Let's just build a big congressional dorm with furnished studio apartments and make them all live there when Congress is in session. It would save the government a fortune in cost of living reimbursements and security costs.

Maybe they should skip their avocado toast or drink less Starbucks?

If inflation has eaten away at your 6 figure salary that hasn’t been updated since 2009 imagine how the plebs making $7.25/hr feel.

Tie their pay to a multiplier of the minimum wage.

Id be significantly more open to this if you assholes hadn't spent the last 50 years helping steal money from the poor for billionaires.

@MicroWave @steinbring We should not increase their pay. Instead we should simply provide housing connected with public transit so members of Congress can cut some of their costs and actually experience what it is like to live this way. They already get great healthcare and access to a fitness center and cafeteria.

Most of us don't have wealth

Reality disagrees. While over half of Congress are millionaires, the highest credible number for the US population in general is 12%

In fact, the 100 highest earners in Congress more than doubled (https://ballotpedia.org/Personal_Gain_Index_(U.S._Congress) their personal wealth in a single year, with the top 10 "earners" increasing their wealth on average 422% in a single year!

Congressional pay rate should be tied to national minimum wage rate. In order to raise one you have to raise both by the same percentage.

If you can't live on 170k a year, you probably shouldn't be making decisions for those on 30k.

If they're struggling, then maybe they should pick up a second job, maybe cancel some of those subscription services?

I am completely down with paying Congress a shit ton of money, but we're going to need a zero tolerance policy on bribery and lobbying.

You're not going to get CEO payment and tips.

The equivalent of $83/hr if they worked 40 hrs a week for 52 weeks. I think their pay is fine just where it is.

Get a roommate.

Federal minimum wage in 2009: 7.25. Federal minimum wage in 2023: 7.25. Cry me a fuckin river.

Hey Buddy, most of us don't have wealth, either.

This isn't as wild as it sounds.

A family friend was elected to Congress, and he had been an HVAC contractor prior to his election, and the move to DC was financially difficult because DC housing is very expensive and they still had a mortgage back in their district.

How did he work things out? He started accepting donations, and that's as slippery slope. He's become as corrupt as they come and I'm ashamed to have been his friend.

I'd be happy to have tax funded basic housing for them in DC.

To be fair, they need a house in their hometown and a house in DC. That can be extremely expensive. You want congressmen to be financially independent so that they don't need to accept bribes and such.

'Most of us don't have wealth'

Welcome to the fucking club.

are you fucking kidding me. if my salary had kept up with inflation, id be making 250k. if average people dont get that benefit, why the fuck should they.

on top of that, they have rules specifically allowing them to game the stock market with their insider knowledge.

if you cant make money being a congresscritter, youre just not trying.

while i agree that it's probably hard since you essentially have to travel and live in two places id have a lot more sympathy if they also didn't continually push for tax cuts for billionaires while opposing minimum wage increases, or voting against single payer while having government funded healthcare, or voting against the inflation reduction act...

They should give up their avocado toast.

Honestly that’s more fucking money than they deserve. They spend more time bickering than working it seems.

That's equivalent to 24,000 hours at the federal minimum wage.

There are only 8,760 hours in a year.

Seriously guys when do we start burning shit.

As others have said, tie it to minimum wage increases.

Also... I would trade paying them ten times as much for a prohibition on them owning or trading in the stock market in a heart beat. It's inherently a conflict of interest that puts them at odds with the majority of their constituents.

Then. What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Think. Life. Is. Like. For. Your. Constituents.

These idiots are literally building their own gallows to be strung up on. Mind boggling lack of foresight.

No, no, no. Calm down everyone. No one has ever died from revolutions triggered by oppressed populations...

It should be tied to federal minimum wage. You want a raise? The rest of us get one, too.

They need to stop whining and work harder on pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.

Hmmm, not so fun when that bullshit refrain is thrown back in your faces, is it Republican politicians.

This is why only rich people that don't give a shit about normal people end up in Congress. Regular people can't afford to be in Congress.

🎻

If they're whining about making over twice the median income, they should consider making moves to lower the cost of living for everyone else. If it's not good enough for them, why should the rest of us suffer?

Maybe there can be dorm rooms for congress