Posted on 09/30/2009 11:45:24 AM PDT by markomalley
Times are tough out in the country and the world, but on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are poised to give their own budgets significant increases.
While the unemployment rate continues to rise and President Obama made a big deal of giving most federal workers only a 2 percent raise this year, lawmakers play by a different set of rules.
In the House of Representatives, Congressmen’s “representational allowances and expenses” are set to get an 8.4 percent kick up over last year.
The full Congressional budget – part of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill that will get a final Senate vote at 4:30 – would rise by 5.8 percent - 3.5 percent for the Senate to $926 million and 5.2 percent for the House to $1.37 billion.
The House members are giving themselves $600 million for “representational allowances” to, among other things, raise the salaries of their younger staff members. Capitol Police
Senate employees are getting a 3.5 percent raise.
And while local emergency services are taking a hit nationwide, the Capitol Police are getting a 7.38 percent budget uptick. The lists go on.
Here’s a report put together by Republicans on the bill, which also includes a stop-gap, month-long check to keep the Congress from shutting down when the fiscal year ends tomorrow.
And the Senate Democrats’ version, here.
What/ They didn’t get enough from the lobbyists?
If we paid them what they are worth Western Union would get real busy with all the bus fare being wired to them to get home.
Will this history call this the “Let them eat cake” Administration and Congress? If so, I’m ready to start knitting...
The total for the legislative branch is $4,656,xxx,xxx, an increase of 5.8 percent. Some of the numbers are surreal. The House Office of Congressional Ethics budget increased from $300,000 in FY 2009 up to $1,548,000 in FY 2010. An increase of 416%. I guess when Dems hold both houses and the Presidency, ethics costs a lot more.
On the Senate side, there is also $174,000 for “Heirs of Deceased Members of Congress.” This is entirely new. There was nothing in this last year. This must be for the poor underprivileged Kennedy family who can’t make it without some help from us taxpayers.
| From the desk of cc2k: |
Oh my. We can start an “in kind” movement by going to a half time Congress with term limits for members. That is more in line with the founding father’s concept.
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