Money for Nothing

Jim Hightower:

By a 244-181 vote in June, our congress critters quietly hiked their own pay, putting them in an income class that exceeds 97 percent of American households. And guess what? Unlike us riff-raff, their pay raise is automatic! Deserve it or not, need it or not, they get this annual boost, unless they choose not to accept it. And, gollies, guess what again? They rarely choose to say no!

Glad to see that a little less than half of the reps. in Congress recognize how ridiculous this is, but it's still not enough...

Worse than the raise – which comes when the majority of Americans are falling behind economically – are the excuses of the congressional leaders. They say the big bucks are necessary to retain experienced lawmakers. Yeah... experienced at raising their own pay, which they've done for seven of the past 10 years. And if you want to hear a truly sad tale, try this: members wail that they have to meet with lobbyists who are paid far more than they are, so they need to narrow the gap to save face.

Ken Boehm of the National Legal and Policy Center:

"Their approval rating is 14 percent," Boehm points out. "That means that 86 percent of the American public thinks they're doing a pretty crummy job. If they were doing an absolutely sterling job -- and everybody knew it -- and working long hours and doing productive stuff and not getting caught stealing and so forth, then you might be able to make an argument about it. But that's hardly the case when their approval rating is [so low]."

In the Spirit of Hill...