Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) wants a raise.
By on Jan 30th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) wants a raise.
Backers of raising the minimum wage are blocking the annual congressional pay raise until 13 million working Americans also receive a raise. Blunt is objecting, saying the raise is “crucial for members of Congress who are not independently wealthy and must operate two households.” Members of Congress currently receive an annual salary of $165,200. The minimum wage is stuck at $5.15/hour.
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Whaaaaaambulance!
January 30th, 2007 at 1:27 pmBlunt is objecting, saying the raise is “crucial for members of Congress who are not independently wealthy and must operate two households.â€
January 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pmOh, poor baby.
Ahhh come-on Roy, you can get a nice double wide in a nice trailer park in MO for under 30K. You are a man of the people, aren’t ya?
January 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pmTell Blunt to get a second job!! That is what everyone else has to do.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pmA Republican politician who appears to have his own interest as a priority.
Gee, what a surprise there!
January 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pmI always thought the states should maintain residences for their reps in WDC. Certainly, they know exactly the number of Senators they wil have. If they lose a House seat to another state, that state could buy the residence. It’s gotta be better than the not-a-system we’re using.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:32 pmRoy, if you can’t ‘operate two households’ with $165,200/year, you have no business in Congress. Period.
Minimum-wage earners must ‘operate one household’ with less than one-sixteenth of what you currently make.
DEAL WITH IT.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:35 pmScrew that, the federal government should just refurb current Senate offices to include a modest apartment attached to their offices. The Senators can rent them, also for a modest lease amount. You know, like the rest of us. Also if the scum bags are still in DC only 2 or 3 days a week, they don’t need another full sized household.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:38 pmThe guy made $165,200 last year and only worked about three days a week? Let alone the fact he probably doesn’t pay for his own lunch or dinner more than once or twice in a week. Plus, they get gold-plated health benefits and retirement benefits that vest after only five years.
This guy should try competing in the private sector and stop living off the breast of the American taxpayer.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:38 pmYet, my family runs one household on less than have that figure.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:40 pmRoy, you volunteered for the job and WE ARE PAYING you to do it. If you don’t like the pay, then change jobs. At least for the time being, this is a semi-free country.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:40 pmWill someone please tell Roy Blunt to stop looking like Ashcroft on crack.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:41 pmAwwww, he’s standing up for the “little man”…
January 30th, 2007 at 1:41 pmYo, Roy, go get an easy job. Like say, selling shoes.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:41 pmThe “two household” argument shouldn’t hold up anymore for these leeches. Half of all lawmakers barely find time to vote or attend committee hearings to warrant D.C. digs, yet spend more time in the capital than at home with thiere wives – er, I mean, constituency.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:41 pmNo kidding bob (#6). Make them live in dormitories or extended stay type hotels. Sure they can opt out for a family unit, but nothing that encourages them to hang around. Gets them back to their states doing the people’s work.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:41 pmRep. Blunt must RESIGN immediately, or be yanked out of the Congress by the American taxpaying working public. How dare he demand a raise, while average Americans make way less than members of the corrupt Congress.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:42 pmC’mon, Roy -Can’t you keep your mistress living in the manner to which she has become accustomed on your measily salary of 160k? Of course the salary is adequate, not to mention the superb health plan and other good benefits which members of Congress enjoy. Get with the program and perform selfless achievments for your country, public servant and government steward Roy Blunt.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:44 pmLOL, priceless!
January 30th, 2007 at 1:45 pmDoes anybody have any idea of the dollar figure these guys make per hour – especially the do nothing Congress of the past year?
Wonder how that measures up to what the rest of us live on?
January 30th, 2007 at 1:46 pmCome on Blunt Boy, you can always use the Gannon Option for making a few bucks on the side.
Get those chaps on and start working the streets, your family needs the dough.
-GSD
January 30th, 2007 at 1:46 pmLet’s put this in perspective:
109th Congress were in session for 103 days in 2006. 103 days times (a generous) 8 hours = 824 hours worked. So then $165,200 / 824 hours worked equals out to $200.49/hr!
That’s 50 times more than people on minimum wage who are operating two households. Hm. What’s wrong with this picture?
