[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 23, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S201-S202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         GOOD GOVERNMENT REFORM

  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, more and more Americans from all walks of 
life, of both political parties, feel there is not just a pond or a sea 
but an ocean of difference between the real world where they live and 
Washington, DC. They view--I think correctly--Washington, DC, as a 
different planet where

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normal rules do not seem to apply. That is why on the first day I could 
introduce new legislation in this new Congress, I chose to introduce a 
package of reform measures--measures aimed at bridging that gap, 
bringing those two worlds together, returning us--returning Washington 
to the real world and reconnecting with the American people.
  The American people are also concerned--rightly--about the bitter 
partisanship, the overly ideological tone of almost all of the debate 
we have here in Washington now, here in Congress.
  I believe these sorts of reform measures--the four bills I have 
introduced in particular--can also help bridge that divide because they 
are not ideological, they are not partisan, they are good-government 
reform, things that can and should and, hopefully, will bring us 
together and bring us together and reconnect us with the American 
people. Again, it is another reason I chose to introduce this package 
of four reform measures, four good-government bills on the first day I 
could introduce legislation this Congress.
  The first is a very simple and basic but fundamental idea: term 
limits for Members of Congress. I am honored to be joined by six other 
Senators right out of the gate, right out of the box in terms of 
cosponsoring this important legislation: Senators Paul, Ayotte, Coburn, 
Lee, Rubio, Cruz, and Johnson. I thank them for their cosponsorship and 
their support. This measure would limit Members of Congress in the 
House to three consecutive terms, a total of 6 years, and the Senate to 
two consecutive terms, a total of 12 years. It is a consensus measure 
supported by citizens groups very active and supportive of the concept 
of term limits. The idea, again, is simple: to reconnect Congress with 
the American people, to do away with the notion of legislating as a 
career, and to get back to the Founders' vision of citizen legislators.
  When I was in the State legislature, I authored and passed term 
limits for the State legislature. That required a State constitutional 
amendment--a big deal--a two-thirds vote in each body, and then a vote 
of the people. But because of the people's voices rising and being 
heard, we achieved that. With that reform, which was voted 
overwhelmingly into the State constitution by the people of Louisiana, 
we have a regular influx now of new, fresh blood, real experience from 
the real world that reconnects in a very healthy way the State 
legislature and all of us, the citizens, whom it is supposed to 
represent. That was needed for the State legislature, and if it was--
and it was--it is needed a thousand times more for Congress because 
that divide, that sea, that ocean, that difference between different 
planets in the eyes of so many Americans is even greater between 
Congress and the real world, Congress and the American people.
  The second bill I have introduced is a bill to do away with automatic 
pay increases for Members of Congress. That is present law, that we get 
regular increases of pay with no proposal, no bill put in the hopper, 
no debate, no need for an inconvenient vote. I think that is just 
outright wrong. I think it helps build that distrust on the part of the 
American people. I am joined by a bipartisan cosponsor, Senator 
McCaskill of Missouri. I thank her for her leadership and her support 
of this measure. Again, the measure is very simple: Just repeal, do 
away with any automatic pay increases for Members of Congress. If there 
is to be a pay increase, there should be a bill proposing it and open 
debate and a public vote.
  The third measure is also fully bipartisan. I am introducing it with 
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. It is reform of the Corps of 
Engineers--something very important for our two States but also for, 
indeed, the whole country. In Louisiana, in Florida, and elsewhere, 
unfortunately, the Corps of Engineers has become a poster child for a 
dysfunctional Federal Government, a Federal bureaucracy, a Federal 
system that is just bogged down, does not work. It takes 10 and 20 
years to study something, never ever getting to construction. We need 
to streamline and reform that process, and the Vitter-Nelson bill does 
just that by greatly streamlining the process by which Corps projects 
can come to fruition, putting State and local leaders more in charge of 
that effort, at first on a pilot basis. Hopefully, we will expand that 
in the future for important Corps of Engineers projects. Again, that is 
particularly important for our States of Louisiana and Florida, but it 
is important for so many States and for the country as a whole.
  Fourth and finally, I am introducing a measure that I have had before 
to reform Federal campaign finance law to prohibit PACs and campaign 
funds from employing Members' spouses or family members.
  That is just a way, quite frankly, in some circumstances for Members 
of Congress, politicians, to pad their family income. I think that is 
wrong, and that leads directly to the real suspicion and low regard in 
which so many Americans hold this institution.
  Again, this bill is simple, straightforward, but important. It would 
prohibit spouses and immediate family members of Members of Congress 
from receiving payments from that Member's campaign accounts or 
leadership PACs. That is a loophole and an area of abuse we must close. 
We must prohibit that abuse in the future.
  These four bills won't solve every problem out there. They won't be 
the be-all and end-all of important reform and good-government efforts, 
but they would be an important start. They would help us truly 
reconnect with the American people and narrow this divide, which is so 
vast right now, between the real world, real Americans, and this 
institution. They would be important, nonpartisan, nonideological 
reform efforts that we can gather around, Republicans and Democrats 
alike, to do something positive, to do something productive, and to 
reconnect with the American people.
  I urge my colleagues from both parties to support these measures, to 
come on as cosponsors. Many of you already have, and I thank you for 
that.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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