Thread: Lawmaker presses for 5% cut in congressional salaries

Lawmaker presses for 5% cut in congressional salaries

Updated 25m ago
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — At a time when polls show Congress' standing at near-record lows, a group of retirees today is endorsing a move to cut lawmakers' pay.

The Senior Citizens League claims 1.2 million supporters, and spokesman Brad Phillips said those people are being urged to "light up the Capitol switchboards" in support of Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick's effort to get her colleagues to give back 5% of their salaries.

"I think we should feel the pain like everybody else," Kirkpatrick, an Arizona Democrat, said.


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Because of layoffs, "a lot of Americans have taken a 100% pay cut," Kirkpatrick said.

The last time Congress cut its pay: April 1, 1933. In the midst of the Great Depression, the lawmakers voted to drop their salaries from $9,000 to $8,500.

Kirkpatrick's bill would reduce congressional salaries by $8,700, from $174,000 a year to $165,300. In terms of buying power, that would still leave lawmakers ahead of what they were making in 1990. That year's House salary of $96,600 is equal to $160,850 in today's dollars, according to the Labor Department's consumer price index.

Over the same time period, the Senior Citizens League says, the average Social Security benefit rose from $6,654 a year to $11,621 a year. Social Security recipients did not get a cost-of-living increase last year, and forecasts by the Obama administration and the Congressional Budget Office indicate that an increase is unlikely for next year.

Private-sector wages and salaries rose 9.3% from 1990 to 2009 after adjusting for inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

Congress, however, is eligible for a hike of just under 1%, according to Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union, which would equal $1,566. That's because Congress' cost-of-living adjustments are based on the Labor Department's employment cost index, which tracks private-sector benefits and wages.

Members of Congress have received the cost-of-living adjustment automatically since 1989 unless they voted it down. They've done that four times, most recently last year.

So far, Kirkpatrick has rounded up 26 co-sponsors for her pay-cut bill. Most are, like her, freshman Democrats who are vulnerable in the November elections, according to independent analysts Charles Cook and Stuart Rothenberg. There are, however, veteran GOP budget hawks, including Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a 2008 presidential candidate.

Norman Ornstein, an American Enterprise Institute scholar who follows Congress, said the proposed pay cut is a "cheap symbol" that could backfire. Members of Congress have to maintain two households, and even at the current pay, Ornstein said, "it's very difficult to get good people who aren't independently wealthy to run."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... titialskip

Am shocked! Is this lawmaker suggesting that Congress be fiscally responsible? What a novel idea!!!

Well, I applaud the token symbolism, but they should cut their pay to the average manufacturing wage in the US which is $19 an hour for each hour actually worked serving the best interests of US citizens. They should have time clocks, punch in and document their activities to the minute like lawyers do billing their clients, subject to all fraud laws of the United States and the states and districts they represent, of course.

They could cut their pay 50% and they would still be getting more than they are worth.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

They could cut their pay 50% and they would still be getting more than they are worth.

Right O! I just didn't want them signing up for Food Stamps. You couldn't trust this batch of thieves with a government EBT Card.