Congress Gets Pay Raises, Despite Economic Turmoil, Massive Jobs Losses, Frozen Credit Markets

Aren't our politicians great? As the economy crumbles around us and as millions lose their jobs, and with Congress urging more oversight on company executives, the last thing I would expect to hear is that they are giving themselves a raise. According the The Hill, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it.

“As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a non-partisan group. “This money would be much better spent helping the millions of seniors who are living below the poverty line and struggling to keep their heat on this winter.” However, at 2.8 percent, the automatic raise that lawmakers receive is only half as large as the 2009 cost of living adjustment of Social Security recipients.

Still, Steve Ellis, vice president of the budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, said Congress should have taken the rare step of freezing its pay, as lawmakers did in 2000. “Look at the way the economy is and how most people aren’t counting on a holiday bonus or a pay raise — they’re just happy to have gainful employment,” said Ellis. “But you have the lawmakers who are set up and ready to get their next installment of a pay raise and go happily along their way.” Member raises are often characterized as examples of wasteful spending, especially when many constituents and businesses in members’ districts are in financial despair.

Rep. Harry Mitchell, a first-term Democrat from Arizona, sponsored legislation earlier this year that would have prevented the automatic pay adjustments from kicking in for members next year. But the bill, which attracted 34 cosponsors, failed to make it out of committee. “They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said. Source: The Hill

The bottom line is that since the economy is in shambles, the last thing Congress needs to give itself is a raise. They need to freeze congressional salaries this time around. The idea has been floated before, but never gained enough traction to stick. Well, necessity is the mother of invention and this is one time where fiscal responsibility needs to be practiced. Yes, that includes the Congress as well. The average lawmaker makes $169,300 yearly, with the leadership making slightly more. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly makes $217,400, while the minority and majority leaders in the House and Senate make $188,100. These people aren't exactly hurting for money.

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