House Democrats secretly passed a new rule that will see lawmakers get a $34,000 "pay raise"

TheDoctorIsIn · 2023-01-13T20:48:22.125Z

STODR:

All this effectively did was enabled yhe landlords to raise the rent and members will be able to eat out more

I don’t think this will have any impact on DC rent rates at all. We’re talking about 438 people (many of which are millionaires already).

STODR · 2023-01-13T20:50:27.306Z

I believe many of them are the ones renting out houses.

TheDoctorIsIn · 2023-01-13T20:54:58.114Z

STODR:

I believe many of them are the ones renting out houses.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.

Are you saying that Members of Congress are landlords? Or that Members of Congress represent a significant portion of home renters in DC?

STODR · 2023-01-13T21:33:17.077Z

I would think past and present members and lobbiests are landlords and will know what they earn and will match it. Happens everywhere. Military housing allowance goes up so does rent ect. Government per diem goes up so do expenses. Electric car tax rebate, car cost goes up.

SixFoot · 2023-01-13T21:40:28.050Z

It must be so hard to maintain a large house in multiple states (with staff) off of a mere $174,000 per year.

They all must’ve been devastated when they started out.

TheDoctorIsIn · 2023-01-13T21:43:35.327Z

STODR:

I would think past and present members and lobbies are landlords and will know what they earn and will match it. Happens everywhere. Military housing allowance goes up so does rent ect. Government per diem goes up so do expenses. Electric car tax rebate, car cost goes up.

DC is a transitory city. A very large number of people who move there do it temporarily. More than 60% of the cities housing units are rentals - more than 200,000 (of which about 70,000 are houses, rather than apartments).

A housing allowance for 438 people isn’t going to make much of a dent in that.

TheDoctorIsIn · 2023-01-13T21:47:46.945Z

SixFoot:

It must be so hard to maintain a large house in multiple states (with staff) off of a mere $174,000 per year.

Large house in the DC area, with staff? On $174,000 a year?

STODR · 2023-01-13T21:48:01.691Z

Come on no one was talking about the whole city. These people have a tendency to live in same general area. And yes I do believe that rent will increase. Other entities will see it and start paying more. It is a vicious cycle.

DMK · 2023-01-13T21:50:58.154Z

Why not buy or lease rooms at a hotel?

SixFoot · 2023-01-13T21:51:40.367Z

DMK:

Why not buy or lease rooms at a hotel?

The barracks are good enough, but base housing of any sort is more than they deserve.

DMK · 2023-01-13T21:53:04.468Z

SixFoot:

The barracks are good enough, but base housing of any sort is more than they deserve.

$500 plus food included per night in NYC is good enough for migrants. Why not congress critters?

TheDoctorIsIn · 2023-01-13T21:54:13.984Z

STODR:

Come on no one was talking about the whole city. These people have a tendency to live in same general area. And yes I do believe that rent will increase.

They’re more spread out than you’d think. But the point is, we’re talking about a very small population here.

There are ten times more college students moving into those neighborhoods as members of Congress each year.

SixFoot · 2023-01-13T21:55:33.317Z

DMK:

SixFoot:

The barracks are good enough, but base housing of any sort is more than they deserve.

$500 plus food included per night in NYC is good enough for migrants. Why not congress critters?

Because they’re better than us, and as long as it’s Dems, their voters’ reactions will be, “wellll, when you think about it, that kiwi is pretty damn tasty!”

Supreme_War_Pig · 2023-01-13T22:03:33.198Z

SixFoot:

DMK:

SixFoot:

The barracks are good enough, but base housing of any sort is more than they deserve.

$500 plus food included per night in NYC is good enough for migrants. Why not congress critters?

Because they’re better than us, and as long as it’s Dems, their voters’ reactions will be, “wellll, when you think about it, that kiwi is pretty damn tasty!”

Well, I’m sure the newly sat Rep majority will reverse this.

TheDoctorIsIn · 2023-01-13T22:04:11.165Z

Supreme_War_Pig:

Well, I’m sure the newly sat Rep majority will reverse this.

Any day now.

SixFoot · 2023-01-13T22:04:35.944Z

SixFoot:

“wellll, when you think about it, that kiwi is pretty damn tasty!”

I rest my case.

DMK · 2023-01-13T22:10:20.766Z

SixFoot:

Because they’re better than us

Meh. But hey, as long as illegals get $500 per night and free food/health care maybe they have a leg to stand on.

SixFoot · 2023-01-13T22:13:45.931Z

DMK:

SixFoot:

Because they’re better than us

Meh. But hey, as long as illegals get $500 per night and free food/health care maybe they have a leg to stand on.

Per night? That’s only $182,500 per year. A congress critter definitely needs more than that. It’s only 2.5x the national median income after all.

RTchoke · 2023-01-13T22:28:41.831Z

Safiel:

As I said in the original thread, I am not entirely against this proposal.

Perhaps the AMOUNT is excessive.

And the way it was done was wrong.

And it appears Republicans were involved in the process along with Democrats, though to what degree is yet not clear.

My own proposal.

Roll back this proposal.

Then tie base Congressional salaries to Level III of the Executive Schedule.

Tie the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Majority and Minority Leaders of both Houses to Level II of the Executive Schedule.

Tie the Speaker of the House to Level I of the Executive Schedule.

That should solve what is a real problem of maintaining a DC residence while in session.

They were involved in that there are 3 of them (I believe) on the committee who voted on this proposal. This was not brought up to the House at large but was voted on and pproved by the House Admin Cmte only.

Can’t hold those who were not made aware of it, nor had the ability to vote on it responsible. As said, many didn’t even know about it until this week.

Striker840 · 2023-01-14T01:00:03.388Z

JayJay:

Nemesis:

Dam who in their right mind can support this.

Well when you read the article linked in the OP, there were some possibly good reasons for doing it. $175K seems like a lot, but you have to maintain a residence in DC and your own state, and that can be expensive.

However, it should not have been done clandestinely.

How many in DC who have to maintain 2 residences have that as their only income, or are not already wealthy. There may be a handful but not many.