CAPITOL HILL
der a considerable amount of responsibility. “It’s not the job of the
average person in America to be an
elected representative, to make national decisions about how we raise
and spend our money, whether we
go to war,” says Fred Wertheimer.
Wertheimer, who helped lead the
charge against the corrupt honoraria system in the late 1980s, says
he considers $174,000 a reasonable
salary given the work that lawmakers are required to perform.
But how hard are they working?
A recent CNN analysis showed
that the current Congress has
passed just 132 bills. The previous
Nearly half of
the current crop
of federal
lawmakers are
millionaires, and
their median
net worth has
risen 13 percent
since 2008.
HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
Congress passed 383. Divided government isn’t the only explanation: The 107th Congress of 20012002 passed 377 laws despite the
fact that one party didn’t control
both chambers.
The Chicago Tribune, measuring
votes taken, bills made into laws
and nominees approved, reported
last year that the current Congress
is even underperforming the “donothing Congress” of 1948.
On the other hand, to some
people—especially conservatives
—fewer new laws might be a good
thing. And an unproductive Congress could just be a democratic
reflection of a divided electorate.
But if people are happy with what
Congress is doing, it doesn’t show.
In February, Congress achieved its
lowest approval rating in the history of the Gallup poll.
Even Wertheimer said people
might start to wonder why politicians are paid so highly if they
are n’t doing their jobs well. Members “are raising questions for
themselves because of the extraordinary gridlock in Washington,” he says.
Calls have arisen again within
Congress for paycuts. Eight bills
in the current Congress would
repeal the annual automatic pay