Ratings may stink, but Congress gets a $4,100 raise

WRL

WRL

Well...the right is right
nancy-pelosi-scarf.jpg


Houston Chronicle

Fortunately for members of Congress, their pay isn't tied to their approval ratings. Congressional COLA is linked, under a complicated formula, to the cost-of-living increase... As part of a 1989 ethics bill, Congress gave up its ability to accept pay for speeches, lol, and made annual cost-of-living pay increases automatic unless lawmakers voted otherwise.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, a leading critic of the COLA process, said in an interview that he's not proposing that members of Congress never get a pay raise. But he said that, in a time of budget deficits when many people are undergoing economic hardships, "at least we ought to have an up-and-down vote on it. The whole process appears so secretive."


Reluctance to openly discuss the salary issue comes as Congress has been suffering low public approval ratings. In a December AP-Ipsos poll, 25 percent of those surveyed approved of its performance...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5448792.html
 
This is just another similiarity between big government and big business. CEO's run their company into bankruptcy and still get a multi million severence package.
 
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Legislators don't get paid that much. The salary serves a purpose, and I doubt many of them would vote for if it meant anything at all to their constituents (whats a few thousand dollars to getting elected again?)

In any case, it seems like it wouldn't be constitutional to have a vote that only applied to people who voted against it. People like the lying, scheming racist bastard Ron Paul, though, he always votes against the pay raise.
 
uscitizen said:
This is just another similiarity between big government and big business. CEO's run their company into bankruptcy and still get a multi million severence package.
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Honestly, you people act like you have never heard of a fucking contract. You can't just through someone with a contract out. You have to pay them damages.
 
Hey we're only 9.2 trillion in debt, adding it at a rate of a million a second, why not a pay raise for a Congress at 25% approval ratings, accomplishing nothing. It's not as if their six digit salaries are causing them to scrape by.
 
WRL said:
Hey we're only 9.2 trillion in debt, adding it at a rate of a million a second, why not a pay raise for a Congress at 25% approval ratings, accomplishing nothing. It's not as if their six digit salaries are causing them to scrape by.
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Yep, I'm sure the 500 billion deficit is caused by the 100,000 a year each congressman gets. Let's just get rid of it, and if there were any poor people in the HoR, ba bye! It helps the Republicans anyway.
 
Congress doesn't get automatic pay raises.

Every time they do this, someone makes a big deal about it. Why shouldn't Congress be entitled to pay raises, like most other working Americans?
 
If we paid congressman nothing, it would take 4-6 million dollars off of the budget. And it would ensure that only rich people could work there (it's a full time job). The congressional pay isn't even a large chuck of the billion dollar legislative budget. Why not have congress meet in a large field?

Or we can cut the military and do some common fucking sense stuff, instead of wasting our children on Quixotic wars.
 
Onceler said:
Congress doesn't get automatic pay raises.

Every time they do this, someone makes a big deal about it. Why shouldn't Congress be entitled to pay raises, like most other working Americans?
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I think Congress should forego it's pay raise when 25% approval is a good poll for the chambers. What have we gotten with democrats, no acknowledgments of the 9 trillion dollar debt, promise the moon campaigns, no budgets passed until the massive 11 of the 12 federal budgets, 10,000 page 3,000 earmark strong budget days before giving themselves an extended vacation in December. What where their major accomplishments other than the minimum wage hike which was simply something they blocked during Republican years to take the credit for. Well... over 100 investigations into the Bush administration, even so far as subpoenaing former Bush speech writers. lol. Shorting the work week to a whooping 4 days, and now a pay raise, all while reveling in their low 20's approval rates. Their control of congress represents how I'd imagine bitter children would run things.
 
WRL said:
I think Congress should forego it's pay raise when 25% approval is a good poll for the chambers. What have we gotten with democrats, no acknowledgments of the 9 trillion dollar debt, promise the moon campaigns, no budgets passed until the massive 11 of the 12 federal budgets, 10,000 page 3,000 earmark strong budget days before giving themselves an extended vacation in December. What where their major accomplishments other than the minimum wage hike which was simply something they blocked during Republican years to take the credit for. Well... over 100 investigations into the Bush administration, even so far as subpoenaing former Bush speech writers. lol. Shorting the work week to a whooping 4 days, and now a pay raise, all while reveling in their low 20's approval rates. Their control of congress represents how I'd imagine bitter children would run things.
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It's better whenever presidents aren't under investigation. They have more freedom to... protect the common good!
 
The work week WAS 4 days during the GOP years. The Democrats upped it to 5, & the Republicans whined too much about it, so they went back to 4. Do you ever read?

The investigations have actually been pretty low key, considering all of the hype & worry that the GOP expressed when the Dems took over. I wouldn't argue that it's been the most effective Congress, but they have had to deal with a big block of concrete with a pen sitting in the Oval Office.

If we want to attract the best people to Congress, it doesn't help to whine & moan every time they give themselves a pay raise, which is something all working Americans should be entitled to once in awhile.
 
this number, over 100, is obsessive, subpoenaing speech writers??? Come on... This is a childish way to run the US Government.
 
one might want to consider congressional expense accounts more than their salary.

I think congressional pay should be linked to average worker salary. If our salaries go up theirs does too, if ours go down so does theirs.
 
WRL said:
Hey we're only 9.2 trillion in debt, adding it at a rate of a million a second, why not a pay raise for a Congress at 25% approval ratings, accomplishing nothing. It's not as if their six digit salaries are causing them to scrape by.
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Classic.

Nice crocodile tears. Massively cut taxes for the rich, jack up defense spending beyond all reason, start an unneccessary trillion dollar war, and then pretend that you're shocked that the debt has grown too big and therefore we must eliminate social security and medicaid and congressional pay raises.

Reaganomics and Bushonomics caused the debt to explode, with their tax policy, war policy and defense spending policy. I say cut the things that largely caused the debt to explode, before you cut the things that didn't.
 
Mandatory spending is the looming monster, and what needs to be addressed, far outweighing what you mentioned. National Defense is one of the area's the federal government actually should be involved.
 
WRL said:
Mandatory spending is the looming monster, and what needs to be addressed, far outweighing what you mentioned. National Defense is one of the area's the federal government actually should be involved.
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WRL, the military budget currently takes up half of everything. Then there's medicare and medicaid. Farm subsidies. "Mandatory spending", whatever the hell that is, has nothing to do with any of it.
 
"Mandatory spending, whatever the hell that is"

I'm not sure I want to engage a economics debate with someone who starts out here. Do a google search, it's expected, or projected, being as these are mandatory spending requirements to bankrupt themselves, and the country. And Obama's bright idea give everyone the first 500 back from your SS taxes, it's a system in a crisis of funds, and the Democrats are saying, lets throw away more money from it, no thanks...
 
WRL - What is the projected revenue loss if the Bush tax cuts are made permanent as compared to the the Mediare and Social Security "shortfalls?"
 
WRL said:
Hey we're only 9.2 trillion in debt, adding it at a rate of a million a second, why not a pay raise for a Congress at 25% approval ratings, accomplishing nothing. It's not as if their six digit salaries are causing them to scrape by.
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Lol ok your (R)tard president and (R)tard congress exponentially increased our deficit so now that they are out of power, the (D) should not take a COLA raise....hmmm ok..lol
 
And who was that that said something about contracts for CEO's ? Hmm seems like we have contracts as well, esp with SS.
 
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