Roy Blunt Explains His Votes To Increase Congressional Pay: "Just How Bad Do You Want This Job to Be?"
The Robin Carnahan campaign has blasted out an incredible exchange with Roy Blunt at a Friday event in Lebanon. In the exchange, you can hear Blunt justify his twelve votes to increase Congressional salaries by suggesting that cost of living adjustments are necessary to make life in Washington bearable. "You know, just how bad do you want this job to be when the next person has it?"
BLUNT: And just to clarify one thing. I know it will make you all feel better. I didn't get any cost of living increase last year or this year either.
AUDIENCE: You didn't?
BLUNT: No I did not. So you can feel a little better about that.
AUDIENCE: How many increases have you had in 14 years?
BLUNT: You know, I think--- I don't know. Not 14 or 12 or whatever they say.
AUDIENCE: How many have you voted for yourself in 14 years?
BLUNT: Well, I voted against the last 2 and I've never voted for one. But if we got the COLA that everybody else got, the postman and everybody else got, no bigger. Actually we got half a percent less than everybody else got. And you know, just how bad do you want this job to be when the next person has it?
"Just how bad do you want this job to be?" Say what?!
Back in the real world, Members of Congress receive $174,000 now in salary, plus benefits, and their salary increases have outpaced inflation since 1990. Here's a breakdown of how Blunt has struggled to make ends meet since 1997:
- 1997 - $133,600
- 1998 - $136,700
- 1999 - $136,700
- 2000 - $141,300
- 2001 - $145,100
- 2002 - $150,000
- 2003 - $154,700
- 2004 - $158,100
- 2005 - $162,100
- 2006 - $165,200
- 2007 - $165,200
- 2008 - $169,300
- 2009 - $174,000
In this period, Blunt's annual pay has increased ten times, and he's voted twelve times to continue cost of living increases.
Life as a Congressman has also so very "bad" for Blunt that he recently sold a $1.5 Georgetown mansion, and now owns a $1.5M property in Northwest Washington, for which he hired an architect to drawn up new mansion plans, and for which a building permit was secured.
Poor Roy. How bad do you want his job to be?
Image credits: Life.com and USAToday.com
