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I think Laurie Roberts is being a little too hard on these crooked b*stards in
Congress that call themselves public servants.
Sure they rob us blind, but none of them is so
screwed up they couldn't be fixed with a rifle.
And Laurie forgot to mention these guys work hard at their part time jobs. They only pay themselves $174,000 for the 109 days they work a year. Hell that's a measly $1,600 for a days work, even if they don't work full 8 hour days. Ending the congressional gravy train Pity poor Congress. It’s not enough that our leaders are forced to daily inhale copious amounts of glue as they follow their financial recovery plan and methodically paste pictures of the economy onto the sides of milk cartons. It’s not enough that they must spend all their time talking about trillion-dollar deficits (possibly because they spend none of it actually doing anything about them). It’s not enough that the number of the people who approve of the job they’re doing could fit comfortably into a Smart car or that they are headed into another year in which they must explain the many reasons why they deserve to be re-elected. Now some wise guys – including two of Arizona’s own -- are taking aim at their pensions. Oh the inhumanity of it all. While the rest of the country has been focused on state and local government pensions, those whizzes in Washington have continued to quietly ride their gold-plated gravy train. They pay less – far less -- into their pensions than other government workers while taxpayers kick in more. And oh yeah, they also get a 401(k)-type plan, to which we get to contribute yet again. In all, taxpayers are kicking in 23 percent of our leaders’ pay toward their retirement – or more than $40,000 per Congress member per year. Raise your hand if your employer kicks in 23 percent toward your retirement. (Sit down you Arizona mayors and city council members. Taxpayers are putting an amount equal to 33 percent of your annual salary into your pensions.) As for the rest of you? Me neither. That outrageous inequity could change if only our esteemed leaders who lament runaway spending, the ones who consider themselves men and women of the people, decide to change it. Nope, I don’t think they will either. Still there is always hope. A number of bills have been recently introduced that take aim at congressional pensions. HR 3480, sponsored by Rep. Tim Griffin R-Ark., would eliminate pensions for future members of Congress. Meanwhile, HR 2193, by Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo, would end the program for everybody, though today’s pols would, of course, get what they’ve earned to date. Which is no small amount. A guy serving just six years qualifies for more than $17,000 a year for the rest of his life once he turns 62 – more once cost-of-living adjustments are added in. As of October 2009, congressional pensions averaged nearly $60,012 under an older plan and $40,140 for those elected since the mid 1980s. And that’s before their 401(k)-style plans are added in. So how do they score? Well, today’s members of Congress are sinking all of 1.3 percent of their salary into their own pensions. We, the people they serve, meanwhile, are contributing 18.3 percent, plus another 5 percent into their 401(k)-style plans. (Federal workers kick in 0.8 percent to taxpayers’ 11.9 percent, plus the 5 percent 401(k)-style match.) By comparison, Arizona’s state/county elected officials and judges contribute 10 percent to taxpayers’ 17.96 percent. Elected city officials enjoy a more than 3-to-1 match from taxpayers. So how is it, I ask, that Congress can continue to collect these cushy pensions when those of us who pay for them have none? “Arrogance,” Rep. David Schweikert told me.”It’s almost that simple.” Schweikert and fellow Republican Rep. Ben Quayle have signed on as co-sponsors to Coffman’s bill to end all congressional pensions. Quayle is also a co-sponsor of Griffin’s bill and this week he opted out of the congressional pension program. Schweikert isn’t opting out but he is, at least, for ending all pensions and both men told me they’d sign discharge petitions to get the bills to the floor (something every member of Congress should be asked about, given that Coffman’s bill will never otherwise see the light of day). Schweikert predicts it’ll take a few years for congressional pensions to go. Quayle believes it could happen this year, noting that they have to end before Congress can reform the overall federal pension system. This year, we’re putting $22.2 billion into the Federal Employee Retirement System. By 2065, it’s expected to hit $239.5 billion, he said. “It’s going to be an uphill battle but I think that people realize that Congress men and women have to abide by the same rules that apply to everybody else,” he said. Of course, we realize that. The question is, do they? |