Suzanimal
05-06-2018, 08:41 AM
‘I can’t afford an apartment’: Congressmen sleeping in offices cry poverty
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/tiniest_violin.gif
I thought it was funny that the Dem was bitching about free shit.
WASHINGTON — These Congress members are sleeping on the job — and defending their right to do it.
Crying poverty amid decade-long stagnant salaries and Washington’s steep cost of living, an increasing number of House lawmakers have turned into professional squatters at night, hitting the sack in their Capitol Hill offices — on everything from cots in closets to futons stashed behind constituent couches — to save a few bucks during the work week.
“Washington is too expensive,” said Rep. Dan Donovan (R-SI), who credits the cot that he sleeps on in a tiny alcove in his office as the reason he is able to serve in Congress while still paying his New York City housing costs.
“If we go to the point where you have to rent or have to buy [in DC], then only millionaires would be members of Congress,’’ he said. “I don’t think that was the intent of our Founding Fathers.”
But some of the penny-pinching pols’ colleagues are disgusted by what they call an unsanitary, undignified practice and want it banned.
Proposed legislation set to be introduced in the House as soon as this month would prohibit politicians from turning their offices into makeshift sleeping quarters, arguing that the move is violating IRS and congressional ethics rules.
“Look, it’s unhealthy. It’s nasty. I wouldn’t want to be entertained in somebody’s bedroom,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is among those spearheading the bill.
“Sleeping in your office is not proper’’ ethically, either, Thompson said. “You get free cable. Free electricity. Free janitorial. Free security. No rent. It’s a heck of a deal. It probably comes out to $25,000 to $30,000’’ a year that isn’t claimed at tax time.
‘If we go to the point where you have to rent or have to buy [in DC], then only millionaires would be members of Congress.’For the slumber-party pols who catch their nightly zzz’s on office cots after daylong lawmaking discussions and fund-raising dinners, the issue is simple: money.
Many of them previously got extra compensation, or a per diem, when they served in their home-state legislatures to cover their living expenses while at the state capitol. New York state lawmakers in Albany, for example, get $175 for each day they are in town. In other large cities such as Sacramento, Calif., the daily stipend rises to $183, and in Austin, Texas, it is $190.
But as members of the House, US reps receive a salary of $174,000 a year — a figure that hasn’t increased in nearly a decade — and no housing allowance, while working in a city where a sparse one-bedroom pad can start at $2,000 a month. Meanwhile, they also have to pay to maintain a residence in their home state.
Members of the House and Senate leadership seem to fare better, if only because they rake in nearly $20,000 more a year, or $193,400. There are few if any known examples of senators bunking down in their offices overnight.
While there is no official tally of the number of House hobos who turn their offices into makeshift bedrooms, interviews with members and several Post stakeouts of the congressional gym — where the live-in lawmakers shower — put the estimate at around 100 representatives, or more than one-fifth of the governing body. Publicly, about 50 members have ‘fessed up to it.
...
https://nypost.com/2018/05/01/these-politicians-are-sleeping-in-their-dc-offices-to-save-money/?utm_content=inf_933_2731_2&utm_source=tsefacebook&utm_medium=tsefb&utm_campaign=tse&tse_id=INF_881e78a050d311e8804f9df8933ed465
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/tiniest_violin.gif
I thought it was funny that the Dem was bitching about free shit.
WASHINGTON — These Congress members are sleeping on the job — and defending their right to do it.
Crying poverty amid decade-long stagnant salaries and Washington’s steep cost of living, an increasing number of House lawmakers have turned into professional squatters at night, hitting the sack in their Capitol Hill offices — on everything from cots in closets to futons stashed behind constituent couches — to save a few bucks during the work week.
“Washington is too expensive,” said Rep. Dan Donovan (R-SI), who credits the cot that he sleeps on in a tiny alcove in his office as the reason he is able to serve in Congress while still paying his New York City housing costs.
“If we go to the point where you have to rent or have to buy [in DC], then only millionaires would be members of Congress,’’ he said. “I don’t think that was the intent of our Founding Fathers.”
But some of the penny-pinching pols’ colleagues are disgusted by what they call an unsanitary, undignified practice and want it banned.
Proposed legislation set to be introduced in the House as soon as this month would prohibit politicians from turning their offices into makeshift sleeping quarters, arguing that the move is violating IRS and congressional ethics rules.
“Look, it’s unhealthy. It’s nasty. I wouldn’t want to be entertained in somebody’s bedroom,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is among those spearheading the bill.
“Sleeping in your office is not proper’’ ethically, either, Thompson said. “You get free cable. Free electricity. Free janitorial. Free security. No rent. It’s a heck of a deal. It probably comes out to $25,000 to $30,000’’ a year that isn’t claimed at tax time.
‘If we go to the point where you have to rent or have to buy [in DC], then only millionaires would be members of Congress.’For the slumber-party pols who catch their nightly zzz’s on office cots after daylong lawmaking discussions and fund-raising dinners, the issue is simple: money.
Many of them previously got extra compensation, or a per diem, when they served in their home-state legislatures to cover their living expenses while at the state capitol. New York state lawmakers in Albany, for example, get $175 for each day they are in town. In other large cities such as Sacramento, Calif., the daily stipend rises to $183, and in Austin, Texas, it is $190.
But as members of the House, US reps receive a salary of $174,000 a year — a figure that hasn’t increased in nearly a decade — and no housing allowance, while working in a city where a sparse one-bedroom pad can start at $2,000 a month. Meanwhile, they also have to pay to maintain a residence in their home state.
Members of the House and Senate leadership seem to fare better, if only because they rake in nearly $20,000 more a year, or $193,400. There are few if any known examples of senators bunking down in their offices overnight.
While there is no official tally of the number of House hobos who turn their offices into makeshift bedrooms, interviews with members and several Post stakeouts of the congressional gym — where the live-in lawmakers shower — put the estimate at around 100 representatives, or more than one-fifth of the governing body. Publicly, about 50 members have ‘fessed up to it.
...
https://nypost.com/2018/05/01/these-politicians-are-sleeping-in-their-dc-offices-to-save-money/?utm_content=inf_933_2731_2&utm_source=tsefacebook&utm_medium=tsefb&utm_campaign=tse&tse_id=INF_881e78a050d311e8804f9df8933ed465