Congress has the power to set their wages, which are derived from the taxpayer’s money. These individuals have the power to determine how much they make, spend, etc. Although many of these congressman may contest that they make under $200,000 per year, they do not take into consideration that their benefits and spending abilities amount to more than 4.5 billion dollars per year or nearly 25 percent of the nation’s current debt.
Many may argue that congressmen deserve a raise. However, their salary alone is more than substantial for the amount of benefits they receive through healthcare, travel and spending budgets. The excellent health care they receive does not impact what they are paid, but is merely an asset to their position. Not to mention the multiple luxuries on Capitol Hill for them to use, such as the gym. The fact of the matter is, this wage for many politicians is only a drop in the bucket of their overall salary. Between being paid for speaking events, lobbying firms, or donors, they do not require the salary given to them through the money collected from taxpayers’ salaries.
The job of a Congressman is to serve the people. They should not need to be compensated off of the taxpayer’s money in order to serve them diligently. Their job is to serve, not to leech off of. In order to do their job of serving, they should not be working to make a profit off of the people they represent. They are civil servants, not royalty, but they are treated like they are royals or aristocrats in a country that was founded on the basis of equality.
In order to even fully deserve their current salary, they should be working more for what they do. This means working full-time, or at least eight hours a day, five days a week and at least 50 weeks out of the year. According to Congress’s website, the United States Senate met 193 times in 2015. This means, on average, a U.S. senator worked nearly 60 days less than full time, nearly two months. Fox Business states that average household income was $51,393 that year, meaning that an individual U.S. senator, who worked 60 days less, potentially made nearly four times what the average American household did. American politicians are not royalty, so why are they making far more than the average citizen? They are being put into the top 10 percent of Americans through their compensation. In order to serve and protect the rights of the average American citizen, they need to understand the lifestyle of living off of the average household income themselves, which can only be done by experiencing a lifestyle similar themselves.
The current Congress is broken; they get little done besides creating a greater divide between the two main ideological parties. They continuously spend and spend without any repercussions. They do not have to worry about spending because it is not their money. If they cannot understand the consequences of their actions, why do they deserve nearly four times more than the average citizen?
A pay raise for Congress would only create a wider gap between the rich and the poor, or, essentially create an aristocracy, in which the people with the high salaries can control the poor. Instead, Congress should be paid far less, in order to really be civil servants, or at least until they fix their broken system.
Jinnie Christensen is a sophomore political science major.
