Cut the Pay and Benefits of Congress

oregonblitzkrieg

In any given year, a member of Congress works about 138 days, or about 1/3 of a year. The average pay is around 200K per year. The average benefits upon retiring are 100k per year. So a congressman who gets elected, serves a few years, retires and lives 40 more years, will receive a $4 million paycheck, all courtesy of the American taxpayer. How nice of us to pay these chumps and shills who barely work at all, and who never met a new tax they don't like, such a generous pension for the time they 'served.'

Congress takes a full month off in August, and is about to start their 'Christmas Recess' in October. In October. Let that sink in. Meanwhile the typical American worker will get 1 to 2 weeks off for Christmas, if at all.

Save the taxpayer more money, and cut the pay and benefits of Congress to better reflect the actual time they put in, and value they contribute to society (which isn't very much at all).

PurpleThrobber

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

GDS

Agree. Members of Congress spend about 2/3rds of their time fundraising. Like Throbber mentioned in another thread get the money out of elections so these representatives can actually spend their time working and less time wooing the all mighty dollar as well.

Rubberfist

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

This

oregonblitzkrieg

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

You're conflating two issues, corruption and Congressional pay and benefits. The issue is saving the taxpayer money by reducing Congressional pay and benefits to something more aligned with what the average American gets paid and the benefits the average American receives upon retirement.

2001400ex

oregonblitzkrieg said:

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

You're conflating two issues, corruption and Congressional pay and benefits. The issue is saving the taxpayer money by reducing Congressional pay and benefits to something more aligned with what the average American gets paid and the benefits the average American receives upon retirement.

You sound poor. There's zero chance I'd ever work for Congress for only $200k a year. The pay is fine. I agree with throbber other than I'd completely eliminate the lobbying system.

oregonblitzkrieg

2001400ex said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

You're conflating two issues, corruption and Congressional pay and benefits. The issue is saving the taxpayer money by reducing Congressional pay and benefits to something more aligned with what the average American gets paid and the benefits the average American receives upon retirement.

You sound poor. There's zero chance I'd ever work for Congress for only $200k a year. The pay is fine. I agree with throbber other than I'd completely eliminate the lobbying system.

You don't have a job. HTH.

oregonblitzkrieg

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

2001400ex

oregonblitzkrieg said:

2001400ex said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

You're conflating two issues, corruption and Congressional pay and benefits. The issue is saving the taxpayer money by reducing Congressional pay and benefits to something more aligned with what the average American gets paid and the benefits the average American receives upon retirement.

You sound poor. There's zero chance I'd ever work for Congress for only $200k a year. The pay is fine. I agree with throbber other than I'd completely eliminate the lobbying system.

You don't have a job. HTH.

You are technically correct for once. Business owners are not employees.

PurpleThrobber

oregonblitzkrieg said:

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

I don’t want average people representing me. I want people properly incented to leave their career at whatever stage that may be.

I want exceptional people as representatives. People who have achieved some level of success. Exceptional people aren’t settling for what they could probably pull in the private sector.


You get shitfucks and unemployed at $63K.

2001400ex

oregonblitzkrieg said:

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

This is not factually correct.

A senator or representative’s retirement benefits are based on their plan, age and how long they served. No member of Congress is eligible for his or her pension unless he or she has served for at least five years. To collect their full pensions, congressmen must be at least 62, or at least 50 with 25 years of service.

By federal law, senators and representatives cannot earn their full salary in retirement. The most a congressman can earn after the leave office is 80% of their final salary. However, he or she would have had to have served 67 years to earn that top percentage.

https://smartasset.com/retirement/congress-retirement-plans

MikeDamone

2001400ex said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

2001400ex said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

You're conflating two issues, corruption and Congressional pay and benefits. The issue is saving the taxpayer money by reducing Congressional pay and benefits to something more aligned with what the average American gets paid and the benefits the average American receives upon retirement.

You sound poor. There's zero chance I'd ever work for Congress for only $200k a year. The pay is fine. I agree with throbber other than I'd completely eliminate the lobbying system.

You don't have a job. HTH.

You are technically correct for once. Business owners are not employees.

Not true. But you don’t know much about corporations. Tell us again how self employment tax works. That was a hoot. Idiot.

2001400ex

PurpleThrobber said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

I don’t want average people representing me. I want people properly incented to leave their career at whatever stage that may be.

I want exceptional people as representatives. People who have achieved some level of success. Exceptional people aren’t settling for what they could probably pull in the private sector.


You get shitfucks and unemployed at $63K.

AOC says hello.

SFGbob

GDS said:

Agree. Members of Congress spend about 2/3rds of their time fundraising. Like Throbber mentioned in another thread get the money out of elections so these representatives can actually spend their time working and less time wooing the all mighty dollar as well.

