By Robert Steven Ingebo

All rank-and-file members of the U.S. House and Senate get paid a base salary. The money for their salaries are paid for by the taxes collected from every American citizen who has a job and files a tax return.

As of 2017, the base salary for all rank-and-file members of the U.S. House and Senate was $174,000 per year, plus benefits. Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members.

SENATE LEADERSHIP

Majority Party Leader: $193,400
Minority Party Leader: $193,400

HOUSE LEADERSHIP

Speaker of the House: $223,500

Majority Leader: $193,400

Minority Leader: $193,400

In addition to their salaries, all members of the U.S. House and Senate receive a benefits package.

In a down economy, a good benefits package is virtually nonexistent for middle class wage earners, but on Capitol Hill, the economy has no effect on the benefits packages Congress receives since the packages are funded by taxpayer dollars. The politicians of both Republican and Democratic Parties are receiving perks that most Fortune 500 companies couldn’t begin to match.

Each politician receives a 401(k) and a Cadillac-quality health care insurance plan just for starters.

One of the many other benefits politicians receive was exposed on Sept. 25 after it was reported that the family of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd will receive his $193,000 salary next year even though he is dead.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg when you’re a venerated member of Congress.

For those who will be elected to the 535 seats in Congress in 2018, here’s the facts concerning the additional benefits they will receive:

In addition to their base salary of $174,000, the politicians receive an allowance paid from a special fund. The politicians use their allowances to maintain their offices and hire their assistants.

For example, representatives in the House are allowed to spend more than $900,000 on salaries for up to 18 employees. They also receive an additional $250,000 for office expenses, including travel and additional funding for a congressional perk known as “franking,” which is the mass mailing of promotional material the politicians send to their constituents.   Senators get a much larger amount of money for their office expenses than the House representatives. According to a Congressional Research Service report, the average allocation for fiscal 2010 was more than $3.3 million.

The money the senators receive to hire employees varies depending on how big their state is. For example, a New York senator will receive more money than a senator from Montana, but no matter the size of their state, each senator is automatically given a $500,000 budget to hire up to three assistants when they first take office. 

A seat in Congress comes with a large amount of office space. Once elected, the politicians move into their plush offices on Capitol Hill and maintain offices in their home districts and states as well. A CRS report said there is “no restriction” on the number of offices they can open in federal buildings in their home states.

Additionally, senators get to shop at the government furniture store, similar to an IKEA, and buy furniture supplied through the Architect of the Capitol. They never use their own money for these purchases. Every senator gets $40,000 or more of taxpayer money for furniture in their home-state offices.

Members of Congress also get a special tax deduction. They can deduct up to $3,000 for expenses incurred while outside their home districts or states.

All members of Congress have access to the same health care and life insurance policies available to the other federal workers. In addition, they receive 401(k)s.

When members of Congress retire, they receive pensions and Social Security in addition to their 401(k)s. Members of Congress are eligible for a full pension at age 62 if they’ve served five years or more. If they have served for 20 years, they’re eligible at age 50. After they have served 25 years, they’re eligible at any time. The annual amount of a congressional pension depends upon a politician’s salary and the number of years he or she was in office.

The Senate averages about three working days per week on Capitol Hill. Additionally, they take breaks, which Congress calls “work periods,” which are scheduled on their calendar throughout the year.

This year, members of Congress returned to their districts for a Presidents’ Day break, a spring break, a summer break, a Memorial Day break and an Independence Day break.

Congress is about to adjourn for the rest of October until early November so members can begin campaigning for their re-elections in 2018. For senators not up for re-election this year, each break is an additional vacation.

This gargantuan package of salaries and benefits for each and every member of the Senate and the House is an open invitation for people to try and get elected in order to achieve wealth, power and the innumerable perks that come with being an elected official. This explains why after the voters have elected a politician into office, that politician will do anything to get re-elected.

Multinational companies and other special interest groups make substantial donations to the political campaigns of politicians who will do favors for them when they are elected, or will continue to do favors for them when they are re-elected. Those favors don’t always align with the interests of the voters who elected them.

For example, the multinationals make large campaign donations to super PACs supporting individual politicians and both major political parties in return for favorable treatment. The total contributions from super PACs to both the Republican and Democratic Parties from 2015-2016 was $488 million. Total campaign donations to both parties during the same time period was $10.2 billion. These huge donations make the elections or re-elections of those politicians favored by the special interests almost certain.

In an article by Shamus Cook in September 2010 posted on globalresearch.ca, he wrote, “Congressmen who have recently retired make the perfect lobbyists: they still have good friends in Congress, with many of these friends owing them political favors; they have connections to foreign presidents and kings; and they also have celebrity status that gives good PR to the corporations. Often, these congressmen have done favors for the corporations that are now hiring them, meaning that the corporations are rewarding the congressmen for services rendered while in office, offering them million-dollar lobbyist jobs (or seats on the corporate board of directors) that requires little to no work.”

On Jan. 28, 2017, President Trump acted on his pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington, banning retired government officials from lobbying the U.S. government on behalf of foreign governments and imposing a separate five-year ban on lobbying on behalf of U.S. special interest groups.

Some think the ban is making it difficult for Trump to fill thousands of administration jobs by causing candidates to seek jobs elsewhere because they can no longer be hired as lobbyists and make million-dollar salaries after they retire from the U.S. government. Others say the prohibitions on lobbying are too insignificant to be effective and that the politicians will find ways around the ban.

This information exposes the depth of the corruption in Washington, DC. The politicians who were elected into office by their voters are now living large off the hard-working American taxpayers’ money. The taxpayers are being taken advantage of and the politicians don’t seem to have a problem with that. We never hear about any politicians refusing to take their salaries and benefits, excepting President Trump. Quite the contrary, they are doing everything possible to get re-elected, accepting large campaign contributions from the big multinational companies and other special interest groups they have done favors for so they can continue to ride the gravy train for as long as possible.

The only way to end the corruption would be to take away the salaries, the benefits and the campaign contributions, and the only way to achieve that would be to replace the corrupt system currently in place with a system which ensures that only those individuals willing to serve our country on a purely voluntary basis without pay or any other form of compensation could qualify as candidates to be elected to Congress.

Robert Steven Ingebo is president of FRI Corporation.