Consider that Congress already takes 3 days off per week by adding Friday to their off-time schedule. Then they have ‘meetings’ with those lobbying them during their ‘work days’… instead of scheduling those to the ‘day off’. Then there is the cutting of the day length save for sessions where the work they should have gotten done months previously has now piled up and they need to put in extra hours. That they cut for themselves with the extra ‘day off’.

Now throw in the long holiday breaks that can often go on for weeks.

The answer: lock Congress in the Capitol building for two months and let no one out until they have done their jobs. Then shut it down unless the President needs an extra session which he can call as needed.

Remember these are all-volunteer positions. They set the size of the House, they set their own working hours, they set their own pay scale (all you need is an over-ride majority on that), they set their own vacation time and then they get to use public resources to travel on holidays so long as they are ‘fact finding’ in Bermuda or Paris or Aruba… so restricting their ‘up time’ means they get to pay for those lovely vacations on their own dimes. We have the internet now, ‘fact finding’ can easily be done in all but the harshest places on earth. That is why you have a State Dept. and military: folks who volunteer to go into the harshest places on earth for you.

A guy by the name of Eric Singer has a “Congressional Effect Fund” based on the valid premise that the stock market performs worse …. when Congress is in session. It’s vastly outperformed the market this past year.

Here in Texas they have a 6 month session every 2 years - AND THAT’S IT! Those 6 months are frenzy for the lobbyists and lawmakers but it at least hampers the growth of govt by limiting the amount of damage they do to only 6 months worth per 2 years … Texas has been doing quite a bit better than say Cali or New York, and I am sure the less damage and greater freedom due to limited lege sessions is partly a cause.

A guy by the name of Eric Singer has a “Congressional Effect Fund” based on the valid premise that the stock market performs worse

So a modest proposal:
1. Congress meets from Jan 3 to Jul 3 … then STOPS. NO FALL SESSION. Stay out of town for 6 months.
2. Make the budget a 2 year budget (that’s how Texas can manage to meet once each 2 years).
3. Cut the number of committees drastically by limiting how many comittees any congress-critter can be on

What used to work is having congress actually meet less often. Some states still have their legislative bodies meet only every other year, but this is becoming less common as becoming a lawmaker is now a full-time paid position rather than a part time volunteer effort.

So, why not try incentive payments for budget cutting as an answer? Congressmen could make extra G’s for cutting fat from the budget. As a bonus, it would even reduce the incentives to take bribes from lobbyists!