Posted on 01/08/2023 4:56:11 PM PST by RandFan
When the federal government moved down to Washington, D.C., in 1800, lawmakers grumbled about leaving behind Philadelphia's plentiful accommodations for the new capital's limited housing stock of boarding houses and taverns.
Thus was established a tradition of politicians complaining about finding housing in D.C., which continues to this day.
Amongst the incoming 118th Congress are several freshmen progressive representatives who say that having to spend their $174,000 congressional salary on housing in the District is not just difficult but a deliberate effort to exclude them from the government.
"For those of us who are working-class, this is yet another reminder that this place wasn't designed for people who actually represent their communities," said freshman Rep. Delia Ramirez (D–Ill.) to The Cut yesterday.
Ramirez—herself a homeowner and landlord back in her district—said that D.C.'s housing costs are so high that she's had to give up on her plan of renting an apartment by herself. Instead, she is splitting the $3,000 rent on a Capitol Hill rowhouse with another congresswoman.
Some 34 percent of D.C. households, and 43 percent of renter households, are considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Ramirez is certainly more fortunate than that. Per the numbers she gave The Cut, she's paying only 10 percent of her congressional salary on her D.C. accommodations.
The Cut nevertheless asserts that Ramirez "knows the housing struggle." She apparently isn't the only one.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
I thought that was the entire reason while they are granted insider trading rights
Get a roommate.
They can commute in from a cheaper area or rent in a cheaper area of D.C. proper and see if they like Mayor Bowser’s way of running the joint.
I’m not saying they deserve more, just 174K in DC isn’t a lot.
Quite a few of them live in their offices.
They need to do like people do down here where the real working class live...double, triple, quadruple up.
Complain to your shyster democrat landlords.
She did. Shes still b1tching about it.
The women won’t be happy unless they get their housing for free.
There are very reasonable rents in the ghetto in SE or Northeast of Georgia Ave. in northern DC.
She could afford to hire a bodyguard with the money she saved!
But—maybe she is a closet racist!
;-)
Put them in dorms.
Better would be barracks or squad bays.
Meanwhile people all over NYS are losing their homes to property tax foreclosures.
In NYS, you don’t actually own your home, even if you have a deed.
In reality you are renting it from the government.
And our so-called public servants are totally cool with that.
Work harder, peasants!!
my plan would be pay Congress Person One Million Dollars, tax free per year. the only conditions, stay in your district and no votes? that’s 435 million dollars per year, cheap compared to 1.7 trillion!
They just have to survive a year or two. By then they will be MULTI-MILLIONAIRES on just $174,000/year salary.
Everyone of them should be forced into government housing. Being able to rent/own your own place should be an automatic disqualifier.
Rents in the Anacostia area are substantially lower and they are only a couple of miles from their work location!
I have a solution.
Allow (make) the Congressmen telecommute from their home district most of the year.
And #DownSize_DC!
If right half of what is done in DC vanished tomorrow, no one outside of DC would ever miss them.
They are supposed to be focused on serving their country. Let's remind them of that.
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