Government Shutdown

[mrstickball]

twesterm said:

mrstickball said:

What makes me aggrivated the most is that the congressmen/senators are still getting paid.

Most have stated they will not accept thier regular pay, except for one congresswoman, Mrs. Sanchez who said that she lives paycheck to paycheck like most Americans, and cannot afford to go without pay (she makes $174,000 USD/yr by the way).

Yeah, it amazes me that more people aren't up in arms about their salaries.  I don't know what the average pay for DC is, but it can't be worse than California and you can live very decently there for $100k/year.  That $74k alone could mean three people which doesn't seem like a lot compared to the 800,000 that will lose their job (I think that's the numbe isn't it?) but every little bit helps.

I also assume there's lots of reduncancies up there.

Actually, there are a lot of unpaid internships in DC right?  That means the cost of living shouldn't be near California if those people can survive.  I understand people have families but saying $174k year is barely enough means she can probably afford to change her lifestyle stlightly.

It also assumes her husband has no job. There is no way any congressperson should be paid nearly $200,000 benefits. That is nearly twice the federal median for income, and three times the state median for government employees.

In reality, she is incredibly greedy to make such horrible statements. That or just financially retarded. If that is the case, then one has to wonder why she is the one making our rules when she can't live off of ~$174k/yr. Personally, I think that people in such high offices of power should be paid nothing, as the vast majority come from well-to-do jobs. That would weed out the people wanting to do it for the right reasons.