Mr. Smith decides to go home ... = because Congress sucks = 16 members
Mr. Smith decides to go home
By Jessica Taylor - 01/16/14
http://thehill.com/campaign-columnists/195629-mr-smith-decides-to-go-home
To put it bluntly, being a member of Congress sucks — and the 16 members in the growing caucus of legislators heading for the exits seem to agree.
Someone has announced his retirement every day this week — on Wednesday it was Northern Virginia Rep. Jim Moran (D), with Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) set to go on Thursday — and the numbers have added up over the past month.
Now, the daily question in D.C. has become who will go next.
The result has shaken up the political math for both parties heading into 2014, but more than anything it underscores just what a terrible, thankless and expensive job being a member of Congress is.
Sacrificing time away from often young families, all to get little — if anything — done and to rank among the least liked groups in the country, no longer seems worth the prestige and $174,000 annual paycheck. ..............