Congress Base Pay $174,000: House Working Days 155 (Adjourned): Senate Working Days 146 (and Counting): Bills Passed 57 vs. 40-year Average of 242

Inquiring minds may be asking "How much do our representatives make, and where do they spend their time?" Those are good questions, and here are some answers.

While You're Working, Congress Isn't

Please consider six factoids plucked from the Yahoo!Finance report While You're Working, Congress Isn't

1. Congressional Base Pay is $174,000 per year
2. Retirement benefits and other perks worth up to $110,000 additional per year more
3. Congress passed 57 bills in 2013, compared with an average of 282 passed bills per year from 1973 through 2012
4. The House recently adjourned for the year after being in session for only 155 days in 2013.
5. The Senate has logged 146 days in session so far this year.
6. In Congress’s first year, 1789, members were in session for 168 days. They got paid $6 per day, the equivalent of a $26,000 salary today, and when Congress adjourned that fall, many members went home to help run the family farm or business. That group of part-time legislators, perhaps the most important Congress ever, passed many of the laws that formed the framework of the U.S. government for the next 220 years.

Article author Rick Newman states "In 2013 members of Congress worked less, got paid a lot more and struggled to produce anything of significance. If America really is in decline, it starts on Capitol Hill."

Indeed!

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com