We The People believe the Representatives and Senators in Congress should be more accountable to the electors than to their party or themselves.  To ensure these elected officials understand where their affiliation lies we request the following two changes:

 1.  All elected officials from a state to Congress will be removed from the federal payroll and placed upon the respective state payroll.  Each state shall determine the salary for their elected people.  Each state will be responsible for payment of elected officials salary, all expenses associated with office and pension, if any.

 

2. The Senators, according to the Constitution, are to be the voice of their state and the Representatives were to be the voice of the people in the affairs of Congress .  Since Reprsentatives are elected from a smaller disctricts (rather than state wide) and every two years they tend to stay in close contact with the will of the people.  However, today Senators, elected for 6 year terms,  too quickly align with their party without consideration or communication with their state officials.  This situation arises from the 17th amendment to the Constitution which changed the election fo the Senator from Legislative appointment to popular vote.  As a result of the amendment the Senator no longer has to account for his/her actions to their state legislative body and Governor.  This also means the Legislature and the Govenor no longer have the power to remove a Senator who is acting contrary to the desires of the state. To ensure each Senator is responsible first to their state and not to their party we request the 17th Amendement be declared null and void reverting the process back to legislative appointment as originally intended by the writers of the Constitution.  This action will make Senators accountable on a daily basis to their state governing body.

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