[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
I propose the following amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
In the event of a government shutdown due to a lapse in funding, all members of Congress immediately and automatically lose their jobs. They may remain in office on an interim basis, at the federal minimum wage, until such time as special elections are held in the several states, which must occur within 90 days. The now-interim incumbents are ineligible to run in such special elections.
We’ll never have another government shutdown again.
UPDATE: Via a Twitter conversation between John Infante and Craig Smith (yes, even though I’m on #hiatus, I sometimes cheat and search for tweets containing my name, so I can sorta-kinda see my @mentions…heh), an excellent idea emerges. Although the drastic remedy proposed above is only triggered by a lapsed-funding shutdown, there should be some lesser penalty for using Continuing Resolutions instead of standard full-year budgets. Reducing congressional salaries to minimum wage anytime the government is operating under a CR should do the trick.
P.S. Is this proposed solution “unfair” to those members of Congress who are actually doing their jobs, and want to fund the government? Yes, of course it is. A “fairer” solution, in the current mess, would be to fire only the House Republicans (and maybe Ted Cruz, heh). But you can’t make a law or constitutional amendment that says “fire the ones who are to blame,” because who gets to decide that? So yeah, firing everybody would be “unfair,” but it’s unavoidable. And anyway, the unfairness doesn’t matter, because the fire-the-entire-Congress contingency would never actually happen, since no congressional majority, of any party or ideology, is going to sign its own termination papers. The whole point of this amendment is to prevent future shutdowns – and it would work. If there’s one thing that unites Republicans and Democrats, it’s naked self-interest! That said, even if a shutdown did somehow come to pass under this amendment, the “unfairness” would be worth it to send a clear message that a Congress which can’t do its most basic functions, whatever the reason and whoever’s to blame, is no Congress at all, period, full stop. You shut down the government, you’re fired.
Anyway, let’s make this a little more formal-sounding, shall we? And let’s add the debt ceiling to it… and some important exceptions and caveats…
(Maybe some of these details should handled by enabling legislation, instead of being written into the amendment, but whatever. Here’s the concept…)
AMENDMENT XXVIII
Section 1. Except as provided below, all members of Congress shall immediately and automatically cease to be members of Congress, and shall be stripped of all privileges and benefits associated therewith, if either of the following events occur:
A) Any lapse in funding for legally authorized government operations, i.e., a “government shutdown” of any length or magnitude, due to Congress’s failure to pass funding legislation; or
B) Any event of default, technical default, or other inability on the part of the United States government to legally satisfy its lawfully incurred obligations, such obligations having been previously authorized by Congress and signed into law by the President, including but not limited to debts, payments, and funding of government operations, where such default, technical default or event occurs due to Congress’s failure to either raise adequate revenue or authorize adequate borrowing to fund those government obligations and operations which Congress has previously authorized and/or mandated.
If either of these events (hereinafter “Termination Event”) occurs, the Secretary of the Treasury or the President of the United States shall so certify, and shall deliver such certification to the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate.
Section 2. Upon the occurrence of a Termination Event, each of the several states shall promptly schedule a special election for each of its seats in the United States House of Representatives and both of its seats in the United States Senate, such election to take place within no more than 90 days, unless a regularly scheduled election for any such seat is set to occur within 120 days, in which case no special election is required, and the next regularly scheduled election shall be subject to the requirements of this Amendment.
Section 3. The incumbent member of Congress who was in office at the time of the Termination Event shall be ineligible to run in the election described in Section 2 (hereinafter “Post-Termination Election”). The member may run in subsequent elections, but if elected, will not be entitled to the continuation or resumption of any seniority privileges associated with the term in office that ended with the occurrence of a Termination Event.
Section 4. During the interim period between the Termination Event and the inauguration of the winner of the Post-Termination Election, members of Congress whose term ended with the occurrence of the Termination Event shall retain the title of “interim member of Congress” and shall retain the ability to exercise all duties of a member of Congress, but shall be paid the minimum wage permitted by federal law. If an interim member of Congress resigns his or her position, the governor of his or her state shall appoint a temporary replacement within 72 hours, unless the resignation occurs less than one week prior to the Post-Termination Election. The appointed replacement member of Congress shall have the same rights and duties that the resigning interim member would have had, and shall be ineligible to run in the Post-Termination Election.
Section 5. If either of the events described in Section 1 occurs due to a local emergency that makes it impossible or unfeasible for Congress to meet and vote prior to the pertinent deadlines, this Amendment will not apply unless the event described in Section 1 remains resolved for more than one week after Congress is able to re-convene after the emergency, in which case a Termination Event shall exist as of midnight on the eighth calendar day after the conclusion of the emergency. A state of local emergency implicating this section may be declared to exist by either the Mayor or the District of Columbia or the President of the United States.
Section 6. In the event of a dispute over whether or not a Termination Event has occurred, the United States Supreme Court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over the question, which shall be deemed justiciable and not a political question, and is hereby directed to hear argument on an expedited schedule and issue a decision within 21 days of when suit is filed regarding the alleged or disputed Terminated Event.
Section 7. If one Termination Event occurs, a second or subsequent Termination Event may not be deemed to have occurred until 180 days after the first Termination Event, or 60 days after all members of Congress elected in Post-Termination Elections have been sworn in, whichever occurs first. If, at that point, the state of budget lapse, default, technical default or other condition described in Section 1 still exists, a new Termination Event shall be deemed to have occurred, and the provisions of this Amendment will apply to such event.
Section 8. Sections 1 through 7 of this Amendment shall not apply if both houses of Congress pass legislation necessary to avoid a Termination Event, but such legislation is vetoed by the President. If, however, legislation is passed which would avoid a Termination Event but is vetoed by the President, and if the state of budget lapse, default, technical default or other condition described in Section 1 still exists on the 31st day after such a veto, then Sections 1 through 7 of this Amendment shall apply, and in addition, the President of the United States shall be automatically removed from office, to be replaced pursuant to the usual process of presidential succession.
Section 9. Funding for legally authorized government operations is to be provided via budget legislation spanning at least one calendar year. If, instead, government operations are funded by a “continuing resolution” or other measure spanning less than one calendar year, members of Congress shall have their pay reduced to the minimum wage permitted by federal law for the duration of the period in which government operations are funded in such a manner. If both houses of Congress pass budget legislation spanning at least one calendar year but such legislation is vetoed by the President, then this Section 9 shall still apply, but in addition, the President of the United States shall have his or her pay reduced to the minimum wage permitted by federal law for the duration of the period in which government operations are funded pursuant to non-annual funding legislation.