- Senator Warren wants members of Congress and their staff to get raises
- Her comments come after members received a $34,000 compensation increase last year
- The annual salary for a member of Congress has not changed since 2009
Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren doesn’t believe members of Congress and their staffs are getting paid enough and wants to see additional money flow to federal workers.
The salary of a member of Congress is $174,000, and has been that way since 2009. Warren believes this is not enough, even though her salary is four times the average salary of American workers, which is around $40,000, according to the US Congress. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
“Everyone who works in government should be paid more: members of Congress and their staffs,” the Massachusetts Democrat said Business insider.
“Congress should not be the plaything of multi-millionaires and billionaires who have already secured their fortunes and don’t care about making a living to support their families,” she said.
Warren believes a pay increase for members of Congress and their staff would help the government attract and retain more qualified workers.
Warren believes paying more members of Congress would help them with costs unique to the job, such as paying for the maintenance of homes in DC and their housing states
The Massachusetts senator believes an increase will attract more qualified workers to public sector jobs
In late 2022, the House approved a rule that would allow members to be reimbursed for the costs of lodging, food and travel while on official business in DC. The refund could increase member salaries by up to $34,000.
“I understand that no one wants to waste taxpayer dollars, but Congress needs to be more realistic about what it will take to attract top executives across the board to public service, and how to keep them involved throughout their careers,” Warren said.
Despite her push for higher pay, financial disclosures filed by Warren show she earned more than $443,000 in book sales in 2022, more than double her Senate salary. Business Insider reports this.
Republican lawmaker Patrick McHenry suggested the same in an interview with The shipment that compensation for members of Congress should be increased to “convince credible people to run for office.”
‘Most of us live on wages. And then, you know, the very wealthy end up dominating the news because of their personal stock trades, while most of us have no wealth,” he added.
Senator J.D. Vance would rather increase members of Congress’ staff budgets to provide more money for workers than increase members’ salaries
The Ohio Republican strongly agrees that paying members of Congress more will help prevent public employees from fleeing for the better-paying jobs offered by the private sector.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to whom McHenry may have been referring, raised the maximum annual salary for staff to $212,100 in 2022. That was the third time the 83-year-old representative from San Francisco has raised staff salaries.
Other Republicans, meanwhile, are against raising the salaries of members of Congress.
“My view is that we should have substantially larger budgets,” Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance told Business Insider. Increasing members’ budgets could give them the opportunity to pay staff appropriately, as senior staff “are almost always poached by a lobbying firm because we can’t possibly compete with their salaries.”
Republican Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona told Business Insider he wished members would be paid based on their work, adding that “we’d get pretty much zero at this point.”
“And the reality is that we are still paid better than most Americans,” he added.