Congress Gets Pay Raise, You Get Pay Raise?

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[Get-Rich-Quick]
What a concept--a bill has just been introduced to tie Congressional raises to the minimum wage. Think about it; in order to vote themselves a raise, Congress would have to give the same raise (percentage-wise) to every regular working stiff in the country. Certainly if they need a raise, Joe Schmo down at Burger King needs one, too.

The bill, Senate 2725, was introduced by Senator Clinton, but I'd can't imagine any sane person of any political persuasion thinking that they should get smaller pay raises than Congressmen.

Here's the meat of the bill:

S. 2725

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage and to ensure that increases in the Federal minimum wage keep pace with any pay adjustments for Members of Congress.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Standing with Minimum Wage Earners Act of 2006'.


SEC. 2. MINIMUM WAGE.

(a) In General- Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:

`(1)(A) except as otherwise provided in this section, not less than--

`(i) $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after the date of enactment of the Standing with Minimum Wage Earners Act of 2006;

`(ii) $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day, adjusted for that year as provided for in subparagraph (B); and

`(iii) $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day, adjusted each year as provided for in subparagraph (B); and

`(B) the wage provided for under clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph (A) shall be automatically increased for the year involved by a percentage equal to the percentage by which the annual rate of pay for Members of Congress increased for such year as provided for pursuant to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31).'


Now if we could just pass some laws stating that any Congressman voting in favor of war must send at least one immediate family member to fight on the front lines (or go themselves for at least a six-week tour of duty if no family members are available), we'd really have some thought attached to those votes.

You can tell your congressmen to support this bill here.

 

Posted by JMPoster on 2006-05-11 17:19:50
I've never seen a bill that made more sense. Who penned the bill?
Posted by Anonymous on 2006-05-14 18:02:01
"Now if we could just pass some laws stating that any Congressman voting"
How about the "Read the Bills" Act which is circulating around Congress. Every Senator and Congressman must read the bill in it's entirety before voting on it.
"Read the Bills" act
Posted by wizeGurl on 2006-05-15 08:37:08
Now THAT is a great idea. Read something before passing it into law...what a concept. I do hope it states explicitly that having your flunkies read it for you is not good enough.

Not only that, it should make these giant omnibus bills slightly shorter. Anyone writing one of those 800-page bills would win the wrath of all of their colleagues.
 

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