They may be a lot smarter than we think. Now if they would use those brains to help everyone and not just big business and rich folks we would be on to something.
The most recent pay adjustment for Members of Congress was in January 2009.1 Since then, the compensation for most Senators, Representatives, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico has been $174,000.
Each Senator is authorized $40,000 for state office furniture and furnishings for one or mor
Permissible “outside earned income” for Representatives and Senators is limited to 15% of the annual rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule (15% of $181,500, or $27,225 in 2014).
Members Representational Allowances
The MRA for each Representative is calculated based on three components, including • personnel, which is the same for each Member ($944,671 for each Member in 2014); • official
The SOPOEA for each Senator is calculated based on three components, including • the administrative and clerical assistance allowance, which varies by state population. The preliminary figures in the FY2015 Senate report (S.Rept. 113- 196) show this allowance varies from $2,385,439 for a Senator representing a state with a population under 5 million to $3,791,151 for a Senator representing a state with a population of 28 million or more;27 • the legislative assistance allowance, which is the same for all Senators. According to the FY2015 Senate report (S.Rept. 113-196), the legislative assistance component of the SOPOEA is $477,874;28 and • the official office expense allowance, which varies by state depending on the distance between Washington, DC, and the home state, the population of the state, and the official (franked) mail allocation. According to S.Rept. 113-196, the FY2015 office expense allowance component ranges from $121,120 to $453,274.
And retirement and medical benefits are not too bad at all