Congress must pass an annual budget every year. The annual budget must be a balanced budget. Congress members will receive no salary until the budget has passed. Congress members will not receive back pay nor recoup these missed wages, they are forfeited. If they operate with a surplus, of that surplus, each Congress member receives a bonus at the end of the budgeted year. This bonus is not to exceed $20k. If they miss the deadline to balance the budget any bonus from the previous year is automatically forfeited. Congress is prohibited from levying any additional taxes solely for the purpose of balancing the budget.
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Related thought. Once read that Buffett supposedly said easy to balance the budget (whether quote is accurate or not is irrelevant as it is a great idea) - pass a law that when spending exceeds budget by 3 % or more, no member of Congress is eligible for re-election. Of course, we must first REQUIRE an annual budget and stop the insane, bloated CRs. So, perhaps add that failure to pass a balanced budget also means ineligible for re-election. I guarantee in the real world, failure to perform your basic functions will lead to no job.
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