75-12-B2
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Congressional Perks
TranscriptCongress has found a new way to cope with inflation. It's giving itself more of your money. I'll be right back. Recently the Administration Committee of the House of Representatives put into practice the old adage that 'Charity Begins at Home' by putting together a plump 10-million dollar package of perquisites for House members. The big raise is automatic and doesn't even require approval for the full House thus avoiding the potential embarrassment of a member having to answer for a yes vote for the measure at, say, the next election. Though the House could initiate a vote to knock out the new money, the committee has given it, that likelihood isn't too great when you consider the goodies that are involved. Under the new rules, for example, Congressmen can collect expenses for 64 trips home during the life of the Congress, nearly double the previous number and they can now assign at least 12 of these trip privileges to staff members. Congressmen living close to Washington who've been drawing a flat travel allowance of 1125 dollars have had that doubled and every Congressman has had his staff salary allowances hiked by more than 10 percent to nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Under the old rules, members had to pay for newsletters to their constituents out of their general office funds. They'll be relieved of that burden thanks to the new rules. Now they'll receive enough extra money to put out two mailings a year to tell you what a marvelous job they're doing for you. That ought to be quite helpful for those Congressmen representing marginal districts as many of the new ones do and who were suffering from nervous tension over re-election worries. When some economy-minded members from both parties complained that all this largesse wasn't necessary, Administration Committee Chairman Wayne Hayes told them he would deal with opponents of his measure by simply eliminating their staffs and that silenced the opposition. Then the Congressman took care to see that his remarks were blue-penciled so they did not appear in the Congressional Record. Over on the Senate side of Capitol Hill, they're working on a proposal to add a thousand or so new staffers. Some senators disagree about the need for all these new people. Senator Herman Thomage of Georgia put it this way, quote, "We have a lot of bright-eyed idealistic young people right out of law school seeking new worlds to conquer. They spend virtually all their time writing speeches and amendments for senators. If you double the staff, you'll double the amendments and double the speeches." Unquote, and amen. Maybe we should remember when next we hear a Congressman complaining about the size of bureaucracy that reducing bureaucracy could begin with Congress itself. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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