Re:House Democrats to propose ban on lawmaker stock trading ...
by willcipriano on Thursday July 28, 2022 @01:31PM
(#32267617)
Studio apartments in DC are available for $2000 - $2300 a month, that's $27,600 a year, leaving them with $146,000 a year to secure a place to live within their home state, or roughly triple the median household income. For most Americans that would be a massive increase in their standard of living.
Rather than paying our politicians more to hopefully prevent them from being corrupt I'd suggest putting them in prison anytime we catch even a slight whiff of impropriety.
Even as it stands, just relying on their Congressional salary, it can be difficult for Congresspeople to maintain a residence in their district and one in DC—which is a fairly expensive real estate market—which is effectively a requirement of their position. Within some fairly clear limits, increasing the salary paid to those in Congress would have a tendency to decrease their reliance on lobbying money, rather than increase their appetite for it.