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Members of Congress Already Overpaid
By Mary-Kate Smith
In the midst of some of the most urgent crises of our time, our members of Congress are preoccupied with a $5,000 pay raise for themselves! Congress is diverting their much needed attention from important public policy issues to enhancing their already extravagant compensation package from $150,000 to $155,000, along with generous perks, pension and health benefits.
Apparently, the members of Congress believe it is OK to fatten their own wallets at the expense of the American worker. According to the Congressional Accountability Project, the proposed pay increase will allow them to earn nearly four times the median income of full-time, year-round American male workers, excluding benefits and perks. This certainly seems unfair when Congress has failed to establish a national living wage for all American citizens and so many children continue to live in poverty.
Since 1989, members of Congress have arranged $60,500 in raises for themselves. Over the past five years, they have welcomed themselves to an increase of $13,300 per year of taxpayers’ money. (A minimum wage employee earns less than $13,300 during an entire year of full-time work.)
The proposed pay raise comes at an especially appalling time. The budget deficit will most likely explode to $165 billion and the federal public debt to $6.2 trillion. Applying for a pay raise when the country is so buried in debt is disgraceful and compromises our congresspersons’ moral authority. All the while our stock market continues to plummet, sadly wiping out millions of Americans’ retirement savings. The federal government’s official unemployment rate has risen from 4.9% a year ago to 5.9% last month. And Congress wants to get paid more?
Surely, if the members of Congress want to earn more, they should move to the private sector. Our Congress members should be concerned about being effective governors and promoting the social good instead of selfishly focusing on making more money for themselves.
I urge you to speak up. We cannot afford a congressional pay raise and should not allow our representatives to make more money at our expense. Contact your senators and representatives and tell them to stop the proposed pay raise and remind them that many highly qualified candidates are willing to run for Congress at the current salary. And, at the very least, insist that the Senate hold hearings on the proposed raise and require a roll call vote on an amendment to reject it.
For more info call the Congressional Accountability Project at 503-235-8012, or visit them on-line at <www.congressproject.org>.
And don’t forget to contact your representatives: write to Representative Nancy Johnson at 2113 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; Senator Joseph Lieberman at 706 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-0703; and Senator Christopher Dodd at 448 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-0702. For info on all your government officials, visit <mygov.governmentguide.com>.
Ms. Smith is an intern at the Office of the Community Lawyer in Winsted, and a student at UConn Law School.
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