A myth that has been going around for many years is a member of Congress will receive full pay and benefits for the rest of their lives after serving a single term.  You will be glad to know it is in fact a myth.

Members of Congress receive the same contributory retirement plan as every other federal worker.  The myth sprung up because members of Congress were spending 30, 40, or even 50 years in Congress.  By the time they left, they were well past retirement age and had been contributing to the retirement plan for 30 or 40 years.

So, of course they were immediately eligible to start receiving payments and the payments were impressive.

Once there is a Term Limits Amendment for the US Congress added to the Constitution, they will only be in Congress for a much shorter time, so many won't be old enough to start collecting when they leave and even when they are old enough, there will be much less in their contributory plan to draw from.

While I'm talking about the pay for life myth, let me throw in one more thought.

Some will say there should be either no pay for Congressional Service or no retirement plan option.  Before you jump on that bandwagon, keep in mind reducing pay or benefits would close the door to normal folks like or me from running... At that point ONLY those already rich would be able to serve in Congress.

Bob
​"The bane of a politician is a knowledgeable voter."

Many ask whether an e-petition is an acceptable alternative in our work towards adding a Term Limits for US Congress Amendment to the US Constitution. Yes it is and I will explain why.

The only ways to add an Amendment to the US Constitution are defined in Article 5 of the US Constitution and neither can be done with a vote on a ballot.  One option is done through a vote in Congress and then ratification by 38 States.

The second option is when 34 States call for an Article 5 Convention for a topic. At the convention the topic is discussed and the verbiage of the Amendment defined, then voted on.  If it passed the vote at the convention, it must then be ratified by 38 States just like the first option.

Now here is where the discussion of hardcopy v e-petition comes in.  IF you are trying to put something on a ballot for the people to vote on, most States require a hardcopy petition signature. But, in a case such as adding an Amendment to the Constitution, since the only options do not include the ability for people to vote on it, a "formal" petition is not required. An "informal" petition, which can be either hardcopy or e-petition, does the job.

The point of the petition signatures is to submit the petitions to the State Legislators when requesting that they apply for an Article 5 Convention for Term Limits.

Since State level elections are often won or lost by a few thousand votes, setting a stack of 100,000 petition signatures from constituents in the legislator's State carries a great deal of pressure.

We have set a goal of 3 to 5 million signatures nationwide.  That averages 100,000 signatures per state, which we believe will provide the pressure to push the State Legislators to support applying for an Article 5 Convention for Term Limits.