HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
CAPITOL HILL
Exactly, say others.
“There is a reason why it’s usually the freshman members who
introduce bills calling for a reduction in members’ pay,” Manley
notes. “That’s because it is nothing more than a cheap political
stunt guaranteed to get favorable
press coverage or kudos’ from socalled pro-taxpayer groups.”
An action lawmakers did approve last year was a 5 percent cut
to budgets for their own offices.
While the vote didn’t affect congressional compensation, it did
prevent raises for many lesser-paid
staffers. Lawmakers nevertheless
While employees
around the
country are
watching their
retirement
benefits vanish,
congressional
pensions remain
generous.
thumped their chests about how
they were tightening their belts
just like regular Americans.
“Everybody knows that across
this country families and small
businesses have cut their spending, are paying off their debt, and
are striving to live within their
means,” Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) said on the House floor before the budget-cutting vote. “We
should do the same.”
Some staffers aren’t impressed.
“I’m not mad because we didn’t
get raises. I’m mad because they
used this as a political issue,” says
one Republican House staffer,
who after 16 years of service earns
less than $60,000, and requested
anonymity to protect her job. “In
their office budget, they still have
plenty of money to get all new
BlackBerrys, new computers, flat
screen TVs, iPads—every little
thing. They don’t cut back on
travel expenses, but yet they make
it look like they’re sacrificing.”
Holman said he’d be open to
a means-testing setup that pays
lawmakers less if they’re really
rich—something similar to what
many lawmakers embrace for
safety net programs like Social
Security and Medicare.
Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the