January 30th, 2007 at 1:48 pmbob #6. I agree with your idea but go you one (or two) better. House the Reps in some old WWII era barracks like the ones so many soldiers stayed in up until the early 1970s. You could have separate barracks for the different parties and even perhaps a chow hall for them to eat at. For medical care they could utilize the nearest VA Hospital or Clinic. That would free up the staff at Walter Reed and Bethesda. Their families could go on TRICARE. If its good enough for the troops, it’s good enough for the Congresscritters.
Make their time in Congress similar to an unaccompanied tour that those in uniform have to deal with. After all aren’t we at war? Where is the leaderships “sacrifice” ?
Just think of all the money that could be saved if these ideas were implemented. Rep Blunt can feel free to use my suggestions. After all, I’m just trying to help him out. That and the Republicans are “known” as the party of fiscal responsibility.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:48 pmWhat is with this Orwelian DoubleSpeak crap?
January 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pmThese guys spend millions of dollars on the campaigns in order to make $160,000.
Why?
Because they are rich fat cats from their back room deals and stock options. And the Democrats are the same way. But, at least the Dems are trying to raise the wages of the average American too.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pmWe shouldn’t discriminate against the emotionally handicapped. While many Democratic Congressmen share housing to reduce costs, Republicans often face issues when they try to fit their bloted egos into a shared space. This is a serious disability that has long gone unaddressed.
Please, act now, and help us grant those lawmakers with serious emotional problems a meager raise to offset their basic living requirements of caviar, coke, and respites in the Bahamas.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:50 pmIs he serious? If he cannot subsist on $165,000 a year, then he does not deserve a raise, period.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:51 pmBlunt must have smoked a blunt before making such a dumbass assessment of his poor, broke ass, two-household life. No one gives a flying monkey’s ass about what Blunt can or can’t do on his six figure salary.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:52 pmThat salary comes out to around 8k a month, after taxes.
To be fair I bet Senators put in a lot of hours doing things political. However, you have to temper that by figuring out how much that time is really spent in pursuit of graft and re-election.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:52 pmBlunt wants to run for president in 2008 > LOL > he can forget it because he is about to be tarred and feathered and run out of DC on a rail. Roy take your buddy Bush with you!
January 30th, 2007 at 1:53 pmBlunt, you could always turn to prositition to get some extra money… oh, you already do…
January 30th, 2007 at 1:56 pmThe $160k these guys make off the taxpayers is not even a fraction of their yearly income.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:57 pmMorgan Spurlock spent 30 days trying to live on minimum wage for his TV series, “30 days.” I’d like to see Mr. Blunt try it. Someone call Mr. Spurlock and get a copy of the tape over to the Congressman’s office.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:05 pmOh, give Blunt a break, he is not making as much since his buddy Abramoff went to jail, and Blunt had to taking those bribes because he is being investigated. =P
January 30th, 2007 at 2:10 pmMaybe if Blunt is having a hard time making ends meet, he can maybe share rent and room with some Congressional pages?
January 30th, 2007 at 2:16 pmHe said it ‘Bluntly’…Representatives should not live 8 times the average income of people whome they represent…I hate to tell him what Senator Hagel said few days ago: ‘Go sell shoes’….!!
January 30th, 2007 at 2:18 pmCmon Roy, we know your related to lobbyists for Phillip Morris (Altra group) who get paid quite well.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:21 pmYour supposed to be working for the Salus Populi Roy, not big business and special interest groups.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:23 pmWell, that really shook them up, looks like the last cloture vote was 87-10. Nothing like threatening a republican’s sense of entitlement to change their mind.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:24 pmthe annual gross of someone at $5.15/hour is $10,712.
$165k vs $10k…mmmmm, let me see, who should have priority???? That’s a toughy.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:26 pm.
$165,000 Without paying Social Security,health and other taxes (which average citizens pay)..is equivalent to almost $180,000. Without any doubt he has also other supplements added to his income.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:29 pmCongress and Skippy the not-so-wonder teen should not get a raise unless they deserve it. Or earn it. You see, if you are an employer you hire a person to do a job. Then if they do a good job, that person earns a raise. See how that works.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:29 pmDear Mr. Blunt,
It has come to my attention that you feel you deserve a pay raise ( again ). It has also come to my attention you are objecting to raising the minimum wage while at the same time supporting a congressional wage.
The raise is “crucial for members of Congress who are not independently wealthy and must operate two households.”
These are your words sir. Not mine. Yours.
I would like to ask you how you saquare and justify your particular raise while at the same time are not for raising the minimum wage.
