Congressional Salaries

The House recently voted to increase the Federal Minimum Wage to $7.25/hour. What a magnanimous gesture!

Let's look at some statistics.

Assuming a 40 hour work week, over the course of a year, minimum wage earners would receive an annual income of $15,080. Even calculating an additional 5 hours per week (an additional $2,827.50/year) in overtime pay, only raises annual income to $17,907.50. According to about.com (http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa031200a.htm), the 2006 base Congressional salary is a whopping $165,200 annually; more than 9 times the amount of a minimum wage earner (more than 10 times without the OT pay)!

This is just their salary. While Congress is in session, taxpayers also foot the bill for their Washington-area housing (including utilities & staff members), grocery, entertainment and vehicle allowances, insurance, travel expenditures, etc. I don't know about you, but if some one else was paying all my other bills, I could live quite comfortably on $165,200 a year.

Let's compare some other figures.

Position, Name; Salary; State: Median Family Income* (Percent)
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi; $212,100; CA: $70,712 (33.3%)
House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer; $183,500; MD: $89,608 (48.8%)
House Minority Leader, John Boehner; $183,500; OH: $66,734 (36.3%)
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid; $183,500; NV: $61,777 (33.7%)
Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell; $183,500; KY: $54,992 (29.9%)
House Majority Whip, James Clyburn; $165,200; SC: $57,932 (35.1%)
House Minority Whip, Roy Blunt; $165,200; MO: $63,847 (38.6%)

Just based on these examples, they're making 50-70% more than the MEDIAN income family (& that's based on a 4-person family; some Congressmen have only themselves &/or a spouse to support)! How wrong is that???

Oh, by the way, Congress also automatically receives a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) annually, unless THEY vote not to accept it.

As they are PUBLIC SERVANTS, I would like to see Congressional salaries abolished. However, since that's not likely to happen, I propose Congressmen receive a salary commiserate with their state's median family income. I further propose the COLA be eliminated and that Congressmen be the last "employees" paid. Therefore, Congressmen would not receive payment until the budget is balanced.

* income data from US Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/medincsizeandstate.html)