[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H397-H398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          CITIZEN LEGISLATORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the very first time in 
this Chamber as a servant of Pennsylvania's Eighth District--the good 
people of Bucks and Montgomery Counties--serving as their independent 
voice. The weight of this responsibility should not be lost on any of 
us. It is my sincere hope that each one of us here--regardless of where 
we come from or what our past experiences have been or how long we have 
been here--will do what the American people are demanding of us at this 
time: to work together as problem-solvers, not work against each other 
as ideologues.
  Our Founders envisioned citizen legislators chosen from their peers 
to work on their behalf and to serve honorably with a focus on 
solutions, and then return home and live under the laws they helped 
pass, making way for a new generation of leadership with new ideas and 
a fresh perspective. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, we as a nation have 
strayed from that vision.
  Today too many Americans feel left out. They see a system that does 
more to preserve the status quo than it does to solve our most pressing 
challenges. They see a class of career politicians and elite insiders. 
I wish I could tell my constituents--my bosses--that this problem is 
exaggerated and that this mess in Washington doesn't affect them or 
their families or their businesses.
  But as a former anticorruption FBI special agent, I have seen the 
brokenness in our system, and I know the real-life impact that it has, 
which is both soft and hard corruption that tilts the legislative 
agenda towards special interests, electoral complacency that allows 
lawmakers to focus on accumulating power rather than serving their 
constituents, and an entrenched partisanship that grinds the gears of 
government to a halt.
  Mr. Speaker, this does not have to be the fate of this Congress. It 
does not. The 115th Congress can be remembered as the one that buried 
party labels for good and focused on fixing the system. To that end, I 
have introduced legislative proposals to begin that process: a 
constitutional amendment enacting term limits for all Members of 
Congress and a constitutional amendment preventing Members of Congress 
from being paid unless a budget is passed.

[[Page H398]]

This is not just withholding payment for a period of time; this is a 
complete forfeiture.
  I propose a balanced budget amendment so we are forced to stop 
kicking the can down the road and will create a fiscal path that will 
allow the next generation to thrive.
  I also have a bill I call the Citizen Legislature Anti-Corruption 
Reform Act, or CLEAN Act, a bill that ends congressional pensions for 
life and requires this body to debate and act on single-issue 
legislation, codify that all laws passed by Congress apply to all of 
its Members, reform the broken gerrymandering process by moving all 
redistricting to independent, nonpartisan, citizen commissions, and to 
expand access to political party primaries to include both independents 
and nonaffiliated voters.
  Is there anyone in this Chamber who does not believe that these 
measures will make our country a better place? Is there anyone in this 
Chamber who does not believe these measures will result in a healthier 
democracy and a system of government where our people have more faith 
and trust in? Is there anyone here who believes that more citizens 
serving in this body and more citizens participating in their 
government would not be a breath of fresh air for our Nation?
  If you agree with our ideas, I urge you to join me and cosponsor 
these measures, join the Congressional Citizen Legislature Caucus, and 
advocate for these reforms. Share your vision with your constituents 
because they need to know that our Nation is not resigned to the status 
quo.
  Mr. Speaker, Washington needs fewer politicians and more independent 
voices focused on serving the American people. That is the reason we 
are here. Let's not let them down. The time is now to answer their call 
to fix this system so we can start addressing the challenges that we 
face as a nation.

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