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Republicans Look to Give Themselves a Pay Raise After Securing Benefit Cuts for the Poor (www.commondreams.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by DevCat@lemmy.world to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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After taking the global economy hostage to secure painful cuts to aid programs and other federal spending, House Republicans are proposing a pay raise for themselves and other members of Congress for the coming fiscal year.

Roll Callreported Thursday that under spending legislation approved by the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee last month, members of Congress "would stand to receive a 4.6%, or $8,000, pay increase" in 2024. Most members of Congress currently make an annual salary of $174,000, putting them in the top 10% of U.S. earners.

"Lawmakers last received a cost-of-living increase in 2009," the outlet noted, "but House Republicans left out the traditional language blocking a cost-of-living increase for members from this year's Legislative Branch bill."

Pulling themselves up by our bootstraps.

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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

My main goal here is to highlight that they are first and foremost public servants. Maybe that means representatives should be paid by their states, or maybe it means their income should be directly tied to median income as I suggested. But my main priority is to remind Congressional representatives that they represent their constituents, not their ideological or selfish priorities.

It should be high enough that they're comfortable and can focus on serving their constituents, but not so high that they feel even more entitled to special treatment.

Perhaps as a middle ground we can have:

hire full time cooking staff and provide modest meals for free while they're on site
provide free transportation between their residence and work, 7 days/week
provide a stipend for job-related expenses

That way the income would only be used for personal needs. I think the current setup is pretty similar to that, so the main change would be how their income keeps up with inflation.