Congress isn’t paid too much, they are paid too little. Their salary is low enough that bribes are tempting. They are low enough that insider trading is tempting. They are low enough that it is actually hard for a low to middle class person to work in congress (they have to pay their staff with that salary).
When you say “let’s not give those bastards any money” what you are actually saying is “let’s punish the poorest congress members and reward the richest congress members”. We have literal billionaire members of congress, their salary going to zero does not impact them or force them to think of the working class.
USAnoman on
Nah, make sure their business assets and money making is public while their in office. Make it so if they take bribes all their assets can be seized and that anti corruption laws are just absolutely harsh.
WhitishRogue on
I’ll admit they have to maintain two residences, one in their home district and one in D.C. Frequently they have families with children as well. I can understand how $174k starts to get tight with that lifestyle requirement.
Many of the newer members who haven’t ingrained themselves in the system have to stretch their dollar quite a bit and often live 2-3 to a house in D.C.
3 Comments
People get this wrong all the time.
Congress isn’t paid too much, they are paid too little. Their salary is low enough that bribes are tempting. They are low enough that insider trading is tempting. They are low enough that it is actually hard for a low to middle class person to work in congress (they have to pay their staff with that salary).
When you say “let’s not give those bastards any money” what you are actually saying is “let’s punish the poorest congress members and reward the richest congress members”. We have literal billionaire members of congress, their salary going to zero does not impact them or force them to think of the working class.
Nah, make sure their business assets and money making is public while their in office. Make it so if they take bribes all their assets can be seized and that anti corruption laws are just absolutely harsh.
I’ll admit they have to maintain two residences, one in their home district and one in D.C. Frequently they have families with children as well. I can understand how $174k starts to get tight with that lifestyle requirement.
Many of the newer members who haven’t ingrained themselves in the system have to stretch their dollar quite a bit and often live 2-3 to a house in D.C.