Legislative Compensation - Part 2

Monday, May 15, 2006
Our legislatures not only receive outrageous retirement packages and unrealistic cost of living increases but they also get many perks. In many cases these perks are more expensive than their salaries and further contribute to their inflating sense of entitlement. In part two of legislative compensation, we will look at more government waste at its finest.

In 1994 citizen anger was focused on Congressional excessive pay, perks, and expenses. This anger helped trigger the 1994 electoral revolution. The new Republican majorities in the House and Senate moved quickly to cut staff and expenses and eliminate many of Congress's exemptions from the law. Further steps are necessary, however, to reduce perks, reform pensions, and further trim staff. Congressional committees currently are considering some of these reforms, while others will likely be debated in the course of the appropriations process. But several problems remain.

These perks continue to insulate Congress from American citizens, frustrate political fairness, and promote legislative careerism and bureaucracy. Reforms in these areas will mean a more efficient, representative, and politically competitive Congress.

Pay (Revisited)

Congress should repeal its automatic pay raise and take direct responsibility for raising their pay, thus giving taxpayers a chance to voice opposition. But as it stands now, automatic pay raises are scheduled each year with no vote required, further boosting lawmakers' salaries, which already exceed $11,000 a month.

Given the recent adoption of the 27th Amendment, which attempts to prevent lawmakers from raising their own pay without taking responsibility for it at the polls, the time for ending automatic pay hikes has come. Because that amendment was drafted long before cost of living adjustments were conceived, the constitutionality of current automatic adjustments is debatable, but the amendment's intent is clear and gives Congress an additional reason to end the practice. Congress also should enforce existing federal laws that dock lawmakers' pay for unexcused absences.

Pensions (Revisited)

As we discovered in part 1, congressional pensions far exceed most private-sector plans, and benefits exceed those of most other federal employees. Congress should reform its pension system, which encourages careerism and is twice as generous as any private-sector plan. The current system of escalating benefits creates open-ended liabilities for taxpayers and should be merged with Social Security or a 401(k) funded exclusively by the contributions of members of Congress. New rules should apply to all legislatures elected or reelected in 1996 or later, forcing them either to leave office at the end of the 104th Congress under the old pension system or to continue into the 105th Congress under new rules.

Perks

Congress often abuses their perks. Taxpayer-funded mailings, travel, and other perks are abused to promote incumbents' reelection bids. Official franking (postage), travel, and media resources contribute significantly to historically high incumbent reelection rates. Congress should trim perks with an eye to eliminating unjustifiable campaign-related spending, especially the frank. At a minimum, the House should double the franking cuts recently authorized by its Oversight Committee.

Congress's ultimate goal should be to eliminate mass mailings either by cutting the funds available for franking or by regulating mass mailings out of existence. These mailings accomplish little other than serving as taxpayer-funded quasi-campaign aids. Subsidies for publications and services like calendars and recording studios that lack any legislative function should be ended, and such other perks as frequent flier miles accrued through official travel and free medical care from military hospitals should be disallowed.

Staff

Congress remains the most heavily staffed legislature in the world. This huge staff is expensive and opens the door to bigger and more intrusive government. The role played by aides in congressional elections should be curtailed or eliminated entirely. A cut in personal staffs, so far untouched by the new Republican Congress, would force lawmakers to make more decisions directly instead of leaving them to subordinates.

Conclusion

The current Congress has made an impressive start on franking and committee staff cuts. However, to complete the reform effort, they must reform their automatic pay raises, fat pensions, taxpayer- funded perks, and large number of personal staff. Until they do, the overgrown Congress will remain less efficient and effective, further insulating themselves from the voters.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Kitten wtw said...

I would love to see term limits for all elected officals.

12:40 PM  
Blogger DarthImmortal said...

Kittenwtw,

Yes! Term limits are needed to remove their sense of entitlement. We do not need career politicians.

12:59 PM  

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