Posted on 06/09/2019 6:07:21 PM PDT by hapnHal
House spending leaders want to break a decade long pay freeze and give members of Congress a cost-of-living bump that could pad their salaries with an extra $4,500 next year.
Congressional salaries have been frozen at about $174,000 since 2009, when Democrats controlled Congress and decided to suspend automatic cost-of-living increases while heading into the 2010 election year.
Now, House Democrats say they are moving forward with fiscal 2020 funding bills that wont block those pay increases, which are guaranteed by a 1989 federal ethics law.
There is strong bipartisan support for these modest inflation adjustments, said Evan Hollander, a spokesperson for the House Appropriations Committee, noting that the panel does not have to take action to allow the automatic increases and will simply be forgoing language that would block the raises.
If members want to alter or eliminate the [cost-of-living adjustment], they should do so through the authorizing process not appropriations bills, Hollander said.
Under current law, lawmakers would receive a 2.6 percent pay adjustment, or $4,500, in January. But boosting congressional pay is always politically difficult.
I think the American people would think that Congress ought to earn it first, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) told reporters this week.
Bingo.
I never gave an employee a pay raise for doing nothing. (...aint gonna support it now either)
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In the private sector their performance would be rewarded with a pink slip......or criminal prosecution
Those worthless do-nothings should get a 50% pay CUT.
A do nothin House deserves a raise ? wow
The only raise most of the members of this Congress deserve is the one that steps up to a scaffold.
yes as one of their bosses I say let’s give them $15 an lhour and they can clock in and out...
with quarterly performance reviews.
Only need around $3800 one time, to get the crooked Democrats in Congress all matching sets of handcuffs to wear.
A) There are no raises. You ran for office with a particular compensation noted. You are elected to one term. You can choose to run again, but it is a contracted service - you receive compensation for that service.
B) I’m good with higher compensation for a future congressional session. I’ll support it the day they eliminate all ‘retirement’ benefits. You don’t retire from congress, you fail to run or be elected to that office.
C) The compensation listed is the sum total of all compensation; no health benefits (they can buy it on the market), no housing allowances, no whatever else they’ve embezzled from the American people for a term position.
I favor a stipend paid by each state, who will set the amount, along with staffing provided and paid for by each state. Further, I favor each state putting up an embassy-like compound that provides housing for the congress critters and staff. In this digital age, there is no reason the congress critters can’t stay home in their districts for the majority of the time, and just have an occasional meeting in Washington. We need term limits, we need to ensure our elections are honest. We also need to be able recall these people. Serving in congress should be an honor but it should be about as desirable and as profitable as jury duty.
Sure as long as they agree that: lawyers are not allowed to be congressman or senators; all congressman must have held a real job for 5 years before election; senators must have signed the front of a paycheck for 5 years before election; tell us who authorized the settlements of $14m of sexual harassment claims with our tax dollars; who signed those checks? Did the congressman pay taxes on the payments?
Don’t give them a raise until an appropriate amount has been deducted from their pay to reimburse the taxpayers for the Mueller Report.
I favor a stipend paid by each state, who will set the amount, along with staffing provided and paid for by each state. Further, I favor each state putting up an embassy-like compound that provides housing for the congress critters and staff. In this digital age, there is no reason the congress critters cant stay home in their districts for the majority of the time, and just have an occasional meeting in Washington. We need term limits, we need to ensure our elections are honest. We also need to be able recall these people. Serving in congress should be an honor but it should be about as desirable and as profitable as jury duty.
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I like your idea.
It’s better than anything that’s come out of congress since newt balanced the budget & the contract with america.
remember during obama terms there wasn’t hardly and cost of living increases? Congress all got their cost of living increases/pay bonuses each of those years that seniors and disabled and veterans didn’t get theirs-
When they’re gripping and grinning before the voters, they always tell us they only want “to give back to the people”. So, let’s honor their wishes. No salaries at all. All expenses are to be itemized and approved by the GAO, with set amounts established for such expenditures. Their staffs are to be hired only for one term in the House or Senate holder’s office (not entrenched trough feeders who get all the perks and keep other qualified individuals from getting on the gravy train). No government retirements (they can contribute to a 401K like the working class who might be able to afford to establish one). They are to be on Obamacare. All travel and meals are to be economy class. No chauffeurs; no gyms and government hairstylists. They can pay for their own haircuts, or go without.
And back on soapbox, they need to be randomly drug tested. Also, we need a full accounting of all financial holdings by them, spouse and family members. If this was the norm, I’m certain we’d be inundated with highly qualified candidates eager to come to DC.
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