Retiring House Republican says $174,000 isn't enough money for members of Congress: 'Most of us don't have wealth'
Retiring House Republican says $174,000 isn't enough money for members of Congress: 'Most of us don't have wealth'
He's not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.
Rank-and-file members of both the House and Senate are paid $174,000 a year.
That probably seems like a decent amount of money, and it is: The median household income in 2022 was $74,580, according to the US Census.
But consider that members of Congress generally have to maintain two residences — one in Washington, DC, and one in their home state — and that they haven't gotten a raise since 2009.
Inflation, meanwhile, has eaten away at the value of that salary over time: If lawmakers' salaries had kept pace with inflation, they would be paid over $250,000 today.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who served as the interim speaker of the House following Kevin McCarthy's ouster, told The Dispatch that congressional pay needed to be raised in order to attract "credible people to run for office."
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I don't understand!! The federal government was never supposed to be a retirement. It was about civic duty. That's the problem everyone wants to retire off the taxpayers. They don't follow the constitution anymore. I challenge you to actually read the constitution. They will say it how you interpret it but it's a simple document. The men that wrote it did it that way on porpoise. They could have wrote a lot more words to it but they didn't because they knew lawyer could twist the word for interpretation. Read the part were the lawyers say they can tax the individual income at the federal level. It only says they can tax the STATE for the different income levels in it. They use to just go off of population and tax the STATE per head count. No where in it does it say they can tax the individual directly.
The STATES use to collect the taxes and they State government would pay the federal government. Well the states kept taxing at the same rate not giving any money to the federal government. So now the people are double taxed.
Look up where to head supreme court Justice at the time said the 16th amendment gave the federal government no more power than it already had. Well before that they could not tax the individual directly and they don't really have the power now they just do.
Before you say I'm crazy look at the constitution yourself and tell me how you think it reads. That is the 16th amendment. While your at it look up the army clause where it says the federal government can only leave a standing army for 2 years only in war time. If not in war time its supposed to be dissolved and turned back to the stated.
The states