.
E
C
I
V
R
E
S
C
I
L
B
U
P
S
’
T
I
,
S
E
Y
.
Y
H
S
U
C
E
B
N
A
C
T
I
,
S
E
Y
HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
CAPITOL HILL
R
T
S
U
L
L
I
Y
E
N
A
BY A RT H U R D E L
S
U
T
R
A
P
P
A
C
I
T
AT I O N B Y A E S T H E
Last year, 21 freshman members of the House of
Representatives made a show of sleeping in their offices.
Instead of renting apartments and living among
the city’s lobbyists, reporters and political hacks, the
incoming Republicans wanted to be seen as outsiders,
unsullied by the ways of Washington.
“I think it’s important that we
show we don’t live here, we are
not creatures of this town,” Rep.
Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) told CBS News.
While the ethics reforms of the
past two decades have cut down
on some of the most egregious displays of excess, Washington can
still be very good to the politicians
who work here—even Tea Partiers
who claim to live like ascetics.
Despite a series of ethics reforms targeting things like outside
income and unseemly junkets,
members of Congress receive
grandiose compensation and live a
lifestyle that’s too big to fail.
At a town hall meeting in Wisconsin last year, a constituent
challenged Rep. Sean Duffy, one of
the new Republican couch surfers,
about his salary. “I’m just wondering what your wage is and if
you guys would be willing to take
a cut?” the man asked, according
to a video of the event.
The man seemed surprised by
Duffy’s answer: Members of Congress make $174,000 a year, the
congressman said, after some
hemming and hawing.