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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Editorial
Lavish office expenses point to a tone-deaf Congress
THE ISSUE:
March 17, 2010
No, when it comes to a trillion-dollar federal budget, $2,465 isn't even a
drop in the proverbial bucket. But that doesn't mean it's insignificant,
especially when it speaks to a wider, more insidious problem: Congress' stunning
disconnect with the people it represents.
That's the in-your-face message that comes across at the news that any
congressman — in this case, Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta — would spend $2,465
just to maintain an aquarium at his Washington, D.C., office. Or that Corrine
Brown, a Democrat from North Florida, would spend $8,000 on a chauffeured
Lincoln Town Car and an SUV to ferry her around on congressional business. Or
the $160,000 apiece Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, pays two staffers. Or the
$803 monthly lease Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, is paying, courtesy of the
taxpayer, for a Honda Odyssey minivan to get him around his district.
Will any of these office expenses bankrupt federal government? Of course not,
but here's a more relevant question: Would these public servants be spending so
lavishly if they were using their family budgets? Highly doubtful. And there's
the rub.
At a time of massive economic upheaval, with the national debt exploding,
unemployment skyrocketing, when everyday Americans are tightening their belts
and going without just to get by, their congressmen are handing themselves a 5
percent raise for staff and office expenses.
Can you say "tone-deaf"? How can any of these public servants go home to
their districts, where their constituents are struggling to put food on the
table or avoid foreclosure, and say with a straight face that they really,
really need more of our money just to run their offices? It's insulting.
It's also more reason for Americans to wonder, if this is how our senators
and congressmen handle their office and travel budgets — the only spending plan
each of them has any direct control over — how responsibly are they dispensing
the rest of our tax dollars?
With Americans' opinion of Congress already in the basement, it's about time
our representatives in Washington come up with the right answers and look for
ways to cut, not spend.
BOTTOM LINE:
Wake up, Washington, and cut the
perks.