Reform Congress

“All members of Congress should be required to wear NASCAR uniforms. You know, the kind with patches. That way we know who is sponsoring each of them.” - Brad Thor

Congress has an average approval rating of around 20 percent over the last 10 years, and rightfully so. Congress is constantly in gridlock and notoriously ineffective. For example, it failed to pass a budget for 1,448 days between 2009–2013. From filibusters to gerrymandering, our representatives will seemingly do anything to avoid compromising and ensure they stay in power.

From 1998 to 2004, 43 percent of retiring members of Congress took lobbying jobs after they left Congress. That number is up from 3 percent in 1974. Why are so many members of Congress turning into lobbyists? Because corporations are willing to pay them to lobby their former colleagues to influence legislation that might be worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.

The Solutions

  1. Change the terms and install term limits.

  2. Change the pay and benefits for members of Congress.

  3. Eliminate the filibuster.

  4. Give the president the line-item veto.

  5. End gerrymandering.

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Saving our democracy starts with an educated citizenry that isn't afraid to break from party lines. In this Playbook, Trek Bicycle President John Burke proposes 16 detailed solutions to our country's biggest challenges that are rooted in fact not ideology.