The current salary for a member of Congress is $174,000. After taking office as Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan announced that Congress would work a total of 111 days in 2016. For the 888 hours our members of Congress will be working (based on an 8-hour day), that works out to $195.95 per hour.
Call me a heretic, but I find that to be a bit excessive. I'm sure the members of Congress would tell you that they spend a great deal of time in their home districts addressing concerns of their constituents, taking trips at taxpayer expense for a variety of noble reasons or participating in fundraising activities so they can fund reelection campaigns.
Those, and other excuses, just don't impress me. If I have a problem and call my Senator's office, Bernie Sanders does not answer the phone and deal with my issue; his staff does. There's nothing wrong with this, but let's at least be honest about it.
When members of Congress take trips overseas, what is the measurable outcome of the trip and how does it benefit our country? In a word: nothing In today's world, we are encouraged to embrace technology and use such things as "Go to Meeting" to conduct business rather than travel. Why can't Congress have the same requirement? The answer is that they would have to impose it upon themselves, so it ain't going to happen.
In my opinion, based upon what they actually accomplish, Congress appears to be one of the most dysfunctional groups on the face of the planet. If I gave you a pencil and a blank sheet of paper and asked you to list their accomplishments in the past year, would you be able to identify any? I don't think I could. What stands out more is what they can't or don't do (such as confirm a new Supreme Court Justice) as opposed to what they do.
I recently saw a proposal to pay members of Congress minimum wage. If you support the position that they should be paid according to what they do, even this might at times be excessive. An alternate proposal would be this: A normal full-time job is considered to be 2080 hours per year. By working 888 hours, members of Congress work 43% of what is considered to be full time. If $174,000 is considered the annual salary for working full-time, their pay could be adjusted downward to $74,820. I don't know about you but, if I was working less than half time, I would consider that pretty generous. Many people who work full time would love to earn that much.
Unfortunately, it really doesn't matter what you or I think about this, because we can't change it. Congress is not a bargain, and never will be.
