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.
They currently make just under two times median income (93k in the DMV, median national would be way too low at 70k), but the financial demands on the job are too high. They don’t really have the luxury of driving old cars and wearing old clothes like you and me. Nor, frankly, do I think we should ask that of them. The job should be an honor and be paid as such. I do like the idea of tying it to median income if only for the incentive to keep a strong middle class though, haha. I’d probably peg it at 3x though. That’s still way less than any K Street lobbyist or mid tier lawyer, and we have to remember that if we want the best and brightest we’re competing against people who go make that at their entry level job at McKinsey, not someone who is trying to become a politician because they want to make money.
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:
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.