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.