Slipstream

The votes are in. The bill has passed. The debt ceiling raised. The government still in business. Best of all, the rich will get richer, and the poor, well . . . sorry.

Watching this process unfold, seeing how the system works, listening to those unrepentant Republicans and deer-in-the-light Democrats, hearing them huff and puff and threaten to blow each other’s houses down, all of it has me wondering about the Congress members themselves—those laughable, loveable, huggable lugs and their never ending struggle to preserve truth, justice, and the American way. Sort of. 

Yeah, they got the bill passed, a bill filled with spending cuts, $2 trillion worth, plenty for some, not enough for others, but enough for the press to be salivating at the miraculous workings of democracy and the ease with which they can now report their stories without personal risk or too much inconvenience. But all that aside, I still wonder about those Congress members—and how this crazy-ass chopping frenzy is gonna impact them.

Let’s see. The base salary for our dedicated public servants—newbies and veterans alike—is a hefty $174,000 a year, more if you’re a party leader or, better still, Speaker of the House. Of course, that’s nothing compared to what they’d be making if they worked in the private sector, as they like to point out. Still, those wages put them up there with the highest-paid 5% of US workers—not a bad gig, especially if you consider you need no experience or skills to apply. In fact, both are heartily discouraged. Yet with or without credentials, they’re still earning big bucks, enough to put them in the same league with those who’d have seen tax increases, had Congress passed a sensible bill.

The average American, incidentally, is lucky to earn a piddling 50 grand a year, assuming that the average American still has a job.

Lawmakers still have jobs. And to the best of my knowledge, none of their salaries have been placed on the golden chopping block. In all fairness, though, they have voted to forego their automatic cost-of-living increases in the last couple years. Such selfless sacrifice is staggering to consider.

In addition to their salaries, Congress members also receive funding to hire personnel, pay for office expenses, and send business-related junk mail. Representatives, for instance, receive an average allowance of $1.4 million a year. The good news? That’s down 5% from 2010—another self-imposed sacrifice. Man, the House is on a roll.

Senators also voted to reduce their expenditures by 5%—to be deducted from the average $3.4 million annual allowance. But let’s not forget that Senators also receive funds to hire interns, rent two office spaces in their home states, and furnish those offices as well as the one in DC.

Okay, but enough about that. What about health insurance? As many already realize, lawmakers are eligible to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the same program offered to most federal employees. Senators and Representatives get to choose from about 300 private insurance plans and HMOs. The plans cover physicians, hospital and surgical services, prescription drugs, and mental health services.

Here’s the kicker. The government (we taxpayers, that is) pays on average 72% of lawmakers’ insurance premiums. That’s right, all those members who voted against comprehensive healthcare protection for the rest of the country are themselves covered out the ying yang. And unlike most, they’re not limited to one of a few health plans. They don’t have to contend with preexisting conditions. They don’t have to put off treatment because they can’t afford it. They’re not risking bankruptcy should they get sick.

And guess what else . . . They enjoy additional benefits, benefits not available to other federal workers. For less than $500 a year, they can seek out services from the Office of the Attending Physician in the US Capitol. There they have access whenever they need it to their own doctors, nurses, technicians, and pharmacy. And if that’s not enough, House and Senate members can receive medical and emergency dental care at military treatment facilities. Better still, if that facility is in the DC area, the treatment is free.

I’ve come across nothing to suggest that those perks are going away anytime soon.

The same goes for retirement benefits. Lawmakers can still participate in one of several retirement plans, depending on when they first joined Congress. However, only one plan applies to lawmakers elected after 1983. So let’s look at that one.

The plan—the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS)—requires that House and Senate members contribute 1.3% of their salary in order to participate in the program. Congress itself (once again, taxpayers) throws in another 16% for the employer contribution part. (All lawmakers must contribute 6.2% of their salary to Social Security regardless of whether they participate in a retirement plan.)

Members of both houses are eligible for a full pension at the age of 62, as long as they’ve served at least five years. Yep, that’s right. The same lawmakers trying to undermine Medicare and Social Security can collect taxpayer money at 62 after serving only five years.

Want to hear more? They don’t even have to be 62 to earn a pension. Other formulas might apply, depending on their age and number of years they’ve served. For example, a lawmaker can receive a full pension at the age of 50 if he or she has served in Congress for 20 years.

Some might argue that the amount of pension that Senators and Representatives receive is pittance compared to the private sector. And perhaps it is. For instance, the average annual pension in 2006 for those who participated in FERS was a bit less than $36,000. Even so, that amount, which is based on the number of years served and highest three years of salary, still represents the type of government expenditure that so many of them are dead set against.

Lawmakers are also eligible to receive Social Security benefits, after they’ve reached the required age, which pretty much follows the same lines as the rest of us, though I might be missing a loophole or two.

I suppose I could try to add all this up to come up with an estimate of what members of Congress cost us each year, though I suspect, despite all their heroic budget-cutting, it wouldn’t be much less than it was last year or the year before or the year before that. And if they cost us that much in a year, imagine what they’re costing us over a lifetime. And imagine what that amount would be if we took into account what they’re really costing us—with their pandering to the rich, their willingness to wage war, their big-business bail-outs, and all their other legislative buffoonery.

Whatever the amount, it’s too much. Way too much. In fact, given the job they’re doing, I can’t see why we’re paying them at all.

 

Tags: congress health care, congress member benefits, congress retirement benefits, congress salaries, house and senate health care, house and senate retirement benefits, house and senate salaries