A Tea Party Agenda

It is time for a Tea Party Agenda.  This is an agenda that we can point to and say if you elect Tea Party Congressmen and Senators, this is what we are going to work on.

This agenda is based on ideas from Tea Party activists across the nation.  The idea behind the agenda is simple.  We decided that the best course would be to pick out a small number of goals that everyone would agree on.   We kept in mind that the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party does not control the leadership, so the parts of the Tea Party Agenda would have to have overwhelming support.

1. Passing a Federal Government Realignment and Closure Commission bill.  This will create a commission similar to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that was created in the 90’s to downsize the military.   The Commission will be charged to go through all non-defense spending (Since BRAC has done this for the Defense Department).  They will look for programs that are riddled with fraud and waste, are duplicates of other programs, programs that have failed or have simply outlived their usefulness.  Once the Commission makes its recommendations for elimination, the recommendations would be presented to Congress for an up or down vote.  No amendments would be permitted in this process so that no Congressman or Senator could protect a pet project.  Once passed, the bill would go to the President for signature or veto.
2. No budget/No Pay.    It is very simple.  If Congress cannot pass a budget, they should not be paid.  This is somewhat of a symbolic gesture, however every Senator and Congressman should be required to explain why they couldn’t come up with a budget.  It has been 1118 days since the Senate passed a budget.  Almost every American household keeps a budget.   Every business must keep a budget or it does not keep its doors open. 
3. Commit to pass a massive drill here, drill now plan to open up America’s vast energy resources so they can be used today.  The specific goal will be to remove every obstacle that keeps America from being energy self-sufficient and to have the price of a gallon of gas be $1 on January 1, 2015.  This will be a massive stimulus to the economy if we can do this. 
4. Repeal the current income tax system and replace it with 9-9-9.  9-9-9 is not a perfect system but it is a viable idea.  The current tax system is broken.  It benefits accountants and tax lawyers and anyone with enough influence to buy a tax exemption from Congress.   The tax code is so confusing, even the IRS does not understand it.  We should simple make April 15^th just another day on the calendar.
5. Require that every bill Congress considers be a stand-alone bill.   That means every bill congress considers should cover only one topic.   There should be no more 2700 page bills that no one wants to read or even has the time to read.  This is a reform that will cost no money, could slow down Congress’ spending habits and will stop them from saying they did not have a chance to read the bill or Pelosi from telling America, a bill must be passed to see what is in it.

This is a simple agenda that can be passed.  That is the idea.  This should be an agenda we can take to the American people and ask our Tea Party Senators, Congressmen and candidates to embrace. 

It will not solve all of our problems, but it will be a start.