AMERICAN ISSUES PROJECT

Recent government figures concluded that the economy has lost more than 1.6 million jobs since Congress approved the stimulus bill in February. There is record unemployment in 12 states. Since January, the U.S. unemployment rate rose from 7.6 percent to 9.4 percent under Obama, the highest rate in 25 years. The stock market is down and flat. Gas prices are rising. Government has quadrupled the U.S. budget deficit. The national debt is at record levels. And, despite the record spending, big government programs are turning out to have the opposite effect on the economy.

But don't worry. It's not that bad. Not everyone is suffering. This isn't a shared sacrifice recession.

Politicians may want the greedy bankers and CEO's to suck it up and skip their bonuses, but don't expect the elite in Washington to share in the suffering. This may be the worst recession since the Great Depression or since the Reagan years but don't be fooled, our leaders in Congress aren't hurting any.

After the stock market meltdown late last year, lawmakers gave themselves a $4,700 pay increase. This amounted to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers spent on congressional salaries last year. In fact, Congress set it up so they would get their raise automatically, no matter what their work produces. The Hill reported on this pay increase:

“As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a non-partisan group. “This money would be much better spent helping the millions of seniors who are living below the poverty line and struggling to keep their heat on this winter.”

However, at 2.8 percent, the automatic raise that lawmakers receive is only half as large as the 2009 cost of living adjustment of Social Security recipients.

Still, Steve Ellis, vice president of the budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, said Congress should have taken the rare step of freezing its pay, as lawmakers did in 2000.

“They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said.

But, it doesn't stop there. The Pelosi-Reid Congress also gave each lawmaker an extra $93,000 in petty cash to spend this year in January. That's right. As auto executives were being harassed mercilessly for flying on private jets, the Democratic-led congress just gave each lawmaker an extra $93,000 in petty cash to spend. They said they needed the cash to help their constituents and the economy. Of course they do.

Then, in March Congress gave themselves an 11 percent increase in spending. There's a nice little raise. They now make $174,000 a year for their 3 day work week. The Congressional spending increase passed in the massive spending bill was greater than the increases for most agencies that deal with public health, education, energy, and other domestic needs. According to McClatchy, this congressional budget increase was higher than the "normal" 8 percent overall boost for most domestic programs.

And it's not over yet. Last week it was reported that members of the U.S. House saw their office budgets increase by an average of 7 percent between 2008 and 2009 during this "Worst recession since the Great Depression." And, of course they feel completely comfortable with this. The Politico had more on this disclosure.

House officials say the increase is because of — not in spite of — the nation’s economic woes.

“The demands on member offices have increased dramatically during our nation’s current financial crisis, and staff have been called on to work harder and smarter to ensure that we are meeting those growing needs,” Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), chairman of the Committee on House Administration, said in a statement provided to POLITICO.

An office’s budget — called the Member’s Representational Allowance — is meant to cover the day-to-day costs of running a congressional office: staff payroll, travel expenses, rent for district offices and the like. The average MRA for 2009 is nearly $1.5 million, up almost $100,000 over 2008.

As Tim Noah put it at Slate, via blogger Instapundit, "On Wall Street, financial crisis destroys jobs. Here in Washington, it creates them. The rest is just details." Truer words have never been spoken.

So just remember, this may be the worst recession since the Great Depression. It's a difficult time for our nation. We all need to buck up. We all need to sacrifice. Well, all of us but those lucky enough to be a member of the Pelosi-Reid Congress.

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