Passage of the 28th Amendment Pt. 4

The Fiscal Controls of Congress
The American people shall have, at their disposal, controls over the elected representatives of this nation. For example, controls over the Congress’ pay. They shall not be allowed to vote themselves raises any longer. Their pay shall be pegged (indexed) to the average income of the American People. Congress’ pay shall rise and fall in tandem with the American people’s median income, in order to ensure their ability to empathize with those whom they serve. And to reiterate, they (Congress) shall be forbidden to give themselves a raise.
In order to get a raise, the Congress shall have to put forth an initiative to the American people that will state what pay increase they believe they should get, and why they believe they should get it. It should be presented to all 50 states and if two-thirds of the citizenry of each of the states agree, then they get their raise. If an initiative for a raise fails, Congress must wait one year before making another request.) The Popular Branch shall be responsible to verify all purported increases in the median income by monitoring indexes, in order to prevent illegal pay raises by the Congress. Congress shall be responsible to verify all decreases in the median income of Americans, in order to avoid inaccurate pay cuts ordered by (popular) law.
The next strategy I propose is that each state, through their legislatures (for senators) and an initiative by 2/3rds of their residents (for congress-persons), shall be able to freeze or suspend Congress’s pay at will. And, in order for this control to be effective, while members of Congress are in office, they are not allowed to have income other than the official salary they earn through their service in Congress. Even if members of Congress have personally owned holdings (sources of income), they shall be left with a private asset manager (at their own expense) until they resign, are voted out of or quit their office.
If members of Congress do not follow these rules, the consequences shall be imprisonment of no less than 9 years in a Federal Penitentiary. Concomitant with this, members convicted of this crime shall be fined 4 times the amount of the illegal income they are convicted of receiving.
In addition to voting and the enumerated fiscal controls, citizens shall have an alternate means of expressing their disproval of a particular member of Congress (one not requiring they wait for the next voting cycle): The referendum. Citizens can initiate a referendum that, if approved, goes into effect immediately, by following the aforementioned rules (modeled after Washington States’ for initiatives and referendums) to freeze a Congresspersons’ pay. These measures shall be used to ensure more responsive representation of the American people.