When was the last time you worked for minimum wage? Ever?
I have never known a minimum wage earner to be as destructive to their very own country such as you are.
Why would I want to pay you anything MORE than minimum wage?
You have shown your worth and your agenda to it`s fullest.
As a matter of fact, as your personnel manager, my recommendation would be to FIRE YOU, not pay you minimum wage.
If you can come up with an ” action plan ” that can convince me you are earning the money you already make, let alone giving yourself a raise.
I will bring up your employment record here at the Congress to the Board of Directors ( American People ) to give their input in whether you should be permitted to stay in Congress, let alone give yourself a pay raise.
It really IS all about YOU isn`t it Mr. Roy Blunt. I think you need to be flipping burgers at Burger King instead of making real, important decisions that affect peoples lives.
In my estimation, the only decisions that you should be allowed to make in life that affects other people are the choices you offer to your customers, with the choices being between an extra value meal versus the common American dilemma… whether to
” supersize an order ” or not.
Blunt you are a scoundrel and a boor.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:32 pmBlunt is a moron. As is the rest of the Republican Congresspeople.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:43 pmSomebody needs to bitch-slap that butt-ugly toupee’ off of Blunto’s pointy head. If that greedy s.o.b. can’t survive on $165k a year, along with all the other tax-payer subsidized perks and benefits and the addition of his outside income (speaking engagements, consulting, palm-greasing, etc.) — too farking bad. For making such a blatantly grotesque and obnoxious statement his constituents (especially those mired in minimum wage hell) ought to storm his office with pitchforks and bullwhips and whoop some sense and decency into his selfish, money-grubbing elitist ass.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:53 pmwhy is the MSM spinning this as Republicans are blocking the raise?
January 30th, 2007 at 2:53 pmHmmm 80K per household would put you in the middle class.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:56 pmWhat’s the problem with that?
He wants more money? Maybe he should get a second job as a corporate whore then.
Oh wait. Never mind.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:04 pmRoy,
January 30th, 2007 at 3:08 pmIf you can’t do the job for 165k, I’ll do it and save the citizens of Missouri money besides.
Bluntly put, Roy, let me SHOW YOU the door.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:11 pmAll American Hero
January 30th, 2007 at 3:12 pmBWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
ROFLMAO!
Could not have said it better myself! Now, watch some MORON try to distort logic to make a political point!
January 30th, 2007 at 3:39 pmHe wants more money? Maybe he should get a second job as a corporate whore then.
Oh wait. Never mind.
Comment by All-American Hero
>
Now wait just a minute! Only one corporate whore per household per cuistomer
January 30th, 2007 at 4:06 pmEven if you worked a full 40 hour week with no vacation, you’d have to make $80/hour to make as much as a congressman.
As a comparison, it would take a person making minimum wage who worked a 40 hour week over 15 YEARS to make as much as a congressman does in 1 year.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:13 pmmatt #22 – I would disagree with your calculations of how much Congressmen work – 824 hrs a year? doubtful. your assumptions merely show how little you know about what it takes to do a high profile job and always be on call for various committees and hearings. The voting is but one aspect of what is involved in the job – in fact, it’s the end result of many hours and long nights of work, compromise, and negotiations.
So I think they deserve a raise – it’s only a measley 1.7%. that doesn’t even keep up with the cost of inflation each year.
And as for those of you who criticize retirement vesting in only 5 years – a lot of good jobs out there have that same benefit, so Congress isn’t that far out in left field on that. based on the educational level of most members of Congress, their pay and benefits are standard/the norm if you ask me. they may not be minimum wage – but hell, I don’t know anyone who’s gone to college who’s making minimum wage. hence, lesson of the day – go to college if you want a raise in your wages; that’s what the congressmen did and they deserve their minor pay raises each year just like the rest of us.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:50 pmMaybe Blunt should take a second job — one of those jobs that Americans don’t want to do, as Bush says — for $5.00 an hour, to supplement his income.
These guys are so out of touch, they are disgusting.
BTW, since they continue t refer to the Democratparty, even the msm is picking up the term, I think we should start referring to them as repubs. Rethugs, and repugs are more to my liking, but they are too inflammatory — just a little insult, like repub, will be tit for tat and their use of democrat.
January 30th, 2007 at 5:19 pmOh the poor moron can’t live on 165000 dollars a year.
