Since we have more contentious elections, lawmakers who feel it necessary to say vile and disgusting things, call for violence when they don’t get their way, it is reprehensible, how we must foot the bill for their actions! It seems that as of 2017, Congress was in session only 145 days, about 3 days a week of working. Maybe that’s why the proverbial “can” keeps getting kicked down the road for so many important issues. Is it any wonder why so many are calling for Term Limits?
Not bad for government work with salaries that most Americans would love to earn; Senators and Representatives make an annual salary of $174,000. Those in leadership make a bit more. For example, the speaker of the House makes $223,500 and majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate make $193,400.
That is not including what Congress and the Senate get for their staff salaries, office funding. Each member of Congress gets approximately $950,000 per year which is called; Members’ Representational Allowance with has 3 components: staff salaries, official office expenses (including travel to and from the Member’s district), and postage / franking of mail.
There is a limit of 18 permanent employees. The average total MRA was $1,255,909.
In the Senate it’s different and is broken down as such; each Senator’s Official Personnel and Office Expense Account (SOPOEA) varies by size of and travel distance to the home state. The staff allowance for FY2015 ranged between $2,385,439 (state population under 5 million) and $3,791,151 (state population 28 million or more). The component called legislative assistance, the same for all Senators, was $477,874, and the official office expense allowance ranged between $121,120 and $453,274 (depending upon size of state, remoteness of state, and number of residential mailing addresses). Again, all this money is fungible, so it is possible to shift expenses from one component to another as long as the total SOPOEA is not exceeded.
When you think about the 435 members of Congress and 100 members of the Senate, it becomes clear why Americans need accountability from lawmakers that they pay so dearly for!
For Congress without their healthcare benefits or salary taxpayers fund about $413,250,000 for their expenses to run offices, the Senate, $250,000,000. Add the salaries and one is looking at about,
$93,090,000. Again, this is not including their healthcare costs to taxpayer, which they were supposed to fund themselves and was written into law, but got wiped away, by Executive Order, from the last President.
That’s a great deal of money for roughly 3 days of work in Washington from our lawmakers, as that’s is where the laws get created, debated and signed.
For this kind of taxpayer burden, we deserve accountability, we deserve our lawmakers not start campaigning for the next election every time there is one.
We should know, where that money is spent or not! We should know, how much is being diverted to possibly the pockets of said lawmakers, instead of expenses.
It has become more advantageous to work in government than it does in the private sector which was never how it was supposed to be!
Is it any wonder there is anger in this country?