One can always hope.
:)
Posted on 12/02/2004 2:14:18 PM PST by KeyLargo
Daschle staffers to get severance
By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved two months' worth of severance pay for the employees of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in the wake of his Nov. 2 defeat by Republican John Thune.
As one of their last acts before they adjourned in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, senators voted to change the rules governing the chamber to provide the severance pay and benefits package, which is expected to cost taxpayers at least $656,480.
Such severance packages have not been extended to staff members of defeated senators in the past.
Daschle has about 80 employees at his South Dakota field offices, his Senate office on Capitol Hill and his Senate minority leader office in the Capitol itself.
The $656,480 estimate comes from multiplying the estimated number of employees eligible for severance by two months' worth of the average annual salary — $49,236 — of a Senate employee. The cost of benefits has not been figured in.
That average salary comes from a 2001 report released by the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Washington, D.C.
The severance pay will begin after Thune is sworn in Tuesday, Jan. 4.
The severance package is the result of Senate Resolution No. 478, a rule change that amends earlier resolutions granting similar severance packages to employees of senators who die while in office or resign.
The resolution grants severance pay to employees of all senators defeated in an election, but this year, only Daschle fits that category.
Under the resolution, such severance pay will be granted in the future to the staff members of defeated senators.
Aides must have worked for a senator for a minimum of 183 days to get the severance package. According to The Hill newspaper, severance payments would stop after eligible staffers get new jobs.
In addition, The Hill reported that the rule change "applies the benefit to the Senate's president pro tempore emeritus, a title created for Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who gave up the office of president pro tempore to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) when Republicans regained control of the Senate. Byrd was able to maintain his chauffeur-driven Cadillac and a small staff when he assumed the emeritus post."
Contact Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com
Ah, the Senate making a gift of taxpayer funds....and an on-going entitlement at that......inatspecial.....
Dashle was around for quite a while. At least some of his employees were as well, in all probability. Standard formula was a week of severance per year of service, right?
Eighty employees!! Doing what?
One can always hope.
:)
Not only that, they have two months' notice that they'll be out of a job, why do they get severance for that? In the real world, you get severance because the loss of your job is very sudden.
Why doesnt Dan Blather do a 60 minute piece on this theft?
This is hillarious. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) fired her entire staff after winning (they can now re-apply for their own jobs). Her people would be better off if she'd lost!
So, do we pay forever if they decide not to get new jobs?
$680,000
% 80 staffers
Probably not much chance of Daschel's used staffers getting new work in DC right now....there's a bunch of used Rat staffers in line at the unemployment office.
dung.
Yeah, right.
Indeed.... Now, if we could "buy out the contracts" of a few more senators, maybe a couple of million dollars each... perhaps the taxpayers will come out ahead at the end of the day.
Seriously? She did?
Wow, I gotta think not too many of those staffers are looking forward to re-applying to work for her!
I'm willing to bet a fair share of them were on her dad's Senate before he resigned to become Governor.
I hate this socialist crap. Doesn't the house need to sign off on this taxpayer theft? Or are the lords of the senate allowed to steal as much money as it wishes?
I'd say this: "%^&7#$6&E^!!" but I'd probably get banned for a thousand years.
Wish you had not mentioned the House. I can see all the House members getting the same when they are defeated. Whatever illness politicans get when they arrive in D.C., they all catch it.
How about this? The Senate recoups Kerry and Edwards pay for the last two years for missed time spent campaigning. That $600K pays for the severance of the staffers.
The idea of severance is to help someone out of an unexected layoff so that he/she can get a new job. However, these staffers have known since 11/2 that they needed to get a new job, and there is therfore no justification for giving them any severance.
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