He's not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.

Rank-and-file members of both the House and Senate are paid $174,000 a year.

That probably seems like a decent amount of money, and it is: The median household income in 2022 was $74,580, according to the US Census.

But consider that members of Congress generally have to maintain two residences — one in Washington, DC, and one in their home state — and that they haven’t gotten a raise since 2009.

Inflation, meanwhile, has eaten away at the value of that salary over time: If lawmakers’ salaries had kept pace with inflation, they would be paid over $250,000 today.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who served as the interim speaker of the House following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, told The Dispatch that congressional pay needed to be raised in order to attract “credible people to run for office.”

  • @t3h_fool
    48•1 year ago

    Federal minimum wage in 2009: 7.25. Federal minimum wage in 2023: 7.25. Cry me a fuckin river.

    • @Whoresradish
      21•1 year ago

      Maybe congresses salary should be a multiple of minimum wage so they always get increased together.

        • Anti-Face Weapon
          6•1 year ago

          They need a house in DC and at home. Logically it should be double the minimum wage.

        • @meliaesc
          3•1 year ago

          Then only the independently wealthy would run. No matter if they scale it up or not.

          • @Fedizen
            8•1 year ago

            their housing and food in DC should be paid for imo, those are truly extra costs. The problem here is republican strategy has long been to defund congress and their offices to make them more reliant on donors.