Our bourgeoisie Congress

Can anyone say rank hypocrisy:

Politicians may want the greedy bankers and CEO's to suck it up and skip their bonuses, but don't expect the elite in Washington to share in the suffering. This may be the worst recession since the Great Depression or since the Reagan years but don't be fooled, our leaders in Congress aren't hurting any.

After the stock market meltdown late last year, lawmakers gave themselves a $4,700 pay increase. This amounted to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers spent on congressional salaries last year. In fact, Congress set it up so they would get their raise automatically, no matter what their work produces. The Hill reported on this pay increase:

“As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a non-partisan group. “This money would be much better spent helping the millions of seniors who are living below the poverty line and struggling to keep their heat on this winter.”

However, at 2.8 percent, the automatic raise that lawmakers receive is only half as large as the 2009 cost of living adjustment of Social Security recipients.

Still, Steve Ellis, vice president of the budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, said Congress should have taken the rare step of freezing its pay, as lawmakers did in 2000.

“They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said.

But, it doesn't stop there. The Pelosi-Reid Congress also gave each lawmaker an extra $93,000 in petty cash to spend this year in January. That's right. As auto executives were being harassed mercilessly for flying on private jets, the Democratic-led congress just gave each lawmaker an extra $93,000 in petty cash to spend. They said they needed the cash to help their constituents and the economy. Of course they do.

Then, in March Congress gave themselves an 11 percent increase in spending. There's a nice little raise. They now make $174,000 a year for their 3 day work week. The Congressional spending increase passed in the massive spending bill was greater than the increases for most agencies that deal with public health, education, energy, and other domestic needs. According to McClatchy, this congressional budget increase was higher than the "normal" 8 percent overall boost for most domestic programs.

And it's not over yet. Last week it was reported that members of the U.S. House saw their office budgets increase by an average of 7 percent between 2008 and 2009 during this "Worst recession since the Great Depression."

But wait... there's more:

Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

...

The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel.

Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes -- as they usually do -- their spouses can fly free.

Some of you might remember Obama's words from some months ago... others would rather not:

“I want you to know that what you’re doing is making a sacrifice for the next generation—a sacrifice you may not have chose to make, but a sacrifice you were nevertheless called to make so that your children and all of our children can grow up in an America that still makes things; that still builds cars; that still strives for a better future”

Hope and Change.

Comments

[allyHM]

Mr. BH,

Please, please, please may I post this entire article as a note on my Facebook? I'll have to enter the embedded links by hand as the code won't copy, and I'll give you and this blog complete and total credit for it. I just can't the lefties on my friends list to click on any conservative blog link, so posting the article is the only way I know to try to get them to read this stuff and face reality. Please? Oh, did I say PLEASE??? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

[allyHM]

Mr. BH, you are the man! :)

[Mommynator]

Mr. BH is definitely a lovely man.

Here we are, my husband's hours are cut and I'm trying to figure out how to scrape together $500 to take a course that could lead to a management position for me in my department, and they're just laughing it up all over the world.

I didn't vote for this and I'm mad as hell.

[allyHM]

There is a bit of talk over at Big Hollywood, albeit somewhat with a wink and a nod, about marching on D.C. You know, Independence Day is all about revolution, that sort of thing. Wouldn't it be great if we can all of us who are talking about things to actually ban together and put feet on our beliefs? Well, as I said over at Big Hollywood, I'm ready. Let's roll.