Members of Congress –mostly male and Republican– sleep in their offices to avoid paying rent

[unblock]

26. don't know about you, but most people don't budget for an extra d.c. apartment

in fact most congresscritters take a big pay cut coming out of the private sector. yes, $174,000 is a very nice salary by any reasonble standard and in and of itself is hardly anything to complain about. but even if that were exactly the salary you used to make before congress, you probably bought a house with a mortgage appropriate for that salary and got comfortable with a lifestyle consistent with that salary.

now imagine suddenly you have to maintain an apartment in d.c., i'm guessing $2,000 per month for nothing to write home about. that's an after-tax $24,000 hit to your lifestyle.

so imagine anyone taking a hit of more than 15% or so to their salary because of needing to maintain a second residence that you weren't expecting.

should congresscritters move their primary residences into cheaper housing to accomodate? of course, they can't move out of their district/state if they want to continue to serve, and that may severely limit their choices, never mind that it may entail pulling kids out of school, etc.


in reality, many congress-critters made far more than $174,000 in the private sector, so they face a big pay cut nevermind the extra expense. they rely on savings and/or income from investments to make up the difference.


if your previous job paid only $30,000/year, then this is a non-problem, of course. but that's not the typical background for many congresscritters.