On the same day that we find out that our debt is now reaching epic levels that we more than likely will never be able to crawl out of, comes news about how much we are paying congressional staffers. 2,000 staffers are making salaries of six figures. 53 of which are making the maximum allowed; just under $175,000, another 80 are only raise away.
I know very well how hard these people work. The work weeks are crazy, sometimes 14 to 16 hours per day, and some of those days are on weekends. It is very difficult to have social life when you have a job on the hill, as you never know when that 16 hour day is coming. I have no problem with them making a livable wage. I do have a problem with them making this much money. There is no reason that we are paying these types of salaries. The reasoning behind it is said to be that they can make more in the private sector working for lobbyists. The truth of the matter is that most lobbyists positions do not pay that well. The ones who own the firm make that money, but the staff of the lobbyists do not.
When reading this type of data it is no wonder that Americans are so fed up with how our government is currently behaving. We cannot stay on this path of spending money that we do not have. What are we doing to the next generation? We must make the hard choices to reduce our debt. Lowering these salaries is not a hard choice.
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2 comments:
i think this is something we can all agree on. how do we fix it? people in both parties say they will but no one ever does. i think it needs to be legislated, because no one will want to be the first to do it, they'll just lose their staffers to the people who pay more.
We make part of the vetting process when we elect people. These are the questions we have start asking the candidates.
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