There should be legislation proposed that it is mandatory that Congress work a

[mfcorey1]

designated amount of days per session. They have more down time than a billionaire with no job.

[shenmue]

1. Yep

[SheilaT]

2. Maybe require a 39.5 hour week, and no one who works less

than 40 hours gets benefits.

Oh, and new hires should start at minimum wage, with 2% raises each year, which would still be more than a lot of people get.

[mfcorey1]

3. Love the idea but they will never even let something like this come to the floor. WE

are now in a very dangerous era of government domination in the United States.

[SheilaT]

8. Oh, I know.

Heck, even if they were paid whatever the median family income is these days (around fifty grand a year, I think) they'd be struggling. I'd even be willing to pay for all their travel to and from their home district (I honestly don't know if they currently get an allowance for that or not) but they'd need to rent a place to stay in the DC area and that alone would be a huge reality check.

Every time some politician grandstands and lives a week --tries to live a week I should say --on minimum wage or on food stamps, they almost always give up before the week is over. They shouldn't be allowed to, and only one week isn't enough. It should be a month. For reference, either see the Thirty Days episode "Minimum Wage", in which Morgan Spurlock and his girlfriend spend thirty full days living on minimum wage, or read "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich, about people living at the bottom.

I know there are those here on DU that don't need to watch a TV episode or read a book, because they are living life at the bottom. But the people running this country aren't, and probably never did.

[Orsino]

4. There should be a constitutional amendment freeing them to work...

...instead of just fundraising. Rather than mandating their punching a clock, we should be mandating progress in problem-solving.

[CrispyQ]

9. Publicly funded elections would do that - free them to work, not campaign.

Problem is, they are vested in the current system.

[Orsino]

11. Very this.

Imagine hundreds of Republican representatives suddenly looking at empty calendars. Imagine their horror when there are no more lobbyists to hide behind.

[Mass]

5. What would that accomplish? Most of the 2010, 2012, and 2014 Republican congresspeople were elected

on the promise they did nothing. Their philosophy is Norquist's : diminish government as it is incompetent.

Sadly, the problems that happened these last few years (and the apparent lack of reaction from Dems or stupid insistence that there were no problems from some corners) comforted this idea.

People who voted GOP were answering to this simple idea that the private sector works better than the public sector, and people who did not vote probably were thinking that both were as corrupted as the other and none would improve their life.

[mfcorey1]

6. The op is not about the insane vote, but is more about people having a job and

aiming to work. Namely, the Congress of the United States

[Mass]

7. Yes, because verbally abusing people who did not think the Democrats were representing them well

(largely because they did not present any arguments except GOP = evil) will help.

I have no issue with the idea Congress meets more, but I am skeptical it will do anything at all.

[mfcorey1]

10. Well then, cut their pay. If one is not productive on the job, being fired

will probably happen. It is time for them to be accountable for the millions of taxpayer money we shuffle their way.