Monday, January 24, 2005
Are Congressional Staffers Overpaid? No
"Congressional officials have raised the maximum basic annual pay rate available to House staffers to $156,848, nearly as much as Vice President Cheney's salary of $181,400..."
Big deal. As a former Chief of Staff for a Congressman let me tell you this, these folks deserve it. Working for Congress is fascinating, but within DC, it's widely known that such jobs pay well bellow what the private sector would pay for the same or similar work. Many of the issues that come up for votes are extremely complicated, like ERISA defined benefit plans, Medicare, International Trade, Financial Services Regulation, etc. You can pay some young professional from your home state to provide counsel on such matters, or you could just surrender the research and advice role to lobbyists.
Big deal. As a former Chief of Staff for a Congressman let me tell you this, these folks deserve it. Working for Congress is fascinating, but within DC, it's widely known that such jobs pay well bellow what the private sector would pay for the same or similar work. Many of the issues that come up for votes are extremely complicated, like ERISA defined benefit plans, Medicare, International Trade, Financial Services Regulation, etc. You can pay some young professional from your home state to provide counsel on such matters, or you could just surrender the research and advice role to lobbyists.
