Are Members of Congress Paid Enough?

Yahoo ^ | Chris Moody

[NFHale]

They should be paid federal minimum wage, with the same benefits as anybody else...

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

When you think about it, $174k ain’t that much in DC, esp. if you have a house back home in your district with a mortage on it, too.

Ya know something?

On 5/6/09 I was admitted to the VA Hospital in Des Moines almost dead of pneumonia. Spent 2 weeks in intensive care.

Now, I have pneumonia scars on my lungs which restrict my breathing so I'm on a SS Disability.

These guys and gals that you feel so sorry for passed a law that anybody who draws SS Disability has to go for the first 5 months of their disability without being able to draw their money from the US govt, even though I've paid into it for over 40 years now.

So I can't work and I can't draw the SS Disability that I paid for. And if that isn't enough, to add insult to injury, they deduct 200/mo from my disability payments and have for a year and a half to pay back the VA for that treatment.

So after paying into this fund for 40 years, I get just over 1100/mo or about 17k/yr. That's about 10% of what they get?

They ought to be made to give up their private income and be forced to go 5 months without their congressional salaries to start out with, just like we great unwashed have to do out here in the hinterlands.

A RAISE!?!?!? That's the most absurd thing I ever heard of!

They don't like their salary, they can QUIT!

[surfer]

Well that’s a big difference. I want people that want to ONLY serve and not view it as a career path and I want only people that are successful in life...that have spilled the blood with their errors and figured out how to make life work. Those people are the best chance for others to make it.

It is only those people that have failed and then became successful that will understand what and how the government should help others be successful.

The problem right now...is the majority of people on Congress have never “had” to succeed a lot of them married into or inherited money...so setting a cap of 1 million dollars salary isn’t going to change anything. You need real “benchmarked” assets in a person’s resume to have them qualify for office.

Heck we ought even require people to pass a test before they can vote...we do it for driving and voting is a lot more important!

[Shimmer1]

And yet they all become rich while in office.......

[American in Israel]

Are they paid enough? What would you pay an accountant that is working hard to destroy the ability of the company to operate, buy things you dont need and runs the company 20 years worth into the red.

A dime is too damn much for this congress, I think they should pay us. In prison time.

[jbp1]

it is ‘public service’, their choice. they agreed to it before they ran for power...ooops I mean office.

as long as they have enough $$ for food and shelter, they get enough.

not to mention the perks, staff, etc.