Considering that initially (1789-1815) members of congress were paid:
$6 daily while in session (source: Wikipedia)
which equates to $145 (2010) dollars,
assuming an eight-hour-day and 40-hour-week,
the current (as of 2010) annual salary would come out to:
Now, considering that our country's founding fathers decided to pay members of Congress about the amount of a modern-day union construction laborer, then why are we paying them more than four times that amount, plus huge staff payrolls? Let's consider paying them per diem once again, maybe around $150 per session-day? The purpose of this web page is to determine public-interest in drafting a bill that would tackle this question. I know it would be an uphill battle to somehow get Congress to legislate themselves a pay-cut, but it actually has happened more than once in the past. Today more than ever, with record budget deficits and national debt threatening the way of life for future generations to come, now is the time to make some real concrete changes in the way our government works for us. Please don't misunderstand what type of change that I am talking about; I want Congress to become more like what it was originally founded to be: a group of elected public servants sent to the Capitol of this great nation in order to serve the people for a short period of time. After their short period of public service, they should return to they're home and occupation. This is, I believe, the way that our founding fathers meant for it to be. Enough is enough with the career-politions that seem to fill the hallowed halls of Congress today, legislating away hope of prosperity of future generations in the greatest nation God's world has ever experienced.
Therefore, Let us-- that is "We the people"-- give Congress a long-overdue PAY CUT! I am not just talking about Congressional salaries; we must dramatically cut their staff payroll allotments, travel expenses, retirement benefits and more. They had the nerve to force unwanted healthcare legislation on us. We pay their salaries, they are supposed to be working for us. Considering the state of our economy, is it not the right time to institute pay-for-performance on our leaders? They are doing a poor job so they deserve a pay cut!