Cato Reports On Our “Gold-Plated” Government “Civil Servants”

Government Gold-Plating

 

 

 

 

 

” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) released his annual Wastebook this past week. It contains a laundry list of doozies. The U.S. government’s gold-plating operations included $190,000 to study compost digested by worms, $297 million for the purchase of an unused mega blimp, and $1 million on a Virginia bus stop where only 15 people can huddle under a half-baked roof. These questionable (read: absurd) expenditures only represent the tip of the iceberg.

  Just consider the following: the Speaker of the House currently receives an annual salary of $223,500, and will receive a payment of roughly that amount, depending on the years of service, for life. An annual payment of this magnitude amounts to about five times the average annual wage in the United States. But that’s not all. For those who have had different positions in Congress, their retirements can be augmented. For example, Nancy Pelosi will not receive $223,500 for life, but roughly double that. Why? Because she is a member of Congress, currently the House of Representatives’ Minority Leader, and a retired Speaker of the House. For purposes of computing retirement pay, Congress adds and accumulates. They do not net.”

 

Read more at Cato

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“Earning” Nearly $300K Per Year Makes Most Congress Members Part Of The 1%

At $286K, Members Of Congress Earn A Lot for How Little They Accomplish

 

 

 

 

 

” Congress has just returned from a 5-week recess to a lot of unfinished business—it has yet to send even one of the 12 spending bills due on Sept. 30 to the president’s desk.

  A new report by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and Our Generation reveals that members of Congress take home a big paycheck for meager results in Washington. At $174,000, members of Congress make more than 95 percent of American income earners. Once generous benefits are added, members’ compensation totals $286,000 per year. And at least one member of Congress argued recently even this generous compensation package wasn’t enough—that Congress also should get a housing stipend.

  Congress’s main job is to budget. But when it comes to passing annual spending bills, members of Congress have not accomplished that in full and on time since 1997. Many were hopeful Congress would use this year’s head start into the appropriations process (Congress agreed on the spending level in December 2013, instead of April 2014) to actually meet the deadlines, but such hope has long given way to resignation. There is simply not enough time left in this fiscal year. “

 

 

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