The 10 Promises › Proposal 10 of 10 · Jump to sign

10. The Congress Works for You Act

Read the bill. Show the bill. Balance the books. Limit the terms.

“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood”James Madison, Federalist No. 62, 1788 · Read the source

Founding principle: Laws the people cannot read are not laws of the people.

What it does

House rule: every bill read in full on the floor before final passage, and posted online for at least 15 days before the final vote. If the text changes after posting, the changed text must be posted 15 days before the vote too.
Emergency clause: three-fourths (75%) of members voting may waive the 15-day wait, by a separate recorded vote for one named bill at a time.
A matching Senate standing-rule change is proposed for senators to sponsor.
Every major agency regulation expires 3 years after it takes effect unless Congress votes to enact it into law.
Unfinished business of 1994: a balanced budget amendment.
Unfinished business of 1994: constitutional term limits for Congress: three House terms, two Senate terms.

Why it matters to you

Congress answers to you, not lobbyists, and stops spending your kids’ future.

Legislative instrument: Package: a House Resolution (House rules), a Senate Resolution (Senate rules), a bill (regulation sunset), and two House Joint Resolutions (constitutional amendments).

Constitutional question

Current doctrine. Each House sets its own rules (Article I, Section 5), so a House rule binds only the House and can be changed by a later majority. In U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995), the Court held that neither States nor Congress can add term limits by statute. A binding balanced budget rule cannot be imposed on future Congresses by statute. A sunset written into statute is valid, because keeping a rule takes a new law passed by both Houses and signed (INS v. Chadha, 1983).

The argument for change. The 1994 Contract brought both amendments to a vote; the balanced budget amendment passed the House and fell one vote short in the Senate in 1995. The Contract holds that only the Constitution can bind Congress to limits it will not set for itself.

Mechanism required. Term limits and the balanced budget: constitutional amendments (two-thirds of each House, then three-fourths of the States). Reading and posting rules: House and Senate resolutions. Sunset: statute.

Read the Legislative Outline

Sign the Complete Contract

One signature covers all ten proposals.

Citizen signature or congressional pledge? A citizen signature says you support the complete Contract, all ten proposals. It is counted in your district’s total. A congressional pledge is a formal, dated commitment by a Member of Congress or a candidate to take specific legislative actions on all ten proposals. Pledges are shown only after we verify them with the office. See the pledge.

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Congressional district (119th Congress)

At-large states (AK, DE, ND, SD, VT, WY) and DC are listed as “at-large”. A district you choose yourself is marked “self-selected” in our records. Look up your district at house.gov.

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