Expense accounts for House and Senate members add up
The salary for United States Senate and House of Representatives members is currently set at $174,000 which for just about anywhere in the country is very respectable, but are you familiar with the expense accounts available to Senate and House members? As is with government workers, it’s not always about the salary; you need to review the benefits.
Today, the Wall Street Journal has an oh-so-perfectly-timed Saturday story on House and Senate member government expense allowances which range between $1.3 million and $4.5 million per year. If they don’t use the allocated funds, they do not get to keep the money for the next year.
Of course, a significant portion of the allowance goes to staff salaries and travel, but read the full story in the WSJ to learn about some of the other big expenses.
Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings spent $24,730 in taxpayer money last year to lease a 2008 luxury Lexus hybrid sedan. Ohio Rep. Michael Turner expensed a $1,435 digital camera. Eni Faleomavaega, the House delegate from American Samoa, bought two 46-inch Sony TVs.
The expenditures were legal, properly accounted for and drawn from allowances the U.S. government grants to lawmakers. Equipment purchased with office expense accounts must be returned to the House or the federal General Services Administration when a lawmaker leaves office.
But as British politicians come under widening scorn for spending public money on everything from candy bars to moat-dredging, an examination of U.S. lawmakers’ expense claims shows Washington’s elected officials have also used public funds for eye-catching purchases.
If your wondering if expenses “increase” in the forth quarter of the year, you’d be barking up the right tree. Get this, staffers get bonuses.
The review showed that the increased year-end spending went not only toward equipment but also to fund year-end “bonuses” to aides. The average House aide earned 17% more in the fourth quarter of the year, when the bonuses were paid, than in previous quarters, according to an earlier Journal analysis. Payments ranged from a few hundred dollars to $14,000.
As Jim frequently notes, this does not seem like the definition of public service to me.
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Everyday is Christmas in Congress! What next? A piece of the GM/Chrysler pie too?
Ah ha! So this is how Dodd paid for his trip to CA in order to attend the $30,000 per couple fundraiser. And Spector, as well. Plus, how Rosa DiLauro and John Larson joined Nancy in her trip to Italy the day the last stimulus package was signed. Nancy and her husband went to visit the Pope. I don't know what Rosa and John did – or if their spouses joined them. I wan to know what hotels they use. Obama was photographed working out at the posh Ritz Carlton in Germany the time he dissed the wounded at the hospital in Landschule. And they have the nerve to criticize the CEO's and other executives at companies. Why do we continue to reelect these persons? Nancy and Rosa's names are no longer available to view on the Congressional link from the American Socialist Party. I wonder why? Aren't they proud that they have joined a party which intends to destroy the Constitution? I've called it the Froggation of America. We are frogs in warm water over the fire of socialism and no one is ready to jump out. Next thing, we'll be soup.
Back on the farm, we would often put the bull in the paddock to service a heifer or two. Can't say I see much difference, 'cept we're the heifers.
I don't understand…public servants, who we the people "employ"…make more $, have better health care, have better pension plans, travel better, vacation better, live in better homes, drive nicer cars than most of the people who "hired" them??? That's a company that I want to work for!!!
Just kidding … wouldn't work there even if they paid me a million $$$ … oh wait … they would!!!