Recession bypasses Congress

Life is good for members of Congress and their staffers.

Despite the recession and continued mismanagement of the economy by politicians that resulted in 14.5 million Americans losing their jobs and the net worth of the nation sinking $1.33 trillion in just the first quarter of 2009, members of Congress continue to live high on the hog -- at taxpayer expense.

It's not just Nancy Pelosi and her jumbo jet. It's all 435 members of the House, according to a new report by Politico.

From a Politico expose on how Congress is spending more on itself:

While businesses across the country are cutting back, members of the House saw their own office budgets increase by an average of 7 percent between 2008 and 2009.

An office's budget — called the Member's Representational Allowance — is meant to cover the day-to-day costs of running a congressional office: staff payroll, travel expenses, rent for district offices and the like. The average MRA for 2009 is nearly $1.5 million, up almost $100,000 over 2008.

While House members have given up the automatic pay raise they would have gotten for 2010, they haven’t turned down the 7 percent hike in their 2009 MRAs — an increase that outstrips the inflation rate, the consumer price index and the 5.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment for recipients of Social Security.

There appears to be no organized movement to freeze the MRAs.

Read the full story, "Hard times, but not in the House," at Politico.

Here's an idea: Why don't we lay off Congress until the economy turns around?