{"id":882,"date":"2013-03-18T15:18:56","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T19:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=882"},"modified":"2014-07-31T15:34:45","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T19:34:45","slug":"sequester-does-that-include-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/882","title":{"rendered":"Sequester…Does that include Congress?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some very good friends of mine recently took a 20% pay cut – thanks to the doofs in Congress.<\/p>\n

Yep, that’s right, they were fur-lowed one day a week when the sequester was enacted.\u00a0 Since $85 Billion in cuts were mandated.\u00a0 It appears that the only people being screwed and feeling the impact are “normal Joes.”\u00a0 The folks that pay the fricken taxes anyway.<\/p>\n

$85,000,000,000.00 — that is the amount we need to reduce our budget by.\u00a0 I can think of a couple of places I’d start at, rather than cutting White House tours, and they include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. US Senate Hair Care. A staff of 10 folks, averaging just over $24K \/ year.\u00a0 But they were still $400K<\/a> in the hole last year.<\/li>\n
  2. Kill the mandatory Congressional pay raise for Senators and Representatives.\u00a0 What have they done (that is good) for the country?\u00a0 If you and I worked for our employers at the same rate of accomplishment – we’d have been fired a long while ago, while their “Base” pay has been frozen at $174,000 for newbies, their allowances and other pays have increased.<\/li>\n
  3. I propose our Congressmen be payed a daily per diem rate, which is how they were generally paid from\u00a01789 to 1855; when they made $6.00 a day.\u00a0 The current per diem rate for DC peaks out at $226.00 + $71.00 ($297.00\/day) per day.\u00a0 This may actually save taxpayer’s money. It’s not like they are there everyday.\u00a0 Assuming they are there for 2 out of every 3 days, that only comes up to $73K a year, $100K less than their salary; just ‘sayin….\u00a0 If they’re not in DC working, they shouldn’t be getting paid.<\/li>\n
  4. Cease the “Franking Privilege.”\u00a0 This allows Senators to send mail for free.\u00a0 Last time I checked the USPS was in a world of hurt.\u00a0 Senators receive an “allowance” of up to $.\u00a0 Make them manage their staff and expenses, hell; they’re only doing the work of the people for 2 out of 3 weeks anyways…<\/li>\n
  5. Give them the standard IRS mileage rate.\u00a0 While traveling, they earn $0.64 per mile when a trip is <500 miles from DC.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That’s enough for today, I have to work on my “Honey Do” list.\u00a0 Have a good day folks, and remember,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Some very good friends of mine recently took a 20% pay cut – thanks to the doofs in Congress. Yep, that’s right, they were fur-lowed one day a week when the sequester was enacted.\u00a0 Since $85 Billion in cuts were … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[50,85],"class_list":["post-882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-rants-raves","tag-america","tag-fairness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15061,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15061","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":0},"title":"In-Decision 2024 \u2013 Presidential Election 2024","author":"DR D","date":"October 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, my cat was telling me to start writing again.\u00a0 So, to shut him up; I\u2019m stealing the name of a segment from the \u201cDaily Show,\u201d as I\u2019m sure you\u2019re aware, it sums up this year\u2019s election cycle quite nicely. As you all know, one of the primary purposes of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-11-05_08-28-25_109.jpg?fit=688%2C689&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-11-05_08-28-25_109.jpg?fit=688%2C689&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-11-05_08-28-25_109.jpg?fit=688%2C689&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":940,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/940","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":1},"title":"What\u2019s a Poor Congressman To Do?","author":"John Sweeney","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My congressman sent out an e-mail in which he was inexplicably whining about some backlash he\u2019s gotten from his constituents over some recent political decisions.\u00a0 He appeared genuinely perplexed at why we would be upset, and went on to wonder if compromise and \u201cgetting along\u201d would ever be possible in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AoM"","block_context":{"text":"AoM","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/rants-raves\/aom"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15068,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15068","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":2},"title":"Time to strap in and buckle up!","author":"DR D","date":"January 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is January 20th, 2025, Inauguration Day, which, by all accounts, should be a peaceful turnover of power from the current democratic president to a recycled republican president (yes, the lower cases are intentional). It would be really nice, if we could say this is the 46th peaceful turnover of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2790,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2790","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":3},"title":"Reality show government","author":"DR D","date":"October 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, my cat and I were watching Fareed Zakaria's show, GPS (Global Public Square) on CNN; yes - I still watch CNN, and really try and watch Mr. Zakaria's show whenever possible.\u00a0 Today he had on two former Secretaries of State, General Colin Powell and Madeline Albright.\u00a0 It was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"We The People....Not we the Lobbyists","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/WeThePeople-300x208.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1058,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1058","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":4},"title":"An experiment in Timesharing: 2013 Timeshare Journey – Questions…","author":"DR D","date":"June 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good afternoon.\u00a0 I recently received feedback from a couple who are actually living my dream - living full time in a timeshare, M&E. M&E, My co-workers and a few others have also hit me up with questions\/comments and I am curious what others think. I do not want to go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Timeshares"","block_context":{"text":"Timeshares","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/travel\/timeshare"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15086,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15086","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":5},"title":"Unity, Strength and Fairness… NOT!!!","author":"DR D","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Mr. Trump has been in office for just over one month, and his stated theme for this presidency is \"Unity, Strength, and Fairness\" (his words, not mine). Holy crap!! that theme didn't even last a week! He hasn't wasted anytime in convincing me that nothing has changed, except this time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":888,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882\/revisions\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}