to check out and regulate the hot air in both chambers by controlling their thermostat. They can only turn on the air conditioner in off peak hours for lower cooling costs. We have to make sure the Capitol building is a place where rats can dwell in harmony with the enviroment. I say that animal thing is a Cass Sunstein job. We're already paying him and the EPA people. By golly, there's another savings to go along with those lower cooling costs.
Hey maybe we should move the Capitol to a cheaper location to save the taxpayers some money. I'm thinking Mississippi.
So, we go to the White House and have some beers then what do we City data Political Forum people do to improve the approval rating of Congress? Let's hear your ideas.