1. No Budget, No Pay If Congress can't pass a budget and all annual spending bills on time, members of Congress should not get paid.
2. Up or Down Vote on Presidential Appointments All presidential nominations should be confirmed or rejected within 90 days of the nomination.
3. Fix the Filibuster Require real (not virtual) filibusters and end filibusters on motions to proceed.
4. Empower the Sensible Majority Allow a bipartisan majority of members to override a leader or committee chair’s refusal to bring a bill to the floor.
5. Make Members Come to Work Make Congress work on coordinated schedules with three five-day work weeks a month in DC and one week in their home district.
6. Question Time for the President Provide a monthly forum for members of Congress to ask the president questions to force leaders to debate one another and defend their ideas.
7. Fiscal Report to Congress A nonpartisan leader should deliver an annual, televised fiscal update in-person to a joint session of Congress to ensure everyone is working off the same facts.
8. No Pledge but the Oath of Office Members should make no pledge but the pledge of allegiance and their formal oath of office.
9. Monthly Bipartisan Gatherings The House and Senate should institute monthly, off-the-record and bipartisan gatherings to get members talking across party lines.
10. Bipartisan Seating At all joint meetings or sessions of Congress, each member should be seated next to at least one member of the other party.
11. Bipartisan Leadership Committee Congressional party leaders should form a bipartisan congressional leadership committee to discuss legislative agendas and substantive solutions.
12. No Negative Campaigns Against Incumbents Incumbents from one party should not conduct negative campaigns against siting members of the opposing party
****************
This seems reasonable to me. Now off to the Adams Center!
12. No Negative Campaigns Against Incumbents Incumbents from one party should not conduct negative campaigns against siting members of the opposing party.!
Post subject: Re: No Labels: Stop Fighting, Start Fixing
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 11:49 pm
Supersonic
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:07 pm Posts: 12393
And then we'll just punch Bruce Wayne's broken back into place, so he can go fight some very large masked German piglet. And Thor will join us I don't know how but who cares right.
6. Question Time for the President Provide a monthly forum for members of Congress to ask the president questions to force leaders to debate one another and defend their ideas.
Because if they could just have a good debate, all their ideological differences would surely melt away!
Post subject: Re: No Labels: Stop Fighting, Start Fixing
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:02 am
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
number 4 exists
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: No Labels: Stop Fighting, Start Fixing
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:03 am
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
And negative ads are actually more informative than positive ads, and are more likely to persuade voters, so you can't really fault leaders for using them. We've also had negative ads during periods of bipartisan cooperation. They're not really a problem.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: No Labels: Stop Fighting, Start Fixing
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:06 am
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
3 and 5 are very good ideas. And 5 (the work week) is one of the reasons why acrimony is so high. When everyone had to start running as an outsider and people stopped moving down to DC when they got into congress (and left their families at home, etc) the social life that built friendships across party lines ceased to exist. it sounds like a little thing but most veterans of Congress will point to that as something quite significant in terms of the changing culture.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: No Labels: Stop Fighting, Start Fixing
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:11 pm
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Hard to argue against most of that. How do we make it happen?
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Post subject: Re: No Labels: Stop Fighting, Start Fixing
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:43 pm
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
I don't know where this thing should go, but it blew my mind.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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