Posted on 04/04/2014 4:23:37 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Lawmaker calls Congress 'underpaid', objects to salary freeze Photo 6:12pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers have quietly gone along with an annual salary freeze since 2010, but a Virginia Democrat has had enough and said members of Congress are underpaid.
Representative Jim Moran, who is not seeking re-election in November, has objected to fiscal 2015 spending legislation that calls for another pay freeze for Congress, keeping lawmakers' salaries at $174,000 a year.
"I think the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid," Moran told CQ Roll Call, a congressional newspaper and website. "I understand that it's widely felt that they underperform, but the fact is that this is the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world."
He said that in Washington, D.C., where housing is expensive, some lawmakers live out of their offices to save money, while maintaining homes in their legislative districts. Others live in tiny one-room apartments.
Moran intends to offer an amendment to the Legislative Branch appropriations bill that would provide a per diem allowance for lawmakers to help cover Washington housing costs.
A Moran aide said this would not affect the congressman personally given his plans to retire and because the close proximity of his suburban Virginia district means he does not need a second residence.
"Mr. Moran wants to ensure Americans aren't priced out of holding elected office in Congress by the cost of maintaining a separate household in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country," the aide said. "The job shouldn't be limited to those who can afford the cost of living in DC."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
1If they don’t like the pay, quit and get another job like the poor slobs in the private sector have to do
not for the job they’re doing, they are freaking overpaid.
but secretly i bet most feel that way, as 2/3 of them are stinkin’ lawyers. lawyers always think they’re overworked and underpaid.
Don’t they get free health care? Since everyone else has insurance premiums that are skyrocketing as a result of their foolishness, that should be considered a raise right there.
I’d build a submarine with screen doors just for him.
If nothing else, the moron, moran, is overpaid. What a useless drunken sack.
Just quit and the tax payers will still have to support you and you will be free to pursue other fields or you can continue to whine about how UNDERPAID you are while doing nothing to earn what you are worth.
You chose the path you wanted so stop crying like a little baby.
I believe you want to remain in the position where you are fearing that you would never ever be able to really have to earn a living doing actual work.
Suck it up cry baby and deal with it.
Their salaries should be linked somehow to the budget surplus, and net cash reserves. What? We’re running a deficit AND we are in debt? Well then, their pay should reflect that.
100%
I say build them a dorm - the two senators from each state can share a room and have the congressmen share rooms too. I mean really they are only in town for how many days a year anyway.
Why don’t we put them up in Public Housing so they can live amongst all those “little people” that they put on pedestals?
So he’s complaining about only making 174K??I’d suggest that he should shut up before some of the millions of unemployed fixate on him.
Isn’t this guy’s nickname “Moron”?
Throw em all out and repeal the salary to 50,000! and no bennies or retirement!
With the electronic age we do not need a gaggle of baffoons
In DC. JGTFO!
This is a joke right?
Sheila Jackson Lee is worth maybe a donkey or a chicken and
a pig but $174,000 a year? Thank God shes in Texas. We
are the only state that can afford it’s own comic relief
in congress.
I kind of like Thomas Sowell’s idea to pay a very high salary (over $1million/yr) to attract far better talent than we have in DC today. That, coupled with term limits has a nice ring to it. We’ll get away from professional politicians and lawyers too.
They don’t call him Jim Moron for nothing...
“”I think the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid””
Isn’t he tired yet of being a fool? He’s not talking to any American citizen who couldn’t figure out how to rent an apartment on a $174,000+ annual salary....
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