Congresscritter calls for $2500/mo housing stipend

Seriously? Don't these pampered parasites, the alleged voice of the people, get enough, as it is? At least one doesn't think so, and is willing to say it. (Of course, this on his way back home, so he won't have to face the voters.)

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/339570-chaffetz-calls-for-2500-legislator-housing-stipend

Just days before he resigns from Congress, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Monday that House and Senate lawmakers should receive a $2,500 per month housing allowance — something he explained would help ease housing costs for members who can’t afford two mortgages or rents.

“I really do believe Congress would be much better served if there was a housing allowance for members of Congress,” Chaffetz told The Hill in an interview in his Capitol office, where he sleeps whenever he’s in Washington. “In today’s climate, nobody’s going to suggest or vote for a pay raise. But you shouldn’t have to be among the wealthiest of Americans to serve properly in Congress.”

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I think the electorate would be better served, if none of these cretins ever went to DC. (Known as Santa's Village, around here.)

Why don't they stay at home, where their constituents are? So they would have to listen to them, and not the lobbyists and party apparatchiks? How are we served, by having them spend all of their time, in the echo chamber of the Beltway Bubble?

Why, in this age of technology, can't they come up with some form of video conferencing? I guess because grandstanding, doing so on the floor of the Congress somehow brings in more campaign money, than doing it on some Innerwebs video.

(Mind you, when they do eventually leave, from something that was never envisioned as a career, they get to keep all that unused campaign money. It must be soooooo hard to live that way.............................)

“Washington, D.C., is one of the most expensive places in the world, and I flat-out cannot afford a mortgage in Utah, kids in college and a second place here in Washington, D.C.,” Chaffetz said. “I think a $2,500 housing allowance would be appropriate and a real help to have at least a decent quality of life in Washington if you’re going to expect people to spend hundreds of nights a year here. ...

“There are dozens upon dozens of members living in their offices, and I don’t know how healthy that is long term.”

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(This putz was never in the Army, I can tell.)

While Chaffetz said $174,000 a year is a “handsome” congressional salary, he explained that subsidizing lawmakers’ housing costs in the pricey D.C. metro area could actually save taxpayer dollars.

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(No, because that would further drive up the cost of housing, in DC.)

If he had a proper home in Washington rather than a cot in his office, Chaffetz said, he wouldn’t need to fly home every week on the taxpayers’ dime, and his wife, Julie, could visit more often.

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Cry me a river. (Site of the Crimean War!)


"You've done that pun before!

Yeah, I know, but it is too hard to resist.

Anyway, here's an idea: it was never intended to be a career. Why not leave after 2 years, and see how all the stupid laws that you passed affect your ability to make a living?

And what about our deployed military people? They don't get to fly home, every weekend. Don'tcha know they sure would like to. But, that is what you signed up for. What makes these guys (or gals or whatever) that much better? To me, not a dang thing.

</rant>

Oh, one last thing....................

Don'tcha know if some dumb republicant introduced this, the demonrats would object. Then, after it passed, would kvetch that the evil republicants are trying to cut the stipend, because, if they had their way, it would probably be $5k per.

Ok, now I'm finished. I think. Or not.