He’s not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.

  • @[email protected]
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    1011 months ago

    While it sounds absurd, between travel expenses and needing to maintain residency in the state and the very expensive DC, $174,000 really doesn’t stretch very far. Instead of just paying them more, a housing and transit stipend might be prudent.

    • @[email protected]
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      911 months ago

      I read a proposal a while back about creating a dorm-like apartment complex for legislators that would be included free with the job with strong incentives to live there over private homes. This would also have the added benefit of improving personal relationships between the representatives so that they would be more inclined to work together and collaborate across party lines.

      • @[email protected]
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        211 months ago

        It also makes it easier for private citizens to, uh, replace large sections of government in one fell swoop

    • @[email protected]
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      511 months ago

      Yeah, I’d be much more inclined to agree with your last sentence. The fact that a second residency and travel is required, means they should be covered by their employer. In this case, that’s us, which means it should be covered by our taxes.

      If this was any other profession, it wouldn’t be an out of pocket cost.

    • @[email protected]
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      411 months ago

      When someone cannot afford the necessary means to do their job in any other context, we don’t raise their pay.