119th U.S. Congress: Good LORD what is Happening in There?

[Yuri-G]

Dems are too big of pussies to burn the image of SCOTUS and they're going to suffer until they do. They have to sell it as no longer being its own branch, but simply an extension of a conservative executive branch.

The entire judicial branch is eroding under this administration and reforming it should start at the top. If it isn't 1a in the DNC 2028 platform, the party needs launched into the sun.

Dems are failing the paradox of tolerance test real fucking bad

[Tomiko]

Mike Johnson says we should have sympathy because Congress isn’t paid enough—so we should “allow” insider trading just so they can take care of their families.

[Byrthnoth]

It's true that they aren't paid enough, but allowing corruption isn't the fix

[Tyrath]

Feel like they are paid pretty fucking well for being public servants

[Byrthnoth]

Honestly, nah. We pay them much less than they are paid if they quit and legally sell access to the connections they made while in government, let alone the money they make through corruption. Also, honestly the job sucks and they do work a lot.

I know we all hate Congress, but it should be a 500k/yr+ job and it's very stupid that it's not.

[Tyrath]

No way lol. Yes, of course the job sucks. You are supposed to be doing it because you want to help your community, not to get rich. And also they aren't living in poverty with 175k

[Anoat]

They should have standardized government housing for them and their immediate family while they are serving, at the least. I would add that as a benefit to (hopefully) deter corruption.

Their travel and lodging is already expensable during the legislative session. And they and their families get government sponsored health care. I think they're doing pretty good.

[Athas]

Heard an idea years ago of pegging their wage to an adjusted median value of the peoples the represent, barring future employment in any industry affected by any legislation in the sessions they served and a healthy pension.

Still seems like it would go a ways to eliminating most bad behavior and realigning interests with their constituents.

[Outlaw]

They should have standardized government housing for them and their immediate family while they are serving, at the least. I would add that as a benefit to (hopefully) deter corruption.

Their travel and lodging is already expensable during the legislative session. And they and their families get government sponsored health care. I think they're doing pretty good.

Nah, they should have to live in barracks eating slop everyday. Want to leave this hole?! Then do what is right for the US and it's people. Then they could move into cheap government housing. Get caught taking brides from lobbyists? Long drawn out partisan squabbling? Back to the cooler with you!

[Byrthnoth]

We pay them 174 thousand dollars / yr to determine how we allocate a 7 trillion dollar / yr budget. I'm sorry and I hate them too, but that's dumb as fuck. They are paid less than a mid-level manager in tech and their jobs are immeasurably more important. 500k/yr is the low end of what the job they do should be worth.

Also, the fact that we so severely underpay them both lets people like Mike Whiteguy make the argument that they need to get a little corruption on the side to make up the difference and also lets them pretend that they're doing a public service by just showing up for work each day. If we just paid them fairly, It'd be a lot more reasonable to set and hold performance standards.

As it is, I don't know anyone that wants to take their jobs that isn't either a sociopathic grifter or an insanely wealthy ideologue.

[arus2001]

Federal minimum wage with no healthcare. Watch both get fixed up quick.

[Byrthnoth]

Anyone that isn't rich or doing corruption super hard would have to quit, which actually isn't that many of them, and the problems would not get fixed because we'd be left with people that are rich and/or doing corruption super hard making the decisions.

Idk where these ideas are coming from, but they are Facebook meme / talk radio tier

[Lokus]

Ok, but everytime there is a government shutdown, they take a paycut and are the last to be reimbursed.

[Byrthnoth]

Yeah, that makes sense. Disincentivise them from doing a shit job. One of the problems right now is that giving them a paycut only hurts the ones that are rich / aren't making money on corruption.

[arus2001]

Anyone that isn't rich or doing corruption super hard would have to quit, which actually isn't that many of them, and the problems would not get fixed because we'd be left with people that are rich and/or doing corruption super hard making the decisions.

Idk where these ideas are coming from, but they are Facebook meme / talk radio tier

It's not the only thing we need to do to fix our fucked up system, but at what point do we have to acknowledge that those who don't and/or haven't lived like the common man can't possibly hope to represent them? How many people are one bad day away from homelessness? How many are living paycheck to paycheck? I get that Trump has basically normalized open political corruption and a democratic party more interested in cooperating with the right than the left leaves us little recourse, but you've also proposed nothing that stops them from taking the 500k/yr plus all the bribes and insider trading. Greedy people gonna greed. If 175k/yr isn't enough for them, it and more would at least elevate everyone else. And I don't want to hear the "But everything would be more expensive!" or "Why did I even get a degree if a burger flipper gets more than me?!" nothingburger copouts conservatives love to lob any time you dare insist the MW should actually align to its intended purpose.

Still, if the goal was curbing corruption then we'd need:
- Term Limits
- Age Caps
- Asset monitoring prior to election and 10 years after
- Same as above for family members, friends, and business associates
- Banning stock trades and investments while in office
- Prohibit lobbying for big businesses after term ending
- Overturn Citizens United and eliminate SuperPACs
- Formulate a modern Fairness Doctrine that actively punishes speculative mudslinging, spewing lies, and lopsided newscasting from any business or individual that receives money for their messaging

If we wanted to get spicy, we can say you can't go into office if you're worth more than a million dollars in combined assets and must forfeit things to fall under. Will any of this happen? Most assuredly not while the same corrupt people are calling the shots and profiting. Rewarding them 500k/yr would do fuck all, though.

[synistar]

If we wanted to get spicy, we can say you can't go into office if you're worth more than a million dollars in combined assets

You just disqualified nearly every single coastal Californian home owner with this one statement. Hell I can't even run with this condition and I don't own a home. Just have a large 401k.

[arus2001]

I'd have no issue finding a more reasonable number, but we could also potentially address the bloated carcass that the housing market has become, too. Memes about people being able to buy a home in the 70's off MW compared to having to share an apartment with 3 other people now on the same scale haven't come out of nowhere. The whole "working poor" situation is exactly by conservative design.

[Tymon]

You could just adjust compensation based on a scale that's variable based on the COL of the constituency of the official. For Senators it could be an average of the state.

That's how almost everyone else gets paid.

[Byrthnoth]

Oh there should definitely be major reforms to the system. Anti corruptio (inc. no insider trading), blind trusts required, financial disclosures required, annual audits with public results, genuine automatic enforcement, you get a package of Depends and a plane ticket home when you turn 70, etc... If you are paying people well, none of that is unreasonable. Put it all in the same bill that raises their salaries to 500k/yr.

Also, while they are at it, fund their fucking staff. It's ridiculous that we have 21 year olds making most of the policy decisions in the country because each member of Congress has a staff of one or two adults and 5-10 random kids out of college who get paid shit and can only live in DC because of their parents. One or two interns is fine, but we shouldn't have science policy effectively set by liberal arts majors fresh out of college.

[Lyltia]

I would posit that one of the primary reasons congress is a garbage fire is because we don’t pay them enough. Paying people shit while going on about how they should honored to be underpaid public servants is what we do in education, and I think we can see the results of that policy literally everywhere around us.

Right now they go to congress to build up a contact list they can use to get paid appropriately per the market economy once they retire; imagine a world where we paid congress that money to begin with?