JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS
CAPITOL HILL
hands back 15 percent of his salary to the government as a matter of principle).
“I know after votes are finished,
when I’m walking back to a place,
going back to a regular bed, many
of my colleagues are not going to an
apartment,” says Rigell. “They’re
going to their offices because that
truly is all they can afford.”
After more than a year since
their arrival in Washington, 12 out
of the 21 congressmen who vowed
to live in their offices say they’re
still committed to couch surfing,
according to their spokespeople.
One, Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.),
admitted to giving up, though his
HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
office declined to say why. The
rest did not respond to multiple
requests for information.
Duffy, who is among the committed couch surfers, told his constituents at the town hall last year
that he’d support a salary reduction. “Let’s go across the board
and all join hands together,” he
said. “Let’s all take a pay decrease,
and I’ll join with you. Absolutely.”
None of the current paycut
proposals are expected to go anywhere, however. After all, a member of Congress offering to cut his
own pay is like the guy who makes
a big show of reaching for his wallet when someone else has already
offered to pay for dinner.
“Those bills are just politicking,” Holman says.
Sen. Scott
Brown (RMd.) and
daughter Ayla
Brown arrive
for the 2011
White House
Correspondents’ dinner.