You're never going to get money out of elections. The only way is to reduce the power and the authority of the Congress and the Federal Government so that no one thinks it benefits them to give money in order to curry influence and favor.

PurpleThrobber

2001400ex said:

PurpleThrobber said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

I don’t want average people representing me. I want people properly incented to leave their career at whatever stage that may be.

I want exceptional people as representatives. People who have achieved some level of success. Exceptional people aren’t settling for what they could probably pull in the private sector.


You get shitfucks and unemployed at $63K.

AOC says hello.

I rest my case.

SFGbob

They have been trying to limit money in elections forever and unless you're going to do things that are plainly unConstitutional it isn't going to work.

Why do people spend so much money to get elected to an office that only pays $180K a year? Because of the power you acquire and the ability to make yourself extremely wealthy if you stay in office long enough.

Change that, and you'll get money out of politics.

MisterEm

oregonblitzkrieg said:

PurpleThrobber said:

Nah. Pay is fine. Nothing special.

Eliminate campaign contribution from unions, PACs and corporations and shit will clean up fast. Limit individual contributions to set amount.

Enact term limits. Two terms in Senate. Four in the House.

Limit employment with government contractors and company boards for five years after term ends unless previously on board prior to election.

Problems pretty well solved.

You're conflating two issues, corruption and Congressional pay and benefits. The issue is saving the taxpayer money by reducing Congressional pay and benefits to something more aligned with what the average American gets paid and the benefits the average American receives upon retirement.

You're over-simplifying one major issue.


But still...

oregonblitzkrieg

PurpleThrobber said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

I don’t want average people representing me. I want people properly incented to leave their career at whatever stage that may be.

I want exceptional people as representatives. People who have achieved some level of success. Exceptional people aren’t settling for what they could probably pull in the private sector.


You get shitfucks and unemployed at $63K.

The people representing you are career politicians. Not 'exceptional people.' HTFH. If your definition of exceptional is how much money the candidate has made, then someone like Hunter Biden should suffice, right? He qualifies as exceptional under your definition.

Your 'exceptional people' have put the country under trillions of dollars of debt, have got us into countless wars, have bilked trillions of dollars of tax payer money for these wars and their endless pet projects. The party representing one half of America wants to shred your constitutional rights. Your exceptional people angle is weak.

By the people for the people. If the average American household makes $63,000 a year, so should the Congressman who is representing that household. He will better serve the interests of the people if he lives under the same conditions as the people he represents. This will eliminate some people who are in it only for the money. So what. That might be a good thing. It won't eliminate people who are only in it for the power, though. Term limits deals with that. That is another issue altogether.

GDS

SFGbob said:

GDS said:

Agree. Members of Congress spend about 2/3rds of their time fundraising. Like Throbber mentioned in another thread get the money out of elections so these representatives can actually spend their time working and less time wooing the all mighty dollar as well.

You're never going to get money out of elections. The only way is to reduce the power and the authority of the Congress and the Federal Government so that no one thinks it benefits them to give money in order to curry influence and favor.

You could by ending all contributions to candidates, PACs etc but it would cut into people's first amendment rights. According to Open Secrets we? spent 6.5 billion on the 2016 election which supports a lot of "jobs" hence why it will never happen.

SFGbob

GDS said:

SFGbob said:

GDS said:

Agree. Members of Congress spend about 2/3rds of their time fundraising. Like Throbber mentioned in another thread get the money out of elections so these representatives can actually spend their time working and less time wooing the all mighty dollar as well.

You're never going to get money out of elections. The only way is to reduce the power and the authority of the Congress and the Federal Government so that no one thinks it benefits them to give money in order to curry influence and favor.

You could by ending all contributions to candidates, PACs etc but it would cut into people's first amendment rights. According to Open Secrets we? spent 6.5 billion on the 2016 election which supports a lot of "jobs" hence why it will never happen.

They have been trying to limit money in elections forever and unless you're going to do things that are plainly unConstitutional it isn't going to work.

oregonblitzkrieg

PurpleThrobber said:

2001400ex said:

PurpleThrobber said:

oregonblitzkrieg said:

Average household median income was $63,000 in 2018. The average pension benefits for someone over 65 in the private sector was 10K.

Reduce Congressional pay to 63,000 a year. If you factor in all the time they take off, it is the same as paying someone 126K who does the same job but who actually works 5 days a week. Reduce their pension from 100K a year to 10K or less.

Serving 2 to 4 years in Congress should not get you a 100K yearly paycheck for life. Funded by the taxpayers. Fund your own damn retirement, or get another jerb.

I don’t want average people representing me. I want people properly incented to leave their career at whatever stage that may be.

I want exceptional people as representatives. People who have achieved some level of success. Exceptional people aren’t settling for what they could probably pull in the private sector.


You get shitfucks and unemployed at $63K.

AOC says hello.

I rest my case.

Your case is weak.