Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once elected, a Member of Congress has it made.
Assuming they don't do anything stupid -- like Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham demanding kickbacks for appropriations -- Members can have the job for the rest of their lives.
And they don't have to work very hard for their $165,200 salary. (And those in leadership earn even more.)
Even when they are in session, they only work Tuesday to Thursday.
USAToday reports that the House of Representatives is on track to be in session fewer days than any Congress in the last sixty years. Not since the "do nothing" Congress, as Harry Truman dubbed it in 1948, has the House done less work.
I am a corporate lobbyist, and I have to deal with and listen to these folks, but I never want to hear another Member of this Congress complain about anything.
And no, I don't take Members on golf trips or fly on a corporate plane. I am one of the vast majority of lobbyists in DC who work hard every day on behalf of their companies, associations or clients, trying to get things done.
Assuming they don't do anything stupid -- like Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham demanding kickbacks for appropriations -- Members can have the job for the rest of their lives.
And they don't have to work very hard for their $165,200 salary. (And those in leadership earn even more.)
Even when they are in session, they only work Tuesday to Thursday.
USAToday reports that the House of Representatives is on track to be in session fewer days than any Congress in the last sixty years. Not since the "do nothing" Congress, as Harry Truman dubbed it in 1948, has the House done less work.
I am a corporate lobbyist, and I have to deal with and listen to these folks, but I never want to hear another Member of this Congress complain about anything.
And no, I don't take Members on golf trips or fly on a corporate plane. I am one of the vast majority of lobbyists in DC who work hard every day on behalf of their companies, associations or clients, trying to get things done.
