"The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States." -- U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 6
From 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 to $7.00 while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members began receiving a regular annual salary in 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.
During the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin proposed that elected government officials not be paid for their service. Franklin’s proposal won little support. As you might guess, an automatic raise for Congress annually is coming as millions of American workers are giving up their cost-of-living raises in an effort to save their jobs...
I am not sure I agree with defunding them.........but I am ALL in favor of curtailing.
ReplyDeleteMaking $174,000 a year only encourages them to stay busy screwing up this country. Being a member of Congress was never supposed to be your PRIMARY job, but something you did to serve your community.
ReplyDeleteAt least make Congress part time...
Works in Harry Reid's home state of Nevada "Every two years, a bunch of cowboys and city slickers gather in Nevada's capital city to hash out just what ought to be the law of the land.
Their debates range from how far between fence posts a rancher should mark his land to how long someone ought to spend in prison for robbing a bank. They work long hours for little pay, then go back to their homes to pitch hay or push paper, wait tables or deliver babies.
It's called the Nevada Legislature. Its members come from the many walks of life that make up Nevada's citizenry. Students and retirees, white collar and blue collar. From alfalfa fields to high rises, they range in age from 26 to 80.
State law limits the legislative session to 120 days every two years, meaning people can't become full-time politicians. The pay, about $8,300 per session plus $147 per day for expenses, ensures that the lawmakers must maintain another livelihood."
Their salaries should be contingent upon some codified ratio compared to the average wage of most full-time-employed hourly workers in this country AND influenced (determined in part) by the nearness of full-employment of the working segment of the population.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we cannot outsource them as they have us!
I suggest minimum wage, but who would vote for that?
ReplyDeleteDuring all the BS about defaulting if the debt ceiling is not raised both Obama and the Treasury has declared that social security cheques would not be sent out. Yet, I did not hear one word about not being able to pay the pensions of Bill Clinton, George HW Bush or George W Bush or all the congressmen/women who are on a pension. I also did not hear anything about not being able to pay for the medical services needed by any of them, yet they threaten to cut medicare. If medicare is going to be cut, then so should the healthcare of Congress.
ReplyDeleteHow many workers in the US get to decide their own pay increases?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the labour party? It use to be the Democrats but not any more. Time to form a Labour Party and get them in as many offices as possible, from local to state to federal. Time for the people to wake up and realise their government is broken, corrupted as hell and is now in the pocket of the rich and corporations. Look at the current line up running for office, a whole bunch of republicans and Obama. Does anyone really believe that anything will be any different come 2012?
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