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Congress Should Forego Pay Raises

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2008

We all know that the federal budget deficit is huge and will continue to grow as long as Congress continues to bail out one company after another. So here's a budget item that Congress can freeze immediately if they choose to do so: Both the U.S. House and Senate should vote to forego pay increases for themselves and their staffs until the budget is balanced.

Since Congress's approval ratings are in the single digits, its members don't deserve a pay raise anyway. Most of us get raises based on performance, but Congress gets an increase annually, regardless of performance. In fact, unless they vote against it, Congress gets a raise automatically.

If every American taxpayer were to write their senators and members of the House, the lawmakers would have no choice but to vote down their raise. It won't balance the budget, but since members of Congress were quick, and rightly so, to chastise the CEOs of Ford, GM and Chrysler for their excesses, they might seem a tad less hypocritical if they were to put their money where their mouths are.

STEVEN ROSENBLUM

West Palm Beach

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