Time for taxpayers to quit paying the GOP in Congress

I understand that.  

But what I want is a working Congress and currently one party has checked out and has no interest in governing which means we have a dysfunctional Congress.

And out of that MRA of the estimated $1.3 million each member of Congress receives, the first million goes to that member of Congress for personal expenses with a separate, lot smaller amount for staff and offices.  Which would mean a small amount of the estimated total of $174,000 for the Congressperson’s annual salary and $1,382,329 for the annual MRA each member receives goes toward offices and the staff.  Which means an awful lot of money is being wasted by that member of Congress.

That is not a good return on our tax dollars.  And I don’t think its justification enough to keep giving these individuals that much money only to keep some people working.  No matter how hard they work.  Especially when that money is coming from tax payers.

From the article I posted I understood what the money is used for. And I never said or implied it was a slush fund.

But again the total amount of money each member of Congress receives for their salary and expenses is way too much for individuals that aren’t doing anything.

Now maybe you think the Republicans in Congress are actually interested in governing and should be paid that amount, but I don’t so we will disagree on that. 

I guess I have not made myself clear enough so you understand what my point is.  And I don’t know what I can say so we are on the same page at this point.

But I can tell you that I’m happy with the elected officials I have voted for here in CA.  I guess because they are Democrats who are doing the job I elected them to do.

The idea we can stop paying the GOP in Congress is wishful thinking.

Having said that when you hire someone to do a job you expect them to do it before you pay them.  Right?

What we have are Republicans in Congress who have no platform, vote against most if not all bills and if by some miracle one is passed like the infrastructure bill they go back to their state or district and brag about the benefits to their constituents the bill will bring all the while pretending like they didn’t vote against it.  

What that shows is they are more focused in trying to torpedo the Biden or Obama Administration instead working on and passing legislation that benefits their constituents.

It doesn’t matter what they do when they are in their state or district if they deliberately do nothing when they are in DC.  Because a large part of their job is to sponsor or co-sponsor bills that they feel benefit their constituents and when they come to a vote they vote for the bills.

The current crop of Republicans are not doing that.  But yet we pay them $1.5M dollars a year in salary and expenses.  That figure does not include the benefits they receive.  

In 2017 when Sonoma and Napa counties had the first of the wildfires that burned thousands of homes everyday CDF had a news conference to provide an update on the fire.  And everyday until the fire was under control and the worst was over Mike Thompson, my representative, and Jared Huffman who represents parts of Napa county that was also burning were at that press conference. Sometimes they would say something or sometimes they were there but didn’t say anything. Mike Thompson has a town hall meeting I know about it.  Here is a list of legislation he has either sponsored or co-sponsored.  link

It seems you can get a list for every member of Congress.  I compared his to Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan’s legislative lists.  Pretty skimpy compared to Thompson’s.    I also noticed how much he co-sponsored bills with other members from the California Delegation both in the House and Senate.  Working together for the betterment of the Bay Area and state of California.  

Can you say the same about the current crop of Republicans?  Maybe at one time you could say that about Republicans in Congress, but not anymore, not with this new GOP IMO.

But yet the tax payers pay them roughly $1.5M dollars a year.  And it’s not like the majority of the money is coming out of their state or district.  It’s coming out all of our pockets.  Paying for a job that is only being half done at best.  Shoddy workmanship but still gets paid in full.

As to the voting and gerrymandering.  I understand all of what is being said.  But as troublesome as that is if you are considered the wrong kind of voter, the bigger issue is those who continue to vote for Republicans. And those who continue vote for Republicans chose to do so.  No amount of district gerrymandering or voter suppression laws are forcing people to vote for Republicans, they chose to do so.  They chose to vote for bad behavior which I will never understand.  I mean I could understand if the Republicans running for office actually offered the voters a genuine reason to vote for them over the Democrats, but they don’t and as long as they win elections they never will offer voters genuine reasons to vote for them.  I mean why do the work if they don’t have to.  

And it boils down to they are currently receiving a chunk of money for doing very little.

So yes, it’s wishful thinking on my part that don’t get paid until they produce meaningful legislation and stop this obstructionist crap they are pulling.

Yesterday I discovered one could obtain a list of bills sponsored or co-sponsored by members of Congress.

Today after reading Marjorie Taylor Greece’s latest rant I decided to check out her list of bills sponsored or co-sponsored along resolutions.

After looking at it, if there was ever a case of wasting taxpayer money this is it…

link