NCAAbbs

Republicans Block Congressional Pay Hike


Is anyone upset that the congress won't get their Cost of Living adjustment this year?

Honestly, at this point I'm not sure how they afford to live in Washington. The cost of living in Washington, DC has gotten ridiculous, freaking 1 bedroom condos are selling for $400,000.

mlb Wrote:Honestly, at this point I'm not sure how they afford to live in Washington. The cost of living in Washington, DC has gotten ridiculous, freaking 1 bedroom condos are selling for $400,000.

So don't live in the city. Cripes, the commute isn't that horrific. My family is very comfortable on a far lower salary than a member of congress. And I'd love to see congress slug it in every day, spending time w/ workers.

Or, perhaps the gov't should construct Dorms for congress. They get a significant reduction in salary (say $100K/yr) but they get a decent place to live, near work, free of charge. Then if they "can't afford" things, it's their own poor budgeting. Which should suggest that maybe they are at the wrong job...

I'm not talking about in the city, I'm talking about places in Virginia and Maryland that are 45 minutes from Capital Hill. Trust me, the real estate costs of Washington, DC are out of control. $185,000 (which I believe is in the neighborhood of what they make each year) does not pay the bills when the costs of real estate are that expensive. Don't forget, they also have to have 2 residences, 1 in their home district and 1 in DC.

DrTorch Wrote:Or, perhaps the gov't should construct Dorms for congress. They get a significant reduction in salary (say $100K/yr) but they get a decent place to live, near work, free of charge. Then if they "can't afford" things, it's their own poor budgeting. Which should suggest that maybe they are at the wrong job...

I honestly think that is a good solution. The question is how do you secure it? 1 terrorist attack could take out our entire congress.

I'm pretty sure Torch lives near DC, so he should know all about the cost of living in that area...

mlb Wrote:I'm not talking about in the city, I'm talking about places in Virginia and Maryland that are 45 minutes from Capital Hill. Trust me, the real estate costs of Washington, DC are out of control. $185,000 (which I believe is in the neighborhood of what they make each year) does not pay the bills when the costs of real estate are that expensive.

I live in Fairfax County and commute to Arlington. Between MD and VA, I've been in this area for almost 11 years.

Prices have soared over the past 6-7 years. But, it can be managed.

Quote:Don't forget, they also have to have 2 residences, 1 in their home district and 1 in DC.

True, but they also are public "servants".

In the end, I prefer the Dorm solution. It's equitable, and could provide a savings to the budget.

When we have a hard time recruiting people to become congress members, I'll worry about the plight of the starving senator.

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:When we have a hard time recruiting people to become congress members, I'll worry about the plight of the starving senator.

Hehe.

Seriously though, it's for the children

DrTorch Wrote:

mlb Wrote:Honestly, at this point I'm not sure how they afford to live in Washington. The cost of living in Washington, DC has gotten ridiculous, freaking 1 bedroom condos are selling for $400,000.

So don't live in the city. Cripes, the commute isn't that horrific. My family is very comfortable on a far lower salary than a member of congress. And I'd love to see congress slug it in every day, spending time w/ workers.

Or, perhaps the gov't should construct Dorms for congress. They get a significant reduction in salary (say $100K/yr) but they get a decent place to live, near work, free of charge. Then if they "can't afford" things, it's their own poor budgeting. Which should suggest that maybe they are at the wrong job...

Other than security concerns as someone else mentioned, I really like this idea. They should all be the same though. No bigger ones for more senior members, etc.

I turned down a job offer out there within the past 6 months because of the cost of living. They were going to double my salary, but that still did not make the place affordable. My $150,000 house in Kettering, Ohio would cost over $1.5M any place within 45 minutes of DC. I love the metro, and I like the city, but I just could not bring myself to dealing with that kind of traffic and real estate prices. Everything else (groceries, dining out, movies, etc) were within 10-15% of the costs here in Kettering (suburb of Dayton), but real estate sealed the deal as to why I turned down the job.

mlb Wrote:I turned down a job offer out there within the past 6 months because of the cost of living. They were going to double my salary, but that still did not make the place affordable. My $150,000 house in Kettering, Ohio would cost over $1.5M any place within 45 minutes of DC. I love the metro, and I like the city, but I just could not bring myself to dealing with that kind of traffic and real estate prices. Everything else (groceries, dining out, movies, etc) were within 10-15% of the costs here in Kettering (suburb of Dayton), but real estate sealed the deal as to why I turned down the job.

That's understandable. We got in our townhome in 2000 (after both of us had equity in previous homes)...and feel lucky we did, prices soared for 5 more years.

I have looked at websites for housing in various OH locales. Some nice homes seemed like they were $300K...cheaper than here, but not really "cheap". I couldn't afford them w/ my salary cut in half. So alot of it is timing.

And traffic is bad. I went to Boston on travel and dreaded hitting their rush hour. But, it was minor compared to DC.

Hell here in the Virgin Islands our outgoing Governor and Senate voted in a pay raise for themselves that takes the 15 Senators up to $85,000 per year, Lt. Governor $125,000 and Governor $150,000
To compare them to our Congress, they represent 130,000 citizens on our four islands making them the 2-3rd highest paid in the country and they control only a $800million dollar budget as opposed to a $3 Trillion