Did you get your money’s worth from Congress ?

Did you get your money’s worth from Congress last week?


What you got............

Members of the House and Senate enjoyed their final week of their LEGALLY-MANDATED “August Recess.” (Sounds like they’re in France, right?) In 1971, Congress actually wrote their vacation into law. Senate Historian Don Ritchie explains members “wanted to be able to promise their families in January that they could have an August vacation.”

But recess doesn’t mean a break from politics. Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution says there’s a “partisan incentive” to leaving town. According to Binder, “Recess means an opportunity to go home and for members to sell what the majority party has been doing or for the minority party to complain about what the majority party has been doing.”

What you paid
Last week, taxpayers spent roughly $107 million on Congress.

Salaries of Members of Congress and their allowances/week:

Speaker of the House: $223,500/52 = $4,299
House and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders: ($193,400/52) x 4 = $14,877
Other Representatives and Senators: ($174,000/52) x 530 = $1,773,462
Allowance for staff salaries and misc: ($1,500,000/52) x 535 = $15,432,692

Non-salary money allocated for Congress: $4.656 billion/52 = $89,538,462


see more info on your congress at workm



bankruptingamerica.org

Senator Reid Declares He Will Push DREAM Act (read Amnesty legislation )

Senator Reid Declares He Will Push DREAM Act (read Amnesty legislation )


Senator Reid Declares He Will Push DREAM Act
Call Your Senators and Tell Them to Vote NO!
In a press conference in the Capitol this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that he will offer the DREAM Act amnesty bill (S.729) as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Bill. Action on this bill is expected as early as next week! (To see the video of Senator Reid’s press conference, click here.)

Like previous versions of the DREAM Act S.729 will grant amnesty to illegal aliens who entered the U.S. as minors and meet certain educational requirements or serve in the military. In particular, the bill grants immediate legal status to illegal aliens who have merely enrolled in an institution of higher education or have received a high school diploma. And, while S.729 conditions the ultimate granting of legal permanent residence status upon finishing two years at an institution of higher learning or two years in the military, the bill allows Homeland Security, “in the Secretary’s discretion,” to waive these requirements in their entirety upon the showing of hardship.