Rank-and-file members of both the House and Senate are paid $174,000 a year.
That probably seems like a decent amount of money, and it is: The median household income in 2022 was $74,580, according to the US Census.
But consider that members of Congress generally have to maintain two residences — one in Washington, DC, and one in their home state — and that they haven’t gotten a raise since 2009.
Inflation, meanwhile, has eaten away at the value of that salary over time: If lawmakers’ salaries had kept pace with inflation, they would be paid over $250,000 today.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who served as the interim speaker of the House following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, told The Dispatch that congressional pay needed to be raised in order to attract “credible people to run for office.”
It turns out, in capitalism, doing anything besides surviving is expensive.
If you’ve seen the Healthcare system in the US, surviving is possibly the most expensive thing you can do.
Speaking of which, Congress critters get a free, extremely good, healthcare plan for life.
They should give up their avocado toast.
And turn off cable and all the streaming services. And don’t forget about those smart phones! My grandpappy’s congresscritters didn’t have no smart phones, these people can get by w/o 'em!
If lawmakers’ salaries had kept pace with inflation, they would be paid over $250,000 today.
You mean kinda like how inflation has fucked everyone else in the country too? Kinda seems like the guys in charge of this shitshow should be the LAST motherfuckers getting a raise.
The equivalent of $83/hr if they worked 40 hrs a week for 52 weeks. I think their pay is fine just where it is.
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You are severely undercutting that hourly pay. They work the equivalent of a part time job that asks you for help 6-8 times a year and will buy you pizza and beer for showing up, kinda like helping a buddy move.
Not only that, but they have an immense amount of support staff that actually works so they don’t have to.
To get paid the average HOUSEHOLD income +130% to do this is fucking plenty. Boooooooooooo fucking hoo. Until they do something meaningful while in office, they can suck a thousand bags of bagged up dicks that are in bags. They’re not even allowed to suck the actual dicks.
But its not the rank and file that get to do the real work, so lets ask what is the salary of non rank and file, and how many of each are there? What percent the whole pie does the rank and file make up, and what does the single top salary earn?
Clearly he just needs to buy less avacado toast and get a third job.
Then. What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Think. Life. Is. Like. For. Your. Constituents.
These idiots are literally building their own gallows to be strung up on. Mind boggling lack of foresight.
No, no, no. Calm down everyone. No one has ever died from revolutions triggered by oppressed populations…
As others have said, tie it to minimum wage increases.
Also… I would trade paying them ten times as much for a prohibition on them owning or trading in the stock market in a heart beat. It’s inherently a conflict of interest that puts them at odds with the majority of their constituents.
Maybe they should skip their avocado toast or drink less Starbucks?
Something something bootstraps
Seriously guys when do we start burning shit.
I ask myself this question every day. I’m starting to think that once enough people just independently start burning, it’ll eventually spread to the rest of the population like wildfire (pun absolutely intended)
Let’s just build a big congressional dorm with furnished studio apartments and make them all live there when Congress is in session. It would save the government a fortune in cost of living reimbursements and security costs.
Great idea. And we have so much unused real estate the government owns in DC if they didn’t force people to return to the office.
Congressional barracks or even a neighborhood would actually be a great idea. It could get its own metro line.
Like it’s a job with a lot of time there. I think it’s fair that they be able to comfortably live there with their spouses and other loved ones, but it would be good to keep housing centralized to them. I’m reminded of Air Force neighborhoods where I grew up. Sometimes your aimless walk would get you a conversation with someone holding a machine gun because there are medium security off base residences
Matt Gaetz would organize a panty raid. I guarantee it.
I had toyed with the idea of putting cameras all over the building and charging to view them…
I remember an election or two ago a story about a freshman congressman having to sleep on a cot in his office because he couldn’t afford DC rent.
Make it a munger dorm.
That’s a version of Big Brother I’d definitely watch. At least the first season.
Many members of Congress already sleep in their office (which is technically against building codes). Dorms would be an improvement.
Squid games dorm
There would be the added perk of people not wanting to remain congress critters for more than a couple of terms unless they really care about the job
A bunch of them sleep in their office already. Worst kept secret in Washington. Dorms would be an upgrade.
Put them in government housing on welfare with Medicaid.
You know genuinely I don’t understand why this isn’t a thing. It’s expensive to have two homes, especially when you aren’t even sure you’ll have the job for more than four years. It would lower the cost of entry into politics for people who do work minimum wage.
Shoving someone into a land full of surprise expenses seems like a perfect recipe for corruption.
It would lower the cost of entry into politics for people who do work minimum wage.
It sounds like you understand perfectly well. Politics is for rich people to get more power, and get richer by granting favors to their friends. “Public servant” is the lie they tell to make us feel good about it.
Yes, I know that there are the few modest politicians, but it’s the exception to the rule.
They could also just have an apartment, they don’t need a mansion in Virginia.
Even 2 apartments are expensive, I remember AOC was having trouble finding one in DC
Isn’t Washington D.C. also one of the more expensive cities to live in?
So, yeah, residence at home, residence in D.C. Tough to swing on 174K.
What they should do is make everyone remote. Secure video connections from their homes.
This meeting of the 119th Congress is brought to you by SurfShark.
It’s too dangerous to use outside software. They would need to hire a team to develop an in-house video solution… and it crashed again.
Looking forward to people zoom bombing congress.
If only they understood the irony
Inflation hits everyone hard
Before we start making obvious jokes, remember the tale of Robert Hanssen selling state secrets to Moscow.
One of the things he complained about was how difficult it was to manage finances on his salary while living in DC. Now I’m by no means suggesting we give members of Congress a raise. They should be able to figure it out with how much they earn. But what about the federal agents and employees who earn far less, and have access to extremely valuable data?
And why is DC so GODDAMNED EXPENSIVE?? The zoning regulations in DC have got to be some of the dumbest in the country. Using a law from 1899 to justify the max height of buildings based of firefighting equipment at the time is pathetic. The law should be scrapped so supply can meet demand in a city that is becoming increasingly unaffordable, even for those making nearly 200k a year.
I’ve always heard that the height restriction is relative to the Capitol dome, so as not to overshadow it. dc is mostly residential and essentially suburban in construction. there’s plenty of space to convert to higher density as is, but no appetite for it.
What if we just pay them +10% on the existing bribe structure and convert to federally funded elections?
