In the midst of an expensive war, spiraling deficits, hurricane disaster expenses, rising energy prices, and ongoing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, Congress had the courage Friday to extend themselves a $3,100 annual pay raise, bringing the salary for a U.S. Congressperson to $165,200 a year. I don’t know about you, but I am glad to see that our elected officials have their priorities in good order. After all, if we don’t keep increasing the wages paid to lawmakers, how can they ever get all those tax breaks they are passing out?
Seriously though, who do these people think they are? As an average hard working American citizen, I can’t say that many of the people in my neighborhood make $165,000 a year. Neither do the people I work with or the parents of my daughter’s schoolmates. In fact, aside from business leaders and CEO’s that I come across from time to time, I don’t really have among my group of peers anyone who brings home that kind of cash.
$165,200 a year. That doesn’t include the other benefits afforded our elected representatives in Congress. They also have medical care under FEHBP, which covers up to 75% of the premiums and all but about 15% of major medical costs. Of course, the uncovered portion is deducted from the congresspersons pay, but since it all originates from the tax receipts anyhow, congress people aren’t really paying their share at all. A similar situation occurs with the FERS retirement plan that covers Congress. Granted, you’re not really vested until you’ve served several terms, but hit that marker, and you’re looking at a pretty sweet deal.
$165,200 a year. That also doesn’t include the professional perks of being chosen to represent the people of your district. A major biggie is the practice known as ‘franking’ or the free use of the U.S. Postal Service. What amounts to free political advertising is often used by incumbents around election time, basically forcing opponents to spend a fortune competing with this kind of advertising. These costs are ultimately borne by the taxpayer in the form of increased postal costs down the road. Other professional freebies include a fully paid office staff, usually in multiple locations, again at taxpayer expense. All this adds up to millions each year.
$165,200 a year. That seems just about high enough to take advantage of the continuing tax cuts too. Those in addition to exemptions they have already created for themselves. While the bulk of America is struggling with stagnant incomes and rising costs, our honest, elected representatives are helping themselves to a bigger piece of the pie.
Although the Republican Party controls the Congress, this disgusting show of avarice is a bipartisan effort, one of the only ones you’ll find lately. And while the total increase in salary costs is just around $1.35 million, a mere drop in the federal budget, the sheer audacity of the act is what is most troubling. It is hard to believe that this raise is necessary for our officials to keep up with the cost of living. It is harder to argue that the raise is deserved for exceptional work. The current salary is miles above that of the average working person in this country, and that’s without all the goodies thrown in.
So despite all the rhetoric and name calling and political posturing, the fact that Congress managed to calm down long enough to give themselves a raise before heading back to the playground of politics should speak volumes about the real priorities of the current crop of politicians. Apparently it is okay to slash military pay and equip soldiers on the cheap. And it is also fine to slash taxes for the richest Americans while the middle class slowly fades away as jobs are exported. Better to turn a blind eye to the hundreds of American companies that all share a building in the Cayman Islands as their corporate headquarters and avoid their share of taxes while enjoying profits in the billions of dollars. Cut funding for social programs, education, even veterans services; no one will really notice. Deficits? Fugiddaboudit! As long as Congress gets their extra cash, all is right in the world. Right?
Think about it for a minute. Think about whether the people representing you are really worth 3 or 4 or 5 times as much as you are. Look at the policies that have come from our halls of government. Look at the high costs of health care and the declining quality of our educational system. Been to the gas pump lately? How about that first winter heating bill? I bet you barely get a ‘cost of living’ raise this year. But even if you got the 3-5% that supposedly makes that even, your annual total was probably just breaking even to begin with. I don’t know about you, but at $165,000 a year, it doesn’t seem like we’re getting our money’s worth. If we’re going to be stuck paying this much, why don’t we at least get some people who have integrity and are willing to break out of the party mold. We need people with fresh ideas who aren’t beholden to the system.
So…anybody looking for a good paying job?
(Some information used to support this article can be found here: http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=343 Salary information is taken from an AP report printed 11-19-05.)
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2005 at 8:34 am and is filed under Government, Politics, Reform.
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November 20th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Of course, I can’t imagine making $165,000 a year.
If I did, I don’t know how I’d make ends meet!
Just kidding.
Congress is full of assholes. Big surprise.
November 20th, 2005 at 6:21 pm
Congress is not full of assholes, as much as it’s full of ass-wipes, and willing ones, at that.
Here’s the trouble. In politics, one rises in direct proportion to one’s usefullness to others. So, I suck up to A, B, and C. I need help to carry out their goals, so X, Y, and Z help me help A; U, V, and W help me with helping B; and R, S and T help me help C. Now 3 guys are beholden to me for my help, but I am beholden to 9. When I get to the top, I’m going to need help to stay there. That means I owe even more people. I cannot have my own agenda, because I have to worry about the next election, and keeping my seat. So the people who helped me get there own me. Sadly, the people who put me there are not, as we would expect, the voters, but the power brokers.
