Oberstar on pay raises

Posted at 8:39 PM on June 15, 2006 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

The All Things Considered crew tells me that one of the four Minnesota congressmen who voted himself a pay raise will talk about it on All Things Considered on Friday. Rep. Jim Oberstar will do the honors. They sent me an email asking me if I have any specific questions to ask. Well, yes. But I wonder if you have some? If so, post 'em in the comments section.

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Comments (5)

What is the TOTAL compensation package for members of Congress? Per diem, health and life insurance(current and post-retirement), retirement, daily meal/travel expenses, office, you name it. Let's add it ALL up.

Posted by Karl | June 16, 2006 7:37 AM

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Ask him if he could consider some knd of preformance pay for legislators? Something like, they get a small base fee, than a certain amount is added on for every piece of legislation that does not pass. Or maybe a bonus for every day they take off.

Posted by george | June 16, 2006 7:39 AM

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George's (facetious?) comment does bring up a good point. While congressional pay is not hourly, there have been stories in recent months about how the congressional work week continues to shrink (now Tuesday-Thursday). I recognize that there's more to the job than sitting in the Capitol but there is the question how Congress can do an effective job with such a work week. (And, yes, I understand that this is an offshoot of the more basic pay raise issue but it is sort of "pay for performance".)

Posted by DI | June 16, 2006 8:55 AM

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The reason the work week is so short is to encourage members to travel back to their districts on weekends. People complain when Congressmembers spend all their time in Washington and hardly ever set foot in their districts and then people complain when Congress shuffles its schedule to allow members to return to their districts on weekends.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Posted by Loki | June 16, 2006 10:59 AM

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I've heard that the average number of days congress is in session...votes..hearings etc., is about 90 days.

What percentage of time spent in an average day by a congressman is not, in fact, doing the work of the people, but going over to the RNC, DNC or some fundraiser to raise some cash?

Posted by Bob Collins | June 16, 2006 12:36 PM

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