Posted on 04/04/2014 7:25:31 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
n an interview published Thursday in Roll Call, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) lamented that his $174,000 annual salary was not enough to live "decently" in Washington, D.C. "I think the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid," Moran said. "I understand that it’s widely felt that they underperform, but the fact is that this is the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world."
The remarks came as the House begins markup on a bill to fund all legislators' salaries. Moran is planning to introduce an amendment that would offer lawmakers a per diem, USA Today reports.
Moran stated that some members actually sleep in their offices while in session. But since his district is just across the river in northern Virginia, he doesn't have to maintain two homes (or a small apartment) like other members, as the Washington Post notes.
“Our pay has been frozen for three years and we’re planning on freezing it a fourth year," Moran told Roll Call. "
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Then pay them $50,000 per year, not $174,000.
Then re-institute personal investment disclosure, which the Senate unanimously, with Ted Cruz's vote, repealed. This would end insider trading.
Public service should be a pro-bono sacrifice, not a career.
Reminds me of Mayo-head bitching during the ‘sequester’ that her staffers couldn’t afford to eat at ‘decent’ restaurants.
The country’s ‘Give-a-Damn-meter’ is broke, you Beltway tools.
Neither of those expenses come out of the $174k.
Actually, he is probably right, although it sounds perverse to people in “flyover country” (and I am definitely there) that you can’t live decently on this. DC is an expensive city even to be POOR in. It’s even more expensive of a place to have the trappings of the upper-middle class in. Would you even DREAM of sending your kids to public school there? That has to be 15-30K per year, per child, for a lot more than four years.
I’ve estimated that it would take at least 2.5x my present salary to live the way that I do in a big city like Chicago. Absolutely no employer in Chicago in their right mind is going to pay me 2.5x what i earn now in my present field.
I’d actually consider giving them a substantial raise. In the big scheme of things, it wouldn’t cost much, and it might make them less prone to corruption. I’d go for it even more if there was a commensurate increase for the penalties on illegal official activity.
Maybe Rep-a-zen-a-tif Jim should check with some of the janitors, clerks, taxi drivers, etc who also live and work in WDC to find out what they make ... and get by on.
Well, Congressman Moran is free to leave D.C., go home and find REAL work that pays REAL money, any time he wants.
“Well, Congressman Moran is free to leave D.C., go home and find REAL work that pays REAL money, any time he wants.”
Well, SOMEONE has to represent us. Do you want that person to be a member of the patrician class to whom that money is dresser drawer change or a little bit more representative of the district - someone who at least remembers what it was like to struggle a bit.
If you go back and examine the Congress back in the 1840s...they mostly stayed at boarding houses, and shared rooms with other congressmen or senators. You find the same comment made by Robert Taft and Theodore Roosevelt when they were brought up to DC as government workers (twenty years before their presidency)....both complained how they would be unable to “entertain” at the level they’d done back home and the cost of living was ridiculous.
Personally, I don’t understand why they don’t go out and get GSA to buy an apartment complex in Arlington near the Metro (like those in Crystal City area), and just rent to the Congressman at a subsidized rate (say $500 a month instead of the $1600 normal rent cost would be).
I do agree....it’d be a lot smarter to limit them to two 90-day legislative periods for the year, but they would be giving up the live-action thrills, the interviews by mass media, and the chance to mingle with wealthy lobbyists.
There’s a story about Lincoln when he first got to Springfield Illinois and wanted to set up his law practice. A store keeper offered him space above the shop, on credit.
Abe took his saddlebags upstairs, came back downstairs and took a chair. The store owner asked him if he needed any help moving and he replied, “No. I’m moved.”
I’m thinking if the Pentagon is moving out west, we move Congress as well and build dormitories for the critters.
Turn the D.C. buildings into museums and freeze our August senators and underpaid reps’ pay until they get their s*** together.
salary for members of congress (and their staff) should be LOCKED at the median salary of the areas they represent
this would motivate them to help their home districts
NO reason croniegresscritters cant telecommute.
They should stay in their districts where they can be tarred, feathered, drawn, quartered or hung, as their constituents feel they deserve.
vaudine
The board of directors of THE LARGEST BANKRUPT ECONOMIC ENTITY IN THE WORLD.......
Quit! Get a different job.
That’s a great idea! Telecommuting!
They can even stay on tv 24/7 doing that./s
...'Kay. Fail. You're fired. Security will escort you out.
I heard this on the radio today and started a mocking baby crying noise (think It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia style). What a whiner. They want more money after their economic mismanagement and stripping us of our rights. "We're sleeping in our offices waaaahhhhh!", yeah and half of you jerks become millionaires in the shadiest ways while the rest of us actually work for table scraps. Shove your tears! All of you 'rats should be making license plates!
Its expensive to live in Washington and $174,000 doesn’t go very far. You have to maintain two offices, pay your staff and have two places to live.
* * *
Okay, I get that you (the Congress critter) have to pay for two places to live (unless you just sleep in your office, as some do, I guess). But what’s this about staff? Do you mean office staff? I assumed they were paid for directly by the taxpayers. (Or maybe you mean the cook, housekeeper, etc. for the Congress critter.) And do you have to shell out the money to rent your own home district office? Again I assumed that was paid for directly by the taxpayers. Can you (or someone who knows this stuff) elaborate? Thanks!
Another elitist spouts off.
Mind your language please; there are ladies present.
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