And aren't they about to start a 30 day vacation? Heck, I'll give 'em a raise if they take MORE vacations - say about 350 days a year
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Posted on 07/18/2002 4:27:30 PM PDT by tomball
WASHINGTON (AP) - House lawmakers cleared the way Thursday to give themselves a pay raise for the fourth straight year, increasing their salaries about $5,000.
If that raise goes into effect, rank-and-file members of Congress would receive $155,000, an increase of more than $20,000 over the past decade.
Under a 1989 law, congressional pay raises, determined by a complicated formula that includes a measure of private industry employment costs, go into effect automatically unless lawmakers vote to block it.
Showdowns over pay raises traditionally take place during debate on the annual spending bill for the Treasury Department and related agencies, but a 258-156 procedural vote at the opening of that debate effectively prevented lawmakers from offering an amendment to kill the raise.
The only lawmaker to speak against the raise was Rep. James Matheson, D-Utah. "We can't afford it, last year's government surpluses are long gone, we are swimming in red ink, we are fighting a war. We shouldn't be asking the taxpayers to pay us more," he said.
The congressional raise is estimated to be about 3.3 percent. The Treasury bill for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 includes a 4.1 percent cost-of-living increase for civilian federal employees, equal to a raise approved for military personnel.
The 3.3 percent pay raise, which would go into effect in January, would also apply to more than 1,000 top executive branch officials, including the vice president, and members of the congressional leadership. The vice president, like the Speaker of the House, now gets $192,600 while House and Senate majority and minority leaders receive $166,700.
The president's salary of $400,000 a year is unaffected by the congressional increase.
America's first members of Congress received pay of $6 a day. In 1855, compensation was set at $3,000 a year. It hit $10,000 in 1935, $60,000 in 1979, and went above $100,000 in 1991. The pay level stalled at $133,600 during the mid-1990s with lawmakers wary of giving themselves a raise when the federal budget was in deficit, but has risen steadily since then.
EXCELLANT POINT!!!
Now I am PO'D EVEN MORE
No, I wouldn't. I am a conservative, and I do not approve of wasteful government spending. This is wasteful spending.
You folks can raise all kinds of hell about Congress getting a $5000 pay increase, which amounts to $2.675 million. Yet you don't say a damned word about a 4.1% pay increase for millions of federal bureaucrats, when the cost of living increases only by about 2%. The cost of that is a hell of a lot more than a piddling $2.675 million.
Does anyone believe that the cost of living increase for Social Security recipients will be anywhere near 4.1% next year?
Does anyone care that the federal pensions will go up by 4.1%, along with the bureaucrats' pay?
Does anyone believe that there should be a limit????
Yup.
Just like people get all bent out of shape about a $1.00 ATM charge or a $.10 jump in gas prices.
Penny wise, pound foolish.
Pay them $5,000 per law they repeal. Charge them $10,000 per new bill they submit.
Give them 10 Million dollars each for votes resulting in the elimination of the IRS and limiting government spending to 3% of the GDP.
10 Million each to end social security.
I can dream can't I?
Not ONE Republican spoke out against this?
Meanwhile, back at what's left of the ranch, the stock market is tanking, 3 trillion dollars of wealth has evaporated, and all our so called conservative, fiscally responsible Republican House can do is vote to spend more money, on more entitlements (prescription drug bribe for medicare) and give themselves raises.
And they still find time to send me fundraising letters begging me to help them stay in control or else...what? The democrats will spend more? How?
I've gone from being a grassroots GOP supporter and get out the voter type, to opposing ALL the Republicrats and RINOS. Vote all of them out.
I call them The Gods of Olympus.
And aren't they about to start a 30 day vacation? Heck, I'll give 'em a raise if they take MORE vacations - say about 350 days a year
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Come now, are you really suprised?
Quite nervy, isn't it? Maybe we should send them letters asking for money back to pay our bills.
No wonder they support the NEA. Birds of a feather. Don't these people ever work a whole year like the tax slaves have to? We work 6 months just to pay the government, and the other 6 months we finally get to keep!
I know we have WAY too many Gov't employees, but to say Congress does not rate a pay raise while the rest of the Gov't are receiving raises (rate, level, commisiion etc. does not matter in my book) is wrong.
Flame away...
Their pay is only one part of their treasure. They can write off everything from clothes to food, housing, limos, maids, dry cleaning,travel expences, underwear, etc. as a business expence. They get it all free because of "who they are."
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