I echo the first poster: Call in the WHAAAAMBULANCE.
January 30th, 2007 at 5:20 pmKudos to the Nancy Pelosi and the Dems for blocking Congressional salary raises!
We need Nancy in the White House to clean up there also!
January 30th, 2007 at 5:52 pmWell put steve, but your logic has some flaws as well…
The mean wage earner in the U.S. is substantially less than of the more disproportionate populous who earn wages influenced by a Degree. still, just because you have a degree, it does not automatically qualify you for a 6 figure income with questionable ethics. Subsequently, Boehner does not have a leg to stand on…
He, Boehner is a public servant, hence the term public, and this means that he WILLINGLY took on this responsibility, and as such are subject to the rules and restrictions that come with that occupation.
It SHOULD NOT be garanteed that ANY congress man or woman should get an reais automatically. This is unsound because the mean wages have remained stagnant for 10 YEARS!!! By his logic alone, the average wage should be somewhere near the $10 range “if” they are adjusting because of inflation???
I think that the members of congress should be tested and show their sincerity by denying themselves wage increases for the next decade, while revisiting the retirment funds for ALL past sevring congressmen and women to determine if there are any substantial savings that could be gained by eliminating those funds to members who have exceeded the benefits afforded to them by the citizens of America…
I wonder if he would still choose to server in an environment that is NO DIFFERENT than my High School Civics class???
January 30th, 2007 at 6:15 pmWhat frickin’ whiner. I hope this plays big in Missouri. Maybe he won’t have to worry about maintaining two households. The poor thing….
January 30th, 2007 at 7:47 pmyour assumptions merely show how little you know about what it takes to do a high profile job and always be on call for various committees and hearings.
Comment by steve — January 30, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
And you do? Please, get off your high horse. This Congress has been a disgrace, no matter how you spin it: The least amount of days worked, and the lower number of meaningful issues addressed (Terri Schiavo, anyone?). What they were busy with, was the lining their pockets with lobbyists’ money (Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham), or chasing pages (Mark Foley).
So please don’t tell me this congress was busy with their “high profile job”. It sounds like a bad joke.
[...]it’s the end result of many hours and long nights of work, compromise, and negotiations.
See above.
So I think they deserve a raise – it’s only a measley 1.7%. that doesn’t even keep up with the cost of inflation each year.
Their salary range already puts them above a meaningful decrease in purchasing power due to inflation.
based on the educational level of most members of Congress, their pay and benefits are standard/the norm if you ask me.
Rubbish. I know many, many (most of my circle of family, friends and acquaintances, as a matter of fact) who are college graduates and do not make that kind of money.
When in the six-figure range, for most of them it is their household income -and usually when both spouses work.
[...]go to college if you want a raise in your wages; that’s what the congressmen did and they deserve their minor pay raises each year just like the rest of us.
See above.
Plus I wouldn’t have much of a problem with them giving themselves a raise, if they were not such hypocrites and raised the minimum wage too.
Are we to believe that at $165,000/yr inflation will eat on your purchasing power, but at $5.15/hr it won’t? Please.
It’s really sad when someone tries to make me feel sorry for those who make a comfortable salary, while kicking down the poor.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:08 pmI think there should be a team of Congressional Head Smackers on constant guard for statements like this. Whenever any congressman utters a remark as stupid or hypocritical as this, it would be their solemn duty to run as fast as they can to the speaking congressman and smack them upside the head.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:30 pmCongressional Head Smacker…..
I would do that job for free.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:34 pmDON’T FORGET THE PERKS FROM LOBBYISTS!!
Basically they bank most of that $165k (which they don’t deserve).
January 30th, 2007 at 8:36 pmRoy’s son, Matt is the Gov of Missouri. Roy’s other son, Andy (under 30) is a multi-millionaire lawyer less than 5 years out of law school because he has a sweet tie to Altria (thanks to Roy’s family values where he traded his wife of 32 years for a 32-year old Altria lobbyist – when he headed up Tom “the hammer” Delay’s K Street Project) to lobby the Missouri General Assembly, and Andy also has the Ethanol lobby (and, stock in the companies building ethanol plants in Missouri), while his sister, Amy just traded jobs at two of the top lawfirms in Kansas City. Lathrop & Gage now have Amy Blunt and a nice political machine to grace their client roster.
