Money, Money, Money, Must Be Funny, in a Rich Congressman's World

Congress has again failed to raise the minimum wage, meaning many workers will continue to struggle to support their families on an unlivable wage. The Senate rejected proposals to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour, or alternatively to $6.25 an hour; House leadership won’t even let the issue come up for a vote. $5.15 an hour for a 40 hour a week job comes out to a yearly salary of $10,700, close to $6000 below the poverty line for a family of three. To put it in perspective, with gas prices what they are, it could conceivably take a full day of work at the federal minimum wage to fill up the gas tank on an average car. The thought of finding housing in a decent neighborhood or affording healthy food on that little income is even more disquieting. For some workers, the situation is not so desperate. 18 states have taken it upon themselves to raise the minimum wage, but that doesn’t mean all workers in those states are making a living wage.

Given their refusal to so much as throw a bone to American workers, it’s interesting that last week House members gave themselves a raise so that they now make almost 16 times what a minimum wage worker makes in a year. By the way, that would be the eighth raise Congress has given itself during the same decade that the federal minimum wage has remained stagnant. And those raises don’t take into account the other perks of being a member of Congress, like top notch healthcare and extravagant “business” trips and dinners paid for by corrupt lobbyists. Nor does it include what members make off of side deals related to their work in Congress. Just today the Washington Post reported that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made $2 million from selling land near a highway project for which he secured earmarked funds. With all their wealth, it's no wonder some in Congress are so out of touch with American workers and the public at-large, who strongly support a raise in the minimum wage.