‘I can’t afford an apartment’: Congressmen sleeping in offices cry poverty

nypost ^ | 05/01/2018 | Marisa Schultz

[Repealthe17thAmendment]

Ironically, it's Congress that has made the area so expensive. The way they expanded government has brought in lobbyists from every industry seeking to fill their pockets with taxpayer money.

If the federal government only did what they are proscribed to do in the Constitution, and left everything else to the states, as intended, Washington would be a relatively small and affrodable city.

[choctaw man]

“Poor” little guys.

[nutmeg]

I’m all for the construction of a Congressional Dormitory in a cheaper area of DC, or in northern VA. They will have a safe building, private bathrooms (equivalent to the average in the nation), a small kitchen, and a cable hook-up. Oh, and their salaries get cut by $25,000/year to pay for it.

Works for me. It probably doesn't even need to be new construction. Aren't our tax dollars paying for hundreds of empty/abandoned buildings in the DC area (and probably all over the U.S.)?

I remember a few years ago Greta Van Sustern did a very interesting piece about that when she was on FNC. It was infuriating to learn how much of our tax $$ have been wasted on these empty office buildings. For decades!

Who is the Secretary of Waste, Fraud and Abuse?

[Political Junkie Too]

Move the capital to Omaha. Let Offutt be the new Andrews.

Give DC back to the states they came from and declare a new district in Nebraska. Build a new Capitol that can hold double the House, and turn Washington into a museum city.

Get our "elite" out of the marble monument that swells their ego and into the corn fields and bread baskets of America.

-PJ

[LostInBayport]

It is 2018. Why not telecommute to “work” like many others do today?

Let them live and work in their districts. Come up with some super secure fancy voting device for each congress-critter, and post the blowhard speeches that no one watches online.

It would also make life difficult for lobbyists, which is not a bad thing.

[Charles Martel]

I’m all for the construction of a Congressional Dormitory in a cheaper area of DC, or in northern VA. They will have a safe building, private bathrooms (equivalent to the average in the nation), a small kitchen, and a cable hook-up. Oh, and their salaries get cut by $25,000/year to pay for it.

Works for me. Style it after those Japanese "capsule hotels".

[RealVirginia]

Boo hoo. Do their wives work? Or do they lunch with the girls?

[JudgemAll]

Maybe if his coworkers were not so corrupt and awash in money the standard of living would be more reasonable there

[1Old Pro]

Instead, Espaillat said, he found an option: an apartment with rent well south of $1,800 in nearby Virginia.

Exactly, they just don't want to "commute" like many people have to.

[AdSimp]

When we finally get around to draining the swamp, DC rents will become cheap again. Solves two problems at once!

[WKUHilltopper]

SI?? Sh#thole Island...one of the missing 57 states Odungho referenced?

[JudgemAll]

My exact thought. And let us not forget the Obama voting welfarites all around DC living for free in expensive government boondoggle slumlorded projects

[Spok]

Let’s see his tax returns.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I had a new toilet installed today. It has dolphins and fish and a turtle on the lid.

It has new technology where I just need to give the lid a tap towards down and then it slowly closes itself in like 10 seconds. My wife likes that a lot.

[VTenigma]

Maybe we can take one of the many empty federal buildings and turn it into a dorm.

[boomop1]

Get a real job.

[Calvin Locke]

When James Jeffords was first elected to Congress, he lived in a motor home for some time, getting a pass from the PS for “camping” in Greenbelt National Park beyond what was their usual season at the time, iirc.

[hal ogen]

So retire...quit. No tears for these wealthy gas bags and losers. They are as bad as “educators” who ALWAYS whine about being underpaid and overworked. Meanwhile the country and the students go down the drain. Quit TODAY!

[MPJackal]

“Where the heck is SI?”

It’s the 57th state of course.

[sphinx]

Here's a solution. Let's dispense with the idea that all congressmen have to be paid the same. They're representatives of their districts, and they should not become lifers. So: let's pay congressmen the average of their previous three years' income prior to announcing their candidacy, plus a reasonable housing allowance to cover their residences in DC. I am not vindictive; we could make this a generous housing allowance, sufficient to pay the rent on a decent one-bedroom apartment within walking distance of the Capitol building. Since Capitol Hill has become an expensive neighborhood, this would be substantial, but that's ok.

Alternatively, we could allow state legislatures to pay congressmen and senators whatever the legislatures think they are worth, provided that all Members from a given state make the same amount. This would be preferable to allowing Members to set their own pay.