Did you know that it’s fairly common for members of Congress to give their staffers bonuses, courtesy of your tax dollars?
It’s true. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on it today in an article that definitely has a tone. The article points out that, “while Congress has been flaying companies for giving out bonuses while on the government dole,” more than 200 House members of both parties gave bonuses totaling $9.1 million to more than 2,000 staffers last year. If my math is correct, that’s an average of roughly $4,500 per staffer.
Noteworthy, to be sure, but is it comparable to the huge bonuses some of these bailed-out companies have been handing out? Keep in mind that this is the WALL STREET Journal’s report.
The newspaper does, to be fair, point out that the bonuses paid to congressional staffers “are tiny compared with the $165 million recently showered on executives of American International Group, which is being propped up by billions of dollars of U.S. government subsidies.”
“But,” the article states, “Capitol Hill bonuses provide a notable counterpoint to the populist rhetoric and sound bites emanating from Washington these past weeks.”
Anyway, two New Mexico politicos are mentioned in the article.
Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., gave 13 staffers bonuses as high as $3,000 last year, the article states.
“My practice over 10 years in Congress was to give bonuses at the end of the year,” the article quoted Wilson as saying.
And U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who was a member of the House last year, had several members of his staff take leaves from their government jobs to work on his U.S. Senate campaign.
That meant his office had a budget surplus after the election, the article states, and when Udall returned to Washington, he significantly increased salaries for most of his staffers for the short time he remained in that House office.
Udall Spokeswoman Marissa Padilla was quoted in the article as saying Udall traditionally “adjusts salaries at the end of the year based on seniority, merit and unused leave.”