Members of Congress will return to Washington after Christmas with a lavish $4,700 stocking stuffer in their paychecks. It's the automatic salary increase that kicks off at the start of 2009. Surely those of us who are paying for it would agree the raises are hardly performance-based!
When Congress adjourned this month, it did so with a drab 20% approval rating. After helping spend America into a recession that's cost millions of Americans their jobs, Congress wants more compensation for their own! Adding to the pain, Democratic leaders plan to convene in January with a "stimulus" plan that could strip another trillion dollars in debt from already struggling families over the next two years. The proposal is lined with new spending projects for roads, infrastructure, "green" building projects, school beautification, and, potentially, government controlled health care.
For a snapshot of just how "essential" the line items are, the National Taxpayers Union combed through the wish lists and found this gem. In Alexandria, Virginia, the mayor (one of many vying for "emergency funds") requested $2.4 million to make the trolley motors hybrid and replace the contractors who drive them with unionized city employees. Of course, Congress greased the wheels for this sort of waste with its $152 billion package in February and $700 billion bailout seven months later. If this gets you mad like it did me contact your leaders and tell them to stop the spending madness. If Congress doesn't know where to start, I do. Refuse the $2,514,500 in Capitol Hill pay raises.
Source: FRC,National Taxpayers Union.
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