Some animals are more equal than others
Remember the other day when Nancy Pelosi told us that a cut in Congress’ pay would “diminish our dignity”? And then her husband went on to explain that she really meant that it would hurt her staff, the little people, if Congress took a pay cut. Well, not surprisingly, according to the National Constitution Center, that’s total bullshit, too;
Included in the mandatory cuts are expenses the members of Congress use to hire and maintain their staffs. In all, the operational expenses for Congress add up to $133 million annually.
Staffers face 22 days of furloughs, which add up to about a 20 percent pay cut for them, and layoffs lurk as a possibility.
Unless, of course, you are an actual member of Congress. Your pay can’t be cut as part of the 2011 Budget Control Act.
Of course, there’s a legal reason, but, certainly not one Pelosi knows, or she would have used it instead of the blubbering bullshit she said. Congress can’t pass legislation which affects their current pay – but that’s bullshit, too, because it was the last Congress that passed the sequestration rules in 2011, so the last Congress could have made the cuts affect their pay during this session. But, I’m a non-attorney spokesperson. Or something.
Category: Congress sucks
I think she is referencing the 27th Amendment
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened
22 days of furlough for a year is less than a 10% paycut too…
Don’t cut my pay, bro!
Well, considering that the chief of staff to a representative made about $120K, on average, back in 2000, I do believe they can afford the furlough days. The communications director made $58K. And each representative had a staff of 14, each senator had a staff of 34.
I didn’t know that Congress had any dignity.
Never see any O-6’s or Flag Officers put on furlough. Likewise, no executive level GS types are put out.
Funny how that works.
The furlough is going to be in effect until the end of the fiscal year (September) with no guarantee that it will not carry over into fiscal year 14. 22 days off will indeed be about a 10% pay cut. Congress was notified today, so the 45 day clock is ticking. If sequestration goes, we good old GS workers will be working 4 day weeks by the end of April.
Gunny – actually, the paycut is less than 8% on an annual basis. Ten, only if you count the recent increase in the SS tax…
It will be a 20% reduction due to the compression of the schedule. The time frame would be from April to the end of the FY which is the end of Sept. So yes, if it was implemented for a whole year, then 10% would make sense, but not in this case where it is 20%.
Derek, when you file your taxes for 2013 it will amount to just under 10%
MajMike
My fiance is a GS15, Division Chief and has been told the furlough will apply to her as well….
Nanny Lugosi, like nearly all liberals, is a fine example of what I refer to as a waste of flesh and oxygen!!
1 day off per month for the next 22 months? 2 days off per month for the next 11 months.
Oh. The horror.
85bn ain’t shit compared to the 1.3+ trillion deficit, or even the total budget over all.
You’ll notice the professional welfare receivers (Obama voters) won’t be suffering any time off from earning their checks, or take a decrease in pay.
The 20% headline is referring to the 22 weeks of the sequestration, not the entire year. It’s not made clear but that is the reference. And cutting my pay just means I will pay less taxes and that seems to kind of defeats the purpose.
@JBS – See – 0bama is reducing your taxes. You should be happy and quit complaining… /sarc off
@10 — Shame, because I bet she really earns her pay. I was thinking more of the higher executive schedule GS drones in the nice offices with the new furniture and carpeting.
Still wonder about the O-6’s and above along with their toadies, brown-nosers, and baggage-handlers.
My experience with the 1995 furlough, was that all back pay was recovered by those hit by the furlough.
@Maj Mike, I have a funny feeling we will not see any back pay off this deal. But I don’t know, I think you have to read to bill to know what is in it……
MAJ Mike
She was around for ’95 and received her back pay then but she’s “hearing” that they my not this time although I’ll believe it when I see it….
@ 10 Rog, understood, but for the meantime I and other will notice a 20% decrease for remainder of fiscal year 13 from 1 day off per pay period (2 days per month). We’ve got some spreadsheet calculator that shows our “sequestration pay” going around the offices.
From my understanding and from what I was told by those who were around in the ’95 furlough, those who were not emergency essential personnel took a LWOP and later got back pay. Those who were EE had to come in to work without pay and then received back pay. Now, the rumor mill has it that EE will come in without pay and then get back pay while non-EE will get LWOP. Of course this is hear-say and someone’s interpretation.
Well, obviously none of you were around when the Soviet Union went belly up bankrupt in 1989, but I was. I had friends to decided to go to Moscow, just to see what it was really like. Was Lenin really mummified and kept in a glass coffin, for example.
They told me that the police were nowhere to be found, because there was no money to pay them, and it was the price of your life to cross the streets.
They saw Red Army soldiers, old men, vets of WWII, selling their medals and uniforms on the street because their pensions had been cut off and they were starving to death.
If that crapassed idiot government in Washington doesn’t get its act together, do any of you think that won’t happen here?
A recent story on Bloomberg News says that Putin’s government has been buying up and hoarding gold and taking gold bullion as payment for crude oil.
And what is our government doing here? Anything?
All: correct on the percentage comparisons. Annually, it’s around 9% (OPM policy is that persons in general are not to be furloughed on holidays during a discontinuous furlough, so there are only about 250 workdays subject to such a furlough during the Federal workyear). Applied over 6 months, 22 workdays (the workday equivalent of 30 consecutive calendar days by OPM calculations) is pretty close to a 20% reduction in paid hours during the time it is in effect (22/127 = 17.3%, given that the 6 month period Apr-Sep only has 3 Federal holidays). MAJMike: sequestration cuts will not apply to uniformed military, so asking about GO/FO/O-6s getting furloughed is a bit inappropriate in this discussion. Uniformed military are technically salaried vice hourly employees and are paid from a different appropriation than civilian employees. And other rules regarding the military are a bit different as well – like possibly going to jail if you don’t show up for work vice being fired. Bottom line is that the uniformed military won’t see any cut in salary under sequestration. They might end up working longer hours in a mixed mil/civ environment, though. Travel, deployments, and/or training will be affected, however. There may also be furlough exceptions for “emergency essential” civilian employes whose duties are necessary to protect life/health/etc . . . . Most DoD/other Federal civilian employees won’t fall into this category, but some might. And yes – if that happens, games will IMO very likely be played and it will be a huge point of contention with the rest of the Federal workforce. That reputedly wasn’t handled very well in 1995’s abbreviated government closure. Also, there is no “higher level GS” employee than GS-15. Employees above that pay grade are members of the Senior Executive Service, Senior Level/Scientific and Technical/other technical specialists. Those individuals are by law and OPM policy managed differently from the perspective of personnel actions than are the rest of the government workforce. They are technically subject to furlough as well. However, I’m willing to bet that their chances of being rated “emergency essential” and thus exempt are probably… Read more »