Capping congressional salary that low is a bad idea - especially with the cost of maintaining homes in their district and DC both. It heavily encourages corruption.

I had a good family friend who was a small business owner. He was the local AC repair guy who worked super hard and built a thriving business. He eventually got into politics and was elected to the US House of Representatives. I was proud of my friend, because while we didn't agree on a lot of political issues, he was fundamentally a good person and would be different than all the corrupt assholes in government.

He quickly ran into financial issues trying to maintain 2 households - especially since his wife was essentially forced to leave her job to be with him full-time as he went back and forth between his district and DC.

So what did he do? He started accepting help from donors. Then special interests. He started becoming more and more beholden to them as they supported him, and he started getting a taste of the Washington lifestyle.

Now he's as corrupt as corrupt gets, and I'm ashamed to have called him a friend. Motherfucker even voted against election certification on January 6th.

I truly believe that if Congress paid better, more "Average Joe" politicians could thrive in Washington without having to take dirty money, and my family friend may have been saved.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

"Maintaining a home in DC"

Require them to live in a government-owned dorm in Washington. It should be a bit like a shitty state school, cinderblock walls, communal showers, etc. They MAY NOT own property in or near the district and MUST stay in their appointed dorm.

We cannot let them believe they're elite or deserving of anything.

[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Capping congressional salary that low is a bad idea

Exactly. Giving someone immense power without giving them pay reflecting that power is just an unstable incentive for corruption.

There are some downstream effects, too. Federal law caps regular federal employee pay to formulas based on the Congressional pay, so plenty of senior managers and Ph.D.-level specialists have their pay capped because Congress hasn't given itself a raise since 2009, all while inflation has gone up by about 50% in those 16 years. It used to be that federal employees would put up with lower salaries for better job security and belief in the mission, but the current administration has basically torn down those assumptions.

In theory Congress could lift the caps on federal salaries without giving themselves a raise, but I don't think that's very likely.