PROPOSED FEDERAL STATUTE (OR 28TH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION)

In order to establish and maintain an open and accountable federal government,

FIRST, all Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and all ballot candidates for such offices and all their staff members, are required to electronically record all their conversations with any paid lobbyist concerning public affairs, and all their public statements concerning public affairs, and to maintain true copies of the complete text of all their written statements concerning public affairs, and all their written communications concerning public affairs, both sent and received, and to daily post all such oral and written records on a Federal Government website established and maintained by Congress. The Federal Government shall provide all equipment necessary to carry out these duties to each Member and each candidate.

SECOND, every month all Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and every 14 days  all ballot candidates for such offices, shall appear in an individual, Federal Government-sponsored televised, 30-minute conversation with a registered voter chosen in a voluntary lottery, or that voter’s appointed proxy spokesperson. During such conversations the voter or proxy shall have the option to insist upon speaking for at least 15 of the 30 minutes. Video and audio recordings of all such conversations shall be immediately archived on the federal website. Eligibility as voter or proxy shall be established by voluntary registration upon separate voter and proxy lists established and maintained by the Federal Government for each current officeholder and each ballot candidate. Each voter and each proxy shall be free to register on as many lists as they choose, but no registered voter or proxy may participate in any such conversation more than once in any calendar year. Any willful failure to comply with these requirements shall constitute cause for removal from office. Congress shall enact such laws and regulations as may be necessary to establish and operate these procedures, and to disqualify and remove from office, on a simple majority vote of fellow Members, any Member found guilty of having committed willful failure to comply with these requirements at any time, including any time during that Member’s election process.