Wall Street or Main Street

Recently two freshmen senators, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Braun of Indiana, introduced a bill to end congressional pensions. Many Americans probably cheered but think about that. The two authors of the bill are millionaires many times over, they could live in the lap of luxury for the rest of their lives on the income from their investments alone. Now it’s true that millionaires make up a disproportionately large fraction of Congress at 38% as compared to 9% of the general public but this bill just makes it that much harder for non-millionaires to put in the effort to serve their country.

Truly working class people like the recently elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez often struggle to make ends meet given that they must cover the expenses of a home in their respective states and one in Washington, D.C. A member of Congress is paid $174,000 per year and that seems like a lot, it’s more than twice my salary anyway. Now consider what it costs just to rent an apartment in the Washington, D.C. area, one bedroom and one bath in 746 square feet goes for $2,990. That’s half the size of my house and nearly three times the mortgage payment.

Oh and the pension isn’t all that generous either, you get nothing unless you serve at least five years and don’t get a full pension, which can be no more than 80% of your last year’s salary, until you turn 62. The average annual pension as of 2016 was just over $41,000 for those in the current system which started in 2003. Millionaires like Rick Scott, worth about $255 million, won’t notice whether they get a congressional pension or not but the people we need in Congress most, people like you and me, would be much less willing to serve with no chance to even earn pension benefits.

If we really want to make our representatives more beholden to the people who elect them then bills like the STOCK Act which made it illegal to use inside information about upcoming legislation when investing can help. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have introduced a bill that would ban members of Congress and senior staff from buying or selling individual stocks while in office. Members would also be barred from serving on any corporate boards.

Merkley and Brown cite two recent trading scandals, one involving a Republican congressman from New York and another involving former representative and one-time Trump administration Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, for inspiring the bill. You might remember that Price bought stock, then authored bill benefiting company which earned him a bundle. Rick Scott, perhaps also inspired by Tom Price, is moving in the opposite direction, he’s removing his investments from a blind trust and holding them directly, this will allow him to know how legislation he’s voting on can affect his finances.

It really comes down to whether you want the halls of Congress to look more like Wall Street or Main Street.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 22, 2019