Hey. a 20% approval rating merits a raise.
On Dec 20, 7:26 am, mark <[email protected]> wrote: > A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost > their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for > free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. > > Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an > additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional > salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it. > > “As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept > just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their > own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior > Citizens League (TSCL), a non-partisan group. “This money would be > much better spent helping the millions of seniors who are living below > the poverty line and struggling to keep their heat on this winter.” > > Steve Ellis, vice president of the budget watchdog Taxpayers for > Common Sense, said Congress should have taken the rare step of > freezing its pay, as lawmakers did in 2000. > > “Look at the way the economy is and how most people aren’t counting on > a holiday bonus or a pay raise — they’re just happy to have gainful > employment,” said Ellis. “But you have the lawmakers who are set up > and ready to get their next installment of a pay raise and go happily > along their way.” > > Member raises are often characterized as examples of wasteful > spending, especially when many constituents and businesses in members’ > districts are in financial despair. > > Rep. Harry Mitchell, a first-term Democrat from Arizona, sponsored > legislation earlier this year that would have prevented the automatic > pay adjustments from kicking in for members next year. But the bill, > which attracted 34 cosponsors, failed to make it out of committee. > > “They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so > that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather > than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said. > > http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/with-economy-in-shambles-congress... --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
