‘As Popular as The Plague’: Congress Considers Giving Themselves a Raise

The amount of American citizens that believe Congress deserves a pay raise is certainly equal to or less than the amount of American citizens currently serving in Congress.

Over the course of the last several decades, as corporate wealth fuels and fondles Lady Liberty with egregious aplomb, our “public servants” have devolved into nothing more than “ruling class elites” who’ve sold the soul of their constituents for lobbyist dollars.

It’s plainly obvious that this is an issue for America and for Americans, particularly in the shrinking middle class.

That’s why a new plan to raise the salaries of those serving in Congress is being called “as popular as the plague“.

A handful of senior House lawmakers, frustrated by a decade of frozen congressional salaries, are quietly exploring whether to accept an annual pay raise that they’ve shunned since Barack Obama was first president.

It’s a longshot at best, requiring comity that’s in short supply in a Capitol riven with partisanship.

More than two-thirds of House members have never gotten a pay raise as Congress has voted each year since 2009 to reject an annual cost-of-living adjustment that’s due them under a 30-year-old reform measure. The optics for Democrats of restoring the COLA after GOP leaders killed it each year for eight years running are difficult.

Some in Congress did, however, show some sense on the matter.

But many rank-and-file lawmakers recoil when asked about taking their pay hike. The most recent foregone raise would have been $4,000 and the estimated raise for next year would be in that ballpark.

“A salary increase for us? It’s not very high on my radar and it’d be as popular as the plague,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif. “It’d show kind of a disconnect with the people.”

LaMalfa is right, and, given the current political turmoil that our nation faces, such a move would likely be seen as flying in the face of a frustrated and overtly divided American public.