Here is a list of what we pay senators & congressmen: Are they WORTH it?

[Philosoraptor]

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa031200a.htm

Senate Leadership
Majority Leader - $188,100
Minority Leader - $188,100
House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $217,400
Majority Leader - $188,100
Minority Leader - $188,100

A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it.

Congress: Benefits

You may have read that Members of Congress do not pay into Social Security. Well, that's a myth.

Prior to 1984, neither Members of Congress nor any other federal civil service employee paid Social Security taxes. Of course, the were also not eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Members of Congress and other federal employees were instead covered by a separate pension plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act required federal employees first hired after 1983 to participate in Social Security. These amendments also required all Members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. Because the CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, Congress directed the development of a new retirement plan for federal workers. The result was the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986.
------------------

Can one of you DU math wizzes add up the total paid to all the current elected officials and tell me if they are worth it?

Thanks!

[shraby]

1. You need more information than what you have...

there are the lunchrooms in the capital..do they have to buy their lunches or do we foot the bill? We used to.
How do they get to work? Government vehicles or their own? When they fly here and there and everywhere, do we pay the bill such as the President and V.P. flying to fund raisers for their party.
How much does their health insurance cost along side of everyone else's. There used to be a barber shop in the capital..still there? Who pays for the cuts..we used to, how about now.
Let me see a full list of all the perks that go with the jobs and then an honest comparison of income can be made.

[Billy Burnett]

2. If they were working on OUR behalf, I wouldn't mind paying them well and with perks.

IF their work resulted in a better America, not the decaying and rapidly declining America we have.

[stillcool]

3. I think my representatives..

are worth their salaries. I wish they would put themselves out there more, and scream their heads off, but then of course they would be ridiculed by the American public. I think we get what we ask for from a lot of these politicians. Picture perfect is not perfect, but many flawed human beings are.