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Let's just build a big congressional dorm with furnished studio apartments and make them all live there when Congress is in session. It would save the government a fortune in cost of living reimbursements and security costs.
You know genuinely I don't understand why this isn't a thing. It's expensive to have two homes, especially when you aren't even sure you'll have the job for more than four years. It would lower the cost of entry into politics for people who do work minimum wage.
Shoving someone into a land full of surprise expenses seems like a perfect recipe for corruption.
It would lower the cost of entry into politics for people who do work minimum wage.
It sounds like you understand perfectly well. Politics is for rich people to get more power, and get richer by granting favors to their friends. "Public servant" is the lie they tell to make us feel good about it.
Yes, I know that there are the few modest politicians, but it's the exception to the rule.
Maybe they should skip their avocado toast or drink less Starbucks?
Something something bootstraps
If inflation has eaten away at your 6 figure salary that hasn’t been updated since 2009 imagine how the plebs making $7.25/hr feel.
Id be significantly more open to this if you assholes hadn't spent the last 50 years helping steal money from the poor for billionaires.
@MicroWave @steinbring We should not increase their pay. Instead we should simply provide housing connected with public transit so members of Congress can cut some of their costs and actually experience what it is like to live this way. They already get great healthcare and access to a fitness center and cafeteria.
I understand what you're saying but I think you can't get elected to a national house or senate seat without being wealthy or very connected to wealth.
The income is mostly just a joke. There should be an equitable way for people without an income or wealthy connections to be elected on merit and opinions rather than by virtue of giant funding.
Personally I vote for election advertising bans by 3rd parties and to make all election advertising done through a collective pool of funds shared by all candidates. These fucking PACs are a big problem today and they are everywhere
Most of us don't have wealth
Reality disagrees. While over half of Congress are millionaires, the highest credible number for the US population in general is 12%
In fact, the 100 highest earners in Congress more than doubled (https://ballotpedia.org/Personal_Gain_Index_(U.S._Congress) their personal wealth in a single year, with the top 10 "earners" increasing their wealth on average 422% in a single year!
Hey, everyone: he just said 12% of the United States population are millionaires. More than one out of every 10 people. Think about that.
Guess how net worth looks for the bottom 88%.
Wealth disparity in this country is insane.
If you can't live on 170k a year, you probably shouldn't be making decisions for those on 30k.
If they're struggling, then maybe they should pick up a second job, maybe cancel some of those subscription services?
Congressional pay rate should be tied to national minimum wage rate. In order to raise one you have to raise both by the same percentage.
Funny how they cry about not being able to live on almost 200grand a year, yet they expect my grandmother to live on 12k a year from social security.
Federal minimum wage in 2009: 7.25. Federal minimum wage in 2023: 7.25. Cry me a fuckin river.
Maybe congresses salary should be a multiple of minimum wage so they always get increased together.
The equivalent of $83/hr if they worked 40 hrs a week for 52 weeks. I think their pay is fine just where it is.
Clearly he just needs to buy less avacado toast and get a third job.
Get a roommate.
No joke, but many of them do essentially bunk together, especially the ones that aren't horribly corrupt.
This isn't as wild as it sounds.
A family friend was elected to Congress, and he had been an HVAC contractor prior to his election, and the move to DC was financially difficult because DC housing is very expensive and they still had a mortgage back in their district.
How did he work things out? He started accepting donations, and that's as slippery slope. He's become as corrupt as they come and I'm ashamed to have been his friend.
Now if only states maintained congressional residences in DC so their congressmen don't find themselves saddled with +million-dollar mortgages on homes they might only be living in for 2 or 4 years.
Really, if you're sitting on a million-dollar mortgage and you might be primaried in your next election if you don't play ball with the lobbyists (or more to the point, you'd have to keep paying it after your tenure in congress ends) isn't that just bending freshman congressmen over a barrel to be corrupted?
Conversely, imagine the scenario if you lose your re-election bid and in order to pursue the post-congress lobbying career you'd have to buy yourself a new home in DC.
Normalize getting the fuck out of DC when you're out of office, guys/make it expensive to stay on
Hey Buddy, most of us don't have wealth, either.
I am completely down with paying Congress a shit ton of money, but we're going to need a zero tolerance policy on bribery and lobbying.
You're not going to get CEO payment and tips.
To be fair, they need a house in their hometown and a house in DC. That can be extremely expensive. You want congressmen to be financially independent so that they don't need to accept bribes and such.
They'd still accept bribes if they were paid 5 million a day.
Its not about the money.
its about the position, and power.
are you fucking kidding me. if my salary had kept up with inflation, id be making 250k. if average people dont get that benefit, why the fuck should they.
on top of that, they have rules specifically allowing them to game the stock market with their insider knowledge.
if you cant make money being a congresscritter, youre just not trying.
'Most of us don't have wealth'
Welcome to the fucking club.
I'd be happy to have tax funded basic housing for them in DC.
That's equivalent to 24,000 hours at the federal minimum wage.
There are only 8,760 hours in a year.
It should be tied to federal minimum wage. You want a raise? The rest of us get one, too.
As others have said, tie it to minimum wage increases.
Also... I would trade paying them ten times as much for a prohibition on them owning or trading in the stock market in a heart beat. It's inherently a conflict of interest that puts them at odds with the majority of their constituents.
Then. What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Think. Life. Is. Like. For. Your. Constituents.
These idiots are literally building their own gallows to be strung up on. Mind boggling lack of foresight.
No, no, no. Calm down everyone. No one has ever died from revolutions triggered by oppressed populations...
while i agree that it's probably hard since you essentially have to travel and live in two places id have a lot more sympathy if they also didn't continually push for tax cuts for billionaires while opposing minimum wage increases, or voting against single payer while having government funded healthcare, or voting against the inflation reduction act...
This is why only rich people that don't give a shit about normal people end up in Congress. Regular people can't afford to be in Congress.
🎻
Too large
If they're whining about making over twice the median income, they should consider making moves to lower the cost of living for everyone else. If it's not good enough for them, why should the rest of us suffer?
They need to stop whining and work harder on pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.
Hmmm, not so fun when that bullshit refrain is thrown back in your faces, is it Republican politicians.
Maybe there can be dorm rooms for congress