2,000 House STAFFERS made over $100,000 in 2009

Not actual House members of Congress, but their STAFFERS are pulling in six figure incomes, at our taxpayer expense! Left wing Politico mentions that 2000 staffers pulled down six-figure salaries in 2009, including 43 staffers who earned the maximum $172,500 — or more than three times the median U.S. household income. These are not just Democrat staffers either (which is probably why Politico actually mentioned it). These are also the people who get exempted from ObamaCARE.

Starting salaries on Capitol Hill are still low — many entry-level congressional jobs pay less than $30,000 a year. And many of the most highly paid staffers could make several times the maximum by jumping to lobbying and consulting jobs in the private sector.

But the salary data, compiled for POLITICO by LegiStorm.com, show that it’s possible to make an enviable living in Congress, even without winning an election.

The 43 staffers who maxed out at $172,500 — the salary cap for leadership and committee staffers — include John Lawrence, chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Paula Nowakowski, the late chief of staff to House Minority Leader John Boehner; and House Parliamentarian John Sullivan. They earned only slightly less than rank-and-file members of Congress, who make $174,000.

All the salary data are part of the public record and are culled from congressional office disbursement reports.

Most of the staffers at the top salary level serve in upper-level committee and leadership office staffs, including staff directors, policy advisers and legislative counsels — positions that have often had direct input on the formation of major legislation, such as health care. Many of those staffers also have law degrees.

But while these top earners are a small percentage of the overall congressional work force, their numbers are growing at a rapid rate under the Democratic Congress. The number of staffers earning within the upper 3 percent of House salaries — currently $163,358 or more — has increased by nearly 39 percent in the past four years, according to LegiStorm data. In 2005, there were 203 staffers earning in the top 3 percent. That number spiked to 304 people in 2008 but then dropped in 2009 to 282, likely caused in part by the economic downturn

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March 26, 2010 · Filed Under congress


Comments

  • Marie (Portland, Oregon)

    Frankly speaking, it sounds like the green-eyed monster who struck again. If after spending 4 or more years in college and going to law school I could not earn more than $100,000 I would think something was terribly wrong. And your wrong…these 2/3 of staffers will be required to participate in the exchange established under H.R. 4872. And this exchange will be nothing more than national plans offered by private insurance companies across the country at a discounted rates with the aim of providing afforable premiums. In addition to which there will be one non-profit plan.

  • http://bibliopolit.blogspot.com/ William Dicks

    This is exactly why America needs limited government.

    Big Government, and especially big spending government, needs to enslave its people to make its salary quotas and for running their enslaving pet projects!