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Members of Congress may be about to get a pay raise for the first time since 2009
(www.businessinsider.com)
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this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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I don't know why the hell people are downvoting this. AOC is quoted in the article talking about why this exact sort of thing is necessary.
Yup. I remember the whole "Bernie Sanders owns three homes!" story. One is his primary home in Burlington, VT, one is in DC (probably a condo), and one is a cabin in VT. For a senator, that's probably on the low end.
Due to the cost of living in DC, some reps are roommates with other reps, or sleep on cots in their office: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/dc-rent-is-too-high-how-members-of-congress-make-it-work/54969/
I appreciate the nuance and detail of your comment. I wanted to make sure I started with that so you don't think I'm just here to shit on your comment. I'm upset that we're here and slapping bandaids on this shit instead of actually thinking about solutions.
Congress can't pass a budget, but they can raise their own pay. They haven't passed any meaningful legislation in two years, but they can raise their own pay. They can't raise our minimum wage, but they can raise their own pay. Idk about you, but I've never gotten a raise for pisspoor performance at any job I've ever held. I'll be receiving a 3.5% raise in a couple weeks, and I've very much earned that, and it's thankfully a bit higher than the ~2.8% inflation over the past year so it's an actual raise. Not everybody has been so lucky. I'm completely on board with paying Congress well so that it's not gated off for only the wealthy elite to have access to, but let's not pretend that passing a raise for themselves right now is eradicating all semblance of corruption once and for all.
Why does Congress actually need to be in DC anymore anyway? Why not have an office in their district and securely remote vote? Having them in DC maintaining two residences is costing them more, keeping them physically distanced from their actual constituents, and making corporate lobbying significantly easier since they can easily talk face to face with dozens of reps/senators in a single afternoon. We could also raise the cap on the House since it's been undersized for proper representation for decades; no need to cap it to a number that can regularly gather in the chambers anymore. I'd rather they just stay in their district and lock their pay to their local inflation rate. If they want better raises, then they need to actually help their district.
Classified material, for one. If they're having a sensitive meeting, they're not doing it over Zoom, they're doing it in a certified secure room in person.
And there's a lot to be said for just being in proximity. When you're there, you can physically see and hear what's going on that you might not have known about otherwise.