Wow, look at these costs just for running the Senate and Congress !!!!!

Wow, look at these costs just for running the Senate and Congress !!!!!

While Americans are forced to do more with less, Congress is doing less with more. It is time for serious leadership, which should begin by Congress significantly trimming its own budget and eliminating wasteful or low priority spending.

Reduce the Senate and House of Representatives Accounts by 15 percent – $3.82 billion Since 2000, the combined budget of the House and Senate has grown from $1.2 billion to nearly $2.3 billion.4 In 2010, the budget for the House of Representatives was $1.4 billion and the budget for the Senate was $926 million, their highest levels in history.

Even with a 15 percent reduction, Congress’ budget would still exceed $1.9 billion, approximately the level of funding in 2007. Congress could achieve this cut by reducing salary expenses for staff and cutting back on low-priority spending.

Between 2000 and 2009, the number of House of Representatives staff increased by 11 percent, to 9,808.5 On the other side of the Capitol, the number of Senate staff has swelled by nearly 25 percent, to 6,099, between 2001 and 2010.6

Leadership offices have seen the biggest rise in staff over the last three decades, more than tripling in size since 1977.7 Congress should consider reorganizing and consolidating its leadership and committee structure to ensure that it is designed to promote oversight, eliminate unneeded turf battles, and rationalize jurisdictions.

Experts and think tanks from all sides agree this is an area of government spending that should be reduced. In 2007, the Progressive Policy Institute proposed cutting congressional staff by 10 percent.8 The Heritage Foundation has also recommended reducing the House and Senate accounts.9 And the bipartisan Fiscal Commission recommended cutting Congress’ budget by 15 percent.

In addition, Congress should consider eliminating low-priority programs and spending items that do not contribute to these core duties. These include following:  A benefit House and Senate staffers receive comes in the form of student loan debt repayment. Thousands of congressional staff have taken advantage of the program in

4 Email from the Congressional Research Service, June 8, 2011.

5 ―House of Representatives and Senate Staff Levels in Member, Committee, Leadership, and other Offices, 1977-2010,‖
Congressional Research Service, August 10, 2010, report number: R41366,
http://www.crs.gov/pages/Reports.aspx?PRODCODE=R41366&Source=search

6 ―House of Representatives and Senate Staff Levels in Member, Committee, Leadership, and other Offices, 1977-2010,‖
Congressional Research Service, August 10, 2010, report number: R41366,
http://www.crs.gov/pages/Reports.aspx?PRODCODE=R41366&Source=search

7 ―House of Representatives and Senate Staff Levels in Member, Committee, Leadership, and other Offices, 1977-2010,‖
Congressional Research Service, August 10, 2010, report number: R41366,
http://www.crs.gov/pages/Reports.aspx?PRODCODE=R41366&Source=search

8 ―Return to Fiscal Responsibility II,‖ Progressive Policy Institute, April 2007,
http://www.dlc.org/documents/Fiscal_Responsibility_04302007.pdf
9 ―Additional $47 billion in spending cuts for the Continuing Resolution,‖ Heritage Foundation, February 11, 2011,
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/additional-$47-billion-in-spending-cuts-for-the-continuing-resolution

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recent years, with 3,000 House staff alone getting benefits in 2009.10 Senate staffers can get $6,000 per year, and $40,000 in a lifetime, to repay any outstanding student loans.11 House staffers are eligible for an even more, with the opportunity to get $10,000 each year, with a lifetime cap at $60,000.12 In 2009, both houses of Congress combined to spend $18 million for this program.13

Non-drivers can take advantage of benefits to cover the cost of public transportation. Senators can give staff who take the D.C. Metro a voucher worth up to $230 a month is available to pay their fares. House Members can give their staff as much as $230 a month.14 Members are not required to pay for this out of their own budgets, but can provide it to their staffs from a separate account.

wow, we are paying for all of this

see BACK IN BLACK by Senator Coburn on silly absurd Federal spending

BACK IN BLACK

Washington is again waiting until the last minute to avoid a “crisis”— a crisis foreseen years in advance and created by Congress itself. For far too long, Washington politicians from both parties have spent money we do not have for things we do not need. As a result, the national debt now exceeds $14 trillion, $4 trillion of which was added in just the past three years. Now those who created this debt want us to believe the only solution is to simply borrow more money.

But any debt increase not accompanied with meaningful savings will only temporarily postpone the inevitable. Real choices must be made to reduce spending, increase revenues, or both. If Washington does not begin making these difficult choices today, those decisions will be made for us tomorrow and the results could be catastrophic. The only guaranteed entitlements for future generations will be debt and lower standards of living.

Our increasing government debt will “result in lower incomes than would otherwise occur, making future generations worse off,” warns the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. “Higher debt would make it harder for policymakers to respond to unexpected problems, such as financial crises, recessions, and wars. Higher debt would increase the likelihood of a fiscal crisis, in which investors would lose confidence in the government’s ability to manage its budget and the government would thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable interest rates.”

see Senator Coburn website for more info on wasteful spending