Don’t worry. They were just talking. The House Administration Committee has been discussing just discussing, mind you a little scheme called per-diem reimbursement, which would allow congressman who live more than two blocks down the street to collect $165 a day in “expenses” whenever they show up for work. Up to $25,000 in extra tax-free cash a year.
A spokesman for the Committee, Jim Forbes, is upset that Congress has been criticized for plotting this nefarious maneuver, which would be imposed by a House rule rather than legislation. Forbes says, “It’s a pay raise but…not an expenditure to taxpayers. If [Congress] would have done it, which won’t happen now, but if they would have, it would have been at the expense of their own budget. It was also a voluntary thing . . . if it had passed [members] would not have been mandated to take it. It was on a voluntary basis.”
Did you get all that? According to Forbes, congressional budgets somehow don’t come out of taxpayer pockets. So the pay raise is not something taxpayers have to worry about. Also hey, relax it would have been completely voluntary. Have you ever turned downed a salary increase? No? Well, it’s completely voluntary, you know. I’m sure your boss would be very happy to let you work for less money, or maybe even for free. Just something they were talking about. It’s not going to happen. Not right now, anyway. Well, I have a suggestion: Stop talking about it!
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.