Congress Doesn't Deserve A Pay Raise

I have to agree with so many others on the issue of the upcoming Congressional pay raises: the Congresscritters don't deserve them.

It seems everyone else must tighten their belts, to look for ways to cut costs. Pay raises aren't likely for many workers these days, and even if they are lucky enough to get them, they'll be a mere pittance.

Frankly, when it comes to Congress, they haven't earned a pay raise. With the soon-to-close 110th Congress having been one of the biggest do-nothing, ineffective congresses ever, they have yet to prove to me or the rest of the American people that they deserve their upcoming 2.8% raise (about $4700). They certainly haven't performed, passing little in the way of important legislation, fooling around with other legislation that does little if any good, all while wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on bailouts that should never have made it through the House or Senate. Come to think of it, maybe we should consider cutting Congressional pay. Let them feel some of the average American's pain.

Due the last economic downturn back in 2000/2001, the so-called dot-com meltdown, no one within my company saw a pay raise for over 4 years. Since then we certainly haven't made up for it. It's likely we never will. But our representatives in Congress will receive a pay raise despite the economic conditions, the huge budget deficits, and the lack of anything useful from either chamber over the last two years? What's wrong with this picture?