Figure a way around this, and you’ll bring Utopia to earth.
November 20th, 2005 at 7:38 pm
I agree, Ken. $165K is, like, six times the national average or something, and then there are the benefits and perks. It’s obscene. An insult. Too bad their raises aren’t performance-based, by popular vote!
I guess they need to be compensated for the trauma of undergoing the surgical procedure to remove all traces of integrity, honesty, and common sense from their brains.
November 20th, 2005 at 11:23 pm
More reason to be anti-incumbant this coming election cycle. Vote the bastards out – we need a new set. I think we should just do a global find and replace – fill any vacant seat with a new, warm body. Can’t be any worse than we actaully have.
November 21st, 2005 at 10:31 am
This Congress is made up of a group of scoundrels. The American people would be wise to vote out the majority of these self-serving uninspiring lawmakers.
November 22nd, 2005 at 12:30 pm
If you really think about it, Jesus lived in squalor conditions and did not worry about overcoming His humble possessions. Please read your bible and learn about the ways of Christ. It will help you stop worrying about how much other people get paid. Thank you and God Bless
November 22nd, 2005 at 10:44 pm
doctor life,
I think this post is about the materialistic greed in Congress, not the jealousy to earn as much.
Although…j/k.
Ken,
It seems almost impossible for there to be any checks and balances in a system this large. That’s definitley a huge problem. I heard something this week about a small town whose representatives at the state level tried to give themselves a raise and the locals protested and won.
My $.02. Excellent post.
November 23rd, 2005 at 6:09 am
(responses)
John- I’m not surprised so much as appalled.
Ann- The solution is rather simple, really. Find, support, encourage, and elect people who are not greedy asswipes. Find people who want to serve faithfully instead of those groomed in the status quo.
Simple solution…hard to implement.
Shea- Yes, that is painful stuff. They are obviously UNDERpaid…
Windspike- I totally agree. We need new blood.
Paul- Wise indeed. Let’s hear it for wisdom.
Doctor Life- Are you sure you read this correctly? I don’t remember religion being an issue here. Nor was envy. I trust you’ve found a way to reconcile the vast discrepencies in the Bible you revere. Or perhaps you have an audiotape of the Bible read by Jesus himself. That would be the only real way of knowing anything that came from his mouth and mind, as the text you refer to has been rewritten many times over. I do recall some bits and pieces about greed, helping the less fortunate, honoring other people…maybe you should send some copies to the legislature.
Wait, on second thought, bad idea. Laws based in religious doctrine aren’t any better than what we have now…
Lorax- thanks for setting the good doctor life straight.
More people should act as those locals did and maybe we’d have a legislature worth voting for.
Thanks for the comments.
November 26th, 2005 at 9:57 am
Congress is but one American entitlement class.
Other entitlement classes are those who want wars, and prisons, and police protection, and fire departments, and potholes fixed in their streets, and reliable water and sewer systems, but do not want to be asked to pay for any of it. Members of this class can also be referred to as “Bush supporters”-like the man they revere, they do not give a damn about how this country is going to pay the bills that they are so merrily racking up.
The heavy weight of these entitlement-class Americans will eventually drag the country right down to Buenos Aires, and I suspect it will be sooner rather than later.
November 27th, 2005 at 5:26 am
And keep in mind, this is the same group of idiots who have not allowed the minimum wage to increase in nearly a decade.
Sure, a 1.9% raise doesn’t seem like all that much, really. A drop in the bucket as you say, and probably approximately equivalent to the increase in the cost of living, such that in constant dollars, there is no increase at all.
But if inflation is justification for a cost-of-living adjustment in Congressional salaries, then it is certainly justification for an adjustment in the salaries paid to the poorest Americans, the ones who are barely scraping by and can’t afford to have their pay effectively CUT by inflation.
For reference, the best year to be on the minimum wage was 1968, when the wage (in 1996 dollars) was $7.21.
When I was in High School in the early 80s earning my $3.35/hour after school, I was earning a 1996 adjusted rate of between $5.90(1980) and $5.06 (1984), and that’s the last time the wage has been over 5 1996 dollars except for the year 1997, the last time the wage was increased (to $5.15, or $5.03 in 1996 dollars).
In 2005, the wage is $4.15 in 1996 dollars, the lowest buying power of the minimum wage since before 1955 (I don’t know how much before, I can only find constant dollar references back to 1955).
So the rich get richer, the politicians keep their buying power, while the poor have programs cut and have the lowest buying power for their minimum wage in the last 50 years.
Where, exactly, is the compassion in “compassionate” conservative?
Liam