Congressional Terms & Benefits
My Proposed Amendment to the United States Constitution
Section 1.
No person shall stand for election, nor shall he or she be elected or appointed, to any seat in Congress when the term for which he or she is running or being elected or appointed will cause this person to exceed total Congressional service of 12 years. Time served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate are to be combined for purposes of calculating this limit.
In order to avoid disruption of ongoing campaigning, this section shall become effective eighteen months after ratification of this amendment.
Section 2.
Each Congressman and Senator shall receive compensation while in office as established by a previous Congress, in accordance with the provisions of the 27th Amendment to this Constitution, and shall receive no further pay or pension after his or her departure from service.
This section shall become effective for any newly elected Senator or Representative six months after ratification of this amendment. As to those serving at the time of ratification of this amendment, any rights to future pay or pension that they may have accumulated under previous law shall be held to those rights attained six months after such ratification without further enhancement as to pay or time in service.
Section 3.
Congress shall pass no law that exempts current or former members of Congress from the applicability of that law. Furthermore, all such laws currently in force with such provisions shall be treated as having had those provisions stricken one year after ratification of this amendment.
Section 4.
No Congressman or Senator shall deal with Congress after leaving office in matters of persuasion or influence in the form of oral, written or electronic communications as to any formulation, modification, or adoption of legislation; the administration or execution of a Federal program or policy; the formulation, modification, or adoption of a Federal rule, regulation, executive order, policy or position of the United States Government or the nomination or confirmation of a person subject to confirmation by the Senate. The only exception to this prohibition shall be testimony given before Congress or submitted for inclusion in the public record when requested by lawful subpoena.
All such contracts or activities by or with former Congressional officeholders shall be null and void or shall cease six months after ratification of this amendment.
Section 5.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within ten years from the date of the submission hereof to the States.
Note that the Convention of States currently being proposed may certainly choose to break my proposed amendment above into two or more separate amendments if it is deemed to be better suited for ratification purposes.