In a letter sent yesterday to the members of the Super Committee, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords urged the twelve leaders to add Congressional salary cuts to any proposal they make to reduce the budget.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) may not be back in Congress yet, but her staff is leading a bipartisan effort to pressure the super committee to slash lawmakers' salaries as part of deficit reduction.
In a Thursday letter put together by Giffords' office, 25 lawmakers call on the 12-member super committee to "send a powerful message to the American people that Congress should not be exempt from the sacrifices it will take to balance the budget."
The letter notes that House and Senate lawmakers are paid $174,000 per year -- 3.4 times what the average American with a full-time job earns. A 5 percent cut, which Giffords proposed in January legislation, would save $50 million over 10 years. Adjustments to members' benefit packages, which can be worth 47 percent of salaries, could result in millions of dollars in additional savings.
She reminded the committee members that US congressional leaders are the second highest paid legislators in the world. Only members of Japan's National Diet receive a higher rate of compensation.
The final paragraph of her letter was especially poignant:
The last time Members of Congress took a cut in pay was on April 1, 1933 - in the midst of the Great Depression. At a time of similar economic turmoil and record deficits, Congress should not require sacrifices of others without tightening its own belt.
Her compassion and leadership is deeply missed. We look forward to seeing her return to the halls of Congress.
Here is a link to the Huffington Post article (a link to the letter is provided in the article).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...