Democratic representative says Congress needs a pay raise now

Congressional approval ratings continue to hover around 20 percent. But according to Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), members of Congress deserve a pay raise regardless of whether voters are satisfied with the job they are doing.

Hastings said during a Rules Committee hearing Monday that lawmakers and their staffers are facing a “serious morale problem” after going seven years without a pay raise as the cost of living in Washington continues to rise.

“Members deserve to be paid, staff deserves to be paid, and the cost of living here is causing serious problems for people who are not wealthy to serve in this institution,” the lawmaker said, according to Roll Call.

Currently, House members make $174,000 a year, a little more than twice the U.S. national average salary.

Still, Hastings contends, “We aren’t being paid properly.”

“In order for us to get a raise, we have to go to the public and prove that we deserve it,” the lawmaker also said. “Well, I think we do. I think every man or woman that comes here deserve[s] it.”

Hastings used his own situation as an argument for raising congressional salaries.

“I’m not going to be anything less than comfortable at my age and stage,” Hastings said, explaining why several years ago he opted to rent a $2,100 per month apartment in Washington’s swanky Senate Square area.

After the rent increased to $3,100 per month, Hastings said, “I moved … to yet another building that’s comfortable, not nearly as comfortable as that one … in order to be able to have any discretionary income at all.”

“[T]he least we could have done for ourselves is to give us a tax credit,” Hastings said, referencing proposals to give lawmakers a tax break for housing expenses.

Hastings, a member of Congress for more than two decades, is reportedly the second-poorest member of Congress with a net worth of -$2.23 million.

The lawmaker said that if lawmakers don’t get a raise soon, only the wealthiest Americans will be able to afford running for office within the next 20 years.

“This institution is heading towards elitism,” Hastings said. “And that’s crazy.”

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