Roy hales from Springfield, Missouri where he got his start as the Recorder of Deeds…. Springfield is famous for 7 out of 10 televangelists you could name; the home of the Assemblies of God (locally referred to as the Ass. of God), John Ashcroft and Bass Pro Shops (Johnny Morris, a boy who made good by taking his father’s millions made selling liquor at “Brown Derby” stores once the blue laws were relaxed and turning a failed grocery/hardware store into an outdoor recreation supply store with TIF financing – - Roy had a part in that deal, too….)
The infamous James G. Watt, Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior was a frequent visitor to Casa de Blunt.
Roy’s not hurting for bread……
January 30th, 2007 at 9:08 pmROY BLUNT BLOCKED THE PAY RAISE. You idiots. Can you not check your sources. Go to google news and type in “congress pay raise” or “COLA congress” and see how REPUBLICANS BLOCKED THE PAY RAISE FOR THE WHOLE YEAR! I love it:
GOP Blocks Lawmakers’ Cost-of-Living Increase
(CNSNews.com) – After being pounded by Democrats last year for accepting pay increases while not boosting the minimum wage, Republican congressmen Tuesday returned the favor by preventing an annual 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) from taking effect this year. “There will be no COLA adjustment,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday after GOP members of Congress, led by House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), promised to block the annual $2,800 pay hike. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) “ran their own ads attacking [Republican] members on this,” Blunt explained. “Because of that, their members are going to suffer in terms of not being able to have a COLA.”
January 31st, 2007 at 1:24 amhttp://www.poemsforfree.com/polipo.html
> The Last Election
Suppose there are no returns,
and the candidates, one
by one, drop off in the polls,
as the voters turn away,
each to his inner persuasion.
The front-runners, the dark horses,
begin to look elsewhere,
and even the President admits
he has nothing new to say;
it is best to be silent now.
No more conventions, no donors,
no more hats in the ring;
no ghost-written speeches,
no promises we always knew
were never meant to be kept.
And something like the truth,
or what we knew by that name –
that for which no corporate
sponsor was ever offered –
takes hold of the public mind.
Each subdued and thoughtful
citizen closes his door, turns
off the news. He opens a book,
speaks quietly to his children,
begins to live once more.
http://www.poemsforfree.com/polipo.html
January 31st, 2007 at 1:34 amlook, roy! maybe if you learned to live within your means, like all of the others in the world have to do then you might not have a problem. also, this is a job in which you should be honored to serve us. if you do not want to serve us, then get a real job. maybe one that pays 5.15 and hour and see if you can afford one house…you can’t.
he needs to be fired. imagine if we could hire and fire politicians like we can hire and fire employees?
January 31st, 2007 at 2:59 amSomeone ought to introduce a bill that fixes the congressional pay rate at a fixed multiple of the minimum wage. Then whenever congress wants a pay raise they can have it – all they have to do is raise the minimum wage.
Perhaps a good starting point would be a multiple of 10. The currrent $165,200 divided by ten gives $7.94 an hour (assuming 40 hrs a week and 52 weeks a year). If they want to make more than $165,200, then they’ll have to raise the minimum wage above that – if they think that minimum wage is too high, they’ll have to reduce their own salaries.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:59 amI don’t think we should couple the two together like #70 proposes – what merit is in that? other jobs aren’t all coupled with the minimum wage; rather, what you earn is based either upon merit or upon the career path you choose.
while I think Congress should approve the min wage hike, I don’t think they should be banned from a raise themselves if/when they do approve the hike. it seems that the arguments here are that Congress is overpaid – I would disagree. But I would agree with the fact that they don’t deserve a raise if they can’t also agree on giving a raise to the working class as well
January 31st, 2007 at 12:38 pmPoverty: Federal gov’t says a family of four is in poverty if they make $18, 810 per year
-$5274 for the most basic shelter
-$2350 avg. for utilities to keep your family warm
-$4852 to maintain a car to get to work and fill with gas
-$4815 to feed your family even if you get food stamps
-$793 avg contribution for heatlth care(if you are lucky enough to get it)
-$2030 (to $13,000 in big cities) for childcare
= $-1304, and your family is in the red and you haven’t even bought school supplies, birthday gifts, life insurance, furnishings, clothing, or recreation. What will you do? an extra $2 an hour doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.
*see http://www.povertyusa.org for more
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