Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry (R)
Oh no he didn't! Of all the congressmen—
all—the congressmen—GOP Rep. Lee Terry is the very, very last guy who should be kvetching about how much he earns. Yet when state Sen. Brad Ashford, the Democrat trying to unseat Terry in Nebraska's competitive 2nd Congressional District, threw down the gauntlet over congressional pay (which now stands at $174,000 a year for members of the House),
Terry just couldn't help himself:
"I'm proposing we do cut our salary by 10 percent," Ashford announced Monday morning.
Ashford says he is not only committed to cutting congressional paychecks, but has vowed to return 10 percent of his pay, if elected, until he gets the cut passed.
Congressman Lee Terry says, not so fast.
"What he's not telling you is that Congress hasn't had a cost of living increase since 2008, when I led the charge for a freeze," said Rep. Terry.
Guess what, bub? Americans haven't had a cost of living increase since 2008, either! In fact, they haven't seen any kind of gains in pay whatsoever. As most people know—or more likely, have experienced—average wages
have remained utterly stagnant for over a decade. So for Terry to act like he made some kind of huge sacrifice by giving up a perk that virtually none of his fellow citizens enjoy is obnoxious in the extreme, especially when most Americans have been treading water for years.
But it's not surprising in the least. Remember this particularly brazen outburst?
Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., was blunt when asked if he would continue collecting his paychecks during the shutdown.
"Dang straight," he said. [...]
"I've got a nice house and a kid in college, and I'll tell you we cannot handle it. Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That's just not going to fly."
Terry quickly
had to apologize for those remarks. Wonder how long it'll be before he tries to walk back these latest comments. Tell you what, though: Even if he waits a year, the average worker's wage probably still won't have budged—not that Lee Terry would notice.