> If we don't pay them well (and we arguably already fail to do that[1]), then it becomes really hard for anybody but the independently wealthy to be in Congress

Congress should be paid minimum wage. They are the ones who determined that this is enough to live on so everything above that is wasteful spending of public funds. If they don't think it's enough, they can change the minimum wage to a liveable amount.

That’s the best way of ensuring that bribes (legal or not) become the primary source of income for every representative who is not independently wealthy.

I would bump it to $10M/year. In terms of importance, this is still vastly underpaying these jobs.

That should take the edge off any money seeking schemes. It's hard to bribe the wealthy!

For 435 congress people and 100 senators, that adds up to $5.35B, which is about 6 hours of federal spending.

You’d have a massive influx of incompetent grifters who only get themselves elected for the salary. At the end of the day public service still has to a “sacrifice” (doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be compensated at e.g. top 5 percentile income).

The Singapore experience is very different.

They probably do more than just pay a lot though.

Singapore is a city state and a semi-dictatorship. I don’t feel any of their policies are that generalizable to most other places

Yes, like every other profession in the US seemingly, Congress is also underpaid. But letting them individually fight for getting as money as they possible can before they retire via means the typical person doesn't have access to, isn't right either. I agree they should be paid appropriately, so they also can survive on their salary, but still think they shouldn't be able to do certain things others can, because of their position.

Agreed. I'd prefer they were required to use a blind trust. Or, possibly immediate reporting on trades.

Give them spending rights. You need a second home in DC? Ok, if you pass a means test we reimburse your rent and travel costs. There's no sense in giving them additional excuses for not doing their job. 174k is plenty of money to live off.

Yup, Singapore follows this model.

Singapore pays its public officials high salaries primarily to ensure the integrity and quality of its government. The official justification centers on attracting top talent who could otherwise command high incomes in the private sector, thereby establishing a "clean wage" that reduces the financial incentive for corruption. Salaries are explicitly benchmarked to the median income of the nation's highest earners.

e.g.,

Singapore PM annual salary: ~$1.63 million USD

Singapore President salary: ~$1.14 million USD

(These are the highest public salaries in the world for politicians)