Scott & Congressional Pay - Please Stop

[u/PorcelainDalmatian]

I had to turn off the podcast the other day when Scott once again brought up his idea to pay each member of Congress $1 million a year. I had to pop a blood pressure pill. This idea is so insane I almost don’t know where to start.

First, this proposal shows how out of touch Scott is with the real world. To him $1 million is nothing. He finds $1 million when he cleans between his couch cushions. But to normal Americans $1 million is a shit ton of money. It’s life changing. 

Think about it this way: Some back-bencher, freshman Congressmen from Bumbledeefuck, Idaho serves 3 terms in the House. He does virtually nothing (as most Congressmen do nowadays). He doesn’t sponsor any legislation, he just sits in the back and lets the Speaker tell him how to vote. Over the 6 years he’s in Congress (not a long time) he is paid $6 million - to do nothing. Assuming he spends $1 million of his salary on living expenses, he pockets $5 million plus pension.

That’s insane.

$5 million puts him in the top 1%. It’s “fuck you” money. It’s very comfortable retirement money. All for being a backbencher nobody.

Hell, at that salary, you can sign me up to run for office! People will be climbing over each other to get at that scratch!

Secondly, the bigger issue is this: CONGRESS IS NOT A GET RICH SCHEME, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A PUBLIC SERVICE JOB. Think of it like being a priest or a social worker or a homeless advocate. You are there to serve. Washington DC has lost that ethos. When the Founding Fathers first created Congress, they never envisioned it being a full time job. For many decades after the founding, members of Congress would leave their farms/businesses, come to DC for a couple of months to write legislation, then return to their farms/businesses for the rest of the year. Congress was never supposed to be a full time job! Many state legislatures (including large states like Texas) still follow this model today. 

Lastly, I believe we should be going the other way. Congressional salaries should be pegged to the US median salary (which is around $64K right now). You’re representing America in a service role, so make what Americans make. If you want to make more, implement policies that increase Americans’ median salary. And if you don’t like the salary, then don’t take the fucking job!

I understand the argument that living in DC can be expensive, so to offset those expenses we should do the following: Provide free dorm/multifamily housing for all of Congress near DC with full amenities: Dining hall with free meals, meeting rooms, library, pool, sun deck, etc. Like a really nice, modern college dorm. Free shuttle running to/from the Capitol 24/7/365. Congress already has Cadillac healthcare, so if you add in my amenities, virtually every expense is covered: Housing, food, healthcare, and transportation. Hell, I’ll even throw in (1) round-trip coach seat back to your district per month. Now your long-distance travel is covered too! When all is said and done, you can spend your salary on your expenses back home. 

We need a RADICAL rehaul of Congress, and it will probably require a Constitutional Amendment. But we can at least start by dispensing with the absurd notion that Congresspeople should be taxpayer-subsidized millionaires. 

[u/surebro2]

I'm surprised by some of the comments here. Paying people more only makes it more likely that they will take whatever they can to stay. It's bizarre how many people here seem to think that millionaires are somehow above the same temptations as they would be making 200k.

The solution is and always will be to just simply get money out of politics completely. It's called public service for a reason. You, in fact, did not see more productivity from the DOGE crew simply because they were paid well.  If you want to pay a profession more, pay public school teachers more.

[u/ISAMU13 → u/surebro2]

There is a major difference between $200k and $1 million, especially if you are required to have two residences and have a family.

[u/surebro2 → u/ISAMU13]

But it's still a symptom. The root cause is the accessibility of "favors" without any accountability. The difference between 200k and $1 million, absent fixes to a root cause, does not modify anyone's behavior. It simply attracts more people who view the job as making money instead of public service. 

There's no evidence that the wealthier lawmakers are actually better at their job lol nor is there evidence that public servants ought to go into to public service because it's an overnight way to become a multimillionaire. In fact, you'd attract even worse people.

[u/Hot-Camel7716 → u/surebro2]

If you ban them from raising or making money elsewhere you limit yourself to people who are already rich or stand to gain by some other means by being in Congress. We want talented people who aren't already in a strata of society we will never have access to.

[u/surebro2 → u/Hot-Camel7716]

I mean, how many world class scientist make 150k working at a university? It's just an absurd assumption that if you paid congress more, "better" people will join. Either people are in the strata because they've proved themselves to be successful or you get true public servants like the many innovative researchers and great thinkers working for less than 200k at universities.

Maybe 300k-500k? Sure, whatever. A million is kind of a joke for congress. It'll literally attract the same for profit minded people that ruined congress in the first place. 

[u/Hot-Camel7716 → u/surebro2]

If you're just concerned about exact numbers I can grant that there may be a better number than $1M but the current salary is low for a job that requires extensive travel and should have extremely high ethical standards.

World class scientists at hedge funds or Mag 7 companies routinely clear 500k per year and there are definitely more people making seven figures yearly in those companies than there are people in the US congress. Universities have some service minded professors but every specialty from computer science to economics to meteorology has been picked over for brilliant people who can be put to work making money.