I can't believe it, me and Jindal agree on something.




Gov. Bobby Jindal says the United States would be better off if members of Congress spent less time in Washington.

In an interview this week with Human Events, the Louisiana Republican, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, said U.S. lawmakers should work part-time, be term-limited and not allowed to become lobbyists once they leave Congress.

"When they live under the same rules and laws they passed for the rest of us, maybe you'd see some more common sense coming out of Washington, D.C." he told the conservative publication. "Instead, you got a permanent governing political class."

Jindal, who once served as a congressman, cited Mark Twain in his proposal.

"We used to pay farmers not to grow crops, let's pay congressmen to stay out of Washington, D.C.," he said. "Mark Twain said that our liberty, our wallets were safest when the legislature's not in session."

It turns out members of Congress aren't spending that much time in Washington anyway. Lawmakers work 128 days or less per year and an average of 7.4 hours per day.

Rank-and-file members of the House and Senate make $174,000 per year. Based on the average American 52-week year, that amounts to $669 per day but calculated on Congress' 128-day year, lawmakers are taking home twice the daily pay -- $1,359 per day - for about half the working time.

Based on a normal 40-hour workweek, lawmakers make $84 per hour. But figuring on their actual 37-hour workweek, they make $90 per hour.

Jindal's proposal may not be so far-fetched given the rising cost of running Congress -- more than $5 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to Legistorm, a website that tracks congressional salaries
and staffing.

Operating costs have soared 89 percent over the past decade, rising three times faster than the rate for national inflation, according to the Capitol News Connection based on data from Legistorm. The publication found that congressional salaries grew 39 percent from 2001 to 2009 and security expenses for the Capitol Police increased 860 percent in the past 10 years.

And there are plenty of part-time state legislatures that could provide a business model. In 17 states, including Utah, New Hampshire, North Dakota and South Dakota, lawmakers work part-time, making an average of $16,000 and relying on other sources of income for a living, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In 23 other states, including Alaska, Connecticut, Texas and South Carolina, lawmakers say they spend more than two-thirds of a full-time job legislating, but only make an average of $35,300, forcing them to find other sources of income, the group said.

In the other 10 states, including California, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, lawmakers work full-time or close to it and make an average of $68,600, or enough money
without relying on outside income, the group said.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/25/jindal-says-congress-work-time/#ixzz16PTYdTwp

When they live under the same rules and laws they passed for the rest of us, maybe you'd see some more common sense coming out of Washington, D.C."



the flip side is that they should have the same PRIVILEGES, which in a capitalistic society means they should work as often or as little as they like and be compensated accordingly

these are our LAWMAKERS, like TEACHERS, they have a SIGNIFICANT responsibility


plenty of less hard working positions still earn more than 60 grand per year, plenty of CORPORATE LEADERSHIP (which is similar in responsibility) positions also make WELL OVER 60 grand a year,depending upon their companies budget

heck, those who make work over fifty hours a week in some jobs dont clear 50 grand while others make over 100,000 in royalties from their inventiveness or their creativity working two or three day s per week, ,,,,

comparatively , the average us salary in 2005 was about 45 grand
in 2005 (http://www.worldsalaries.org/usa.shtml),

the average congressman salary is 175 grand ( http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm)

that means the average congressman now earns about 3.8 times the average american

in the 1800's , the average american made 832 dollars per year (16 per week) according to http://oldrecipebook.com/1800s-livingcost.shtml


the average congressman salary at that time? in 1855, it was 3000 per year, which is about 3.6 times the average american



I dont agree with singling out politicians to cap what they make or how much they work( I think currently, because of the SIZE or our country, and all the issues that creates, that politicans actually work more often and longer hours)


it kind of undermines all the bragging that is done about this being land of opportunity and a free market, it wasnt done to the founding fathers and shouldnt be done now

I cant stand that guy.

Terribly ironic of Jindal, considering that his state feeds heavier from the Federal trough than most. I think the ratio of federal aid received vs. taxes paid is a tad over 1.5 to 1. Mississippi, Haley Barbour's state, is even worse at 2.01 to 1.

Louisiana also has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, with 816 of 100,000 residents in jail.

Recently, a huge Federal loan given during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina was forgiven.

I suspect most of this is Jindal's attempt to sell books and Palin his way into presidential politics for the 2012 election.

-Kerry O.

Kerry, that was my suspicion too that this is political posturing for 2012. Not a fan of this guy by any means, but if he is sincere in what he is saying he should take it a step further and ask that congress do what msharmony said and be paid accordingly for hours worked. Being a representative of the people was never meant to be a full time job and was never intended to have the perks they've voted for themselves.

I don't totally disagree, since it's clear that the Founding Fathers intended the Federal legislative branch to be more like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington than Business as Usual. I'm FAR more worried about the amount of money floating around out there from moneyied interests use to ply legislative favors out of ALL the people in Washington.


-Kerry O.

Oh, I thought the topic was going to be about having congress actually do some stuff that would help the nation.


I thought we were getting into some serious "pipe dream" areas.

I think this is a pipe dream