It’s tough serving in Congress these days. All those lobbyists, all that wining and dining, and all that horse-trading to get the best committee assignments.

With all that responsibility, it’s a wonder anyone is willing to serve. That’s why members of Congress already make nearly three times the national average salary with plenty of benefits to boot, including time “away from the office” when Congress isn’t in session.

Currently, the average salary for senators and representatives is $174,000, but as Open Secrets reports: “More than half of those in Congress are millionaires, data from lawmakers’ most recent personal financial disclosures shows. The median net worth of members of Congress who filed disclosures last year is just over $1 million.”

That wouldn’t be such a problem if we got something in return.

We’re basically paying these swindlers to work against the interests of the people they’re supposed to represent — when they’re not outsourcing their own jobs to the bureaucracy. Members of Congress work more for lobbyists and foreign interests than John Q. Taxpayer. Millionaires in Congress aren’t stopping the flood of illegals crossing the border, they’re not balancing the national checkbook, and they’re clamoring for the next hotspot to send our young men and women into battle.

And while they’re working against what’s best for America, some of them want a pay raise.

Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren, for one, thinks higher pay is necessary. Warren, whose net worth is $12 million, said, “Congress should not be the plaything of multimillionaires and billionaires who’ve already secured their fortunes and don’t care about earning a living to support their families.”

But, in fact, it is a playground for the rich — and for those who wish to use that power for their own self-enrichment.

Although Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger laments the difficulty that members of Congress face in maintaining two residencies, he admits: “As of now, many members of Congress are, in fact, independently wealthy, and many generate significant income from stock trading. Others may make money through books sales.”

Warren and even some Republicans believe it’s necessary to attract people to the job, but they should be focusing on attracting the right people to the job. At the founding of the republic, it was a true burden for congressional members to leave their farms to travel long distances while lodging in the nation’s capital. Certainly, the current salary for members of Congress is plenty for those who choose to live within their means, just like regular Americans do every day.

After all, many politicians have raked in millions of dollars in addition to their public pay. And how do they do it? One way is passing legislation that pits working-class people against the wealthy. Another is by investing money in the stock market. The problem is that members of Congress often earn higher rates of return on investments than the general public — sometimes much higher.

“With inside knowledge about forthcoming policy changes or economic developments, the members could buy stocks shortly before they rose in price or sell them shortly before they fell,” reports The New York Times, adding: “A bipartisan group of Congress members is now trying to put a stop to these trades. They have proposed bills that would require Congress members to place their holdings in a blind trust, operated by somebody else. A separate bill would bar members and senior congressional aides from buying and selling individual stocks.”

Seems like a good idea, but let’s not hold our collective breath waiting for politicians to act against their own interests.

Serving in Congress wasn’t intended to be a full-time job. House and Senate members were supposed to have regular jobs back in their home districts, ensuring they stayed in touch with citizens and keeping them out of the political bubble on Capitol Hill. If the current salary forces some of our representatives to share apartments or live in a small condo to get through the congressional session, so be it. A little discomfort can go a long way toward reminding the wealthy and powerful how the rest of us live.

For many reasons, the American public isn’t going to be too keen on a congressional pay raise when it’s harder than ever to put food on the table or pay the bills. “Many Americans also take a dim view of politicians, so those factors make pay raises for Congress a dicey subject,” reports The Washington Times. “Some Americans would chafe at lawmakers giving themselves more money even as they struggle with high costs or confront a stagnant minimum wage.”

With the national debt having surpassed $34 trillion with no end in sight and with many Americans finding it harder to make ends meet, the audacity of Warren and others to suggest a pay raise is laughable, if not infuriating.

Maybe all this defunding talk we hear these days should apply to Congress. Send them home without pay. At least we could all sleep better at night knowing they weren’t passing ruinous bills that none of them had even bothered to read.