No Resession in this House

[dwightdmagee]

While millions of Americans are cutting their household budgets, time are still good for our folks in DC. Each member of Congress receives an average of $1,500,000 for 'office expenses' each year, and with little comment, this Congress just approved an 8% increase to run their Washington and District Offices.

It's just part of a 3.7 billion spending bill that will result in a 'stimulus' for somebody, I'm sure, with so many other Americans struggling. And in the words of one of our elected leaders "this body must be part of the sacrifice, and it starts here, in our offices".

Yes, it does seem so; and I, for one, am terribly proud of them.

[manisusmc]

Originally Posted by dwightdmagee

While millions of Americans are cutting their household budgets, time are still good for our folks in DC. Each member of Congress receives an average of $1,500,000 for 'office expenses' each year, and with little comment, this Congress just approved an 8% increase to run their Washington and District Offices.

It's just part of a 3.7 billion spending bill that will result in a 'stimulus' for somebody, I'm sure, with so many other Americans struggling. And in the words of one of our elected leaders "this body must be part of the sacrifice, and it starts here, in our offices".

Yes, it does seem so; and I, for one, am terribly proud of them.

yeah you would think that when the economy is bust they wouldn't raise spending on things like that are give cost of living raises to federal,state, county,city,military,retirement people, disability people and etc...

but while a few million people are without jobs or took jobs that make a lot less money are not not spending any money on anything but the essentials.

I'm not agaisnt people getting raises at all just right now doesn't make sense and I know how much people in the military make I got out in 2007, I know they don't make tons of money but they have the most secure job in the world as long as they don't get killed

[Jesus_Christler]

GOP needs to keep current staff levels to keep seats warm for their triumphant 2010 return

[PhillySRT]

Originally Posted by dwightdmagee

While millions of Americans are cutting their household budgets, time are still good for our folks in DC. Each member of Congress receives an average of $1,500,000 for 'office expenses' each year, and with little comment, this Congress just approved an 8% increase to run their Washington and District Offices.

It's just part of a 3.7 billion spending bill that will result in a 'stimulus' for somebody, I'm sure, with so many other Americans struggling. And in the words of one of our elected leaders "this body must be part of the sacrifice, and it starts here, in our offices".

Yes, it does seem so; and I, for one, am terribly proud of them.

Is that $1,500,000 you referenced the yearly budget for their office or is it 100% discretionary spending on top of their office budget? My understanding was that the 8% increase you referenced was for the total fiscal budget for the office of each member of congress. That covers travel, staff salaries, and other related expenses. I believe the Senate offices are up for a similar increase this year.

The things that I wonder about are 1) where does that money come from, and 2) would it have killed them to put it off for a year?

[dwightdmagee]

Originally Posted by PhillySRT

Is that $1,500,000 you referenced the yearly budget for their office or is it 100% discretionary spending on top of their office budget? My understanding was that the 8% increase you referenced was for the total fiscal budget for the office of each member of congress. That covers travel, staff salaries, and other related expenses. I believe the Senate offices are up for a similar increase this year.

The things that I wonder about are 1) where does that money come from, and 2) would it have killed them to put it off for a year?

From what I read in this small newspaper article, your description seems correct. This $1.5M is the budget for each congressman to run his DC office, for anything from paper clips to travel. Keep in mind that this is the 'average' budget; I wonder how the internal dog fight for money is referee-ed amongst the junior and senior members.

And, yes, the senate is up for budget adjustments too. I am sure that the 'distinction' of a senator warrants even grander spending. Let's see, hmmm, 435 house members, 200 senators, time a million five, carry the two ... whoa, just about a billion dollars worth of paper clips.

Where does the money come from? You. Would it have killed them to postpone such extravagances? You must be kidding.

I'm not sure how the media is controlled (other than thru parent companies like GE), but whatever government mud can live beyond a 24 hour news-cycle, seems to just 'go away'. Remember the AIG bonuses flap? Well, Fannie and Freddie paid out bonuses to execs that make AIG's look chincy - but we never heard about it. Where was all of the screaming from Frank and Dodd then? And speaking of AIG, remember the trillion tax-dollars paid to them last Fall to absorb all of the failed mortgage-backed securities - and thus save the world from financial collapse? Another fact buried by the ObamaMedia: AIG has another $1.2 trillion in insured hedge-fund exposure. Yikes. It was mentioned once by Gieghtner a couple months ago when he was being grilled by congress. But we'll never hear about it again - unless they can't dispose of the worthless paper.

Government spending? If we only had a true perspective of just how big and expensive our government-at-work really is ... it boggles the mind.

[Xfire fan]

Guess we should be thankful being a congressman isn't a full time job, imagine what that would cost us.

[Jesus_Christler]

Originally Posted by Xfire fan

Guess we should be thankful being a congressman isn't a full time job, imagine what that would cost us.

You haven't got any idea how much it costs to support Mean Jean Shi'tes' marathon running habit

[dwightdmagee]

Originally Posted by Jesus_Christler

You haven't got any idea how much it costs to support Mean Jean Shi'tes' marathon running habit

Once again, can't quite connect this '05 Left Coaster article back to the dots of the thread. What in the world are you talking about?

You seem to be having a very bad night, hey-sus.

[Jesus_Christler]

She's gotta do something to throw the dogs off her scent given all the stuff she mouths off. Granted the reference is a little dated but it comes up at the top of Google and she is part of the "marathoner caucus". If she was actually trying to do stuff to help her constituents, she wouldn't have time to play. That's exactly the point.