The New York Times / By JEFF ZELENY and RICHARD A. OPPEL JR.

BETTENDORF, Iowa — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas on Tuesday announced a proposal to alter the federal government that ranks among the most radical plans offered by any major Republican presidential candidate this year — and one that legal analysts say will almost surely never happen: making Congress operate part-time with half pay and ending lifetime tenure for federal judges.

“I don’t believe that Washington needs a new coat of paint — I think the whole place needs to be overhauled,” Mr. Perry said, speaking to applause from more than 100 people on the floor of the Schebler manufacturing plant here. “I’m a true believer that we need to uproot, tear down and rebuild Washington, D.C., and our federal institutions.”

Mr. Perry, who is trying to reboot a campaign that is lagging in the polls, proposed cutting the pay of Congress in half (or by three-fourths, under one proposal he sketched out) and halving both its budget and the time members spend in Washington.

“We have a lot of well-intentioned members of Congress, but they have become creatures of Washington,” Mr. Perry said. “They get paid more than three times the average American family, and they have doubled their own budgets in the last decade.”

Mr. Perry also vowed to “reform” the federal judiciary. “Too many federal judges rule with impunity from the bench,” he said, “and those who legislate from the bench should not be entitled to lifetime abuse of their judicial authority.” He proposed 18-year terms, staggered every two years, for new Supreme Court justices, and suggested similar limits on federal appellate and district court judges.

In the speech, Mr. Perry sought to present himself as a consummate Washington outsider. He reminded the audience that he was one of the few Republican candidates who had never worked as a lobbyist, served as a member of Congress or spent time in an administration.

“I’m unique to the Republican field,” Mr. Perry said. “I have never been an establishment figure. I’ve never served in Congress. I’ve never been in an administration. I’ve never been a paid lobbyist. My career has been that of a Washington outsider.”

The speech, which Mr. Perry referred to as his plan to “uproot and overhaul Washington,” was an effort to try to return to issues after an embarrassing stumble at a presidential debate last week raised new questions about his candidacy. He did not make a joke — as he did in Saturday’s debate in South Carolina — about forgetting the Department of Energy as one of three agencies he would like to eliminate.

“Americans know there is a season for everything under the sun,” Mr. Perry said. “And this is the season for tearing down and rebuilding again, for uprooting the broken branches of government in Washington, and building a new government that’s smaller and more humble.”

Though the changes to Congress could be achieved — theoretically — through legislation, it would have to be passed by the very people on the receiving end of the pay and budgets cuts, noted Paul Horwitz, professor of constitutional law at the University of Alabama.

“It would be the foxes nailing shut the henhouse door,” he said. Referring to both that and the judicial tenure plan, he added: “As practical proposals go, this one is probably slightly further down the list than trying to enact ‘Alice in Wonderland.’”

Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, said Mr. Perry’s proposal is “kind of a silly idea. Did he advocate reducing his own pay 50 or 75 percent? I suppose not. That’s just kind of a silly idea.”

Mr. Conrad, the chairman of the Senate budget committee, said that he has been part of efforts to freeze member pay for several years, reduce legislative budgets by 10 percent and cut the federal workforce.

“Those are serious things,” Mr. Conrad said. “We need to be serious about this, not just be engaged in these kind of silly games.

The judicial proposal is squarely at odds with Article III of the Constitution, Mr. Horwitz said, and would first require an amendment with approval from three-fourths of the state legislatures. The Constitution states that federal judges “shall hold their offices during good behavior” — which, practically speaking, means until they are removed by impeachment, die or resign.

Reacting to both of the Perry proposals, Dan Markel, the D’Alemberte Professor of Law at Florida State University said: “This is bold, out-of-the box stuff, and in some ways it’s a way to resuscitate what otherwise seems to be a flailing campaign. But it’s kind of crazy, and will likely only play well to the Republican base.”

With 49 days remaining before the Iowa caucuses open the Republican nominating contest, Mr. Perry is seeking to revive his candidacy. A Bloomberg News poll released Tuesday found that Mr. Perry had the support of 7 percent of likely Iowa caucusgoers, a distant fifth behind the crowded field of leading Republican candidates.

Yet the race remains deeply fluid, with 60 percent of poll respondents saying they could still be persuaded to support another candidate.

Related Posts